The first thing Etzel learned about being Level Two was that it did not make bad ideas better.
It merely made him feel slightly more capable while considering them.
He stood beside the dead Ridgeback Mauler, staring into the deeper forest.
Behind him, tracks spread toward the outer trails.
Ahead, they narrowed.
Not into one path.
Into a pattern.
Etzel looked at the shallow marks across the creature's back again.
Three lines.
Same depth.
Same spacing.
Not wounds meant to kill.
Marks meant to move.
He hated that conclusion.
Mostly because it made sense.
"So," Etzel said, "something is herding monsters."
DK stood beside him.
"Yes."
"Toward the outer forest."
"Yes."
"Which is where people are."
DK looked at him.
Etzel stopped.
"Oh."
The realization landed harder than it should have.
He had been asking the wrong question.
What could frighten several species badly enough to make them abandon territory?
Interesting.
Terrifying.
But not the important part.
Etzel looked back toward the tracks leading outward.
"They're not being pushed away from something."
DK's expression sharpened.
"They're being pushed toward something."
"Toward people."
The humor disappeared.
Etzel thought of the public trails.
Forestry crews.
Foragers.
Hikers.
Families stupid enough to assume a marked low-threat zone was actually low-threat.
People like him three days ago.
He looked into the forest again.
His first instinct was still to follow the source.
That bothered him.
Curiosity was useful.
Curiosity was also how people ended up becoming cautionary stories.
DK seemed to read enough of his face to understand.
"We should go back."
Etzel glanced at him.
"You don't want to know what's doing it?"
"Yes."
"That sounded very fast."
"I also want you alive."
"Less exciting."
"More practical."
Etzel sighed.
"You are becoming aggressively sensible."
"Someone has to."
"That was unnecessary."
DK turned toward the outer forest.
"We know enough."
Etzel looked at the dead Mauler one final time.
"Do we?"
"We know creatures are being driven toward populated territory."
DK adjusted his shield.
"That is enough to act on."
Etzel paused.
That was annoyingly correct.
There was no need to solve the entire mystery before responding to the danger.
He pointed toward DK.
"I don't like how often you're right."
"You should become more accustomed to it."
Etzel stared.
DK began walking.
"That confidence is new."
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"I am learning."
"From me?"
"Unfortunately."
Etzel followed.
They had been moving back toward the outer trails for less than twenty minutes when the forest began making noise again.
Not one sound.
Many.
Branches snapping.
Leaves tearing.
Heavy feet.
Light feet.
Something screeching.
Something else answering.
Etzel stopped.
DK stopped at the same instant.
The sound grew louder.
Coming from their left.
Fast.
Etzel looked at the slope beside them.
A low ridge rose through the trees.
"Up."
DK nodded.
They climbed.
Etzel's ribs complained, but less than before.
The Recovery Potion had done real work.
Not miraculous work.
He appreciated the difference.
They reached the top just as the first creature burst onto the trail below.
Etzel crouched.
DK remained standing behind a tree.
One creature became three.
Then five.
Then more.
Etzel stared.
"That is not normal."
Below them, a loose stream of monsters rushed through the forest.
An Ashhorn Runner.
Two smaller quadrupeds Etzel didn't recognize.
A broad-backed scavenger with pale quills.
Something birdlike moving in violent hops.
A Hooktail Grazer.
Another creature with scaled forelegs and too many teeth.
Eight.
No.
Nine.
Different species.
Some of them should have been attacking each other.
Instead, they ran.
Not together.
That distinction became obvious now.
There was no formation.
No cooperation.
No shared instinct.
They simply happened to be moving in the same direction at the same time.
Driven by the same fear.
Etzel watched the Hooktail nearly collide with the quilled scavenger.
Neither attacked.
"They shouldn't tolerate each other like that."
"They don't," DK said.
Etzel glanced at him.
DK watched the movement below.
"They are not moving together."
A pause.
"They are being moved together."
Etzel's stomach tightened.
There it was.
Proof.
Not theory anymore.
He followed their direction.
The trail curved south.
Toward the maintained paths.
Toward—
A shout cut through the forest.
Human.
Etzel froze.
Another shout.
"Move!"
Then the crash of something heavy striking wood.
Etzel was already running downhill.
DK was beside him.
"You are injured."
"I know."
"Etzel."
"People."
That ended the argument.
They broke through the trees.
Three figures stood in the middle of the wider forestry path ahead.
Two men and a younger woman.
Not Hunters.
Etzel knew that immediately.
No combat gear.
No manifested equipment.
No stance.
One man held a woodcutting axe.
The other had what looked like a long pruning blade.
The young woman clutched a gathering basket in one hand and a short emergency spear in the other.
All three were backing away.
They had seen the stampede.
The monsters had seen them too.
Panic changed direction.
Not all of them.
Three creatures veered away.
Two crashed through brush.
But several remained on the trail.
Heading directly toward the civilians.
Etzel did the math.
Too many.
Too fast.
"DK."
"I know."
The answer came before Etzel gave the order.
DK moved.
That was the first moment Etzel realized how different their bond already felt.
No command.
No explanation.
No "protect them."
DK had seen what Etzel saw.
And had made the same decision.
Silver armor flashed down the path.
The civilians noticed him.
For half a second, relief appeared.
Then confusion.
Understandable.
A fully armored stranger materializing out of nowhere tended to complicate emotional responses.
