I woke up before the sun appeared, not because I was rested, but because my body could no longer sink into deep sleep. I opened my eyes and for a few seconds tried to remember where we were. The road, the surrounding trees, the hard ground. Everything looked the same as the past few days.
I sat up slowly. My muscles complained immediately.
Elara was still asleep, leaning against her bag. Liriel was awake, silently watching the horizon. Vespera was already standing, stretching her arms. Rai'kanna and Lyannis checked their equipment without exchanging many words.
No one mentioned fatigue. There was no need.
We started walking again before the sky fully brightened. The morning air was cold, helping keep our minds alert. We followed the main road, attentive to any unusual sound.
After nearly an hour, we encountered a small group of adventurers coming from the opposite direction. They were dirty, visibly worn out.
One of them recognized us. "You're clearing the villages too?"
"We are," I replied.
He nodded. "The numbers are decreasing."
I frowned. "Decreasing how?"
"Yesterday we faced far fewer than the previous days. This morning, almost none."
Elara looked at me. "That's not a good sign."
The adventurer continued. "The guild is receiving fewer requests for help. It seems the hordes are thinning out."
We thanked them for the information and moved on.
As we walked, the idea kept hammering in my mind. It wasn't relief. It was preparation.
"He's gathering the pieces," Liriel said.
"Or concentrating them," Vespera added.
Lyannis scanned the surroundings more carefully than usual. "This feels like the calm before something bigger."
It didn't take long to find signs of recent combat. Marks on the ground, monster bodies scattered, but none moving.
"Another group passed through here," Rai'kanna said.
We moved forward and arrived at a partially destroyed village, but without monsters. Villagers had already begun rebuilding fences and doors.
A woman approached us. "Did you come to help?"
"Is it already clear?" I asked.
"Since dawn. A group of adventurers passed through here and handled everything."
We thanked her and continued without stopping.
The pattern repeated itself over the next few hours. Villages attacked, but already cleared. Traces of other groups. Monsters defeated before our arrival.
The entire kingdom was responding.
That was good.
But it also meant the siege was closing in.
Near noon, we finally encountered a small group of active monsters near a secondary road. There were few, but they were advancing toward an abandoned cart.
"These were left behind," Vespera said.
I moved forward first. The combat was quick, almost automatic. Elara cast a short spell to prevent two from approaching at the same time. Liriel illuminated the area. Rai'kanna and Lyannis finished off those attempting to flee.
When the last one fell, I noticed something strange.
I wasn't out of breath.
Not because I was rested.
But because the fight had been too small.
"That confirms it," Elara said.
"They are decreasing," Liriel added.
We walked along the road for several more hours without finding anything except old traces.
The silence began to bother more than the constant battles of previous days.
By late afternoon, we found another group of adventurers camping. They reported the same thing.
"Yesterday it felt like it would never end," one of them said. "Today, almost nothing."
I sat on a rock for a few seconds, looking at the mental map I had formed over all these days.
The attacked villages formed a line. A progression.
And now, the end of that line was ahead of us.
"He already got what he wanted," I said.
Elara looked at me. "To test the kingdom."
"To test us," Vespera added.
Lyannis nodded slowly. "And now he doesn't need the monsters anymore."
The sun was beginning to set when we decided to stop. Not because we were too tired to continue, but because there was nothing left to find that day.
We sat close to each other, in silence.
For the first time in many days, there were no sounds of combat in the distance. No screams. No structures breaking.
Just wind.
Just night approaching.
"This is wrong," Rai'kanna said.
"It's too calm," Liriel replied.
I looked at the dark horizon ahead.
For days, we had fought against something visible. Monsters, destruction, chaos.
Now, we were fighting something invisible.
The waiting.
He had stopped wearing us down with quantity.
And had begun wearing us down with expectation.
I kept staring at the road for a long time, trying to hear anything different.
Nothing.
Just silence.
And in that silence, I was certain of one thing.
The hordes were ending.
Because the real confrontation was approaching.