Married To Darkness-Chapter 416: The Beast Attacks

The Wyfwood was quiet.

Too quiet actually.

Not a single bird called as if they didn’t exist but if Sarah’s eye balls could they’ll make all the needed sound with the way she was rolling the eyes around trying to catch something before it caught her.

No rustling of squirrels.

Just wind curling around trees like fingers.

Suddenly—

A blur of red burst from the trees.

No warning. No growl. No roar.

Just silence and violence.

The thing crashed through the underbrush like a storm: large, sinewy, wrong.

Red like blood under moonlight.

the size of a bear, a bear’s hulking mass... yet with a fox’s lean, agile frame...

And claws—long, black, curved like sickles.

It lunged without a sound straight toward Alaric.

"MOVE!" Lucius roared, already unsheathing his sword.

The horses reared and screamed, but the beast ignored them. It wanted flesh.

Alaric spun out of the way just as it slammed into the ground with enough force to crack roots. He drew his twin blades, silver catching the moonlight, and slashed.

The thing was fast. Too fast.

It dodged like smoke, its eyes soulless, its mouth stitched shut.

Jean had fallen behind, panting, face red and sweaty.

Her round boobs jiggled with every huff, but she didn’t run.

"Damn thing’s real?" Manni growled, fumbling for the short sword tied to his side. "You think I’ll let you have all the fun?!"

He charged in—clumsy but determined.

Salviana screamed as the beast turned toward Alaric again.

She ran a few steps forward—but stopped.

"No! Alaric!"

Her hands trembled, caught between wanting to help and being utterly, utterly terrified.

Emma yanked her back.

"Don’t!" she hissed, holding her and Sarah both against a tree. "You’ll just get in the way!"

Sarah was quiet but shivering. Her little hands dug into Emma’s cloak.

Jaefel, limping still from the last battle, moved in front of the girls.

He gritted his teeth through the pain. "You’ll not get past me, beast."

Samion let out a war cry and flung himself into the fray, slashing across the creature’s flank. It didn’t bleed—it oozed a thick, black sludge.

The thing spun—claws slicing air inches from Samion’s throat.

Lucius tackled it from behind, driving his sword into its back.

Still...

No sound. Not a single screech of pain.

It threw Lucius off like a ragdoll. Damnation

Alaric darted in, a blur of movement, eyes glowing faintly silver.

He struck again, aiming for its legs, weakening it.

"We kill it together!" he shouted.

Lucius rolled to his feet. "NOW!"

Samion came from the left, Manni surprisingly from behind, wheezing but swinging wildly.

With a final synchronized attack, Alaric stabbed it through the chest. Lucius cleaved through its neck. Samion drove his blade up through its belly.

The beast didn’t scream.

It simply...

Stopped.

Twitched once.

Collapsed.

The forest swallowed the sound.

Silence returned.

But it wasn’t the same.

The group stood there—panting, blinking, reeling.

The beast already began to dissolve, like blood into soil.

"Gods," Manni wheezed, flopping to his knees. "If another one of those comes, I’m feeding myself to it."

Jaefel turned to the girls. "Are you alright?"

Emma nodded stiffly. "We’re fine."

Lucius ran to Jean while Salviana ran to Alaric.

"You’re hurt—"

He shook his head, wiping black sludge off his blade. "I’m fine. But we’re not stopping."

Lucius looked toward the shadowed path ahead.

"If that’s what’s guarding the edge of Wyfmoor... then what in hells lives inside it?"

As night fell deeper, the fog thickened. Trees leaned in, gnarled and whispering. The silence was no longer peaceful—it was watching.

The horse that Lucius and Jean occupied was

Manni, the witch-coachman, stepped ahead, hand raised as if tasting the air.

"This forest is older than sin," he muttered. "The earth here remembers. The inside—the village—is safe enough. But these woods?"

He turned to them, eyes eerily glassy.

"You breathe too loud, it hears you."

No one laughed. Not after the last beast.

Suddenly—a rumble beneath their feet.

"Again?" Jaefel hissed, tightening his grip.

Salviana hardened her heart while Jean dropped down their horse.

The ground buckled—and split.

From the forest floor, a massive creature erupted, shedding dirt and root. It had four clawed limbs, no eyes, a body like compacted stone, and a head that split vertically when it opened—revealing a jagged, gaping mouth.

"An Htrea," Manni breathed. "Gods help us."

Sarah’s eyes widened as she gripped Samions arm.

At the same time, three smaller beasts slithered out after it—like monstrous squirrels, with slick snake-like tails and elongated fingers.

Alaric gritted his teeth.

"Protect the others. Soar!"

His black horse reared back but stood firm as Alaric mounted swiftly.

Salviana had already found a stone she was holding while Jean held a dagger she couldn’t use.

The Htrea charged like a boulder set free.

Lucius was already leaping from a tree to land on its back, driving his blade into its spine—but it didn’t slow.

One of the squirrel-snakes lunged at Emma, its tail coiling to strike. Jaefel stabbed through its head mid-air.

"Two left!" he called.

Samion threw a knife into the second, while Manni, bruised and gasping, used a crossbow to fell the last with a shaky, desperate bolt.

But the Htrea? It was still raging.

It slammed into two of their horses, crushing them under its weight. Screams echoed.

Salviana shouted something, but it was drowned in the chaos.

Soar galloped forward, fearless, as Alaric and Lucius launched a joint attack.

Lucius went for the throat.

Alaric—his eyes wild with focus—plunged his blade straight into the mouth as it opened.

The creature froze... and then, like rock collapsing into sand, crumbled.

The silence after the battle wasn’t peaceful.

They stood surrounded by black blood, dust, and the remains of the fallen horses.

One had been Samion’s.

The other, Lucius’s.

Jean bowed her head and muttered something no one quite heard. Maybe a curse. Maybe a prayer.

Sarah didn’t cry. She just clutched Emma’s hand tighter.

Lucius looked up at the trees. "No more surprises?"

Manni shrugged. "They know not to follow past the edge. We’re nearly out."

Soar, untouched, let out a low snort. His hooves pawed the dirt where the Htrea had crumbled.

Alaric patted his neck. "Good boy. We’re almost there."

Salviana walked to him, silent, and hugged him tightly from behind.

He didn’t speak—just held her hand over his chest.

As the last of the mist parted, the trees began to thin.

And in the distance, barely visible in the gloom—

The jagged silhouette of a mansion rose out of the night like a black crown.

Prince Embrez awaited.