Chapter 17: Surrounded
Rustling sounds jolted Kurtz awake. He rubbed his eyes and spotted Serie already standing outside the tent, her silhouette sharp against the grey dawn.
Last night had granted him rare, peaceful sleep. He'd felt incredibly warm, like his old days sleeping with his life-sized body pillow, except this pillow had felt surprisingly solid and warm.
Had he actually held Serie all night?
The memory drifted away like steam. If he'd truly embraced her through the darkness, why hadn't she resisted? Heat crept up his neck.
Serie stood with her back to him, spine rigid. "You're awake?" She didn't turn around. "Pack up. We move faster today, we need to escape this swamp before sunset."
Something was wrong. Her voice carried an edge he'd never heard before.
Kurtz stretched, trying to sound casual. "I didn't do anything last night, did I? My sleeping posture's always been terrible."
Serie turned, golden eyes sharp. "Terrible is right. You clung to me like a barnacle all night."
Serie had completely missed Kurtz's human concerns.
This happened when elves interacted with humans; emotions remained a foreign territory, confusing and illogical. Elves possessed naturally indifferent temperaments, built for observation rather than feeling.
When she'd awakened this morning, she'd still felt uncomfortable from pressing against something hard and warm. The sensation had felt strange. Unfamiliar. She wondered if humans normally behaved this way during sleep.
Now, facing Kurtz's hesitant questioning, she complained without mercy, though puzzlement colored her tone more than anger.
Heat flooded Kurtz's face at Serie's blunt words. "I'm sorry. Next time this happens, you can just push me away."
'Next time.'
The phrase escaped before he could stop it. Beneath his embarrassment, Kurtz harboured a small, selfish thought; he wasn't satisfied with holding such comfortable warmth only once.
There might be a next time. Despite his mortification, he found himself hoping for it.
Serie tilted her head. "Why apologise? You acted like a sloth bear, they hug trees for warmth when they sleep. I was only slightly uncomfortable."
"Sloth bear?"
"Forest animal. Clingy sleeper." She shrugged. "Though you're warmer than they are."
Kurtz found himself torn between laughter and tears. Elves understood intimate contact in a completely different way from the human perspective.
As expected of an ancient elf from this world, he felt a burning awareness.
He secretly sighed in relief, but at the same time, strange loss crept through him. Had he expected something different? Wanted something different?
"Would you like some tea? It can't be that urgent—"
Kurtz had obtained many tea-making plants from the dwarves during their previous encounter. The memory of their gruff kindness felt like a lifetime ago.
The dwarves rarely drank tea, but they could identify which plants in this world were edible or suitable for brewing. After all, their history stretched back to before the Age of Myths, when such knowledge meant the difference between survival and extinction.
"Hmm." Serie withdrew her warning magic, then cast a detection spell. Her expression darkened. "Strange. The monsters multiplied overnight."
Serie furrowed her delicate brows, the first sign of genuine concern he'd seen from her.
Last night, before they'd set up camp, she had specifically cleared out monsters within a hundred meters, accomplishing the task silently with surgical precision.
Now, after one night of supposed safety, monsters in the vicinity had returned to their previous numbers, and then some.
This exceeded illogical. This was impossible.
Either this swamp possessed an incredible density of magical creatures, and monsters naturally filled any void like water seeking level, or intelligent entities had deliberately targeted them both.
Kurtz leaned over, studying the red dots on her magical detection circle. "Try five hundred meters?"
Serie expanded the range. Her frown deepened. "Over three hundred creatures surround us."
"We're trapped."
Kurtz's blood ran cold as the implications struck him. Regardless of whether this was a terrible coincidence, they could no longer stay here. Something vast and hungry had trapped them in its centre.
"Follow the stream." Serie unfolded their map. "We escape by noon if we move now."
"I'll pack immediately."
Kurtz began stuffing their belongings into his pack, movements sharp with controlled panic, while Serie continuously monitored the monsters' movements on her glowing magic circle.
Her face had taken on that mask-like quality he'd learned to associate with serious danger.
The only thing that reassured her was that these monsters showed no signs of active movement; however, this only revealed an indescribable wrongness.
Like predators waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
Kurtz quickly secured their belongings, and the two began walking briskly along the stream. The water burbled cheerfully beside them, oblivious to the closing danger.
During this time, Kurtz occasionally glanced back over his shoulder, always feeling as if unseen eyes lurked and observed them from the shadows between trees.
"Don't look back." Serie's voice stayed low. "Pretend nothing's wrong. They're watching."
As an elf, her perception exceeded Kurtz's human senses infinitely, honed by centuries of survival.
Just as they started moving, the surrounding monsters also began to shift in response, and her worst fears crystallised into certainty.
No matter how they moved, these creatures maintained their positions around them like pieces on a game board.
Someone commanded them with intelligence and purpose.
"They?"
He immediately realised that for Serie to show such uncharacteristic gravity, the crisis they faced this time would be unlike anything they'd encountered before.
"Demons. At least two, commanding hundreds of monsters." Cold fire flickered in her eyes. "They've got us surrounded."
Cold sweat beaded on Kurtz's palms despite the morning chill.
'Is it finally coming?'
Demons from the Age of Myths, this would be the first time Kurtz faced the legendary enemies of all thinking races.
"Why haven't they attacked?"
"They're waiting for us to make a mistake. Demons don't have emotions; they have cold efficiency. They want to kill us with minimum risk."
Serie thought grimly to herself, the leading demon probably possessed high intelligence. After identifying her as an elf, it had begun acting with calculated caution rather than brute force. A clever demon was infinitely more dangerous than a savage one.
'However, when exactly did they discover us?'
Her warning magic maintained a range of hundreds of meters, and it hadn't issued any alerts last night. Could it be that she had lost focus this morning?
The thought of being caught off-guard because of her confusion over human sleeping habits sent a spike of anger through her chest.
"Keep moving forward, fewer monsters ahead. If fighting starts, run in that direction. I'll cover you."
Serie delivered her instructions with military precision, already preparing her Light Arrow magic, mana coiling beneath her skin, ready to unleash devastation at a moment's notice.
The bushes ahead shook violently.
"Watch out!" Serie deployed a magic barrier, shielding Kurtz.
To conserve magical energy for the inevitable battle, she had turned off her detection spell moments ago, keeping only the most basic monster perception active, but she hadn't expected anything to approach so silently and get so dangerously close.
Could it be a creature with natural stealth abilities?
A familiar figure stumbled out, the dwarf Somo, barely recognisable under layers of blood.
He collapsed to his knees on the muddy ground, his entire body painted with blood both fresh and dried. The magical runes on his battle-axe had grown dim and lifeless, their power utterly spent.
"Wait! It's me!"
"Run..." Somo gasped. "So many monsters... everywhere!"
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