Episode 1 Forest of the Dead - Part 6

 Linda, who had been clinging desperately to her body in order not to be thrown off by the violent movements to the left and right, screamed out in panic. In a dreadful clownish gesture, she leaped into the air, her torn arm dodging the guards of the torch and the great sword, and clinging to Linda's bare arm.

 Linda gave a cry of disgust and tried to pluck it off. But the arm clung to her warm skin as if it had been sucked by a vicious leech.

"No! No! No!"

 Hearing Linda's cries, Guin suddenly switched Danpei and the torch between his left and right hands in an instant. The torch he held in his right hand was suddenly pressed against Linda's arm. A horrible sound of burning flesh rang out, and a moment later the arm fell on the undergrowth without its prey.

 Linda's skin, which had been crawling with monsters, was flushed, as if it had been sucked up hard. Guin didn't turn around, but yelled at the monsters as he continued to pound away at them.

"Fight, child... on the count of three, I'll take the branch that fell there, put fire in it, and fight with it. If you want to live to see tomorrow's sunrise, don't let the fire go out!"

"All right, Guin!"

"All right, one, two, three!"

 As soon as he counted, the warrior threw the torch up in the air and ran over to pick up a dead branch before it fell. It was a close call to catch the torch, for as soon as it was out of Guin's hands, the brain-splattering severed head and the burning chest came flying through the air, ready to seize the fire. Holding the torch in his left hand, Guin hooked them with the sword in his right hand and flung them away.

"Hold your fire."

 He shouted and handed over a dead branch. Linda took the fire from the torch and made two torches.

"Remus!"

"Yeah, Linda!"

 The fires of the three torches were now blazing menacingly around them. But the ghouls, driven by their infernal craving, showed no sign of retreating. Grasping Guin's belt tightly, Remus joined the fight, using his torch to dispel the mass of carrion that threatened.

"Guin."

 Linda held up the torch, but did not dare to wield it, and whispered in a trembling voice. Her voice was frightened and frightened.

"What?"

"The rain-- it hit me on the cheek."

 A storm is about to hit.

 The ghouls roared noiselessly in ghastly delight. They did not scoff. For it was Coyote who laughed, and the mouths of the ghouls were sealed against all sound. But their malice and their joy and their tongue-licking anticipation became a wave of air that swept over the three displaced persons.

"O God of Janus!"

 Linda groaned.

"If this fire is extinguished by rain, we will be eaten by ghouls!"

"Don't give up hope, child!"

 Guin scolded him as he moved from side to side without any sign of fatigue, switching to a strategy of snatching the dead flesh with the tip of his sword and smashing it as far away as possible when he saw that it was useless to cut it.

"Fight, and so hope. You must be the bloodline of the Holy Royal Family of Paro!"

"Oh, Guin, my hands are so numb. I can't hold on to them anymore!"

 Linda's voice was faint with despair. She still held on to Guin's thick neck with all the strength she could muster, but the strength in her arms was diminishing as she had to support the torch with one hand. As for Remus, he was trying to help Guin by dispelling the monsters with his torch, but he screamed when his torch was snatched away by a shredded torso that came crashing down from above.

 Great drops of rain were falling on their cheeks, and the ghouls were nearing the point of rapture. A fierce wind ruffled Linda's hair, and Guin had to draw back his sword to guard the fire of his torch.

"Damn you, Dolls! I've been through worse. I've been through worse."

 That's when Guin roared.

"Guin! Look!"

 Linda screamed. The strange crack of her voice was so strong that Guin forgot for a moment to even risk looking away from the ghouls and looked at her - and made a low, startled sound.

 As if coming out of the darkness, black armor, black cloak, black headgear, even the horse is dressed in black body, and to calm the frightened horse, they put down their eye glasses and keep hitting the horse's neck with their whips. They are coming towards us solemnly!

"It's the tracker from Fort Staphorus."

 Linda ran her mouth.

"Oh, Janus! I think we're done here."

"No, wait."

 Guin whispered. The eyes in his leopard head were beginning to glow blue with the mad hope that had suddenly arisen.

"Just the opposite. This might keep us alive--see, the ghouls and the knights have noticed each other."

 The bears suddenly stood still and stopped moving. The well-trained knights, though they had not been struck down, smelled the fresh, plentiful, living prey and immediately rushed towards it. There were screams of fear and disgust everywhere.

"Look. The ghouls have been distracted by more prey."

 Guin whispered, breathing on his shoulder.

