The sky had turned a dusky purple as Sylvia set foot in the southwestern region of the forest. The towering shadows of trees reached toward the heavens like giant hands clawing the sky. She moved swiftly, her footsteps nearly silent as Shadow Piercing carried her from tree to tree.
But her steps halted. Standing before her was a tree or rather, something that looked like a tree.
It towered over all others, its trunk as wide as a small house, and its bark was etched with twisted patterns resembling faces frozen in agony. In the center of the trunk was a crack, shaped like a closed eye.
Sylvia narrowed her eyes. "What is this…?"
Curiosity moved her forward. But as soon as her foot stepped near the tree's roots—
CRAAAK!!
Long branches lashed toward her like thorned whips!
Sylvia barely dodged, her body moving before her mind could react. With extraordinary reflexes, she ducked, rolled, then leapt behind a nearby tree.
"An ambush?"
