Chapter 27: Run (first part)

Five minutes had passed since Leon and the city guards started their journey back to the temple.

They thought there was still some time before midnight would arrive, so they maintained their pace, which was fast and exhausting enough to be discomfiting but not to the point where they would feel their lungs on fire.

However, the situation suddenly changed for the worse.

The environment throughout the Darkwood Forest underwent an oppressive change.

First, the shadows grew longer and their acceptable shapes changed to a horrific form, making it seem like they were alive and about to pounce on the people nearest to them like bloodthirsty beasts.

Then, the soft rustle of leaves started to sound like muffled screams and sobs laced with a hint of sarcasm, as if mentally deranged killers were mimicking the last cries of their victims, whom they had brutally murdered.