The sound of metal folding and gears retracting echoed softly as their transport shifted shape. The sleek aircraft shimmered faintly, collapsing into a compact cube that pulsed with mana before settling into Shadow's hand — a relic of lost technology from the Directorate's research vaults. He slipped it into his coat pocket.
Above them, the mist swirled lazily, thin threads of silver weaving through branches as if drawn to the faint mana radiating from their presence. The forest loomed tall and endless — colossal trees with bark dark as obsidian and leaves faintly glowing in pale turquoise hues. Every breath of wind carried a whisper, not quite voices but something like memories brushing the edge of thought.
"Air's… thick," Lena murmured, brushing her fingers through the floating motes of light. "Feels like it's alive."
"It is," Rena replied quietly. "There's mana saturation here — at least four times higher than normal terrain. Even beasts would mutate faster in a place like this."
Shadow crouched, running his hand through the soil. The ground was cold, damp, and faintly humming. He could feel it — the pulse of the land itself. "Stay alert. If this forest is what I think it is, we'll be walking through graves and kingdoms both."
The group began their trek deeper into Lunareth Forest. Each step was swallowed by the sound of rustling leaves and faint, distant growls echoing through the mist. The deeper they went, the quieter everything became — as if the forest was listening to them rather than the other way around.
Then came the smell — burnt fur, iron, and decay.
Sera was the first to notice the carcasses. "Here," she said, pointing with her staff.
Two massive forms lay crumpled between the roots of a fallen tree — beasts at least five meters long, their scales shimmering with faint gold even in death. Their bodies bore deep claw marks, blood already blackened by the mana-rich air.
Ryn examined them, her moonlit eyes narrowing. "Level 70 class beasts. Dual Fang Basilisks. Both dead."
"Who killed them?" Lena asked.
Shadow didn't answer immediately. His instincts had already caught it — the faint vibrations beneath the soil, rhythmic and heavy, drawing closer.
"Everyone, quiet," he said.
Then the earth shook.
Branches above them snapped like twigs as something enormous moved beyond the treeline — a blur of motion, crushing the soil under massive weight. They watched in stunned silence as another creature — a beast even larger than the basilisks — erupted from the fog. Its fur gleamed black-blue, lined with living roots coiling through its body.
A Forest Monarch.
It towered above them, its antlers branching like trees, eyes glowing like molten amber. Without hesitation, it roared — a sound that shattered the still air — and with one swift motion, it slammed its foreleg into the ground.
The shockwave crushed the two fallen basilisks into dust.
The team staggered, the pressure alone forcing their instincts to flare. Even from hundreds of meters away, the sheer mana density around the creature was suffocating.
"Level eighty," Rena whispered, her hand trembling on her staff. "A Monarch-class… guardian beast."
Ryn gritted her teeth, her bow materializing in hand. "We're not fighting that, are we?"
"Not unless you want to die before dinner," Shadow said flatly.
The beast's golden eyes swept across the forest — and for a moment, it looked straight at them.
Then, without a sound, it turned and vanished into the fog, leaving only silence and the faint hum of power in its wake.
No one spoke for a long time.
Finally, Sera exhaled shakily. "That… wasn't just any beast. It felt like the forest itself moved with it."
Rena nodded slowly. "I've read about them — Monarchs. Ancient protectors of Lunareth, tied to the Dryads who once ruled here. If that's true, then we're not alone."
Shadow's gaze followed the fading mist, unreadable. "Then this place still remembers its guardians."
He looked toward a clearing up ahead where the trees opened slightly, revealing a patch of ground ringed by glowing fungi and a small stream of silver water. "We'll camp there. Somewhere we can see the stars."
As they walked, the air seemed to grow gentler — though every shadow still felt alive, watching, waiting. Somewhere above, the pale light of the moon pierced through the canopy even though the sun hadn't set.
It was as if the forest bent its time for them.
When they finally reached the clearing, Ryn set down her bow and began helping Sera with the wards. Lena unpacked supplies, muttering about bad omens, while Rena sat near the stream, her reflection mirrored perfectly on the glowing water.
Shadow stood at the edge of the camp, his eyes fixed on the fog beyond.
The Monarch's roar still echoed faintly in his memory — not as a threat, but as a warning.
Whatever lived in Lunareth… was awake.
And it was watching them.