The first creature reached DK.
A low, six-legged thing with a plated skull.
DK did not kill it.
He slammed his shield into the ground directly in front of it.
Metal struck dirt.
The impact cracked through the forest.
The creature jerked sideways.
Changed direction.
Etzel saw what DK was doing.
Good.
"Don't kill them!"
One of the civilians looked at Etzel as if he'd lost his mind.
DK didn't.
He shifted again.
Another monster approached.
DK moved into its path.
Sword still sheathed.
Shield high.
The creature saw the silver wall and turned.
Etzel ran toward the civilians.
"Off the trail!"
The older woodcutter stared.
"What?"
"Get behind the trees! Not straight back—right side!"
"Who are—"
"Later!"
The young woman reacted first.
She grabbed the older man's sleeve.
"Move!"
They ran.
Etzel looked toward the stampede.
This wasn't a fight.
That became clear instantly.
If they tried to kill everything, they'd create bodies in the path.
Bodies became obstacles.
Obstacles made panicked creatures scatter.
Scattering sent them toward the civilians.
Wrong solution.
He looked at the terrain.
Trail.
Slope on the left.
Dense thorn growth on the right.
Fallen trees farther ahead.
A narrow gap between two large trunks.
Etzel's mind started arranging pieces.
Not enemies.
Pieces.
"DK!"
The knight redirected another animal with a shield strike.
"Yes?"
"The gap ahead!"
DK looked.
Saw it.
Etzel pointed.
"Push them through there!"
DK changed position without asking why.
Etzel grabbed a loose branch from the ground.
One of the smaller monsters started veering toward the civilians.
Etzel threw the branch into the brush behind it.
Crash.
The creature jerked away from the sound.
Good.
Not enough.
Another came behind it.
Etzel shouted.
Waved his arms.
Immediately regretted the strategy when the creature noticed him.
Its head lowered.
"Oh."
DK started moving.
"Don't!"
The creature charged.
Etzel stood his ground for one heartbeat longer than instinct liked.
Then he jumped sideways.
The creature passed.
Now pointed toward the gap.
"That worked."
"Your methods concern me," DK called.
"They concern me too!"
The civilians were behind cover now.
Good.
Etzel looked at the herd.
Six still moving through the immediate area.
Too spread out.
He needed them closer.
Not close to him.
Close to the path.
He watched their reactions.
Noise.
Movement.
Threat.
They weren't choosing safe routes carefully.
They were choosing whatever route seemed least dangerous in the moment.
That meant DK was not only their strongest weapon.
He was also the most terrifying object in the forest.
Etzel smiled.
"DK!"
"I dislike that tone."
"I need you to scare them."
DK looked at the creatures.
Then at Etzel.
"You summoned an A-Rank warrior to frighten livestock."
"They have claws."
"An important distinction."
"Big movements. No killing."
DK drew his sword.
Etzel blinked.
"I said no killing."
"I heard you."
DK stepped forward.
Then something changed.
Not magic.
Not visibly.
His posture.
His presence.
The same thing Etzel had felt during the Tusker fight.
The man disappeared.
The warrior remained.
DK brought his sword down—not into a creature, but into a fallen log.
The blade split it.
Completely.
Wood exploded across the trail.
Every nearby monster recoiled.
Etzel stared.
"That was unnecessarily dramatic."
"They changed direction."
"They did."
Three creatures veered toward the narrow opening.
A fourth followed.
Then the Hooktail.
Yes.
It was working.
Etzel moved along the flank.
He shouted when one drifted too far right.
DK blocked the left.
Together, they created pressure without touching most of them.
A moving corridor.
The creatures followed the path of least terror.
Away from the civilians.
Away from the outer trail.
Through the gap.
Etzel's grin grew.
"This is working!"
DK looked at him.
"Do not celebrate early."
The last creature, a massive quilled scavenger, skidded toward the edge of the thorns. DK raised his shield, slamming it against the dirt one final time.
The booming sound was enough.
The creature scrambled, turning sharply and squeezing through the gap between the logs, disappearing after the rest of the herd.
Silence returned to the immediate area.
The civilians were pressed against the thorn growth, breathing hard. The young woman lowered her spear. The older woodcutter stared at DK's shining armor.
Etzel walked over. "You okay?"
The man nodded slowly. "We... yes. Who are you?"
"Hunters," Etzel said. It wasn't a lie, technically. "You need to get back to the outer perimeter. Now. Don't take the main trail. Stick to the ridge."
The man looked at the forest. "What was that?"
Etzel looked at DK. The knight's hand was resting on his sword hilt. His eyes were fixed on the deep woods.
"I don't know," Etzel said. "But whatever it is, it's pushing them toward you."
The civilians didn't need to be told twice. They gathered their tools and hurried toward the ridge, casting nervous glances behind them.
Etzel stood beside DK.
The forest was quiet again. But it wasn't the peaceful silence of the morning. It was the silence of a held breath.
"They're fleeing," Etzel said.
DK's eyes remained fixed on the trees. "Yes."
Etzel's grip tightened around his hatchet. "From what?"
For several seconds, DK said nothing.
Then—
"I don't know."
The forest beyond them was silent. Too silent.
Etzel stared into it. Yesterday, he would have wondered what was in there. Today, he knew enough to ask a better question.
What could make the monsters run?