Chapter 95: My family can help you

"Don’t let them," Dante said. He stepped back until his shoulder brushed hers. "Yenna, keep the high ones off us."

"I’m trying!" she shouted. Her hands were shaking, but she kept cutting. Every time something dropped from above, the lantern’s light pulsed brighter. "There’s too many of them!"

"Then kill them faster."

A stag the size of a small house charged through the trees, antlers lowered. Miso met it head-on. The impact shook the ground. Dante used the opening. He ran along Miso’s side, jumped, and drove both daggers into the stag’s neck. It bellowed and reared. Esabella’s whip cracked across its face. Yenna cut the thread that connected its front legs to the rest of its body. The stag’s legs buckled and it went down.

The rest of the pack hesitated.

Dante stood in the middle of the clearing, daggers dripping. Esabella’s whip smoked. Yenna hovered above them, breathing fast.

The remaining beasts circled once, then began to pull back into the trees. The eyes in the dark thinned. After a few more seconds, they were gone.

[Multiple beasts slain.]

[Stats increased.]

Dante wiped one dagger clean on his sleeve and sheathed both. "Let’s keep Moving."

They walked for another hour. The mushrooms grew more and the path narrowed. Miso’s ears stayed low. No one spoke much.

Then they heard some noise . Up ahead, a clearing opened between the trees. A young man stood in the center of it, back against a moss-covered boulder, fighting three night stalkers at once. He looked no older than twenty. His left arm was already bleeding. One of the beasts charged. He barely got his sword up in time. And then He saw them.

"Help!" he shouted. His voice cracked. "Please—!"

Dante stopped. He looked at the boy, then at the three beasts, then at the dark around them. Esabella’s hand tightened on her whip. Yenna floated a little higher, watching.

"We don’t have time," Dante said quietly.

The boy cut one of the stalkers across the face and stumbled. "My family—!" he yelled, desperate. "If you help me, they’ll help you! They’re strong on this floor! They control the paths ahead! Please, just—" A night stalker knocked his sword aside and went for his throat.

But before they could do anything Dante moved.

He crossed the distance in three steps, daggers in his hands. One blade took the stalker’s arm. The second opened its throat. The body droped to the ground. Esabella’s whip cracked and the second beast lost both his arms. Yenna cut the last one’s thread from above. It dropped before it could reach the boy.

The young man slid down the boulder, breathing fast, sword shaking in his hand. He looked up at Dante. "Thank you," he said. "My name is—"

"Later," Dante said. He was already looking past him, into the trees. "Can you walk?"

The boy nodded quickly and pushed himself up. "Yes. And... my family really can help you. I wasn’t lying."

Dante glanced at him once, then turned. "Stay close. And don’t slow us down."

The boy swallowed and fell in behind them as they started walking again. Miso rumbled. Esabella stayed at Dante’s left, whip ready. Yenna floated just above the wolf’s back, watching the dark on both sides.

After few minutes the boy spoke. "Thank you. I... I didn’t think anyone would stop."

"We didn’t plan to," Dante said.

The boy hurried to catch up. He kept a careful distance at first, then drifted closer once he realized no one was going to snap at him.

"My name is Cael," he said after a minute. "My family has a settlement not far from here. They keep the paths clear. If you help me get back, they’ll let you through. They might even give you supplies."

"Might!!," Esabella repeated. She didn’t look at him.

Cael glanced at her, then quickly looked forward again. "They will. We’ve helped climbers before. Not many make it this deep into the forest, but the ones who do... my mother says it’s better to trade with them than fight them."

Yenna drifted lower until she was level with Dante’s shoulder. "How many of you are there?"

"Twenty-three," Cael answered. "Mostly adults. A few of us younger ones handle the outer watches. The forest doesn’t like large groups moving together, so we take turns."

They walked. Cael talked more as the minutes passed. He told them the mushrooms were safe to touch but not to eat. He pointed out a tree whose bark peeled in long white strips and said his sister used it for bandages. he told them all He knows about this place and said Dante to believe him because he knows everything about this forest. He asked Yenna about her, then went quiet when she didn’t answer. He never asked why Esabella’s eyes kept flicking toward him like she was measuring the distance between his throat and her whip.

After a while the path widened. Cael’s shoulders loosened.

"We’re close," he said. "You’ll see the posts soon."

The first post appeared between the trees ten minutes later. It was old wood, taller than a man, with faint lines carved into it that caught the mushroom light. More posts followed, forming a wide, uneven circle. Inside the circle the air changed. The constant low pressure of the forest eased. Miso’s ears lifted for the first time since they’d entered the floor.

People were already waiting. A woman stood at the front, a long scar running down her forearm. Two men with spears stood just behind her. Further back, near the houses, several children watched from doorways and steps. None of them ran forward. They simply looked.

The woman smiled when she saw Cael.

"You made it back," she said. "We were starting to worry." She turned her attention to Dante and the others.

Cael stepped half a pace ahead of Dante. "They saved me from three stalkers. I told them we could offer safe help and supplies."

"You have our thanks. The forest has been restless lately. Not many people stop to help.amd yes We can help" the woman said easily. "Come inside the circle. You can rest, eat, and decide what you want to do next."

One of the men behind her nodded. A girl around twelve stood near the nearest house, arms folded, watching Yenna’s with mild interest. Some Tired people. Cautious gratitude. Children who had learned not to get too close to strangers.

Yenna didn’t move forward with the others.

She stayed where she was, floating just outside the line of posts, violet light steady around her. Her ears were up. Her eyes moved from the woman to the two spearmen, then to the children in the background. She looked at Cael. Then she looked at the girl by the house again.

The girl met her gaze for half a second. She didn’t smile. She didn’t look away either.

Yenna’s fingers tightened around the edge of her lantern.

"Dante," she said quietly. He had already stepped past the first post. He stopped and glanced back at her.

Yenna didn’t explain. She just kept watching the children, her expression like she had noticed something the rest of them hadn’t caught yet.

Inside the circle, the woman was still smiling.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.