The vines lashed wildly through the forest, tearing across the air like living whips. Every strike carried enough force to split branches apart. The deeper they moved, the more violent the forest became, as though the trees themselves were trying to crush them alive.
"Move!" Sian shouted sharply.
Nobody hesitated.
They pushed forward together through the chaos, stumbling over roots and broken branches while vines snapped past their faces. The ground beneath their feet felt wrong. Soft. Uneven. Almost breathing.
James kept looking around while running, counting everyone instinctively.
"Everyone's here?"
Sian's sharp gaze swept across the group one by one.
Zoya.Riya.Yug.Astha.
Sreyan.Xingxing.
Kiupa—
Suddenly his expression darkened.
"…Where's Riju?"
Kiupa doubled over beside him, coughing violently as he struggled to breathe.
"That bastard…" he rasped angrily. "He left me there…"
"I'm here."
The quiet voice cut through the chaos.
Everyone turned immediately.
Riju stepped out slowly from between the trees.
The moment they saw him, the atmosphere changed.
Something about him felt wrong.
His right hand hung loosely at his side while blood dripped steadily from his fingertips onto the ground below. His face looked pale beneath the darkness of the forest, but strangely calm at the same time.
Too calm.
Sian moved toward him immediately.
"Riju, are you hurt? Stay with us."
Riju slowly raised his head.
His breathing sounded steady despite the blood loss, and his eyes looked unnaturally sharp, almost cold.
"I'm fine," he said quietly. "Listen carefully."
A vine suddenly whipped toward them.
Sreyan barely dodged out of the way. "We are seriously busy right now!"
Riju ignored him completely.
"Everyone stay close to me."
There was a slight tremor in his voice now, barely noticeable.
Then he slowly reached toward his pocket with his injured hand.
His fingers trembled once.
A faint wince crossed his face as he forced his hand deeper into the pocket, like the movement itself hurt.
For a second, it looked like he would collapse before pulling anything out.
Then finally, with visible effort, he removed a small black card.
The surface pulsed faintly in the darkness. Strange symbols moved across it slowly, shifting like living creatures beneath the surface.
The air around him changed instantly.
"Give me three minutes," Riju said quietly. "I can activate an invisible card."
James frowned while knocking another vine aside.
"And what exactly does that do?"
"It hides us," Sian answered immediately. "No sound. No presence. Fifteen minutes."
A thick vine slammed violently into the ground right beside Riju.
He didn't even flinch.
"We survive if this works," he said calmly.
That was enough for Sian.
"Protect him!"
The group immediately closed in around Riju.
And the forest attacked harder.
Vines burst from every direction at once. Some slithered across the ground while others dropped from above like hunting snakes. James smashed one aside with his shoulder while Xingxing cut another away before it reached Riya.
Sreyan grabbed Kiupa by the arm and pulled him backward just before a vine wrapped around his ankle.
"You are not dying here after everything we just survived," Sreyan snapped.
Kiupa coughed hard. "Wasn't planning to…"
Nearby, a vine suddenly lunged straight toward Astha.
Too fast.
Too close.
Yug reacted instantly. He stepped forward and knocked the attack aside before it could touch him.
"You stay behind me."
Astha blinked quietly.
Then he reached forward and took Yug's hand without hesitation.
"Okay," he said flatly. "I'm very weak."
Yug froze for exactly one second.
Then he pulled Astha closer while avoiding another strike.
A few feet away, Sreyan stared at them in disbelief while ducking beneath another vine.
Because only minutes ago, he had watched Astha walk through the forest like the attacks meant absolutely nothing.
Effortless.Precise.
Almost relaxed.
And now suddenly—
"Yeah," Sreyan muttered under his breath, "I'm not believing that for a second."
"Two minutes," Riju warned quietly.
He crouched slightly and pressed the black card tightly against his palm.
His injured hand trembled again.
Then the symbols suddenly ignited.
A faint glow spread across the surface of the card before growing brighter and brighter. The air around him distorted strangely, like heat bending reality itself.
The forest reacted immediately.
The vines became violent.
Faster.
Sharper.
Hungrier.
Several of them shot directly toward Riju at once.
"Not happening!" James shouted as he intercepted them, forcing them aside before they could reach him.
"Hold the line!"
Zoya tightened her grip around Riya's hand.
"Stay close."
Riya nodded quickly. "I'm not leaving."
Then the giggling returned.
Closer now.
Circling them slowly through the darkness between the trees.
Watching them.
Waiting patiently.
"Thirty seconds!" Riju shouted.
The glow around the card flared violently.
The air pulsed once.
Then suddenly the forest exploded.
Vines attacked from every direction at once, desperate and furious as though something had realized it was losing them.
