Ugh, really don’t like this time skip... would have much rather had another chapter explaining some of his preparations, why he didn’t just tell the villagers “something strange is happening in the forest, I think we should evacuate,” etc. I think the author still could’ve done an effective timeskip by just accelerating through those years in one chapter, but now things just feel way too sudden. I’d assume it must be an axe, but this doesn’t seem nearly bad enough to deserve it, so I’m a bit confused.