"Wait, wait, wait, wait." – said nobleman after receiving the news from the scouts.

"You are telling me…. That they are just not there!?"

"No…. There was nothing." – said the soldier.

"We dug through the snow a bit, but we couldn't found anything."

"The only real traces that we had found was this." – said the man as he took out a piece of tent that had a hardened splash of blood on it.

"…."

"They were attacked while they were sending up the tent…. This is the most likely scenario that we suspect."

"…"

"Honestly, we have a mess…. We don't know what did it." – said the knight.

"?"

"What do you mean?" – asked nobleman.

"Well, this territory is straight up infested with bandits." – replied soldier.

"There is good chance that the outpost was looted ages ago."

"But the same thing can apply to the claw marks that were found by these guys."

"The claws could be quite old as well."

"Honestly, the lack of bodies would point out to the existence of wolves, possible evolution and stronger variants that took down the soldiers. But there would be some remains, left over body parts. Anything."

"But you also said that you didn't found any of the weapons that the soldiers had? Even armors?"

"N-no. We found the entire place empty." – replied soldier.

"Anything valuable was completely taken away."

"Even food crates that they had."

"The horse were also gone and nowhere to be seen."

"…"

"THIS!" – said the knight.

"We don't know who did it!"

"If it was bandit, they would just taken everything and left, but they would obviously leave behind the bodies, since there was no reason for them to have them."

"But if it was wolves, then it would explain missing bodies."

"Maybe they were hungry and they were dragged half dead to the forest, so they could give 'fresh' meat to their young?"

"…"

"In other words, if we want to launch a investigation, we would not only need to sent a large amount of soldiers, but we should expect either large number of soldier or bandits." – said nobleman.

"Or maybe instead some elite bandits or maybe highly evolved monsters….."

"…"

"FUCK!" – shouted nobleman.

(We only just started and I've already lost part of my army?! Like that?!)

(No. No. No. This don't make sense! This don't make a sense at all!) – thought nervous nobleman as he started walking in circles.

"…"

"Sir. I think we should move our forces and- "

"And investigate. Yea, no." – said nobleman, interrupting knight speaking.

"I mean, what the fuck!?"

"This place was…."

"…"

"I was told that this place was dangerous and that is why I've brough extra amount of soldiers."

"I've also requested additional reinforcements to make sure everything goes smoothly and we wouldn't have any random ass bandits and monsters left on the lose."

"There is not like an army here, but we can still be considering as very small army."

"Even if we were to split in 3, each group would still have a lot of people."

"So, how the in the bloody hell we already have some loses?! And big one at that?! While also not knowing what had happened?"

"HOW!?"

"…"

(Is this territory far more dangerous than we had suspected?) – thought the nervous nobleman.

(Du – FUCK! King Ash told me that the top priority isn't this territory, but instead the golem dungeon.)

(That it needs to be secured at all cost!)

(But now an incident popped up as soon as we came here?!)

"…"

"How many people do we have?" – asked nobleman.

"…"

"Not enough to do all 3 tasks at the same time." – replied knight.

"We would need to cut off one task, if you want us to go to the forest."

"…"

"Cut both." – replied nobleman.

"Get all of the men that are with us in here, to rendezvous here and prepare themselves to go to the golem forest."

"?"

"Wait, but if we were to do that, then we wouldn't be able to deal with other problems." – replied the knight.

"I know!" – said nobleman.

"But right now we have some sort of 'THING' going on that we don't know what is it AND it had already killed some of my men."

"So I want to find out what happened and make sure it is dealt with, before any other accident happens, okay?!"

(And Ash Will have my head if by any chance the golem dungeon is destroyed!)

In desperation and panic, the nobleman ordered all forces that were just deployed to their own respective task to instantly return back to the ruined city.

And as soon as the forces were gathered right back, the nobleman without even wasting any more time had instantly led the forces straight towards the golem forest.

"…"

"Nope. Everything is still the same way when we left." – said the soldier who was one of the scouts, as the small army was investigating the surrounding area around the forest.

"…We found nothing sir." – replied soldier.

"There is nothing like tracks or anything between the camp and outpost that could give us some clue about what had happened."

'I've checked the outpost." – said the knight who walked towards the carriage alongside two other soldiers.

"Also, nothing."

"…"

*Sigh*

"…. What about activities? Did something happened while investigating? Was there any movement between the trees?" - asked nobleman who was hiding in his carriage.

"No." – replied knight.

"I've told my guys to observe the forest without making it obvious, in case the bandits were hiding…. But so far? Nobody reported anything back to me."

"If there were any monsters in the forest, they would have already run or attacked."

"If there were bandits, then obviously they would panic and run away…."

"…"

"I think the only way we would find anything would be to just go into the forest."

"Yea…. I can tell." – said the nobleman with visible worried expression.

(There could be two possibilities right now.)

(Whatever or whoever whipped out the soldiers that were sent here is either still in the forest…. Or they had left.)

(But what about the dungeon?)

(….)

(We need to confirm that it still exists.)

"Prepare all of your men and get ready to move out."

"…I can't do that." – said the knight.

"Sir, no disrespect, but you had to come with us, since we couldn't leave you behind in that abandoned city all alone."

"However, I cannot let you enter the forest at all."

"We need to leave at least minimal forces to guard you."

"We still don't know what could be hiding in the forest or anything like that."

"…"

"Fine. I understand." – replied nobleman as he tried calming down.

(He is right. I'm not a warrior, I would be just a dead weight…. Damn. I really need a rest and I mean a proper one after this whole war and this screwed up situation.) – thought the nobleman as his knight began gathering up the soldiers, before then entering the forest.

"Keep your eyes and ears wide open." – said the knight as he alongside the soldiers started exploring the forest.