"Get ready!" Sian shouted.
Then—
Everything stopped.
Instantly.
The vines froze midair before slowly retreating back into the darkness.
The forest became silent again.
Too silent.
Riju lowered his trembling hand slowly and exhaled weakly.
"It's done."
His eyes moved across the group.
"We have fifteen minutes."
A brief silence followed.
Then he spoke again.
"Run."
Nobody questioned him.
They ran immediately.
Fast.
Silent.
The forest twisted unnaturally around them while they moved. The shadows between the trees stretched strangely, and the roots beneath their feet shifted like living things crawling underground.
Something unseen followed them closely.
They could feel it.
But the silence felt worse than the attacks.
It followed patiently.
Waiting.
Behind them, Kiupa suddenly grabbed Riju by the collar and yanked him backward.
"You bastard!"
His voice shook with anger.
"You left me there!"
Riju staggered hard, barely staying upright. Blood poured faster from his injured hand now.
"No," he breathed weakly. "I didn't."
"Enough," Sian snapped sharply without slowing down. "We have ten minutes left. Keep moving."
Kiupa's jaw tightened, but eventually he shoved Riju forward again instead of arguing.
They kept running.
Because behind them, the forest still felt aware.
Like it remembered every single one of them.
Riju's steps slowly became uneven.
Once.Twice.
His breathing turned ragged as blood loss finally began catching up to him.
"Riju?" Zoya called anxiously.
No answer came back.
Sian noticed immediately.
Without slowing down, he caught Riju before he collapsed completely and pulled him over his shoulder.
"Keep moving," Sian ordered.
Riju didn't resist.
Couldn't.
His body had gone almost completely limp.
They pushed deeper through the forest as quickly as possible.
A few moments later, Riju stopped moving entirely.
Sian felt it immediately.
His jaw clenched hard.
"Damn it…"
"He passed out?" James asked quickly.
Sian didn't answer. He simply adjusted his grip and kept running.
Soon the path ahead split into two separate directions.
Both looked equally wrong.
"Yug," Sian called sharply. "Which way?"
Yug barely glanced ahead before answering immediately.
"Right."
Simple.
Certain.
Astha slowed slightly behind them.
His eyes flicked downward.
Blood drops.
Broken branches.
Then he heard it again.
That faint giggle somewhere behind them.
Closer now.
Tracking them.
Learning.
Astha's expression remained calm, but something in his eyes sharpened.
"Wait."
Without fully stopping, he bent down and grabbed a thick broken branch from the ground.Heavy.
Jagged.
Useful.
His gaze moved once more toward the blood trail Riju had been leaving behind.
Then suddenly Astha turned and hurled the branch deep into the left path.
The branch crashed loudly through bushes and branches, dragging blood across leaves and dirt as it disappeared into the darkness.
A louder trail.
A better target.
Astha turned back calmly.
"Right way," he said quietly. "Now."
Sian trusted him instantly.
He changed direction without hesitation.
Everyone followed.
Behind them, the giggling suddenly stopped.
As though something was listening.
Choosing carefully.
Then the sound moved away from them.
Toward the false trail.
Toward the blood.
Astha exhaled softly.
"Keep moving," he murmured. "Don't slow down."
Zoya stared at him in realization.
"You tricked it…"
Astha didn't answer.
His eyes remained fixed ahead, calm and unreadable.
Then suddenly—
They saw it.
A faint opening ahead through the darkness.
The edge of the forest.
"Do you see that?" James breathed out.
Nobody answered.
They didn't need to.
Hope hit all of them at once.
Sharp.
Dangerous.Desperate.
They ran faster.
The trees slowly began thinning around them.
The air felt lighter.
Real again.
Then finally—
They burst out of the forest.
Onto the empty pathway outside.
Still, nobody stopped running immediately.
Nobody trusted the silence yet.
Their breathing came hard and uneven as they slowly turned back toward the forest behind them.
The trees stood completely still once again.
Silent.
Watching.
And somewhere deep within the darkness—
That giggle returned.
Soft.
Amused.Patient.
Like it already knew they would come back again someday.
—
Riju's eyes suddenly opened.
He found himself lying on the ground while the others stood around him silently.
Watching him carefully.
Too carefully.
Like he had suddenly become someone unfamiliar.
Then Sian finally spoke.
His voice sounded cold and steady.
"So… you're not a newcomer."
Nobody interrupted him.
"You've cleared a game before."
A brief pause followed.
Then Sian said quietly,
"Treasure Hunt."
Every eye turned toward Riju again.
Riju didn't panic.
Didn't even try to sit up immediately.
He simply stared at the dark sky above them for a long moment before answering quietly.
"…Yes."