It was unmistakable.

Of all the sounds, this one she could not have misheard. It was the whistle sound Yaru often used to call out to his companion, Nihitan, in the Nervana Forest.

Enya shouted from behind Jahan.

“Wait, Jahan! Stop for a second! The whistle… There’s someone I know here!”

Silanda looked at her as if she had lost her mind.

“What are you talking about?”

There was no time for explanations. With an oddly firm conviction, she cried out.

“We, we need to run towards the sound of the whistle! I’m sure my friend is there!”

“What?!”

Silanda and Senu quickly exchanged looks. Doubt was evident in their eyes, visible through the slightly loosened bandages.

Still, they didn’t have the time for a discussion or something like that.

A Feluda’s beak slammed into the ground behind them, nearly causing Jahan to fall over from the vibration. The flapping and grotesque cries of another Feluda came from right behind them, its massive body about to engulf the group.

Whoosh—!

Simultaneously, an enormous volley of arrows, from nowhere in particular, rained down upon the Feluda that had targeted them.

“Uwah, I was almost killed!”

Jahan, glancing back at the Feluda that fell behind them, screamed out. Still hoisted on his back, Enya quickly surveyed their surroundings.

‘Where did those arrows come from…?’

No matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t pinpoint the source of the arrows.

‘Where are the people of Nervana Forest?’

Having narrowly escaped death, they resumed their full-speed sprint.

“Keep running for now!”

A Feluda was still in hot pursuit behind them. Seeing that, Silanda, cursing under her breath, picked up a spear lying on the ground. Even with her baggage strapped on her back, she hurled the spear with all her might towards the Feluda.

Untrained and with only one arm, she couldn’t possibly throw the spear accurately. The spear merely tumbled and crashed back to the ground.

Senu yelled out.

“Silanda, don’t attack, just run!”

Enya realized in horror the huge mistake she had made in setting out to find Tarhan with just their group.

‘We relied too much on the power of our weapons.’

Indeed, the weapons they had invented possessed tremendous destructive capabilities. However, in such dire situations, without the means to ignite their power, they were nothing more than burdens.

Then, there was the howling of wolves.

“Black Claw Wolves!”

One of the soldiers yelled. The group could see for themselves, a pack of Black Claw Wolves were charging towards the Feluda flock from afar.

Another soldier shouted.

“The front battalion is trapped by the wolf pack! We can’t expect any support!”

Enya listened in shock.

It was then she began to piece together the full situation. The reason the Feludas, who were nocturnal by nature, appeared during the day, and why the front battalion with the military commanders couldn’t take any action against the Feluda’s attack, all made sense.

‘We’ve been caught in a territorial dispute between the Feluda pack and the Black Claw Wolves!’

Realizing the situation as well, Silanda cursed loudly.

“What rotten luck!”

A new suspicion filled Enya’s mind, still perched on Jahan’s back.

‘But there’s more to it.’

Something felt off, no matter how much she thought about it.

‘It’s unlikely that Servia’s army would recklessly step into the battleground of a territorial dispute between two monster forces.’

Senu seemed to have similar thoughts.

“It doesn’t seem to be just that! The army collapsing to this extent suggests there might have been more complex attacks than just the monsters’ attack!”

Enya agreed.

There must have been an unexpected variable. For instance—

‘An attack from enemies…!’

That was when she started to feel certain.

‘Somewhere, there must be people from Nervana Forest!’

Enya quickly assessed the situation. They had narrowly escaped a close-range attack from the Feludas and were now fleeing towards the outskirts.

She gripped Jahan’s neck tightly and screamed as loud as she could.

“Don’t run towards the outside. We need to head inside, Jahan!”

This time, Jahan looked at her as if she was insane. Silanda, too, glanced at her with disbelief, but Enya didn’t care and shouted.

“Hurry up!”

“So, you want us to just walk into the jaws of those Feludas and wolves?”

Then, Senu spoke up to support Enya.

“There’s some sense in what Enya is saying! If we break away from this group, we might actually become an easier target for the monsters! If Enya’s friends were indeed here, we must find them first!”

“Ah, whatever…!”

Jahan closed his eyes tight and changed the direction of his sprint.

Enya, who was on Jahan’s back, closed her eyes against the sudden change in the wind’s direction. Silanda and Senu also followed Jahan, running deeper into the enemy army as Enya had directed.

“You better be right about this!”

Silanda yelled at Enya, following closely from behind.

Another Feluda spotted their changed direction and gave chase. Frightened, Jahan picked up the pace. Senu and Silanda had no choice but to accelerate as well. As they all gasped for air, Enya anxiously scanned the surroundings.

‘Which way? Which direction?’

Leaning as far out as she could while still gripping Jahan’s shoulders, Enya desperately searched every visible area. Ironically, not being the one to actually run allowed her to observe the situation more keenly.

