(Time-Stilled World, 143 Kilometers from Forest Entry, Day 12)
Over the next five days, the group had to battle their way through the forest with barely any time to breathe, as there were no quiet stretches anymore, no peaceful walks between fights, and certainly no mercy from the creatures that stalked them nonstop.
Every few hours, some new horror would leap from a treetop or claw its way out from beneath the ground, forcing the team to raise their weapons and brace for yet another bloody encounter.
The attacks kept coming. Each fight blurred into the next, and although most of the enemies weren't impossibly strong, their endless frequency began to wear the team thin.
The more complex the fight, the harder it became to rely on mana stones. Holding one in your hand while dodging fangs and claws wasn't always possible, and in those moments, the only choice was to cycle the tainted mana of this world, a choice that came with a cost.
Each draw from this corrupted realm chipped away at the edges of their minds, as slowly but surely, the signs of madness began to show.
"Damn it! I've done it again! I've absorbed more of this cursed mana!" Raiden cursed, punching a tree so hard that blood cracked from his knuckles.
He kept going, even after the bark broke. Even after it hurt. As if the pain grounded him. As if punishing himself could undo the damage.
Nearby, Cipher crouched in silence, pulling at his eyelashes one by one, his eyes fixed on the dirt with a blank, unfocused stare.
It had started two days ago, when he suddenly picked up the habit of pulling at his lashes out of nowhere.
However, now, in just a span of two days, most of his lashes were gone, and his fingers still twitched at the space around his eyelids as though the motion had become involuntary.
No one spoke about it.
But everyone noticed.
Sleep had become shallow and filled with twitchy jerks. Meals were taken in silence and chewed without joy. Words became fewer. Glances became colder. And slowly, the cracks began to show.
Karl laughed too loudly at things that weren't funny. Cipher's hands hovered a little too close to his weapons even when there was no threat. Raiden's orders grew sharp, clipped, and far less patient than before, as though he too was slipping under the weight of constant pressure.
Even Bob, who had been the quiet rock of the group, began sleeping further from the others and speaking in shorter phrases than what he usually did, his answers growing more curt with each passing day.
And Leo, who watched all of this from behind a mask of calm, understood what none of the others wanted to admit.
The team was beginning to unravel.
They were barely a day or two away from exiting the forest, but the mood within the group had never felt more brittle.
Something was rotting.
And Leo could feel it in the way Cipher's eyes twitched when someone moved too fast, in the way Karl lingered a second too long while handing over food, that things were reaching a boiling point.
'If only I could figure out who in this group is attracting the monsters, I can silently take them out and continue on this journey with the rest.
Usually, I would just ditch the group as a whole and be gone on my own. However, even I am not foolish enough to be alone in this world.
There's a strength in numbers and having a group is definitely useful as long as the members are sane—' Leo thought to himself as he tried to decode the mystery behind who exactly was attracting the monsters amongst them?
He knew it couldn't be him or Bob as while the two of them travelled alone, travelling was quite easy, which meant that it had to be one of Raiden, Karl or Cipher.
Karl was undeniably weak, and if he had committed a crime as blatant as Patricia's— like lighting a fire and drawing the forest's wrath— then the pattern would have repeated, with every monster targeting him and him alone.
But that wasn't happening.
Which was precisely why Leo ruled him out.
In his head, he felt confident that it had to be either Raiden or Cipher who were the problem, however, it was proving to be near impossible to find out who?
The monsters who showed up attacked all of them with indifference, which was why Leo began considering the idea of eliminating them both once they got out of the forest.
—---------
That night, as they sat in silence under a thick canopy, each person hunched low to their meal, the tension that had been brewing beneath the surface for days finally began to leak.
No one said anything for the first few minutes, each person too tired, too bitter, or too far gone in their own thoughts to spark conversation, but then, in the middle of a dull bite of boiled root and hardened grain, Cipher looked up.
"Hey Karl," he muttered, his voice flat but laced with irritation. "Do you mind chewing a little less loudly? Your fucking munching is drilling a hole through my skull."
Karl blinked twice, caught off guard by the sudden accusation, as he looked around, confused.
"But… I'm not even eating," he said softly, holding nothing in his hands.
The moment those words left his lips, Cipher stood up without hesitation, his boots crunching over the dry forest floor as he walked straight toward him, locking eyes with a look that made the air suddenly feel heavy.
"What was that?" Cipher asked, his head tilting ever so slightly, his tone quiet but dangerous. "You calling me a liar now? You think I'm deaf? You think I don't know what I hear?"
Karl didn't respond.
He just stared back with a tight-lipped expression, eyes flicking with discomfort, as though trying to decide whether to argue or just stay silent.
But the look was enough.
Cipher didn't wait.
His hand lashed out with a sharp slap that sent Karl's head jerking sideways, a red imprint already blooming across his cheek.
"You glare at me again," Cipher hissed, grabbing him by the jaw and forcing him to make eye contact, "and I swear on every god in this cursed realm—I'll poke those eyes out of your skull, bend you over and fuck you till you bleed from your arse. Don't test me, you worm."
His words cut through the camp like blades, sharp and vulgar, and for a second, no one moved.
Not even Karl.
Until Raiden stepped forward, his face twisted with disbelief, as he grabbed Cipher's arm and yanked him back.
"That's enough, Cipher!" he barked. "You need to chill. Because while Karl's chewing didn't hurt my ears, your senseless shouting sure as hell does."
But Cipher didn't appreciate the interruption.
He turned, shoved Raiden back with a two-handed push to the chest, and locked eyes with him like a beast sizing up another predator.
For a heartbeat, the two stood inches apart, both breathing hard, as the forest around them seemed to fall dead silent again—watching, waiting.
Then, after what felt like an eternity, Cipher backed off with a scoff, turning away as if nothing had happened, while Karl sat frozen, his face still burning, his eyes filled with a quiet, simmering rage.
Leo said nothing.
Bob didn't flinch.
But in that moment, even without words, it became clear to all of them—
The insanity had started to creep into their behaviour. And it had started to creep in much faster than the books warned them it would.