What kind of nonsense is this, that you'd be chosen by the gods and favored by all the gods?

Enemy attack?!

Lyle could still hear the lingering sound of the arrow piercing the air.

Turning around, Tom had already lost his head and was nailed to the prison van next to him.

His pupils were dilated, his face filled with terror, and he died with his eyes wide open—

Someone attacked the convoy?!

If it weren't for the goddess's blessing that granted them strong intuition, allowing them to duck and avoid danger at the most perilous moment, they would now be two headless corpses nailed to the wall.

Lyle crouched down beside the prison van and looked around.

The accompanying soldiers responded immediately after the attack, raising their shields or finding cover on the spot.

The number of arrows that were launched in surprise attacks gradually decreased, and after the soldiers made timely responses, they were not very effective against armor and shields.

It seemed that everything had calmed down.

wrong...

Lyle rubbed his temples to relieve his fatigue while calmly observing his surroundings.

He looked towards the forest, and there was no doubt that the arrows that had been used in the sneak attack had been fired from there.

The enemy is in the forest?

"Damn it! Hey! You! And you... come with me to check out the situation!"

The soldier leader did not die but survived the ambush.

He reacted quickly, and after recovering from the initial shock, he immediately rearranged the soldiers and decided to lead the investigation into the attackers himself.

It's unclear how much of it stemmed from a sense of duty and how much from anger at being attacked.

Lyle found it increasingly strange.

Is that forest getting closer?

No... that forest is closer to us!

"Watch out! It's an illusion!"

Pastor Timo removed the strange scepter from his neck and held it high, from which bursts of brilliant golden light emanated.

This radiance was probably some kind of prayer spell, and its effect was quite obvious.

As the glow spread, the forest receded.

"What on earth is going on?!"

The guard leader also stopped in his tracks, his eyes flashing with fear.

"Someone came here specifically to ambush us..."

Timo was filled with doubt and unease as he looked at the still-wriggling forest.

Was it an illusion, from the very beginning?

And yet, you are completely unaware of the approaching self?

What terrifying power would it take to maintain such an illusion... or is there a sorcerer with this power targeting me?

"Sir...we're surrounded."

Just as Pastor Timo was filled with worry, the guard leader brought some bad news.

The overlapping forests didn't just stop at the edge of their vision; they emerged from the darkness of the night, appearing beside and behind them.

They were surrounded by darkness, which obscured their vision and made the space no longer as wide as before.

"What do we do?!"

The soldiers' leader also seemed somewhat panicked; he had never experienced anything so bizarre before.

"I...I remember ancient books saying that darkness at night breeds impurity, defiles corpses, and gives birth to the souls of the dead, and this place used to be a battlefield."

"But it's alright... they're often just minor difficulties."

"Gather your soldiers, and I will clear a path for you with magic. Then, we will walk out together."

"The goddess will protect us."

Timo could only make decisions based on his limited battlefield experience.

He could manage to use magic to deal with frontline slaves or conscripted soldiers of low birth, but faced with this situation, he felt completely lost.

Ryan overheard their conversation from the other end of the prison van, and his expression shifted slightly.

Neither of these guys was considering the people in the prison van.

No, they weren't even human; they were war slaves, people who should have died on the battlefield long ago.

If someone dies, they're dead; it's not worth worrying about.

Lyle rubbed his temples, picked up an arrow and examined it. He found that the arrow was exquisitely crafted, quite sturdy, and well-maintained.

It doesn't seem like something a ghost from a dense forest could make.

Moreover, the enemy's sneak attack seemed to be very targeted; although the prison cart next to Lyle was huge, the wood of the cart was extremely thin.

If the enemy were to fire specifically here, at least half of the slaves inside the vehicle would die.

In other words, the potential enemies were actually more inclined to target the soldiers and the priest.

They had little interest in slaves like Lyle.

"Bang!"

Just then, a loud crash came from beside them, and the door of the prison cart collapsed to the side, causing all the slaves on it to rush out.

"Damn it!"

Because the soldier leader had gathered his own soldiers, the prison van was no longer guarded.

The extremely destructive arrows were fortunate enough to break the bars of the prison van, and the broken wooden bars were used as levers to pry open the doors of other prison vans.

Therefore, they were able to escape.

"Run!"

"We absolutely cannot let them catch up!"

The fleeing slaves, in a panic, seized this only opportunity and fled into the depths of the forest, but the moment their feet stepped into the shadows...

Vines shot out of nowhere, entangled their limbs, and then quickly pulled them deeper into the dense forest.

Most of them didn't even have time to let out a terrified scream before falling silent in the darkness.

"ah!!!"

"Monster! Monster! In the woods!"

The sight of large amounts of flesh and blood exploding and splattering in front of the soldiers horrified them.

So much so that he almost lost his mind and collapsed backward.

"They're getting closer!"

Timo's voice made everyone present even more nervous, as the illusory forest slowly crept closer.

As the sound of arrows piercing the air rang out, another barrage of arrows swept across the sky.

"Ugh!!!"

Near Lyle, a soldier holding a spear and a triangular shield clutched his neck in terror and stumbled back a few steps.

Bright red arterial blood gushed out, and after a few breaths there was no more movement.

The other soldiers fared no better, with more than half killed or wounded, and even Timo himself nearly died from a stray arrow.

"I say! Those who lurk in the shadows should be punished!"

At that moment, Timothy finally made his move. He raised the scepter, chanted a prayer, and unleashed even greater divine power to retaliate.

The power of prayer was immense; it spread at an unimaginable speed, shattering the stray arrows, which fell to the ground.

He picked up the deceased's triangular shield and held it in front of himself.

At least it can guarantee that my life is safe.

Timo is very nervous about the current situation.

His invincible divine power failed to completely eradicate the illusory dense forest.

In the past, whenever I used these prayers, those enemies would burn away like torches.

But now... it's having absolutely no effect.

Are you kidding me!

Fear, which had not been seen for a long time, reappeared in Timothy's heart.

He took two steps back, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"They're here!!!"

The soldiers screamed in despair as the creeping forest illusions, which had been slowly approaching, suddenly surged towards them.

The soldiers raised their shields and torches, but they were completely unable to resist and vanished into the deep forest.

Lyle, who was behind him, secretly groaned and climbed up onto the prison cart.

They've really stopped acting altogether!

However, the movements of these living people are ultimately much slower than those illusions constructed by magic.

Before Lyle could climb to the top of the prison van, he was swallowed up by the boundless dark green and darkness.