"We don't know what could be hiding in here."

"…"

"…"

"!"

"Sir!"

"Here!" – said the soldier as he spotted a tree with claw marks.

"…Wolves." – said the knight.

"!"

"Wait, what is there?" – asked the knight while pointing at another tree in his field of vision that caught his attention, causing one of the soldiers to go and check the tree.

".."

"Slash marks. They look like they were made with weapon, sir." – said the soldier that checked the tree.

"…Did the guys that came here fought wolve monsters?" – said the knight who tried to deduce the situation.

(But…. Something isn't right…. If they had fought these monsters here, then shouldn't we had already encountered some wolve monsters?)

"Hm?" – one of the soldiers that went to investigate the slashes tree suddenly noticed something reflecting in the snow, catching the soldier attention as he tried reaching for whatever that was hidden beneath.

"!"

"SIR!" – shouted soldier as he held in the air the snapped half of a sword.

"I'VE-

"?!"

"BEHIND YOU!" – shouted the knight as the pile of snow behind the soldier suddenly started rising, before then revealing soldier golem who stabbed right through the man entire torso with its blade sword arm, making the blade to straight up stick out from the front, before moments later the golem removed the blade and making the man body fall down.

Right after that, the snow that surrounded the soldiers started moving around, alarming the entire army before moments later the golem soldiers started revealing themselves to the kingdom's soldiers.

"!"

"IT'S An AMBUSH!" – shouted the knight right as the golems started instantly attacking the soldiers.

(Who- Wait! Are those things really people?!) – thought the knight as he instantly engaged in the fight with the soldier golem, before then overpowering and pushing back the golem.

"SIR! THE ENEMY ARE COMING FROM BEHIND!" – shouted the soldier as a group of hound golems suddenly appeared from behind the army.

"?!"

(What?! When did they get here?!) – thought the knight as he turned around, before then getting hit from the side with a crossbow bolt, hitting the man right in his arm.

"!?"

The knight quickly turned around, trying to spot the attacked before then getting hit with another crossbow bolt, this time hitting the man in his stomach.

"FUCK! KEEP YOUR LINE! AND KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN! THEY HAVE LONG RANGE FUCKERS!" – shouted the knight as the soldiers were surrounded from all directions by the golems.

"H-help!" – shouted the soldier before then getting stabbed right in the face with spear.

"!"

(What the hell is going on?! They are getting overwhelmed?!) – thought the knight as he realized that the soldier had some hard time dealing with the golems.

"FOCUS ON BREAKING OUT! WE HAVE NUMBER ADVANTAGE!" – shouted the knight as he grabbed his stomach because of the pain.

"THERE! FOCUS ON BREAKING OUT THROUGH THERE!" – shouted the knight as he pointed at the direction where there was least amont of golems standing in the way.

The soldiers instantly fallowed the knight command and rushed at the soldier golems, almost instantly dealing with the monsters and opening path for the soldiers to quickly escape the trap.

But as the soldiers tried getting away from it, the snow around them started moving again, revealing more of the hidden golem soldiers that were hiding below the snow.

"!?"

(More?!) – thought the injured knight as more golems started closing in.

(Are those things golems?!)

(And they set up an ambush?!)

"SHIT! KEEP FOCUSING ON BREAKING UP!"

"THESE BASTARDS WANT TO SURROUND US AT ANY COST AND RESTRICT OUR MOVEMENT!"

".."

However, as the knight was only paying attention to the golems that were after the army, he didn't noticed a single golem who was on the tree, just observing them.

A small monkey like golem, with long limbs and fingers that also had a giant eye like object in the place of its entire face, just watching the soldiers while hanging on the tree branch.

"S-sir! There are more golems appearing!" – said the soldier as the army continues running away, trying to not get surrounded by the golems.

"THEN DEAL WITH THEM!" – shouted the knight as he swung his sword, taking down multiple hound golems that tried attacking the army from behind with his one swing, but at the same time causing the man injured stomach wound to open up further, causing two soldiers to quickly rush to the knight side and help him get away.

(Shit What is going on?) – thought the knight as the soldier were fighting and destroying the golems.

(Where….. No. They didn't predicted our movement….. They are just everywhere?!)

(The entire forest is infested with these monsters?)

(Does that mean that soldiers that went here were hunted down by these monsters?)

"S-stop! We need to try and reach forest exist….. We need to leave the forest complettly!" – said the knight.

"Sir! Please don't talk! Your wound is already bad enough!" – said the soldier one of the soldiers that was carrying and protecting the knight.

"N-no! We need to get out!" – shouted the knight.

"THE ENTIRE FOREST IS RIGGED!"

"THEY ARE NOT PREDICTING OUR MOVES! THE ENTIRE PLACE IS JUST FILLED WITH MONSTERS!" – shouted the knight as the army suddenly stopped in tracks.

"W-we need-"

"Em…. Sir?" – said the soldier at front.

"I think we may have new problem." – said the soldier as the army was suddenly stopped by the group of knight golems.

(People?) – thought confused knight as he mistaken the knight golems as real people.

"?!"

"HEY WHAT THE FUCK!?" – shouted the soldier as he spotted a huge group of hound golems coming from the side.

(Two directions!?) – thought the knight.

"L-left! Go left side!" – shouted the knight as the army tried turning around, only to realize that the path was also blocked by the horde of soldier golems.

(WAIT! WHEN DID THEY GOT HERE?!) – thought the panicking knight before then realizing that the golems that were chasing after the army had stacked up and were now moving as a large group.

"FUCK!" – shouted the knight as he pushed away the soldier.

"FIGHT YOU BASTARD!"

"FIGHT!"

"The only thing we can now do is to fight and kill of those bastards! You got it?! FIGHT SINCE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.