CHAPTER 5 — SHADOWS IN THE PINE FOREST 🌲🔥⚔️
Three full days had passed since they left the Astrales Mountains ⛰️.
The sky slowly shifted from pale mountain blue into a sickly greenish gray, a sign that they had descended from the highlands into deep forest territory 🌫️🌲.
According to the map inside the glass bottle, their next route led southwest 🧭.
Before them stretched a massive pine forest, towering trunks packed tightly together, their needle-like leaves blocking the sunlight so completely that the ground below felt dark, damp, and cold 🌲🌲🌲.
Beautiful…
but dangerous.
Their food supplies were running dangerously low 🍖❌.
No ripe fruit.
No visible animals.
The forest was quiet… far too quiet.
Erik jumped down from Rocky's back, his face tense 😐.
> "I'll look for something to eat," he said shortly, gripping his Gewehr-43.
Arden nodded and began setting up a small campfire 🔥. He arranged stones and built a simple cooking pit, while Rocky stood motionless like an ancient guardian 🗿.
Some time later, Erik returned from between the trees 🌲➡️.
In his hands were wild berries 🫐 and two freshly hunted forest chickens 🐓🐓.
> "Not lamb," Erik muttered, "but it'll keep us alive."
They worked quickly. The chickens were cleaned and roasted over the fire 🔥🍗.
The scent of cooked meat drifted through the pine trees, warm… comforting.
Night fell 🌙.
They cut down small pine trees and built a simple base camp. Rough wooden walls, a bed of dry leaves, and a glowing campfire at the center 🔥🏕️.
As exhaustion pulled at their bodies 😴, Rocky lay down, his massive stone frame becoming a natural shield.
But the peace was an illusion.
Suddenly—
dark shapes leapt from the trees 🌑👹.
Seven small demons emerged, thin bodies, glowing red eyes, claws scraping stone. Some of them climbed onto Rocky's back while he slept 😱.
> "DEMONS!" Arden shouted.
The battle exploded ⚔️🔥.
Rocky rose with a thunderous movement, shaking the ground 💥🗿 and throwing two demons off his back. Arden swung his grandfather's magic staff, releasing bright blue energy ✨🔮.
Erik aimed and fired 💥🔫
but at the same moment, a spark of Arden's magic touched the magazine of his Gewehr-43.
⚡✨
His bullets now glowed with magical energy.
He fired again.
One demon fell.
Two.
Three.
Erik froze when he realized something 😧.
His ammo wasn't decreasing at all.
> "This… isn't possible," he whispered.
There was no time to think.
With the combined power of
Rocky's crushing fists 🗿💥
Arden's magic ✨
and Erik's enchanted gunfire 🔫⚡
the seven demons were finally destroyed, their bodies turning into black ash that scattered into the night wind 🌬️🖤.
Victory came at a price.
Erik's hand was burned by the magical heat 🔥🩹 from the glowing bullets. Arden quickly wrapped it with cloth and applied a simple healing potion.
The campfire burned quietly again 🔥.
The forest returned to silence… but now it felt alert, watching.
Without many words, they dismantled the camp before dawn 🌄.
The journey had to continue.
To the southwest.
Toward a destiny they did not yet understand 🧭🌌.
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