Ashfall Woods didn't thin out as Mina pressed deeper into its heart. If anything, the forest grew denser, as if it resented her presence and aimed to swallow her whole.
The twisted trees now stood closer together, their blackened trunks rising at odd angles, roots clawing through the ashen soil like exposed bones.
Sunlight barely filtered through the canopy above, leaving the ground bathed in a dim, gray half-light where shadows stretched long and uncertain.
Mina slowed her pace, moving carefully forward. Her mission was already complete; twenty First Order Low-level Beast hearts rested securely in her pack, intact and properly preserved.
By Guild standards, she could have turned back long ago, returned to Greyvale, submitted her proof, and collected her reward without issue.
But she didn't. This wasn't recklessness; it was opportunity. Ashfall Woods lay far from Greyvale City, distant enough that most Adventurers avoided it unless a mission explicitly demanded it.