As Jahan panted heavily, Enya’s heart thudded in unison.

‘Where did that whistle come from…?’

A vein popped on Enya’s forehead. She had never been this focused in her entire life.

Whiick—!

Suddenly, a clear whistle cut through the air again.

This time, it was loud enough for everyone to hear. Simultaneously, arrows, shot from an unknown location, mercilessly began flying towards them. More precisely, towards the soldiers and monsters positioned right in the middle of their path.

With this attack, Enya could now be sure.

‘Yes! It must be the warriors from Nervana Forest!’

The arrows weren’t directly aimed at the soldiers but were cleverly targeted at the monsters, only inciting the Feludas and wolves further.

It was a clear tactic to sow discord among the enemy.

A strategy clearly meant to disrupt, it was a combat style mastered by those who survived in the dense forests of Nervana, not in open plains. Moreover, these arrows were launched all at once, in a large quantity, and from one direction, as if testing Enya.

Enya looked towards the direction from which the arrows had come. At that moment, she felt the wind change direction.

Her eyes widened.

“I found them!”

Through the sparse trees, she saw something agile, almost monkey-like, darting through.

“There! Jahan, run that way!”

Enya shouted as loud as she could. Strength seemed to surge into Jahan’s legs that previously seemed incapable of carrying them further when she said so. He clenched his teeth and accelerated with a groan.

Silanda and Senu, with a resolve to face death, followed suit.

Enya quickly began to unravel the bandages that covered her entire body and face. If the people of Nervana Forest were risking revealing their position by sending signals, Enya could not afford to stay hidden behind her bandages.

“Ugh…”

Using her fingernails, Enya frantically started to unwrap the bandages tied around her face.

“You, you sure you’ll be alright…?”

She couldn’t even hear Silanda’s breathless voice.

Despite knowing it was reckless, Enya couldn’t stop. In the midst of chaos, with Servia’s soldiers scattered all around in the open space, her face was finally fully exposed.

“It’s me! Yaru! I’m here…!”

Pulling all her strength, Enya shouted and waved her hands wildly. Now, the howling of wolves began to surround them from all directions.

They were sprinting right through the middle of a standoff between human soldiers, wolves, and Feludas. Because of her noticeable actions, they were becoming a target of attack. Regret started to flood in if she had done something reckless.

‘What if it wasn’t the people of Nervana Forest…?’

A mortal dread swept over her. Enya braced herself, biting down hard on her teeth.

Boom! Whooom!

At that time, something soared through the air and aimed directly at Jahan. It was a massive Black Claw Wolf, as large as the Feluda, launching an attack on him. By a hair’s breadth, he dodged and twisted away, but the wolves relentlessly pursued.

Then, Senu stumbled forward, collapsing. Two wolves pounced on him simultaneously. It all happened in the blink of an eye. There was no time to scream.

“D*mn it!”

Silanda veered off, dropping the weapon to the ground, and aimed at the wolf lunging towards Senu. However, she had no time to light it as another wolf roared as it charged at her.

‘No…!’

Enya clung to Jahan’s neck, closing her eyes tightly.

Whoosh—!

Something grazed Enya’s cheek as it passed. An arrow had struck one of the Black Claw Wolves attacking Senu.

The sound of an arrow sinking into flesh was followed by one of the wolves that had been pursuing them crashing to the ground. The next moment, another flurry of arrows indiscriminately flew, accurately striking the head of the Feluda crowding at them.

Numerous arrows filled the air.

Now, the arrows flying in from all directions seemed to shield Enya and her companions, targeting only the monsters surrounding them.

Enya’s signal had worked.

Jahan, Silanda, and the fallen Senu looked dumbfounded towards the direction from which the arrows came. Amidst the sound of hooves powerfully kicking the ground, something was rapidly approaching them.

“Enya…!”

Through the cloud of dust, a Gerpan was visible. She could clearly recognize the rider atop it.

It was Fiarca from Nervana Forest.

“Fiarca…!”

Enya frantically screamed and waved her hands towards her.

“Is, is that person…?”

Jahan shouted. Amidst the deafening noise, Enya raised her voice to reply.

“Yes, yes! They’re on our side!”

As soon as she uttered those words, Enya realized how much she had come to regard and depend on the people of Nervana Forest.

‘Our side. Our people have come.’

Soon after, the Gerpan carrying Fiarca halted in front of them. Another Gerpan was seen approaching from a distance. It was another warrior from Nervana Forest, Yaru.

“My goodness!”

Fiarca, upon recognizing Enya, exclaimed with heavy breaths. A large bow and a quiver were slung across her back.

Fiarca shouted in disbelief.

“By Goddess Nervana! It really is Enya…!”

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