Savage Forest - Chapter 120.2

The wind howled fiercely, and thunder boomed overhead. It felt as if every tree in the Nervana Forest was crying out. After moving Jahan to the safe spot where Reyhald lay, Enya began searching for Fiarca and Silanda, but she couldn’t see anything. The pouring rain left her eyes and ears numb.

Just then, a loud cracking sound echoed.

A chill ran down Enya’s spine.

…The giant tree was about to collapse.

‘Senu…!’

Enya dashed back in the direction she had come from. If the tree fell, Senu, whom she had left behind, would surely be crushed to death.

She spotted Senu precariously leaning against the fallen tree and shouted.

“Senu, no…!”

In that instant, she threw herself forward.

Summoning all her strength, she pulled Senu away just in time to avoid the tree’s falling path. The tree crashed down with a weighty thud, the heaviest sound she had ever heard. The boulder beneath them split in two, causing everyone standing on it to sway.

Enya clutched Senu tightly and squeezed her eyes shut.

“Hah…! Hah…!”

Gasping for breath, she glanced around.

The tree hadn’t crushed her and Senu, but it had indeed split the massive boulder in half. It seemed that the path for Silanda, Fiarca, and Yaru’s group to climb up the boulder was on the other side of the fallen tree.

‘It’s just me and Senu who are isolated.’

Enya struggled to remain calm. She took a deep breath and gently patted Senu’s cheek.

“Senu, Senu… wake up.”

He finally managed to open his eyes.

“Enya…?”

His condition looked serious.

Enya looked at Senu, whose arms and legs had wounds from the skirmish between Fiarca’s group and Gernan’s men. There wasn’t a healthy spot left on him. Though he hadn’t been in good health to begin with, Senu now appeared as if he might lose consciousness at any moment.

Feeling a little scared, Enya whispered to him.

“Se, Senu. You can’t pass out here.”

However, he merely closed his eyes again, struggling to regain consciousness. In the pouring rain, Enya called out to him, not knowing what else to do.

“Senu! Yaru’s group has arrived. They came to help us. We need to join forces with them…!”

Enya had just witnessed Gernan fall. But even with the looming threat of the skull spider still ahead, she couldn’t give up. Gritting her teeth, she encouraged Senu.

She shouted as if for herself.

“We’re almost there, Senu. You can’t give up now. Remember what you said when we first talked about coming to Nervana Forest?”

The rain lashed against her face, water streaming mercilessly down her cheeks. Words tumbled out without going through her mind.

“You said you wanted to live in the sunlight, Senu. The lepers … Jahan, Caleb, Lomba…”

As she recalled every name of those who had suffered in the leper den, Senu’s eyes flickered slightly.

Enya staggered forward, supporting Senu as best she could. She was determined to cross the fallen tree that blocked the path across the wide rock and reunite with Silanda and Fiarca. She kept murmuring to Senu, feeling the need to say something—anything—that might bring him back to consciousness.

“Once everything is over, I’ll ask the people of Nervana to help the lepers settle here… to start new lives… I’ll bring Piache too, and the apothecary people… even Ihita… everyone deserves to live proudly… and… Tarhan too…”

Her voice cracked.

Struggling to support Senu as he sagged, she dragged him forward. But after only a few steps, his body crumpled to the ground once again. Exhaustion overwhelmed her. Enya felt like her entire body was made of wet cotton, with no strength left to move. The heavy rain was doing nothing to help them.

A wave of frustration rose up inside her.

Finally, she shouted at Senu.

“Look, Senu! We just have to cross this tree! Do you know how worried Silanda is about you? If you give up here, I will never defend you when she berates you later!”

As soon as the words left her mouth, a rough groan escaped from Senu’s throat. It took her a moment to realize it was a laugh.

“…That’s quite terrifying.”

A voice emerged from his lips, sounding as if it had come from a corpse long dead for a hundred years. Enya’s eyes widened in surprise.

Though raindrops struck her face, she didn’t even feel the sting.

Suddenly, Senu jolted upright, his breath coming faster through his cracked lips, but unlike before, he was moving on his own.

Enya swallowed hard and hurried to support him. Whether it was the mention of Silanda’s name that motivated him or something else, a distinct determination had appeared on his face. Feeling silently grateful to Silanda, Enya helped guide him slowly toward the tree.

“You go up first. I’ll help you.”

“…I’m sorry for always being a burden, Enya.”

“Save your thanks for after everything is over.”

The two of them struggled to move Senu’s body up the tree. It was clear it would be challenging, given that his weakened body couldn’t support itself.

“Just a little more, Senu…! Just a bit more…!”

“Huuh, huuh…”

Enya tried her best to think of anything that could help. She repeated it to herself frantically.

It was going to work. Once they got over this tree, they could reunite with Yaru’s group. She would see Silanda, Fiarca, and even Reyhald and Jahan again. If she could just reunite with her companions, they could start anew—begin again from the very beginning.

And someday, she would surely meet Tarhan as well.

‘Please…!’

The arms supporting Senu from below began to tremble. It wasn’t just from the cold. Then, something in the dark, rain-soaked path struck fiercely against Enya’s thigh.

“Ahhh…!”

In an instant, her hair was yanked and dragged towards the other side of the fallen tree.

After that, she couldn’t even scream properly.

Enya gasped in pain, gripping her legs and hair tightly. She heard Senu tumble from the tree and hit the ground with a thud. He might have lost consciousness again.

“Wh, who…!”

Amid the excruciating pain of her thigh scraping against the ground, Enya strained her eyes to see who had attacked her.

She saw tangled black hair, carelessly cut and matted against a dry, skeletal frame.

The figure had thin, bony limbs, resembling a skeleton. Yet, there was no mistaking the identity of that back. Through the heavy rain, with her eyes barely open, she caught a glimpse of Servia turning to face her, her eyes glowing with a monstrous light.