22 Guardian and Ainos the tribe of the fores (2/2)

Animals left as the land shifted. Food became scarce, so they had no choice.

Animals also avoided any places with a heavy number of trees as it was hard to move around, making it difficult to escape from predators. As all living things left the area, the forest gradually withered.

The Guardians and the Ainos were surely symbiotic in their relationship.

The question remained.

'It seems there is no threat from the looks of it...'

Howen watched the wolf which was walking in front of him. All the Ainos people followed Gray and Brown with the same question.

”Chieftain, look.”

It was not long before they found fallen trees. The trees were tangled with each other in a disorderly fashion, hinting that it was artificial. The trees had been cut off by something. The trees were still full of branches, which heights varying from nine to fifteen feet. It was no doubt that its purpose was to build a barricade.

All of them stopped and watched with disbelief and the wolf stopped also.

The wolf watched them, as if she was teasing their sight.

”What!”

Pree-an, who quickly climbed the tree, gasped. He gazed over for a moment and shouted, ”Chieftain, you must see this.”

All of the Ainos, including Howen, climbed the tangled tree in response.

Many of them let out a small gasp. The place was empty, without any trees that once filled the area. Not only that, there was a huge tree in the middle that surprised them.

”Entra!”

”It's an Entra tree.”

”All the trees were cut down except for the Entra...” Doral muttered, gazing at the Entra tree. Howen's eyes narrowed and he looked around. It was as Doral had said. Howen quickly searched for any dangers, and then turned his gaze back to the Entra tree.

Other than the Entra tree, the tallest and longest living tree in this mountain range, there was nothing else.

”I think they pulled out all the trees to secure visibility. But how did they come to build such a fortress? They even put an iron stake to work as a natural spear. It even fended off those Kawiqunins.”

Gazlow spoke as he stared at the fortress' fearsome appearance.

”What can that be? Barbed wire?”

The Ainos were amazed at everything around this place.

The empty field and the fortress had popped up during the short time the Ainos could not enter the forest because of the appearance of the Kawiqunin.

'They even removed all the roots?'

The fortress was unbelievable, but removing all the roots was another thing. The empty ground was covered with grass already.

'Humans? Did they come back? ”

Howen doubted it, even while looking at the manmade fortress in front of him. The Khalodanian mountain range was a dangerous place for any normal human. The Ainos, who were called the tribe of the forest, had to coexist with the Guardians.

Moreover, this area was the center of the mountain range. It was too far from where the humans lived.

Questions continued one after another.

”Huh?”

Gray and Brown started walking again, not walking straight towards the entrance.

”It's a trap.” Pree-an explained as his eyes watched the ground. It was clearly different from the surroundings.

”More traps here.”

”There is one there too.”

There were traces of traps all around the area. It was very noticeable.

'An ankle trap.'

Pree-an, who first found the trap, looked at it closely and uncovered the trap.

It was as expected. A trap was revealed with a twelve-inch wide and thirty-inch deep hole. There was a bunch of sharp iron stakes embedded inside.

”Look at this. It's small and thin, but it's the same kind of stake from the outer wall of that fortress.”

Howen pulled the twelve-inch-long iron stake and examined it, but he stopped as the wolf started moving into the fortress.

”Let's think about this later. Be cautious. There might be more traps.”

Howen walked carefully toward the fortress, following the wolf.