Chapter 25:Trial of the Forest eyes.

Quite long chapter, that is why small delay. But hopefully you do enjoy it.

I only checked it 2 times, so there might be some obvious mistakes , but it is quite late and I want to take a shower and have some sleep.

Please enjoy reading!

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August's eyes snapped open, but what he met was complete darkness. Not a single piece of light could be seen. His eyes were bound up with a cloth and that prevented him from seeing anything around.

He tried to move his limbs but found himself unable to do so, he was left in quite a pitiful situation, without the proper ability to move or see. He tried to get out of the ropes that were not allowing him to move, but all of his attempts failed.

It looked like Vesemir did his best, making it almost impossible for August to untie the ropes with his strength. He needed something that could help him, or someone to help untie the ropes.

For an hour August was struggling with ropes that were strongly tied to his hands and legs before he heard the silent steps of someone.

The steps were silent, almost like the one approaching was an animal with pawns that prevented them from making any noise.

Spotting the side where the sounds were coming from, August moved away from there, trying his best to keep the distance in between. But the lack of vacant moving limbs justified moving around being a hard task.

Instead of trying to move using his limbs, August rolled like a wheel away from the creature that was probably about to have a tasty, nourished August flesh.

But his effort proved to be useless when he was stopped by something that was covered in fur.

Suddenly, a sound resonated all around him. It was coming from all sides that he could possibly choose as escape routes

*Rrrraaaaaa*

Frankly speaking, this promised nothing good, but out of nowhere, someone licked his face with a rough tongue.

With a tongue, this creature removed the eye cover that prevented August from seeing anything. When his eyes regained the ability to see, he saw a huge wolf standing in front of him with sharp fangs, white fur covering the body and pointy ears.

Getting a better look at the animal, August recognized a pup that he didn't kill but instead nourished until the pup could stay in the wild alone.

This brought a small smile to August, but looking around he spotted around 10 wolfs that surrounded him and were not in a nice mood. All of them were grinning at him and were ready to throw themselves on their meal.

The wolf that just licked August's face stared at the crowd of the wolves around and barked in a powerful voice, making all the wolfs to take a step back, removing the hungry grins from their muzzles.

This allowed August to sigh and relax for a bit, looking at the wolf that once was a pup August chuckled, "You are a big boy now"

*Auf* replied wolf and wiggled his tail from side to side.

August let out of happy groan and inquired, "Would you mind helping me out of those ropes?"

*Auf* *Auf*

August guided the wolf that with the use of his powerful jaw gnaw through the ropes and freed August. When his hands were free, August quickly untied his legs and stood up stretching up his muscles.

Looking in the distance, August spotted a swamp that looked unwelcoming, but at the same time, he felt like this was the right direction he should take. But before that, August quickly concluded that there will be monsters that he will have to fight or run away from.

Swamps never were a good place, it was a place where a lot of dangerous creatures live. Such as Bloedzuiger

They reside in the swamps and have grotesque appearances. It causes terror because it pours digestive juices over the victim when they are still alive and then dines on their half-digested intestines

Or

Drowner is a frightful creature of mud and scum. They drug people into mires and bobbing eddies. It prefers a young woman but never denies a man. Those creatures are embodied of spirits of those who can not rest after death and are sometimes born of fetuses absorbed by magical means. They appear ugly and skinny. They have a tall body but it is mostly made of bones. They are slimy and green as well as their hair.

But luckily, both of those creatures do not pose resistance to any kinds of weapons and it is one advantage that August has. He could use wood as a weapon and still be able to kill those creatures.

Scanning the area, August spotted a tree that looked healthy and young enough to create something like a spear.

Quickly making his way there and breaking long branches, he proceeds with making a spear. He proceed with making a torch that could prove to be an excellent weapon against one creature of the swamp.

It took him a bit of time, but he was ready. The wolf was sitting close and observing the actions that August made.

He took a few minutes to prepare mentally and walked in the swamp's direction.

When he was nearing the swamp, the wolf, reluctantly stopped and howled. Wolf walked close to August and bit an edge of his cloth, trying to drag August away from the swamp.

August chuckled and stroked the wolf's head, saying, "Sorry buddy, I have to go there"

Wolf looked at the ground and whined silently.

August made his way into the swamp, while wolf lonely looked at the figure of August, getting further and further away.

…

Taking it slow, August slowly made his way through the swamp, when suddenly something got a hang of his leg and started to drag him down.

With the rapid piercing moves, August started to chaotically hit the surrounding water, trying to stab those bastards as much as possible.

For a second August was relieved from all the creatures that tried to kill him, but it didn't last for long before a huge number of Drowner tried to pull him down.

August tried to fight off and was successful, but that was until a gigantic monster rose from the water. It was Bloedzuigerthat was preparing to spread all of his acids.

Before he could do that, a wolf jumped on the creature, getting a firm grip on it with his sharp fangs, piercing its skin and making the creature scream in pain.

August continued fighting off the drawers, turning them into a sieve with his spear. Slowly, but surely, he was making progress, while the wolf took care of the Bloedzuiger for him.

