Ezra and Diane stepped into the much denser forest without hesitation.
Fog flowed between the trees, moving slowly across the ground and curling around their legs as they advanced. The farther they went, the thicker it became, making the surrounding forest harder to see.
Just as their research had described the habitat, the area really felt like a place where a ghost lived.
There was something wrong with the atmosphere.
The trees stood close together, their thick leaves forming a large canopy above them. Snow continued falling through the gaps between the branches, covering the ground in a thin layer of white.
The amount of snow was also much greater here.
The territory of the Whitecrest Eagles had been covered in snow as well, but this place was completely different.
It was close to a blizzard.
The falling snow was heavy enough that Ezra could barely keep his eyes open without protection.
It reminded him of his time in Myrwick when he had been searching for Rogers.
That place had also been cold enough to make movement difficult, but this forest felt worse.
Ezra adjusted the black shade covering his eyes.
It protected them from the falling snow while allowing him to see through the thick white curtain surrounding the forest.
Diane, on the other hand, moved peacefully through the snowy area.
She didn’t seem bothered by the cold or the poor visibility.
The two advanced together.
This time, however, they were walking.
There was no reason to waste energy by running through an area they could barely see.
Ezra’s boots sank slightly into the snow with each step.
Crunch.
Diane’s footsteps followed shortly afterward.
Crunch.
The sounds were small, but in the strange quiet of the forest, they seemed louder than they should have been.
Hours passed as they continued moving.
Eventually, they could no longer tell what time it was by looking at the sun or the sky.
The canopy of leaves above them had blocked most of the sunlight, while the heavy snowfall made the sky even harder to see.
The thick branches did stop the snow from falling as heavily as it did in the open area, but the snowfall was so intense that a large amount still managed to pass through the gaps.
Snow slipped from the surrounding trees whenever the branches became too heavy.
Whump.
A pile of snow dropped onto the ground.
Ezra glanced toward the sound before continuing.
The fog made moving through the forest harder.
It reduced their vision and blurred the trees farther ahead, making it difficult to tell how much farther they needed to travel.
There was also almost no sound from any living creature.
No birds.
No distant roars.
No movement from the monsters that should have been living within such a large habitat.
Only their footsteps could be heard.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crunch.
The quiet continued.
"It’s good to see you are doing well."
Ezra stopped.
His black dull eyes looked toward the fog ahead.
There was no one there.
The trees stood quietly.
Snow continued falling.
The fog moved slowly between the trunks.
Ezra didn’t immediately respond.
He simply stared ahead.
Then he turned around.
"Ezra."
The voice came from behind him.
Ezra looked.
It was himself.
Or, more accurately, it was his past self in his teenage form.
The figure stood among the snow-covered trees.
His appearance was familiar.
Too familiar.
Ezra looked at him plainly without showing any reaction.
His past-self smiled.
"You must be wondering why I’m here."
The past life teenage Ezra began walking toward him with slow steps.
His boots pressed into the snow as he approached.
Ezra remained where he was.
"Your plan..."
The voice suddenly came from Ezra’s back.
He didn’t turn around.
The voice continued.
"Was really amazing."
Ezra’s past-self smiled more.
The smile wasn’t friendly.
It carried something that made the surrounding silence feel heavier.
"You already knew that the Ghost Crawler you were meant to hunt was an Elder-stage Ghost Crawler from the sudden sight of the Dry Ents."
The voice came from Ezra’s right side.
Ezra slowly shifted his eyes in that direction.
The past self was there.
He hadn’t heard him move.
"That place wasn’t a Dry Ents territory in the first place," the past Ezra continued. "Since they always spend most of their time in less-open ground, so, their camouflage ability can work effortlessly."
He paused.
"But something had made them move here."
The forest became quiet.
For a while, the past-self voice went quiet.
The falling snow continued covering the ground around them.
"Senior Jeremy did pick the right spot for the team to move."
The past-self continued.
"But he omitted this important detail and assumed it was actually a Dry Ents territory."
He smiled.
"Even though you couldn’t sense the Young Ghost Crawler, you were still alert that maybe this was what was happening."
The past Ezra suddenly appeared on top of a nearby branch.
He sat comfortably on it, one leg hanging down while he looked at Ezra from above.
"So, what did you do to make things easier for yourself?"
The younger Ezra jumped down from the branch.
He landed in front of Ezra.
"You purposely revealed a bit of the sure information you had found."
He walked closer.
"And you didn’t complain about the bad idea Senior Jeremy made when he decided that the group should advance."
The smile on his face grew.
"So that the baggage would get taken to the main territory while the useful members would..."
He suddenly stopped.
Then he began laughing.
"Puff..."
His shoulders shook.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"
The laughter echoed around the forest.
It passed through the fog and bounced between the trees.
"You don’t even care if they died."
The past Ezra’s laughter slowly faded.
"You just let them get captured so you could move easier."
He stepped closer again.
"So, you could get to the territory of the Elder Ghost Crawler faster instead of allowing dead weight to hold you back."
He stopped directly in front of Ezra.
"Isn’t that right, Ezra?"
Both of them looked at each other eye to eye.
Ezra’s dull black eyes stared back at his past self’s completely black eyes.
It felt like two abysses staring down at each other.
