MORPHORCE-Chapter 42 - 41: The First Gate Raid (6)

WHOOSH!

A torrent of flames erupted forward, engulfing two shadow wolves in an instant. Their forms writhed and twisted before dissolving into ash.

Soraya landed lightly, flames still dancing along her fingertips. Her expression was calm, focused—no wasted movement, no hesitation.

"Two down," she said quietly.

Beside her, a man in the distinctive uniform of the Bangladesh Awakeners Association drove his sword through the chest of another wolf. The glowing core shattered with a sharp CRACK!

"Three," he grunted, pulling his blade free as the monster disintegrated.

The fourth wolf circled them warily, red eyes flickering. It lunged—

Soraya’s hand snapped forward.

FWOOOM!

A concentrated blast of fire struck it mid-leap, obliterating the creature before it touched the ground.

Silence returned.

The Association member exhaled, wiping sweat from his brow. "You’re... really something, Miss Soraya. Mid-tier B-rank, right?"

"Yeah," she replied simply. Her gaze swept across the skeletal trees surrounding them. "But rank doesn’t matter here. We got lucky finding each other."

"That’s true." He sheathed his sword. "It was really annoying fighting them alone. Now—"

Footsteps.

Both of them tensed instantly, weapons ready.

Then—

"Relax, relax. It’s us."

Afraan emerged from between the trees, with Rihan close behind him. Both looked worn out. Afraan had an injury on his hand, but it didn’t seem serious. Rihan, on the other hand, was uninjured.

Soraya’s shoulders relaxed slightly.

“Rihan. Afraan.”

Rihan walked closer, stretching his shoulders as if trying to shake off the tension clinging to him.

“So,” he said casually, though the fatigue in his voice betrayed him, “you two also ran into those wolf-like things?”

Soraya nodded. “Yeah. Just finished dealing with another four.”

As the conversation continued, Afraan remained alert. His eyes never stopped moving, scanning the skeletal trees, the shadows between them, the empty spaces where something could appear at any moment. Inside the gate, carelessness was the fastest way to die.

“Mmm, Afraan.”

“Huh?” He turned toward Soraya. “Did you call me, ma’am?”

She nodded toward his right arm. “Your arm...”

Afraan blinked and looked down.

Only then did he notice it.

Blood had dried along the torn fabric near his forearm, the wound faint but unmistakable. It wasn’t that it didn’t hurt—it did. A sharp, persistent sting pulsed beneath the skin. But in the middle of battle, in a place like this, pain became background noise.

“Oh,” he said lightly. “It’s just a minor injury. I’m fine.”

“Is that so?” Soraya replied, clearly unconvinced.

She shifted her gaze to Rihan. “So it was only the two of you who managed to meet up?”

“Yeah.” Rihan clicked his tongue, irritation flashing across his face. “I hate this damn place. We all entered together, but ended up alone. ” His expression darkened. “I saw dead bodies. Quite a few. People who ran into the monsters alone...”

Soraya’s eyes lowered for a moment—but her voice stayed steady.

“Getting frustrated won’t bring them back. We can’t save the ones who already died... but there are still people alive.” She lifted her head. “So we should move fast and find the others.”

The Association member shifted his grip on his sword, breaking the brief silence.

“So... where do we head next?”

Rihan rubbed his chin. “Good question.”

Soraya turned slowly, facing deeper into the forest. The crimson moonlight painted her silhouette in red and black.

“I think we should go that way.”

All three turned toward her.

Rihan stepped forward. “Hmm. Is there a reason, Soraya?”

“I’m not certain,” Soraya admitted. “But while we were fighting those monsters... I felt something. I don’t know what it was. But I’m pretty sure it was coming from that direction.”

A short pause followed.

Then Rihan nodded.

“Alright. That’s enough for me.”

He adjusted his shield.

“Let’s move.”

They began walking.

With every step forward, the forest seemed to close in on them. Skeletal branches stretched overhead, intertwining like grasping fingers, blocking even the faint crimson glow of the twin moons above. Shadows pooled between the trees—thicker, heavier, pressing down on their senses.

For a long while, no one spoke.

Only the muted crunch... crunch... of cautious footsteps against the dead ground disturbed the silence.

Then the member of the Awakeners Association finally spoke, his voice low.

“The further we go... the darker everything around us is getting.”

“Hmm...” Rihan slowed to a stop, his eyes sweeping across the barren forest. Leafless trunks stood like silent sentinels, their twisted forms fading into darkness. “At this rate, visibility’s going to drop to zero.”

He turned slightly.

“Why don’t we move with some torchlight?”

“Huh?”

Soraya glanced at him. “What do you mean, Rihan? No one brought torches, so—”

Rihan’s gaze shifted past her.