But the creature that Wolf was fighting didn't want to lose it to a mere wolf and sprayed the wolf with his acid, making him whine and lose a firm grip.

Seeing this August did not have time to hesitate and had to risk it.

Stepping on the head of the Drowner and using the creature as support, August made a mighty jump onto the creature that was about to kill a wolf.

August was able to land on the head of the Bloedzuiger. And as soon as it opened his big mouth, preparing to spray acid onto August, he did his move.

With a smirk on his face, he threw his torch right inside the creature's mouth, setting it on fire. One of the weaknesses that Bloedzuiger has is fire. Their acid is not only deadly but also can be lit up with fire like gunpowder.

Throwing his torch right inside the mouth set a fast-reacting that August had no time to avoid.

The body of the monster exploded into a million pieces, creating a bloody firework that created a shock wave sending everyone in all kinds of directions.

August was sent flying across the swamp, bouncing off the water a few times, before losing all energy and stopping.

As soon as he organized his dizzy state and scanned his surrounding, he spotted a whining wolf 20 metres away from him.

Quickly making his way in his direction, he found the wolf that had a lot of broken bones all around his body.

But this time around, the idea of killing an animal didn't even appear in August's thoughts. Wolf helped him in this trial; Wolf took the attention of the beast on him and almost died in the process. August was the one in debt this time, and he won't be the one to leave him to die to these awful monsters.

August strokes the wolf's head saying, "Shhh boy, calmed down. I understand it hurts, but I will take you out of here. Just stay with me for a few more minutes and I will take you to the other side."

Despite being covered in bruises, and having some of his bones cracked. August took his buddy on the back and went through the swamp, being chased by the Drowners that hid under the water.

They were cutting his flesh, while August had no ability to defend himself. Every single step he took brought more and more injuries that made it woefully backbreaking to move forward. But there is no way back for August, there are no such words in his dictionary as 'step back' in those situations.

It took a lot of effort for him, but eventually, he made it to the other side.

Walking out of the waters allowed him to take a breath and relax. There were no more of the things that limited him from moving and this is his fighting ground.

Drowners made their way out of the water and attacked August. But this time around, he had his hands free and nobody could sneak around or below him.

August engaged them first, with his fists that knew no mercy. Because August was faster than slow drawers that knew little to no fighting style or experience, August was able to repel them and push them back into the swamp.

It was hard to kill them with his fists since they are monsters that had abilities such as immunity to bleeding.

Without wasting precision's time, August took the wolf in his hands and run in the direction where their castle should be. He kept on running for 15 minutes before reluctantly stopping during to bleeding and exhaustion.

August quickly scanned the area, searching for the herbs that could help and found some that could help him and his friend.

During all this time, Wolf was whining, but with every minute that passed, his cries were getting weaker and weaker.

August collected all he could and prepared some mixtures that could help. He applied them to the wolf first, before applying them to himself. Taking a break, August took a seat next to the wolf, who had a rapid breath pattern but still sounded better than before.

August looked at the boy and asked, "How are you boy, feeling better?"

*Whines*

August accurately petted him, "Don't worry, I won't leave you here. We will make it out together."

He knew that time was running low, and he needed to do a lot of things. But at the moment, he was not in a good condition to hunt, so the only option that August was left with was collecting any berries that he could eat.

It took him some time, but August was able to collect a bit of food to replenish some lost energy. But there is not much he could do at the moment. Covering his injuries with herbal paste, he took a nap.

It took several hours, but August woke up feeling much better. All of his wounds stopped bleeding and mostly closed with a small layer of skin that didn't mean a full recovery but allowed him to move more freely.

The wolf, however, didn't have such a strong regenerating body as The Witchers, so he was stuck, unable to move. August made a decision that only with a proper place he could save his buddy's life.

The decision was made, and August made his way towards the keep.

On the way to the keep, August meet some trolls that were guarding the path through a small canyon that lead to the castle.

But they were much simpler creatures. They had a little intellect in them and they could speak to a certain extent. They were in no way bloodthirsty to kill but were still quite violent, so any kind of interaction with them should be accurate.

August approached the trolls and walked with his hands high in the air.

Troll pointed his huge hand toward August and said "You walk here not"

August tilted his head asking, "Why?"

Troll rubbed his head and looked at his friend, asking, "Why?"

Another troll replied "I know not, this rule is"

The troll, hearing his friend, turned towards August saying "Rule here, you not walk"

August decided to play a game "Do you like games?"

Troll questioned, "What game?"

August showed a huge hill with his hands saying "A game, for which you are gifted with a lot of food?"

The troll looked at August sternly, asking, "You lie not? You lie yes, makes the troll angry. Angry troll, troll kills"

August shamelessly denied saying "I would never lie to trolls"

This brought a silly smile to Troll's face. "Troll happy"

August smiled and requested, "But for a game to start you have to close your eyes and don't open them until I say so, ok?"

Trolls replied with a nod and closed their eyes. With little problem, August crossed the canyon, making his way towards the castle with a wolf in his hands.

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How is it?

And I will update bestiary when I wake up , thank u for your support and attention.