Devourer's Legacy: I Regressed With The Primordial Crest
Chapter 68: The Poacher’s Camp (2)

Chapter 68: The Poacher’s Camp (2)

Only a few people around the camp noticed the arrow and the dead worker in the darkness. For a split second, there was just confused silence as men tried to figure out what had happened.

Then the sky filled with death.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Arrows rained down from every direction like deadly hail. The night air filled with the whistle of fletching and the wet sound of arrowheads finding flesh.

"We’re under attack!" someone screamed.

"Get down! Get down!"

"Where are they coming from?!"

The camp exploded into chaos. Men who had been calmly packing supplies or sitting around fires suddenly found themselves diving for cover behind anything they could find. Crates, tree stumps, even dead bodies—anything to block the arrows that kept coming.

Pike rolled away from the fire, clutching his shoulder where an arrow had grazed him. "What the hell is happening?!"

"We are under attack!" Garrett yelled back, crouched behind an overturned wagon. "But who is attacking us and why are they attacking us?"

Rodriguez was flat on his belly, crawling toward the treeline. "Doesn’t matter now! We need to get out of here!"

All around them, men were screaming. Some were hit by arrows and crying for help. Others were running in circles, not knowing which way was safe. The neat, organized camp had become a battlefield in seconds.

To be honest, entering the Great Green Forest without permission from House Grim was forbidden. And for good reason.

The forest was like a monster’s den - no, more like a beehive. Poke at a beehive and the whole swarm comes after you. Disturb anything in that forest, and you’d have an entire beast horde charging out, ready to destroy everything in their path.

But the mercenaries? They didn’t think that far ahead. Money was all they cared about.

"The cage!" Dutch suddenly shouted, pointing toward the center of camp. "Someone get the cage!"

Through all the chaos and panic, every eye turned to look at the heavily reinforced cage containing their prize. The baby Keth’mor was curled up in the corner, its golden eyes wide with fear at all the noise and commotion.

Even with arrows flying and men dying around them, none of them could bring themselves to leave it behind. That cage represented more money than any of them had ever seen. It was their ticket to a better life.

"I got it!" Jenkins yelled. Despite being the youngest and most scared member of the group, he was also the fastest. He sprinted across the open ground, dodging arrows as he ran.

"Jenkins, you crazy bastard!" Pike shouted. "Get back here!"

But Jenkins had already reached the cage. It was heavy—built to hold a dangerous beast—but fear and greed gave him strength. He grabbed the cage by its carrying handles and started dragging it toward the trees.

"This way! Everyone this way!" he called out, struggling with the weight.

The surviving poachers didn’t need to be told twice. About fifteen men broke from their hiding spots and ran toward Jenkins and the trees, hoping the forest would give them cover.

"Move! Move!" Garrett screamed, helping Jenkins carry the cage. "Into the forest!"

They crashed through the underbrush, branches tearing at their clothes and faces. Behind them, they could hear their camp burning and men still screaming. The arrows had stopped falling, but that somehow made things even more terrifying.

"Keep going!" Rodriguez panted as he ran. "We need to get deeper into the woods!"

"Who were those guys?" Jenkins gasped, still clutching one side of the cage. "How did they find us?"

"Shut up and keep running!" Dutch snapped. "Talk later, run now!"

They stumbled through the darkness for what felt like hours but was probably only minutes. Tree roots caught their feet, low branches hit them in the face, and the cage kept getting caught on things. But they kept going, driven by panic and the desperate hope that they could escape.

Finally, Pike collapsed against a tree, breathing hard. "Stop... stop... I can’t... can’t run anymore."

The others gathered around him, all of them exhausted and scared. They’d made it maybe half a mile from the camp, deep enough into the forest that they couldn’t see the fires anymore.

"Think we lost them?" Rodriguez whispered, looking back the way they’d come.

"Maybe," Garrett said, but he didn’t sound convinced. "Let’s catch our breath and then keep moving."

Jenkins was checking the cage, making sure their prize was still secure. The baby Keth’mor looked up at him with those golden eyes, and for a moment he felt bad for the little thing. It was probably as scared as they were.

"Don’t worry, little guy," he whispered. "We’ll get you out of this."

"Think they’re after the snake?" Pike asked quietly.

"Has to be," Dutch replied. "Nothing else we got is worth organizing a whole attack like that."

"But who would know we had it?" Rodriguez wondered. "We’ve been careful, haven’t told anyone..."

Before anyone could answer, lights began appearing through the trees around them.

Lanterns. Lots of them.

"Oh no," Pike breathed. "Oh no, no, no..."

The lights were everywhere—in front of them, behind them, to both sides. They formed a perfect circle around the small group of poachers, closing in slowly but steadily.

"We’re surrounded," Garrett said, his voice flat with defeat.

Soldiers stepped into view, each one carrying a bright lantern that made the forest look like daylight. They were dressed in proper armor and moved with the discipline of trained fighters—nothing like the rough mercenaries the poachers were used to dealing with.

There had to be at least fifty of them.

"Drop your weapons!" one of the soldiers called out. "Surrender now and you might live!"

The arrows had stopped completely now. The soldiers just stood there in their circle, waiting for the poachers to decide.

Whatever hope and courage the mercenaries had left died when they saw just how many people surrounded them. It felt like even breathing too loud would get them killed.

Jenkins looked down at the cage, then at his men. They were trapped. No way to run, no way to fight. Fifteen tired poachers against fifty armed soldiers.

"What do we do?" he whispered.

His men stared back at him, just as lost as he was.

Before anyone could answer, the circle of soldiers parted, and someone walked forward into the light.

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