The forest no longer felt calm.
It felt suspicious.
Damien crouched along a high ridge overlooking what used to be a simple eastern cluster.
It wasn't simple anymore.
The remaining demons had condensed their formation. Patrols overlapped now. Suppression nodes glowed brighter. Essence signatures moved closer together.
They knew.
Not who.
Not how.
But they knew something was hunting them.
Damien exhaled slowly.
He had erased six already.
Three more from a smaller outlying rotation earlier that morning.
The structure was weakening.
And weakening systems reacted violently before collapsing.
He could continue with slow elimination.
Or...
He could just provoke them.
His gaze sharpened.
"Luton."
The slime rippled at his shoulder.
"We don't retreat today."
It quivered approvingly.
He descended the ridge without masking his presence this time.
He let them feel him.
The first demon to detect him screamed — a shrill warning that cut through the trees.