"Why in the world would they--why in the world would they be wearing ... the emblem of Fort Staphorus on their armor on a night like this when it is about to storm, when they should be familiar with this frontier from the start?"

"They've traveled too far looking for a platoon that never came back."

 Guin said.

"And perhaps they have spent the night in the forest of the Ludes and have been led astray by the demons of the earth. Look, they will all have torches tied to their saddle-jars. They know in their bones the terror of wandering at night in the wilderness."

"Look, Guin!"

 Remus screamed in terror as he clung to the leopard warrior's arm.

 The grasslands were in chaos and horrible screams. The knights of Ghora were accustomed to guard the frontier, and they knew how to fight the ghouls, but this time, like the demons of Nosferus, the more the ghouls were cut, the more they were cut. And they were all swallowed up by the devourers, without room enough for their swords.

 Once they were in the bosom where the sword could not reach, the ghouls crawled relentlessly up to their faces and throats and bare skin. The knights fell from their horses and rolled about, screaming and grasping their disgusting carrion, but the ghouls, sucking on them like leeches, clung to their faces, choking them and sapping their warm flesh as they struggled.

 Linda groaned in horror and hid her face in Guin's shoulder. The knight, crucified by the ghoul, screamed and flailed about, and as his face was gradually sucked up and caved in, the enraptured monster dug into his armor for more soft flesh and fresh blood. Ranting and raving to save their comrades, the knights leapt from the horse and ran for it, but before they could reach it, they had to fight a desperate battle to save themselves.

"Oh-- Guin, we have to save them!"

 As expected of a boy, Remus did not bury his face in the ground like his sister, but he was nauseous and clung to the warrior, shaking and shaking.

"Say something stupid."

 was the warrior's reply.

"They are the enemy who came to capture you. It's fortunate that the corpse-eaters have lost their minds to them. I wish I could escape while I'm here, but I'm not sure I can leave here, wander into the darkness of the Forest of Ludes and see the morning in peace. If only the light of dawn would shine on us while they are fighting...!

 Suddenly Guin barked. Remus screamed and jumped up, and Linda was frightened.

"Guin?"

"What a bypass I am!"

"Guin, why--Guin!"

 The leopard-headed warrior cursed wildly as he looked up to the heavens .

"I forgot to take into account the corpse-eaters' cursed trait. Corpse-eaters eat corpses and living men and beasts and take up residence in them. What if they take on the Black Knights and come to attack us?"

"Guin--!"

"We can't keep fighting until morning against that many people... Damn you, Yarn the God of Wisdom!"

 Guin raised his strong hands to the sky in a gesture that was neither a prayer nor a curse. But he only did so for a moment.

 Suddenly he's on the move.

"Guin--Guin, what are we going to do!"

 Linda screamed in terror. Guin didn't even look back.

"Child! Give me your torch too."

"What the hell are you doing! You'll start a forest fire. You'll burn to death!"

"It's better than letting ghouls slurp your flesh and blood while you live!"

 The Leopard snatched the torch from Linda's hand and began to furiously move it to the undergrowth.

"Come on, let's burn. Miguel, god of fire. Dagon, god of wind. Burn now. Cursed forest!"

"Aah!"

 The fresh, oily trees and grass fiercely resisted Guin's rampage for a while. But then the first signs came in the form of a crackling sound, followed by a rush of orange flames that grew all the way down!

 A panic had broken out in the dark land. The fowls that had been sleeping quietly in the branches of the trees fluttered about, and the grass snakes ran away, hissing. A panic also spread among the ghouls and the knights of Gora who were absorbed in battle.

 The fire illuminated the area, making it brighter and brighter, revealing the dawn of a new day. The reign of darkness was overturned, and the horrible goblins fled in panic, throwing out the live bait they had been clinging to. As the flames began to burn higher and brighter, piercing the heavens, the heat and brightness that scorched the sky drove the ghouls mad as they searched for a place to flee.

"Guin, you're hot!"

"You can't escape! The fire is too fast!"

 The twins of Paros cry out. Guin, his whole body illuminated by the flames, stood immobile, his hands on his hips, his cloak fluttering wildly in the fire-swollen wind. His majestic frame was as resolute and steel-like in its will to live as if he were a demi-god himself, in the midst of the hellish picture of ghouls and knights in flames, splashing about as living torches in the forest of flames. Linda drew in her breath.

