He needed to get them to safety, this area is bloodsoaked but where could they go? The forest seemed endless, and he had no idea where he was or how to navigate it.
"Can you walk?" he asked, helping her sit up.
The girl winced in pain but nodded weakly. "I... I think so. But we need... need to hurry. They're still out there... more of them..."
Wu Chen's eyes narrowed. "More? How many?"
"I don't know," she replied, her voice barely audible. "But they're everywhere. They've taken over the forest. No one is safe."
A cold realization slithered down Wu Chen's spine.
If her words were true, then the forest wasn't just dangerous—it was hunting.
Then his eyes darted to the treeline. Every shadow now seemed to breathe.
He couldn't stay. Not here, where the earth still stank of spilled blood and demonic rot.
But the girl—
Her breath came in shallow, her fingers clutching weakly at his sleeve.
He couldn't abandon the girl. She was injured and vulnerable, To leave her was to paint the dirt with another corpse.
Besides He wouldn't have saved her in the first place if his intention was to leave her.
But still to take her was to shackle himself to weakness.
With her injury Wu Chen isn't even sure if her pace of walking won't doom them in this Forest.
But he has no choice, he can't just leave her here.
"Come on," Wu Chen slid an arm beneath her shoulders, his grip firm enough to steady her but gentle enough not to bruise.
The girl winced as her weight settled onto her legs that trembled.
"We need to move. But Stay close to me," he murmured, his eyes scanning the gloom-drenched trees.
His free hand finding the hilt of his blade.
The girl nodded, leaning on him for support as they began to make their way through the forest.
She Staggered a little, but step by step, they moved.
Her breath came in pained hitches, hot against his arms
But they continued moving and the forest swallowed their footfalls leaving no trace.
They was already a thin creeping mist that slithered between the trees, when Wu Chen fought those demonic humans.
But as they move forward the mist grew thicker, obscuring their vision and making it difficult to see more than a few feet ahead.
The air was cold and damp, and the silence was unnerving.
Every rustle of leaves or snap of a twig made Wu Chen's heart skip a beat. He kept his spearhead at the ready, his senses on high alert.
This is the reason why he didn't dare Carry the girl in his back, even though he wished to do so.
He would have carried her, if not that he would be highly disadvantaged to react in the face of immediate Danger.
The forest pulsed with unseen threats around them. The unnatural mist itself is a Perfect camouflage for ambush.
Those strange rustles? Could be claws, could be fangs, could be worse. With her weight on his back, his spear arm would be sluggish. His dodges, can be delayed by half a heartbeat.
And that Half a heartbeat was all it would take.
But still it seems her injuries are not that severe to hinder her movement by much.
So their pace is acceptable, for someone injured at least.
As they walked, Wu Chen couldn't shake the feeling that they were being followed. The forest seemed to close in around them, the trees looming like silent sentinels.
He glanced over his shoulder several times, but saw nothing. Still, the feeling persisted, gnawing at the edges of his mind.
Even though disturbed, wu Chen remain calm. Because he's not sure if that's the effect of his supreme Intelligence, and normally people are not supposed to feel that?
Or... if its something else entirely.
"Where are we going?"
The girl's whisper cut through the oppressive silence, her voice threadbare with exhaustion.
Wu Chen's steps faltered.
Good question.
And the truth
Wu Chen Has no idea either.
He was just trying to get them out of the blood shed area so as not to attract other predators.
But he didn't inform her and since they are walking she assumed he had a place or plan in mind.
"I don't know," Wu Chen admitted. "But we can't stay here, it's not safe. We need to find shelter First, Then a plan."
But as he scanned the gloom ahead, Wu Chen Begin to wonder if shelter can even be found in such hellish place.
It seems the mist-choked forest offered no answers—only hunger and teeth.
The girl nodded, her grip on his arm tightening. "There's... there's a cave nearby. She rasped, her voice fighting through the pain. "My village used it as a hiding place during storms. It's not far from here."
"That's where i was heading before been attacked" she added
Wu Chen's eyes lit up. "Can you lead us there?" His voice was low, but urgent.
A cave!.
The word echoed in his mind like a struck bell. If this place truly existed—
It could be a sanctuary - solid rock at their backs instead of open air
And it can be crucial for the Trial or maybe even an exit from it.
She hesitated, then nodded. "I think so."
Even if its not a guarantee.
Hope is always a currency in hell.
They can still look for it if its a possibility.
So with the girl guiding the way, they carved through the mist—no longer fleeing, but hunting for salvation.
And soon The mist peeled away like a receding tide, revealing skeletal trees that grew farther apart—as if repelled by something unseen.
And Then, jutting from the earth like a broken bone, A rocky outcrop emerged. Vines slithered across its surface, their leaves unnaturally black at the edges.
While the underbrush surrounding it grew in twisted, defensive knots.
The girl's hand shot out, her finger trembling. "There, The cave is inside" she said.
Wu Chen turned and found A slit in the stone—narrow, jagged, breathing out air colder than the forest around it. The cave mouth waited.
Maybe Welcoming, or warning?
But it's their best chance.
So Wu Chen guided the girl through the jagged entrance, his eyes scanning the darkness for any signs of danger and his free hand never leaving his weapon.