“Hey, Afraan.”

“Yes?”

"Can you cut down some branches?" Rihan gestured at the skeletal trees around them.

The others looked at him, momentarily surprised by the request.

“I can do that,” Afraan replied, curiosity flickering in his eyes. “But... why do you need them?”

“You’ll understand,” Rihan said calmly. “Trust me on this.” He added casually, “And didn’t I tell you already? Don’t call me ‘sir.’ Just my name.”

“Hmm... okay.”

Afraan stepped forward. The wind around him stirred faintly as he raised his hand toward the trees.

In the next instant—

WHOOSH!

WHOOSH!

WHOOSH!

Three compressed blades of wind tore through the air.

The sound of slicing resistance echoed as several thick branches were severed cleanly from their trunks.

CRACK—!

They fell heavily to the ground.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

The forest swallowed the noise soon after, returning once again to its suffocating silence.

Rihan looked satisfied, a joyful expression spreading across his face.

“Good. Good. You’ve done a great job, Afraan.” He gave an innocent smile. “Now there’s just a little more work left for you.”

Afraan felt slightly uncomfortable with Rihan’s behavior.

This damn attitude... isn’t it starting to remind me of someone?

For a brief moment, Jihan’s face flashed through Afraan’s mind.

He looked back at Rihan, irritation slowly creeping into his expression.

Yeah... there’s no doubt about it.

Rihan spread his hands apart, measuring roughly an arm’s length. “Just cut them about this size. That’s all you need to do. You can handle that, right?”

Afraan sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I see what you’re trying to do.”

He stepped forward and extended his hand toward the fallen branches.

“Please step back for a moment.”

Rihan crouched down and gathered the cut branches, inspecting each one briefly before nodding to himself.

“Alright,” he muttered. “This’ll work.”

He tore off one sleeve of his shirt and began tightly wrapping it around the end of a branch.

The Association member watched, confusion written across his face.

“Wait, but even if you make a torch like that, how are you going to—”

“Soraya,” Rihan interrupted, holding up the makeshift torch.

“A little flame, please?”

Understanding flickered across Soraya’s face.

She stepped forward and extended her hand. A small, controlled flame flickered to life above her palm—barely larger than a candle, yet steady.

“Pretty smart, huh, big bro,” she said softly.

Rihan grinned.

“I have my moments.”

He held the cloth-wrapped end of the branch to the flame.

Fwoosh.

The fabric ignited instantly, burning a bright orange against the oppressive darkness. The light pushed the shadows back, revealing the twisted bark of the nearby trees in sharp, flickering detail.

***

After a while, the four of them began moving again through the dark, silent forest, each holding a flaming torch in hand.

The only sounds were their footsteps and the faint crackling of burning cloth.

They walked for quite some time, but they didn’t encounter a single creature—or another human.

Then—

Soraya stopped.

“Wait.”

Everyone froze.

Her gaze fixed on something just beyond the reach of the torchlight.

Soraya moved closer, raising her torch higher.

The light spread forward—

—and revealed them.

Bodies.

Six headless bodies.

Blood had pooled beneath the corpses, staining the blackened ground in dark, spreading patches. The severed heads lay scattered nearby, their faces frozen in expressions of pure terror.

The Association member’s torch trembled in his hand.

“What... what the hell...”

The scene left all of them stunned.

“Is... is this the work of those wolves?” the Association member asked, his voice shaking.

“No...” Rihan said quietly as he observed the bodies.

“There’s no way they could do something like this. This is—”

Flash!

Something moved.

Rihan reacted on instinct. The flaming torch slipped from his hand and fell to the ground as he turned toward Afraan.

“AFRAAN!” he shouted, hurling his shield toward him with full force.

“HEAD DOWN! NOW!”

“What the—”

The moment Rihan’s shield reached Afraan’s front, Afraan ducked down instinctively. His torch slipped from his grip and hit the ground.

Clang!

Something struck the shield at terrifying speed.

In the next instant, the shield was cleanly split into two and crashed to the ground.

All of them stared toward where the flash had vanished, shock etched across their faces.

Then—

From the darkness, it stepped forward.

With each step, an overwhelming pressure filled the air.

As it emerged into the light, the creature’s full form was revealed.

It had two arms and two legs, shaped exactly like a human—yet it was unmistakably a monster. Its body was made entirely of shadow. A core glowed in its chest, but unlike before, this one shone red. Its eyes gleamed blue.

In its hand was a long sword, also formed of shadows, glowing with a cold blue light.

The shadow creature pointed its sword at the four of them and opened its mouth, a faint smile forming—one that sent a chill down their spines.

“WERAN SE REVENNA.”