Chapter 378 - 346: Entering Deep Forest...

(A/N):

Drop a meme here that you find funny. Or reflects your mood.

Guys I hope you put more comments and power stones... Which will encourage me...

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After hearing everything the tribe leader had to say, Devara rose from the mat, his decision already made.

There was little point in remaining inside the hut and discussing possibilities when the answers they were looking for were somewhere beyond the settlement, hidden beneath the thick canopy of the forest.

Karna and Ashwatthama also stood up, checking their weapons before following him toward the entrance.

The tribe leader picked up his spear and a small hunting knife, then tied a bundle of supplies around his waist before joining them.

"I will guide you," the tribe leader said as he stepped outside.

"You have never travelled this deep into our forest, and even those who have lived here all their lives can become lost if they do not know which paths to follow."

Devara nodded his head.

"Then we will rely on your knowledge of the forest."

The four men left the settlement together.

The moment they crossed beyond the bamboo boundary, the atmosphere seemed to change.

The sounds of the tribe slowly faded behind them, replaced by the rustling of leaves, distant bird calls and the occasional snap of a branch somewhere deeper within the trees.

The forest stretched before them like an enormous green maze, its ancient trees rising high into the sky with branches so thick that sunlight struggled to reach the ground in many places.

Vines hung from the branches, while roots twisted across the earth like the backs of sleeping serpents.

The tribe leader walked ahead, spear in hand, carefully selecting their path.

Every few steps he would pause to examine the ground, a broken branch or the disturbed soil before continuing.

Devara followed closely behind him, with Karna and Ashwatthama walking on either side.

Unlike the tribe leader, however, the three warriors did not move with the nervous caution of ordinary travelers.

Their eyes constantly scanned the surroundings, searching for tracks, movement and anything that seemed out of place.

As they went deeper, the tribe leader began pointing out familiar locations.

"This stream used to be one of the places where the tigers came to drink,"

he explained while leading them across a narrow stretch of shallow water.

"We used to see their tracks along this bank almost every week."

Devara looked down.

There were tracks everywhere.

But none belonged to a tiger.

Instead, the muddy ground was filled with the hoofprints of wild boars.

"How long has it been since you last saw a tiger here?" Devara asked.

"Almost two years."

Devara’s expression became serious.

"Two years?"

The tribe leader nodded.

"Not even a glimpse."

Karna looked around the forest.

"Yet the forest itself does not appear empty."

"It isn’t," the leader replied.

"That is what makes it strange."

He continued walking.

They soon passed through an area where the ground was covered with torn vegetation.

Several plants had been uprooted, and the earth had been churned into deep patches of mud.

"Boars," Ashwatthama said.

The leader nodded.

"They have become extremely destructive. Earlier, we would occasionally find signs of them digging here, but now entire sections of the forest look like this."

Devara crouched beside one of the disturbed patches and touched the soil. The marks were fresh.

"They were here recently."

The tribe leader looked at the tracks.

"Perhaps less than an hour ago."

Devara stood.

"Then we should be careful."

The four continued deeper into the forest.

With every passing moment, the canopy above them became thicker.

The sunlight disappeared almost entirely, leaving only scattered beams that slipped between the branches.

The air became cooler, yet there was an unusual stillness around them.

Devara noticed it first.

There were birds.

But very few of them were singing.

He stopped walking.

Karna and Ashwatthama immediately halted as well.

The tribe leader turned around.

"What happened?"

Devara looked around slowly.

"Nothing."

He paused.

"That is precisely what concerns me."

The tribe leader’s expression changed.

He understood immediately.

The forest was too quiet.

A place this dense should have been filled with the sounds of insects, birds and animals moving through the undergrowth.

Instead, there were long stretches of silence broken only by the sound of their own footsteps.

Devara slowly looked deeper into the forest.

Whatever had driven away the tigers might have left something behind.

And now, for the first time since entering the forest, he had the uncomfortable feeling that something might be watching them from somewhere beyond the trees.

As they continued deeper into the forest, the signs of the disturbance became increasingly difficult to ignore.

