Chapter 94: Floor 56 The Moonless Forest

The light went out all at once. One moment, Dante was standing on Floor 55 with Esabella on his left and Yenna floating at his shoulder. The next, the floor dropped away, and a white flash swallowed everything.

He landed on his feet in wet leaves.

[Floor 56: The Moonless Forest.]

[Notice: The floor feeds on fear.]

He looked up. Black trees rose into a sky with no stars and no moon. Pale mushrooms grew on the trunks and gave off a green glow, just enough to see the outline of branches. There were no gate, and no way back.

"Where are we?" Esabella asked.

"Floor 56." Dante replied.

A shape thudded down beside them. Miso, the wolf, had come through the flash with them. He shook out his coat and let out a uneasy rumble. His ears were down.

"He doesn’t like it," Yenna said. She hovered beside his head , "Neither do I."

"Get on," Dante said.

They rode single file along a narrow animal path, with Miso leading and the trees closing overhead.

Dante sat in front with his hands loose on the wolf’s fur. Behind him, Yenna sat close against his back with her arms around his waist clothes. Esabella took the rear, sitting straight, with her whip coiled and her eyes on the dark.

The forest was silent. Then it wasn’t.

’ Heh. Heh. Heh.’ A low laugh came from somewhere to the left. like someone laughing through water. Yenna’s ears shot up.

’Come here. Come, come.’

"Did you hear the voice?" she whispered.

"Yes."

’Little cat. Little lost cat.’

She jumped. Her arms tightened around Dante’s waist, and she pressed her face against his shoulder blade.

"It knows me," she said into his coat. "It said little cat."

"It says something to everyone."

Behind them, Esabella’s head turned slowly.

’Mama’s coming. Mama’s here.’

Yenna made a tiny sound. Her whole body shook. Dante felt it through his back.

"Don’t answer , It isn’t real," he said.

"I won’t"

Esabella watched her sticked to him. Her eyes narrowed. Her fingers closing around the whip handle. ’She’s very close.’

Then a voice come ’Little flame. My little flame. Come home.’

Esabella went stiff. Her breath caught. She froze with her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide.

For two seconds, she didn’t move. Then, very slowly, she lifted one hand and pressed it against her chest.

"My king, I’m scared." she said in a small, trembling voice. He glanced back and stared at her.

"Hold me?" She leaned forward and wrapped both arms around his waist from behind, pushing Yenna aside. "The voices. They sound like my father. I can’t stop hearing it."

But in reality she wasn’t afraid one bit . And of course the reason she was doing it because....

"Lady Esabella," Yenna said sharply. "I was here first.You said you were never afraid of anything!"

"That was before this forest."

"But You’re a dragon queen!"

"Dragons can be scared!"

"Then be scared over there!"

"No,This is the best seat!"

"It’s my seat!"

"It’s the wolf’s back, it belongs to everyone!"

"Miso is mine!"

"Is he your husband?"

"What–What , No–No! W-What are you even talking about"

Dante closed his eyes. Both of them were pressed against him, one on each side. Esabella’s arms were locked around his waist. Yenna’s were gripping his sleeve. They kept arguing over his shoulder in sharp, furious whispers.

’Little cat.’

’Little flame.’

The voices crooned from the trees, and the girls ignored them completely.

’They’re not scared anymore,’ he thought. ’They’ve forgotten about the forest.’

"Stop," he said.

"She started it!"

"She’s the one who..."

"I said stop."

They finally stopped. "I’m tired of this," he said flatly. "Both of you. Sit up."

"But the voices..."

"You already know that They’re not real."

Esabella made a small, wounded noise. Yenna lowered her eyes. But Neither of them let go.

He sighed and shook his head.

Then Miso stopped so suddenly that all three of them swayed. His ears droped, and a deep growl rumbled in his chest.

"What is it?" Yenna whispered. The voices had gone quiet. Esabella lifted her head. Her eyes were fixed on a patch of darkness to the left, between two trees. It’s feels like she noticed something. Her arm shot past Dante’s shoulder, and her whip uncoiled with a loud sound.

Something black and big leapt out of the trees behind them. It was huge, all teeth and claws, six legs, glowing yellow eyes. It flew straight at Dante’s back.

The whip hit it in mid-air. It cracked across the creature’s face and threw it sideways. The thing slammed into a trunk and dropped to the ground, shrieking.

"How dare you," Esabella said. Her expression had gone angry. She stood up on Miso’s back, one hand on the wolf’s neck, and pointed the whip at the thing on the ground.

"You dare to jumped at my king."

The creature hissed and tried to get up. She flicked her wrist, and the whip took its leg off at the knee. And Another flick. Its other front leg.

"With your filthy claws."

"Esabella, it’s already dead " Dante said.

She stopped, She looked down. The creature lay still in the leaves with its eyes dimmed.

[Beast slain: Night Stalker (Elite Tier).]

[Stats increased: +3 Strength, +3 Agility for Esabella.]

"Oh," Esabella said. She blinked, and a small, pleased smile touched her mouth. "I got stronger."

Yenna floated a little higher, with her violet eyes glowing . "Dante, Look around. " she said slowly.

He looked. The dark between the trees was full of eyes. They were yellow and green and red, hundreds of them, set low and high, in the branches, in the roots, in the undergrowth. They didn’t blink. A slow breathing rose from the leaves around them, and a growl rolled across the clearing from every side.

Wolves. Boars. Things like big cats with too many teeth. Snakes as thick as a man’s leg, hanging in the branches. A giant owl with a face like a skull. A stag as tall as a house, with antlers hung with moss.

"They’re all around us," Yenna whispered.

Dante stood up on Miso’s back. "Esabella." He said in a calm voice.

"I thought you’d never ask, my king~" She snapped her whip, and the dark lit up with red fire.

Dante dropped from Miso’s back and landed in a crouch, both daggers already in his hands. Esabella’s whip cracked once and the nearest night stalker lost its head. Yenna rose higher into the air, the violet ring of her lantern flaring around her as she floated between the trees.

"Left side," Dante said.

"I see them," Esabella answered. Her whip lashed out again, wrapping around a thick-bodied boar that had charged from the undergrowth. She yanked.The boar’s front legs left the ground and Dante stepped in, driving both daggers into its throat before it could recover. Black blood sprayed across the leaves.

"Yenna, the ones in the branches."

"On it." She lifted one hand. Three threads appeared in the air above them. She cut the first. A giant owl dropped from the canopy with a broken neck. She cut the second. A long snake that had been coiling toward Esabella’s back went limp and fell. The third thread snapped and a many-legged thing on a higher branch screamed once before it stopped moving.

Miso snarled and went forward, catching a wolf mid-leap and slamming it into the ground. Dante stayed low, weaving between the beasts. A night stalker came at him from the right. He ducked under its claws, spun, and buried one dagger under its jaw while the second opened its side. It collapsed. Another come from the opposite direction. Esabella’s whip took its legs out from under it before Dante finished it.

"They’re trying to split us," Esabella called, Her whip was already moving again, painting red arcs through the dark.