It been hours since we have began to walk in the forest.
It felt endless, a chain of steps that devoured time and hope alike. Every sound of iron scraping bark, every jolt of the cuffs biting deeper into my skin, became another tally mark in some ledger of suffering.
The mercenaries drove us forward like cattle, their boots heavy against the roots and stones. The cold was merciless each breath left my lips in pale vapor, swallowed quickly by the night air.
Whoever send me here I swear I will kill him.
The body of elias was only of a fifteen old boys who was weak and fragil.
Coupled with my wound it was a miracle I could still be walking and even be alive.
For sure it was because it mine original body I was weak and sick so I knew how to push myself beyond my limit.
But I couldn't say the same thing to the other people.Around me, bodies began to fail. The man in front stumbled, his knees buckling. He went down hard, face-first into the mud, and the mercenary behind him didn't even pause. He simply kicked the poor soul's ribs until he rolled over with a scream, then jerked the chain so the rest of us wouldn't slow.
The old men behind me wheezed like broken bellows. Their strength was unraveling thread by thread, but still, they clung on. Every collapse left fewer of us walking, yet the line dragged forward, shrinking, bleeding.
The situation was clear not everyone will make it only the one with the strongest will are gonna survive and the mercenaries knew it.
That was the reason they didn't do anything they wanted the strong one but for me it was a stupid decision who just showed their cruelty.
And then the thought struck me.
'Why weren't we being attacked?'
The forest of chains wasn't empty. I knew that much—even the database from the game had made it clear. Beasts of mana stalked this place, drawn to the scent of weakness, hunger, blood. We were walking bait. Every chain clinked, every groan carried into the trees. By now, some creature should have torn us apart. Yet nothing stirred.
No eyes glowed in the underbrush. No growl shivered through the branches.
The silence felt wrong. It was too wrong.
One part of me wanted to be happy but the other part was just as nervous as the air was around me.
I have seen those kind of situations in those kid show to know that something bad was gonna happen. But I didn't know what and I didn't want to jinx it.
"You're wondering the same thing I am," the gaunt man chained beside me said suddenly, his voice rasping like gravel.
I turned my head to him, startled. "What?"
"Why we're still breathing," he said, lips curling in something that might've been a smile. "By now, we should've been surrounded. But we're not. The mercenaries they must have taken a safe route. An itinerary, something mapped out. Otherwise, we'd already be dead."
'He is right' I thinked
Little group or not those guys were mercenaries and they would surely not make a mistake to encounter a mana beast.
Since none of them are awaken they would die immediately if they encounter one.
But sincerely I couldn't think that was the reason.
And...
"…How did you know what I was thinking?"
He shrugged lightly, the movement pulling at the chain between us. "I didn't. I guessed."
'He guessed? Was my face so readable?'
It was a simple answer, too simple. His eyes didn't leave mine, though, sharp and unreadable even through the shadows. I wanted to press further, to dig past his calm façade, but the weight of exhaustion pressed the thought away.
Suspicion gnawed at me. Yet, despite it, a strange comfort crept in. At least he spoke. At least he was human in this silence that pressed like stone. Maybe company—even suspicious company—was better than drowning in my own head.
The road was long. I could already feel it. And if I had to walk it alone, I wasn't sure what would be left of me at the end.
So I asked, quietly, "How did you end up here?"
He looked forward, his jaw tightening. For a long while, I thought he wouldn't answer. Then, finally:
"I was resting in the forest. They caught me by surprise."
I frowned
Resting?
In a place like this?
It made no sense.
Was he a bandit or something. Even though it would be impossible for him to survive alone
"You were… what? Sleeping here? Why would you—"
But before the words could fully leave me, he cut me off. His gaze flicked toward the front of the line, toward the man who led us.
"Their leader," he said, voice low, "carries a magical weapon."
I blinked, my question swallowed whole. "A… what?"
"You heard me."
For a heartbeat, the forest seemed to fade around me, my thoughts spiraling inward. Magical weapons.
I remembered what I knew from the date base of the game.
There were too type of weapon in the game.
The first one was ordinary blade, even if their wre called ordinary there were very strong and useful. Some of them was made of rare materials some were made of attribute themselves.
Infused with runes, engraved with the very language of the world. Each mark bent reality itself. A blade might burn like fire, or slice through stone like cloth. A spear might stretch its reach or strike with the weight of thunder or even a arrow capable of never miss is target.
They were very important in the adventure of the protagonist and for some player, making a adventure without one was suicide.
They weren't just tools of war. They were miracles made steel. And they were rare. Precious and a very expensive.
Not everyone could afford one and having someone who could make a magical weapon was simply a great asset.
'Wait if I remember correctly didn't the protagonist have a attribute related to that?'
I glanced at the leader ahead, his sword hanging at his hip. In the half-light, I could almost see the faint shimmer along its edge, like light bending unnaturally.
Strangely I sensed something odd for that sword it was like my sense was attracted to it.
I didn't liked that sensation.
The gaunt man gave a small, humorless laugh interrupting my thoughts.
"it doesn't matter. That blade won't save them."
His tone chilled me more than the night air. "…Save them from what?" I asked.
He didn't answer. His eyes slipped back to the trees, and his lips pressed thin. Silence.
Annoyance flared in me.'that guys is hiding something and I'm sure it's not something good but I can't prove it'
His gaze was steady, almost too steady.
"Tell me," he said. "Are you awakened?"
The question landed like a stone in my gut.
'Why this question again'
"No," I replied flatly.
His eyes narrowed slightly. "No strange sensations? No… change within you?"
I almost let out a bitter laught.
'Well the only strange thing was the fact that I have transmigrated in a video game and now i was in the body of someone else.'
'Also I surely gonna die either by my wound or maybe killed by my mother or someone and the worse is that I can't do anything about it.'
Well that was what I wanted to say honestly but malencontry I couldn't say that.
So I shook my head. "No."
"It seems your awakening is close. What a shame. I think you would have made a remarkable awakener."
'Wait what?"
The words lingered in the air, and with them—something else.
Suddenly my head tickled. It was the same sensation that I have in the boat and the voice I heard talk again.
Run
It sounded desperate like I didn't have time to think again.
The tickling intensified and I find myself brought to my knee due to the ach.
I heard the mercenaries coming toward me.
His voice saying:"look like you finally collapsed"
"I wondered when you would fall you piece of shit"
I didn't give attention for what he said the tickling intensified more.
RUN
The voice was more loud and it was clear that it tried to prevent me but the sensation was horrible and I couldn't concentrate.
I looked up to see that the other have stopped to walk there were surely waiting for me until I see something.
At first, it was only a shadow among shadows, darker than the night itself. But the longer I looked, the more certain I became. It wasn't nothing. It was something. Watching.
The voice returned, whispering with the weight of inevitability.
RUN
My breath caught.
I wasn't imagining it. I couldn't be.
"Hey get up or I will kill you" I heard one mercenary.
I just couldn't something was odd my body was not trembling or something like that it was just like the mana was trying to make me run but I couldn't.
I turned my head to see my partner only to see him not there were he was supposed to be.
Grooooar
But my wary was only short when I heard something growling.
"Shit"