The Forest’s Judgment
Night.
True night.
Back on Earth, darkness had never been absolute.
Streetlights illuminated roads.
Hostel windows glowed softly.
Even the stars offered companionship.
Here…
Darkness devoured everything.
The colossal trees blocked even the moonlight, turning the forest into an endless abyss.
I couldn’t see my own hands.
Only the sounds remained.
A distant howl.
Branches snapping somewhere far away.
The fluttering of gigantic wings.
Occasionally, the ground trembled beneath me, reminding me that creatures larger than mountains still wandered this forest.
I hugged my knees tighter.
“…Don’t come here.”
I wasn’t praying to anyone.
I was begging the forest itself.
⸻
Sleep never came.
Every time my eyes closed, another unfamiliar cry echoed through the darkness.
Hours crawled by.
Or perhaps only minutes.
Time had become meaningless.
Suddenly—
Crunch.
Something stepped on a branch.
Very close.
My heart stopped.
Another step.
Slower.
Heavier.
Whatever it was…
It was approaching.
I instinctively reached toward the black ring.
The moment I thought of the sword—
A black mist emerged from the ring.
The Black Devil silently appeared in my hand.
No light.
No sound.
Only endless darkness.
The footsteps stopped.
The forest became silent.
Not even the insects dared to make a sound.
Several seconds passed.
Then…
The creature quietly walked away.
I never saw it.
But somehow…
It had sensed the sword.
And decided to leave.
I stared at the blade.
“…You saved me.”
The Black Devil remained silent.
⸻
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Morning finally arrived.
Or at least, the forest became slightly brighter.
I stepped out from beneath the roots and stretched my aching body.
Something felt different.
The crushing pressure I had experienced when I first arrived had almost disappeared.
It wasn’t that the forest had changed.
I had.
The sword hadn’t merely healed my wounds.
It had transformed my body.
I still didn’t know how.
Or why.
⸻
As I continued walking, I began noticing things I had overlooked before.
The trees…
Were scarred.
Deep claw marks covered many trunks.
Some were so enormous that an entire bus could fit inside them.
One gigantic tree had been sliced perfectly in half.
The cut was unbelievably smooth.
As though someone had cleaved a mountain with a single strike.
“…A sword?”
I whispered.
No ordinary weapon could do something like this.
Whoever had fought here…
Was beyond my imagination.
For the first time…
I realized this forest wasn’t simply ancient.
It was a battlefield.
⸻
Around noon, I found something even stranger.
Footprints.
Human footprints.
I rushed toward them.
Finally!
Civilization!
Hope surged through my chest.
But the closer I looked…
The colder I became.
The footprints were enormous.
Each footprint was almost as long as my entire body.
“…A giant?”
No…
The shape was unmistakably human.
Only…
Impossible.
The prints continued forward before suddenly disappearing.
Not fading.
Disappearing.
As if whoever made them had simply taken one step…
And flown into the sky.
I swallowed.
This world…
Was terrifying.
⸻
As evening approached, the forest gradually became quieter.
Then…
A voice.
“…Help…”
I froze.
A human voice.
Weak.
Faint.
Somewhere ahead.
“…Help…”
Without thinking, I ran toward it.
“Hello!”
“Who’s there?”
No answer.
Only another desperate cry.
“Help…”
The voice sounded like an old woman.
She was crying.
Begging.
I hurried faster.
Branches whipped against my face.
Roots nearly tripped me several times.
Finally…
I reached a small clearing.
No one.
Empty.
Only silence.
“…What?”
Then the voice came again.
Behind me.
“…Help…”
A chill shot through my spine.
Slowly…
I turned around.
Nothing.
Just trees.
No old woman.
No person.
Only darkness gathering beneath the roots.
My heartbeat accelerated.
The voice sounded again.
This time…
It came from above.
I looked upward.
My blood froze.
Hanging upside down from one of the gigantic branches…
Was a creature wearing the face of an elderly woman.
Its body resembled a spider.
Its eight legs clung silently to the bark.
Its mouth stretched into an impossible smile.
“…Help…”
It repeated in the exact same trembling voice.
Then…
Its neck twisted one hundred and eighty degrees.
It looked directly at me.
Its smile widened.
Run.
Every instinct screamed the same word.
The creature dropped from the tree.
Not falling.
Hunting.
I turned and sprinted with everything I had.
Behind me echoed the sound of dozens of legs striking the ground.
Fast.
Far too fast.
It was gaining.
The distance shrank with every second.
I could already hear its breathing.
I gripped the Black Devil tighter.
“No…”
“I can’t outrun it…”
The creature lunged.
At that exact moment…
The Black Devil trembled.
A pulse of black energy spread from the blade.
It wasn’t an attack.
It wasn’t even visible.
It was simply…
A presence.
The spider-like creature froze midair.
Its countless eyes widened.
For the first time…
Fear appeared on its grotesque face.
It let out an ear-piercing shriek before immediately retreating into the darkness, disappearing among the gigantic trees without looking back.
Silence returned.
I collapsed to my knees, breathing heavily.
“…Again…”
“…It ran away.”
Not because of me.
Because of the sword.
I looked at the Black Devil.
The blade was exactly the same.
No glow.
No power erupting from it.
Just silent darkness.
Yet every creature that sensed it chose to flee.
“What are you…?”
No answer came.
Only the whisper of the ancient forest.
Far beyond the horizon…
Hidden within the deepest region of the forest…
An enormous pair of crimson eyes slowly opened.
Unlike the beasts before…
They did not fear the Black Devil.
They recognized it.
And for the first time in thousands of years…
They smiled.
End of Chapter 6