The past life teenage Ezra still wore that twisted smile.
"Tell me, Ezra."
His voice became quieter.
"What is on your mind now?"
Ezra didn’t answer.
The younger version of himself stared at him.
"Tell me, Ezra."
His voice suddenly became louder.
"Ezra!"
The shout echoed through the forest.
He disappeared.
Ezra’s eyes moved across the surrounding trees.
The figure was gone.
There was no trace of him.
But everything his past-self had said was true.
From the moment Ezra obeyed Jeremy’s order for them to begin advancing during the night, to the moment he realized that the Young Ghost Crawlers’ illusion was already at work, the events had happened exactly as described.
The other members had been taken one by one.
And the funny thing was that Diane had also allowed it to happen.
She had the same mindset as Ezra.
The two of them had purposely allowed their group members to be taken.
Which meant...
They had watched.
They had watched Jeremy.
Agnes.
Emily.
Samuel.
Hugh.
One by one, they had been taken while the group continued running through the forest with the illusion already affecting them.
Emily had been taken first.
Ezra had seen the Young Ghost Crawler replace her after she was abducted.
She hadn’t screamed.
She hadn’t struggled.
She hadn’t even realized that she had already been separated from the group.
Ezra continued running.
His expression remained cold.
He had acted as though he was also caught within the illusion.
Samuel was taken next.
The same thing happened.
The Young Ghost Crawler replaced him.
Ezra saw it.
Diane saw it.
Neither of them reacted.
Hugh was taken after Samuel.
Then Agnes.
Each time, another member disappeared.
Each time, a Young Ghost Crawler took their place.
And finally...
Jeremy.
They watched him get abducted.
They watched another Young Ghost Crawler replace him.
Yet neither Ezra nor Diane acted.
They continued moving.
The reason was simple.
The two of them had already reached a level of mental strength that the illusions of the Young Ghost Crawlers couldn’t affect.
They knew what was happening.
They knew that their group members were being taken.
And they allowed it.
Not because they wanted them dead.
Not because they hated them.
They simply didn’t want the others slowing them down when they were already dealing with an Elder Ghost Crawler.
Since the two already knew that it was an Elder Ghost Crawler, they had to hunt.
But both acted like they didn’t know of this until the abduction of their members.
Everything played again inside Ezra’s mind as though it had just happened.
He remembered continuing to run as though nothing was wrong.
He remembered seeing Emily disappear.
Then Samuel.
Then Hugh.
Then Agnes.
Then Jeremy.
And he had continued forward.
Just like now...
Bang!
Bang!
Ezra’s body had reacted before his thoughts had completely returned.
The muzzle of his gun flashed.
Two bullets tore through the fog at something which lunged toward him.
The bullets struck its body before it could reach him only a few meters away.
Krrrraaaak...
The Young Ghost Crawler released a loud cry.
Its body jerked backward from the impact.
It tried to move again.
Its legs twitched against the snow.
Red blood flowed from the holes in its body, staining the white ground beneath it.
The creature’s movements gradually slowed.
Krrrraaaak...
Its voice became weaker, then it stopped moving.
Ezra remained standing.
His breathing was steady.
For a moment, he didn’t move.
Then a strange sound came from somewhere within the fog.
Tkk... tkk... tkk...
Ezra’s eyes shifted.
Another sound answered from farther away.
Tkk... tkk... tkk...
Then another.
Tkk... tkk... tkk...
The sounds continued.
Tkk... tkk... tkk...
One after another.
They came from different directions.
Ezra slowly looked around.
The forest was covered by fog and falling snow.
There was no sunlight.
The thick canopy above blocked what little light could have entered.
The trees stood around him like dark shapes.
Then the sounds continued.
Tkk... tkk... tkk...
Tkk... tkk... tkk...
Tkk... tkk... tkk...
Tkk... tkk... tkk...
Small sounds.
Almost like little creatures moving through the forest.
Ezra’s eyes narrowed.
The sounds were coming from all around him.
He couldn’t see them yet.
But they were there.
Something was moving through the fog.
Ezra calmly reached down and unlocked the magazine release of his Glock 40.
Click.
The empty magazine dropped from the handgun.
He caught it before it hit the snow and placed it back inside his Space Bag.
Then he took out a new magazine.
His movements were calm and practiced.
He inserted it into the handgun.
Click.
The magazine locked into place.
Ezra slowly glanced around him.
His eyes moved from one tree to another.
The fog continued drifting.
The snowfall continued.
The small sounds continued coming from different directions.
"Diane must have separated from me because of the illusion."
Ezra muttered to himself.
He didn’t sound worried.
He simply looked around, trying to determine where the Young Ghost Crawlers were hiding.
"Well..."
Ezra lowered his center of gravity.
His feet moved apart.
His body shifted into a relaxed fighting stance.
The Glock 40 remained firmly in his hand.
His dull black eyes moved through the fog.
Then he saw them.
Violet glowing eyes appeared from many directions.
One pair.
Then another.
Then another.
More violet eyes appeared between the trees.
Some were higher.
Others were lower.
Some were almost hidden behind the fog.
They surrounded him.
Ezra stared at them.
The faintest excited smirk appeared on his face.
"I guess I can now make use of my new Adept-rank guns."
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