Several trees along their path had been badly damaged, their bark torn away in long vertical strips while some of the lower branches had been snapped clean off.

A few younger trees had even been pushed over completely, their roots exposed above the soil.

The tribe leader stopped beside one of them and examined the marks carefully.

"These weren’t caused by hunters," he said.

"Something has been doing this repeatedly."

Devara ran his fingers over the damaged bark.

The marks were fresh enough that the sap was still slowly leaking from the wounds.

"Boars," the tribe leader added after examining the ground.

"They rub against the trunks and dig around the roots. When their numbers increased, they began damaging trees they previously ignored."

Karna looked deeper into the forest.

"Their population must have grown far beyond what the land can support."

"That is why they have become so aggressive," the tribe leader replied.

"There is no longer enough food for all of them."

Before Devara could answer, a loud trumpet suddenly echoed through the forest.

The sound was so powerful that birds burst from the branches overhead.

Everyone immediately turned toward it.

Another trumpet followed, this one accompanied by the furious squealing of several animals.

The tribe leader’s expression changed.

"Elephants."

The four men quickly moved toward the source of the noise, pushing through the thick vegetation until the trees opened into a relatively wide clearing.

What they saw made even the experienced tribe leader pause.

A massive elephant stood in the center of the clearing, its enormous ears spread wide and its trunk raised as it faced a group of wild boars.

The animal was clearly agitated, its feet digging into the earth while its tusks pointed toward the smaller creatures surrounding it.

There must have been more than a dozen boars.

They were behaving with astonishing boldness.

Rather than fleeing from the elephant, several charged toward it, their tusks lowered as they attempted to bite and ram its legs.

The elephant answered immediately.

With a thunderous trumpet, it lunged forward and swung its trunk.

One of the boars was struck so hard that its entire body was lifted from the ground before it was sent tumbling several feet away.

Another rushed from the side.

The elephant turned with surprising speed and drove its enormous head forward.

The boar was thrown backward, rolling through the dirt before scrambling to its feet.

A third tried to attack from behind, but the elephant kicked backward with one of its massive legs, sending the animal skidding across the ground.

Karna’s eyebrows rose slightly.

"That elephant has had enough of them."

Ashwatthama watched silently as another boar attempted to charge.

The elephant trumpeted and stamped its foot with such force that the ground shook beneath them.

The boar immediately hesitated.

For a moment, the clearing became a strange standoff.

The elephant stood like a mountain of living muscle, its body covered in dust and its tusks gleaming beneath the filtered sunlight, while the boars circled around it, squealing and snorting aggressively.

Then one particularly bold boar charged again.

The elephant lowered its head.

With a sudden burst of strength, it rushed forward and caught the boar with its tusks, tossing the animal several feet through the air.

The remaining boars finally seemed to realize that they had chosen the wrong opponent.

They scattered into the undergrowth.

The elephant chased them for several steps before stopping, giving another tremendous trumpet that echoed through the trees.

Devara watched the entire encounter carefully.

"The boars are challenging an elephant," he said quietly.

The tribe leader nodded.

"That would have been unthinkable before."

"Because they are desperate," Devara replied.

"They are running out of food and territory. They are challenging anything they believe might be competing with them."

He looked toward the direction in which the boars had disappeared.

"But that still doesn’t explain why the forest became like this in the first place."

The elephant slowly turned toward them.

For a moment, its eyes settled on the four men standing at the edge of the clearing.

Devara remained perfectly still.

The elephant studied them for several seconds before lowering its trunk and returning its attention to the damaged vegetation around it.

The tribe leader released a breath he had apparently been holding.

"We should continue," he said quietly.

"The deeper we go, the stranger the forest becomes."

Devara nodded.

As they resumed their journey, he glanced once more over his shoulder at the elephant standing alone in the clearing.

The forest was no longer simply suffering from an increase in wild boars.

The entire balance of the ecosystem seemed to be shifting.

And somewhere beyond the trees, there had to be a reason.

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(Author note:)

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