It had been quite some time since Ash managed to escape the wolves' hunting grounds.
After finally sensing that the danger had passed, he sat down beneath a nearby tree to rest. He remained there, doing nothing but slowly recovering his strength, never allowing his body to truly relax even for a moment.
He did not dare to sleep.
Danger could appear at any time, and he needed to stay alert to respond immediately if something happened.
Because of that, Ash was now extremely drowsy. Exhaustion weighed heavily on him, both mentally and physically. His body felt hollow, his mind dull and strained.
He realized that he had already surpassed what most ordinary people could endure. If it had been anyone else, they would likely have lost their life the moment they stopped to rest that morning, overwhelmed by fatigue.
That train of scattered thoughts was enough.
Ash slowly leaned forward and pushed himself up, rising unsteadily to his feet. His steps were shaky, each movement deliberate.
He did not dare remain in one place for too long. There was no way to know what might appear if he lingered, and staying still for too long could cause him to slip into sleep without realizing it.
'When will all of this end…'
Ash sighed inwardly. He was not someone who complained often, yet even he could not help but resent his current situation.
'If it were another Chosen… what would they do?'
He wondered whether another Chosen, someone other than himself, would be able to survive like this. Or perhaps they would accomplish things he himself could not.
'Hopefully I won't get sick in a place like this.'
Even as he thought that, Ash was confident in his own constitution. He believed his resistance was strong enough that he would not fall ill so easily.
He continued walking while letting his thoughts wander, using them to fight off the overwhelming sleepiness creeping into his mind.
Suddenly, Ash stopped.
His intuition caught something—something strange about the place he was standing in.
A shiver ran down his spine.
There was an unnatural feeling in this area, something that made his instincts scream in warning. He did not continue forward. Instead, Ash tried to circle around the path.
Yet even after detouring, the sense of unease refused to fade.
That only confirmed it for him.
This was a place he could not avoid. The only option left was to walk straight through it and try to come out the other side.
Ash hesitated for a moment, then made his decision and stepped forward.
Suddenly a dense white fog slowly rolled in, engulfing the entire area. At first, he could still see the ground beneath his feet—but soon, the fog thickened to the point where even the ground vanished from view.
'What is this? What is this fog?'
Guided by a strange instinct, his gaze turned toward the direction he had come from.
Somehow—at some unknown moment—
A black silhouette appeared.
The darkness of night and the heavy fog obscured his vision, making him question whether he was seeing things.
'What… am I looking at?'
But the longer he stared, the clearer the shape became.
Now Ash was certain.
It was humanoid in shape. It had a head—but no eyes, no nose, no mouth.
The shadow advanced toward him, step by slow step.
Seeing it approach, Ash instinctively prepared to flee.
'Ah…'
But his leg had cramped, refusing to move.
With no time to think, he raised his wooden branch into a defensive stance.
The shadow was now only a few steps away.
Closer.
Closer.
'Is this really where I die?'
Ash could do nothing but watch as it advanced.
At some point, the shadow was standing directly in front of him.
He swung the branch with all his remaining strength.
But to his shock, it passed straight through the shadow—as if striking nothing but air.
The shadow continued forward.
And then—
It passed straight through Ash's body.
It showed no reaction, as if it hadn't just been struck at all.
After passing through him, the shadow continued walking west.
Ash stood frozen, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
As it passed through him, he felt an overwhelming chill—not only physically, but deep within his soul.
He turned to look back.
The shadow continued onward, indifferent to his presence.
'…So that's it?'
Ash exhaled in relief when nothing else happened.
Then he turned forward.
His eyes widened.
What he saw was something he had never witnessed in his eighteen years of life.
From within the thick fog emerged another shadow.
Then another.
Two. Three.
Soon—thousands. Tens of thousands.
They flooded forth, moving westward, forming a vast black procession that nearly consumed his entire field of vision.
They were identical in shape and size.
All moving in the same direction.
Step by slow step.
Some passed directly through Ash, but just like before, they behaved like phantoms—passing through without harm.
'They really are just shadows… thankfully, not ghosts.'
Tens of thousands of shadows marched through the white fog on a dark forest night.
The sight was eerie—terrifying.
He looked for a moment and then decided to follow those shadows.
When he followed those shadows moving forward, he felt a bit tired, so Ash approached a tree and leaned against it to rest for a moment.
But what he touched was not the rough bark he expected.
'Huh? What am I touching?'
Ash raised his eyes to look at what his hand had rested on. The moment he realized it, his expression stiffened, and he quickly pulled his hand away.
What he had touched was not a tree trunk.
It was a face.
Yes—a human face carved into the tree.
It belonged to a middle-aged man. His face was frozen in a scream, twisted with panic, fear, and terror, as if he were desperately fleeing from something.
Ash was stunned. He could not believe that a human face had been carved here.
Slowly, he lifted his gaze upward.
What entered his vision made his blood run cold.
All across the trees within his line of sight were countless carved faces—men and women, young and old—etched into the trunks.
Yet they all shared the same expression.
Fear.
Every single one of them looked as though they were running from something.
'What is happening here? Who are these people? Why are they so terrified?'
These questions filled Ash's mind as he stared at the scene before him.
'And what are they running from?'
That question unsettled him the most.
He immediately moved to another nearby tree and discovered more faces carved into its surface.
He continued checking the surrounding trees.
Every single one bore the same kind of faces.
The same expressions.The same sense of motion.The same terror frozen in place.
As he observed more carefully, Ash noticed something strange.
All of the faces were carved facing east.
The opposite direction from where he was heading.
That meant they were all fleeing from something in the west.
'Choosing to go west was probably the right decision.'
Surprisingly, Ash did not feel panic or hesitation about the direction he had chosen.
The more abnormalities he encountered in the west, the more certain he became that the Core was located there.
He looked once more at the terrified faces fleeing in silence, then turned his gaze toward the west.
And he continued walking.
Walking through the area of these face-shaped trees and these soulless ghosts made Ash feel a bit strange, but since nothing dangerous happened, it was okay.
As he continued to walk, the fog gradually began to lift, and the face-shaped trees appeared less and less.
As he continued to walk, the fog gradually began to lift, and the face-shaped trees appeared less and less.
Then all the shadows had disappeared, not a single one remained, and you couldn't see any strange trees anymore.
'What… are they, really?'
He looked toward the west—the direction they had vanished.
'What exactly is waiting for me in the west?'
'And what is really happening in this forest?'