Seven Sins System Chapter 687. Shadowrae Hollow III
Seven Sins System Chapter 687. Shadowrae Hollow III
The forest wasn’t peaceful.
It was holding its breath.
I didn’t say anything.
But my instincts whispered one word.
Ambush.
Not the loud, stupid kind with screeches and stomps.
The smart kind. The kind that waited. That watched. The kind that learned.
I shifted on my feet, slowly letting my aura ripple just enough to taste the mana in the air.
Static.
Disturbed.
Stretched.
Like something had walked through recently. Or was still walking.
Barry opened his mouth again.
I raised a hand.
He shut it.
“Set perimeter,” I said quietly. “Non-lethal traps. Ion, Darren—circle sweep. Evie, passive freeze glyphs every ten meters. Claire, stay center. You and I will reinforce the barrier at the front line in case of breach.”
No one argued.
They just moved.
Good.
Smart.
It felt like the forest had gone dark behind a curtain. Not literally—there was still light filtering through the trees, soft and green.
But everything beneath it had that waiting pressure. Like a stage just before the curtain rises. Like teeth about to show.
The forest felt like it was holding something in its throat. Like the very trees were caught between inhale and exhale. Mana pulsed in the ground beneath us—erratic, twitchy, like nerves before a breakdown.
I narrowed my eyes toward the east. A flicker.
There.
Movement.
Low. Fast. Darting through the brush like a shadow trying not to be seen. But it wasn’t just one. Another to the left. Then the right. Then—
A humanoid shape.
I squinted.
Not just a shape.
A figure.
Slender. Upright. Stiff posture. Something like robes… or maybe vines wrapping like armor.
“Greed,” I whispered under my breath, and let my left hand loosen.
The tip of my index finger twitched—like a tiny yawn from my flesh—and something slick, dark, and alive emerged from the nail.
A single tendril. Smooth, sleek, glistening like oil under moonlight.
It unfurled slowly… and then detached.
The little tentacle hit the ground like a drop of ink.
And then it shifted. Twisting upward. Sprouting wings, tiny feathers, hollow bones. It reshaped into a bird—charcoal black with eyes like dripping gold.
“Scout,” I murmured.
It gave a single trill—soft and warbled—then flapped off into the canopy, disappearing like smoke through leaves.
My eyes glazed momentarily as I synced vision. I saw through it.
And what I saw?
Timberfiends.
Ambush.
They were all around us. In the trees. In the underbrush. Under the damn soil. About twenty of them. Long limbs. Spiked shoulders. Camouflage skin. Bark-textured armor molded over twisting flesh and gnarled vines.
All still.
Waiting.
Watching us.
“Of course,” I muttered.
My team hadn’t noticed yet. But I could feel them shifting—sensing something was off. The way Claire’s stance angled slightly. The twitch in Darren’s bow hand. Evie’s hair lifting from a static ripple.
I huffed a long, tired breath.
They didn’t know yet.
But they would.
Soon.
I sighed. “Well, I guess this’ll be your test.”
I smiled faintly to myself.
“They’re lucky,” I said under my breath. “They have me.”
The devil mentor.
“Doc?” Barry’s voice piped up behind me. “You okay? You’re smiling like you just put someone’s medical prescription incorrectly on purpose.”
“I guess,” I said, slowly turning to him, “they’re going to ambush us.”
He blinked. “Who?”
“Timberfiends.”
There was a beat of silence.
Then—
“Oh hell,” Ion muttered, stepping back instinctively.
Darren cursed. “I told you, Barry. You jinxed it.”
“I didn’t jinx—”
“You literally said it was too peaceful!” Evie hissed. “Why would you do that?!”
Barry raised his hands. “Okay, okay! No more commentary! Just pure, terrified silence from now on.”
“Too late,” I muttered, and raised my voice. “Now, get ready.”
Everyone snapped to position.
Ion vanished into the trees. Darren followed, a blur of green and silver, moving like a shadowed ripple between branches.
Evie dragged her hand across the soil, muttering in Old Vulpin as frost bloomed where she walked. Each glyph glowed dimly, cold and dormant—ready to activate on contact.
Claire stood near me, blade out, eyes locked forward. “How many?”
“Twenty. Maybe more. Spread formation. Some underground.”
She didn’t flinch. Just nodded once. “Understood.”
And then—
Silence again.
But now we knew what waited in it.
Then it happened.
Snap.
A branch broke.
A split second later—
One of the freeze glyphs triggered.
-CRACK.
A Timberfiend exploded out of the mist, its body caught mid-motion as frost burst up around its limbs. Its mouth opened—no sound, just rows of jagged, thorn-covered teeth.
Claire moved first. One fluid step forward. Her blade lashed out—once—and split the thing’s face in two.
And then—
The forest erupted.
From all sides they came. Dozens of them, skittering like spiders across bark, exploding up from the soil, swinging limbs like jagged spears.
“CONTACT!” Ion yelled from the treeline.
Darren’s bow sang. Arrows sliced through the brush, every shot calculated—no hesitation. One Timberfiend got hit in the shoulder and spun sideways into another glyph trap, instantly flash-frozen and crushed under its own mass.
Evie unleashed a gale burst, wind swirling like a tornado around her. Two of the creatures got lifted off their feet and slammed into a tree trunk so hard it cracked.
Barry, meanwhile, was yelling nonsense.
“DIE, YOU PLANT-BASTARD TREE THINGS!” he roared, twirling his spear with one hand and punching something with the other, which—why was he punching? Why was that working?!
“Use your weapon, Barry!” I yelled.
“I am!” he shouted, stabbing backward into something’s chest without looking. “I’m just… expressive!”
Ion landed beside him, twin daggers glowing. “You’re a nightmare,” he muttered, carving through a Timberfiend’s legs. “You know that, right?”
“Yeah,” Barry grinned. “But I’m our nightmare.”
Claire was a blur—cutting, parrying, dodging. Her footwork was surgical. Her expression never changed. Calm. Focused. Lethal.
I stood just behind her.
Hands raised.
Barrier active.
A wave of Timberfiends rushed us, claws slashing. The shield flared, absorbing the impact in a shimmer of gold and violet. Their claws screeched against it like nails on glass.
Evie’s voice rang out. “Left side collapsing!”
“Darren!” I called.
“Already on it!”
TWANG.