"Everyone, get ready."
Clara dropped her bag to the ground and stepped forward, her posture shifting instantly. The calm observer from before vanished—replaced by someone sharp, focused, and unmistakably experienced.
All around them, shapes moved between the trees.
Tighorns emerged first—dozens of them—muscular frames pushing through undergrowth, horns lowered, three eyes gleaming with feral intent. Behind them crawled Graveback Crawlers, low to the ground, many-legged bodies scraping across roots and stones. Higher up, shadows flickered as Barkfang Stalkers clung to trees, their bark-like hides blending almost perfectly with the forest.
"Formation!" Clara snapped.
Steel rang as Garry drew his sword.
Dary planted her staff firmly into the ground.
Carkhat's whip slid loose at his waist, already humming faintly with mana.
Cael inhaled sharply, fire gathering beneath her skin.
Acarme rolled his shoulders once, the air around him tightening.
The monsters charged.
Two Tighorns leapt straight toward Clara.
She flicked her hand.
A compressed gust of flame tore forward—silent, precise. The monsters didn't even scream. Their bodies disintegrated mid-air, reduced to drifting ash before they hit the ground.
"Stay focused!" Clara said, already moving. "There are too many!"
She surged into the fray.
The forest exploded into motion.
Acarme vanished.
Wind screamed as he reappeared behind a cluster of monsters, blades of compressed air tearing through them in rapid succession. Bodies fell before blood could even spill. He didn't stop—each movement flowed into the next, momentum never breaking.
Carkhat stepped forward, whip snapping outward.
It hardened instantly, piercing straight through a Tighorn's skull before curving unnaturally to sever another monster's legs. With a sharp twist of his wrist, the whip softened again, wrapping around a Graveback Crawler and crushing it against a tree trunk.
To the right, water surged.
Dary raised her staff, sweat forming at her brow as spheres of condensed water formed mid-air. Monsters caught within them thrashed violently, claws scraping uselessly as oxygen vanished. One by one, they went still.
Cael moved beside her, flames flickering in tight arcs. She didn't throw fire wildly—instead, she injected heat where Dary trapped her targets. Internal burns. Fast. Lethal.
Garry fought near the center.
Stone erupted wherever he pointed—pillars, spikes, walls. He moved constantly, stepping onto raised earth, dropping down, slashing, redirecting. A Tighorn lunged—he sidestepped and drove his blade into its neck. Another swung from behind—rock surged up, blocking the blow just long enough for him to counter.
The ground trembled under the chaos.
Trees cracked and fell like matchsticks. Roots tore free. Dirt and ash filled the air.
Yet still—
The numbers didn't drop fast enough.
A deep, thunderous vibration rolled through the forest.
Everyone felt it.
From the south, the earth shook violently as something massive charged forward.
Through the smoke and debris emerged a herd of Ironhide Gores.
Huge, bull-like monsters with blackened hides that shimmered like metal. Their hooves crushed stone effortlessly. Horns curved forward like weapons forged for destruction.
"They're fast," Acarme warned.
"They don't stop," Carkhat added.
Clara slammed her hands into the ground.
Walls of rock erupted in a wide arc—thick, dense, towering nearly ten meters high. Seeing her, Garry mirrored the motion beside her, forcing up his own barriers.
His were thinner.
Shorter.
Crude by comparison.
But they stood.
For a moment.
The Ironhide Gores didn't slow.
They smashed into the walls head-on.
Stone shattered violently. Cracks raced across the barriers as several monsters burst through, horns tearing chunks of earth free.
"Again," Clara said calmly.
She raised her hands once more.
More walls rose—layered, overlapping, sealing the gaps from multiple angles.
"Cael," Clara said without looking back. "Help me."
Cael stepped forward, breathing already unsteady.
She raised her staff skyward, angling it slightly toward Clara. Fire surged upward, coalescing slowly, growing denser and brighter by the second.
Clara matched her stance.
A massive fireball formed above them—its heat warping the air, illuminating the battlefield like a second sun. Trees nearby ignited instantly.
"Dary!" Clara called.
"I've got it!" Dary shouted, slamming her staff into the ground as torrents of water burst outward, extinguishing flames before they could spread.
The Ironhide Gores slammed against the walls again and again, mindless, relentless.
The fireball finished forming.
Cael's breathing grew ragged. Her arms trembled.
"Now," Clara said.
They released it.
The fireball crashed down into the enclosed area.
The explosion was deafening.
Flame roared outward, consuming the Ironhide Gores in an instant. Heat washed over the battlefield, followed by silence broken only by the crackle of dying fire.
Cael staggered back, nearly collapsing to one knee.
The fight wasn't over.
Other monsters continued attacking from all sides.
Acarme and Carkhat intercepted relentlessly. Dary and Garry pushed themselves beyond comfort, defending openings, buying space.
Minutes stretched.
Ten… then fifteen.
Slowly—finally—the monster numbers began to thin.
Garry's chest heaved.
His core felt hollow.
Empty.
Still, he moved.
He leapt onto a rising stone step, then another, weaving through the battlefield with practiced precision. One monster fell. Then another.
He didn't notice the shadow until it was too late.
A massive fist swung toward him.
He dodged on instinct—but exhaustion betrayed him.
His footing slipped.
Garry fell backward.
As he dropped, his vision caught something behind him.
A towering figure.
Brown-green skin.
Three glowing eyes.
A single massive horn.
It stood nearly thirteen meters tall, looming silently.
The ground trembled as it took one step forward.