Two days ago.

Ciri was running in the forest. She was wearing a red hooded jacket that was now dirty, her pretty boots were also filthy, and she was covered in weeds and leaves of varying lengths, but she never stopped.

She didn't know where she should go, but she knew she couldn't go to Weiden. Anywhere else would be fine. As long as she didn't marry the Weiden people, she would do anything.

The little girl has always been curious about the wild and exciting adventures. She learned a lot about the forest from Mossak, and the druid was happy to help Ciri understand nature.

This allowed Ciri to master complex knowledge such as outdoor life far beyond the court etiquette and aristocratic heraldry that she was supposed to learn.

But no one had ever taught her that no matter how well she knew forests, she shouldn't go alone into a jungle she didn't know, especially when that jungle was called Brokilon.

Five steps away from Ciri, something was slowly crawling forward, overturning the weeds. It was dark brown in color and almost as long as Ciri was tall.

Fortunately, Ciri felt herself tripped by something, which allowed her to narrowly avoid the beast's attack.

The princess who was lying on the ground only felt a gust of wind passing over her head. She looked over panickedly like a frightened bird, only to see a long strip of object there.

She thought it was a snake at first, but then she noticed its yellow barbed legs and long, segmented trunk. It wasn't a snake, but it was much more dangerous.

Ciri screamed loudly, turned around and ran. The giant centipede shook its long tentacles, feeling the smell and temperature, and raised its body in the grass.

At the critical moment, Ciri suddenly heard a calm and magnetic voice shouting loudly.

"Don't move!"

Before he finished his words, a tall man rushed out from the bushes. He stomped on the ground hard, as if trying to attract the giant centipede's attention with the sound.

But the giant centipede didn't react at all. Its tentacles were busy searching for the location of smaller prey, which would make hunting easier.

The insect monster moved, curling its body into an S shape and rushing forward. Its bright yellow legs gleamed in the grass and swayed rhythmically like rows of oars.

Ciri ran faster, but even an adult couldn't outrun the hunters in the forest, let alone a little girl like her.

Seeing this, the strange man hurriedly ran over, drew his sword from his back, and the silver blade sparkled.

Before fighting the enemy, it was more important for him to save the child. Using the momentum of the forward charge, the man knocked Ciri, who was about to be caught up by the centipede, into a blackberry bush.

Ciri was safe for the time being, but the man became the target of the giant centipede.

The giant centipede moved on the grass, first crouching, then turning towards the strange man, raising its segmented front half and opening and closing its fangs dripping with venom.

The man nimbly leaped over the monster's segmented body, turned around, and tried to thrust his sword into the fragile joint of the shell. But the monster moved too fast, and his sword grazed the chitinous armor but could not penetrate, as if the force was weakened by a thick layer of moss.

The attack missed and the man tried to pull away, but he was not fast enough. The giant insect wrapped its abdomen around his legs with such force that he lost his balance.

The centipede curled up, trying to grab him with its claws. In the process, it scraped against a tree and wrapped its body around it. At this moment, an arrow whizzed over the man's head, piercing the giant insect's shell with a loud bang and nailing it to the tree trunk.

The giant centipede twisted its body and broke the arrow shaft, but was hit by two arrows in succession.

The man broke free of its hold and rolled to the side.

At the place where the man had just emerged, a woman with honey-haired green skin knelt on one knee and fired arrows at an astonishing speed, each hitting the target. Every time the giant centipede broke the arrow shaft, the next arrow would nail it to the tree again.

The giant insect's flat mouth shone with a dark brown luster, opening and closing, and its huge jaws bit towards the place pierced by the sharp arrow, foolishly thinking that this would hurt its enemy.

The man jumped aside and made a strange gesture with his left hand. Then a flash of light appeared, and the centipede, which had been struggling violently, suddenly became confused and quiet.

Then he swung the sword in his hand vigorously, using the tree trunk as a guillotine for the monster, ending this hasty battle.

The green-skinned woman stepped forward and revealed herself. This woman was dressed very "forest", with her honey-colored hair tied up with a piece of rush, and her clothes made only of bark and leaves, which were close to her skin, outlining graceful and powerful lines.

"It's the giant centipede Yorgon." She stepped lightly on the still-squirming corpse. "It broke my arrow."

"Thank you, Brian." The man thanked, "You saved my life and the life of the little tree elf."

"No need to be so phony, Gwenblade. You can handle it easily without me. People like you are good at this kind of thing."

Brianne refused to accept the man's thanks. Without looking back, she carefully parted the blackberry bushes and thrust her arms deep into the thorny branches.

“Just as I thought,” she exclaimed, pulling a dazed Ciri out from between the trees. “Look, Gwenblade, she’s not a dryad!”

The man looked at the little girl in Brian's arms. She had beautiful mouse-gray hair and a pair of large, clear green eyes. She looked no older than ten.

The problem is that it wasn't a dryad, nor an elf, goblin, pixie or halfling, but just an ordinary little human girl. And this is Brokilon: the place that can't tolerate humans the most...

"Don't be afraid, kid." The man squatted down and asked softly, "What's your name?"

"I'm not scared, I'm just cold." Shivering, "My name is Sheila."

The man turned. Brianne, who was examining her bow, met his gaze.

"Listen to me, Brian..."

"What?"

"Is it possible that she escaped...from you...from Doon Canar?"

"What?"

"Don't take me for a fool," the man said angrily. "I know you capture young humans. Did you fall from the sky to Brokilon? I'm asking you, is it possible..."

"Impossible," interrupted the Dryad. "I have never seen her."

“Is that the poor child who strayed into the forest?” the man murmured in a low voice.

The dryad slowly approached Ciri, "But now, she needs to come with me to Doon Karnal. We cannot tolerate humans entering this forest. We find her in Brokilon, she is ours, and she will become us."

Men can't seem to tolerate this happening.

He protected Ciri behind him and warned in a low voice: "Be careful, Brian. You shot an arrow in the dark yesterday and shot a boy's eye. But I am not him. I know how to protect myself. I was not there when the child was harmed, and now I will not let you take another child away."