The monster did not fall alone.
In the moment after its death, the space it had occupied remained heavy, as though the forest itself had not yet accepted the absence. Blood soaked into the leaves in uneven patterns, dark and slow, refusing to disappear.
That was when the cost revealed itself.
A sharp intake of breath cut through the silence. Someone staggered backward, clutching their side, fingers already slick with red. The injury had gone unnoticed during the struggle—an incidental cut, a glancing blow, nothing dramatic enough to demand attention until the danger had passed.
Hesitation had created that opening.
Not mine alone.
Ours.
The formation collapsed inward as attention fractured. Accusations did not rise openly, but they hung in the air, unspoken and suffocating. Eyes shifted. Postures tightened. Each trainee replayed the moment differently, searching for the instant where responsibility could be placed somewhere else.
No one volunteered it.
We bound the wound as best we could.
Hands shook. Knots were pulled too tight or too loose. Every movement betrayed the strain beneath forced calm. The injured trainee remained conscious, teeth clenched, refusing to cry out—not out of bravery, but because doing so would make the failure undeniable.
The forest watched.
It did not interfere.
That indifference was worse than hostility.
We moved again, slower this time.
Spacing widened without instruction, each person unconsciously protecting their own ground. The formation still existed in theory, but trust no longer supported it. Every step felt measured against the possibility of being left behind.
I felt the pressure shift.
Not sharper.
Heavier.
Restraint no longer meant safety. It demanded calculation—when to hold back, and when delay would become abandonment. The line between control and paralysis had narrowed.
I had misjudged it once.
I would not make that mistake again.
Another sound reached us.
Smaller. Faster.
Not alone.
We stopped before anyone gave the order.
That alone was telling.
The forest did not wait for agreement. Movement flickered between trees, low and quick. Shapes darted just beyond clear sight, testing distance, testing reaction.
The cost of hesitation was no longer theoretical.
It was moving toward us.
And this time, there would be no room for uncertainty.