 Covered in fire, the ghouls shriveled up, letting out horrible, inarticulate screams. They did not become human torches like the knights and burn up, but shrank and melted away like ice melting in a fire. The anguish and the curse overwhelmed the crackling of the fire and the roar of the wind, and the mouths of Linda and Remus screamed as loud as they could in the face of the raging fire that ruffled their hair and rubbed their skin.

 And--

 Guin's on the move.

 The leopard-headed figure, which had seemed to be a statue of an immovable deity, suddenly jumped up, and its strong hands stretched out to snatch the bodies of the Paros twins one by one.

"Come on, kids."

 As soon as he howled, chased by the fire he had set, he began to run back the way he had come.

 The fire has turned into a tremendous blaze, scorching the heavens, and it's the middle of the day. Pushing past all the strange forest dwellers running for cover, Guin ran and finally found what he was looking for - the Fountain of Ludes!

"I don't think the water demon will be able to do anything to us in this light."

 With a snarl, he gave the twins no time to protest, and, with the two in his arms, plunged headlong into the spring.

 The tongues of flame, sizzling and crackling, as if rejoicing in the fact that the sacrifice they sought had escaped them by the narrowest of margins, burned away the deep forests of the Ruud, the very heart of the forest that for thousands of years had been silent and tepid with the life of darkness, and raged on with their insatiable invasion. And it was raging wildly.

"--child."

 The first thing that came out of the water was the wet and wilted head of a Leopard.

"Hey, kid, are you two still alive?"

"Yeah-- yeah, apparently."

 Then, in a trickle of water, a small platinum blonde head appeared on either side of the giant Leopard head. Linda squirted out the water and replied with a chattering of her teeth.

 Guin looked around - it was a wretched ruin, destroyed and purged by the fury of fire.

 The trees are blackened and burned, and their undergrowth is reduced to ashes. The forest, whose treetops have been burned away, is ridiculously wide and clear, and within it there are countless trees like burnt skeletons huddled together.

 Guin looked at him and left the spring, shaking his whole body. It was a beastly gesture, as if he were really a Leopard incarnate.

 The leopard's head was shaking with the water, and he stretched out his hand and pulled the twins out of the spring. The twins of Paros, who were pulled up by his hands, were wet and wilted, and their teeth were chattering, but first they looked at each other, and then they held out their hands and embraced each other.

 Beyond the blackened trees, a dreamlike blue mountain range is visible. Above it, the irreplaceable sun shines with its morning glare, filling the air with warmth and light, even though it has cooled down somewhat since ancient times.

"Yes... yes... we're alive, aren't we?"

 Linda whispered to her brother as she hugged him tightly, as if this was a mystery to her.

"The air is so sweet--oh, how bright it is!"

"The wind that was about to call the storm has come to our aid, doubly so."

 Guin said in a barking voice.

"The fire burned in the wind and saved us forever from the wraith-eaters of the Forest of Ludes. That same fire brought the wind and rain again and put out the fires just in time before the fountains dried up and we were burned to a crisp like the ghouls and knights. I'd say we were very lucky, though I'm not sure it will work out this way again."

"Oh--I wonder if anyone at Fort Staphorus saw that fire."

"Of course, you saw it. Such a great fire and two knights are probably on it.

 They'll be waiting for the fire to die down and then they'll send out their men to investigate-- don't stay long. But before you do that, make sure you're hungry and your clothes are clean, children."

 Guin said, squeezing his cloak and letting the water drip on the ashes.

"Or we'll fall before we can cut through our pursuers. Fortunately, if it's food you're looking for, I'm sure there's a large restaurant or kitchenette roasting your favorite food."

"Well."

 But the leopard-headed warrior, who in the morning light looked even more deformed, even more like the legendary half-breed Silenos, was paying no attention to them and was intent on finding the burnt fowl among the ashes and rubble. Watching the Leopard's mouth mincing the prey it had soon found and chewing away at the delicious juices dripping from its flesh, the twins could not resist the urge to eat.

"What are you going to do now?"

 The words finally came out of Linda's mouth when they had finally released the hunger and chill of yesterday and wiped their fingers.

"Yes."

 Guin replies with a shake of his leopard head.

"I'm going to find myself. I have to find out who I am, why I have this mask, and what Aura is."

"We are ...."

 Linda and Remus looked at each other. But then the leopard-headed warrior interrupted them by laughing out loud.

"Whatever you're going to do, you're going to have to live with it. I can hear dozens of hooves. They're probably from the fort. In any case, it looks like we don't have much time to think about it."