The ground was trembling.
But these weren't simple footsteps. It was the rumble of a nightmare creature approaching.
A sickening crack split the air.
The monster slowly emerged from the forest, towering like a living mountain. Its deformed silhouette rippled with unnatural muscles, coated in black fur that dripped like living tar. Its claws were curved like scythes, and its crimson eyes pierced the darkness like burning embers.
Lior froze.
Dean stepped forward, ready to die.
> "It's coming… seven meters away… heavy… fast…" Lior whispered, using Telluric Sense to feel every step through the ground.
But the monster didn't wait.
It charged.
Dean barely dodged the first claw, but the second slashed across his chest. A deep gash opened; blood sprayed. The next strike came like a battering ram—an enormous fist. Dean was launched into a tree, which shattered on impact. Before he could fall, the beast hit him again, and again, sending him bouncing like a rag doll between trunks.
He collapsed, broken and gasping.
Lior tried to move, but the monster's foot slammed into his side. A sharp crack echoed—his rib had snapped. He hit the ground, breathless, his eyes swimming. The monster grabbed his leg and swung him violently before throwing him like a toy.
Lior's body ricocheted off three trees before crashing into a bush. Blood painted the bark red.
At the height of its frenzy, the monster threw its head back… and let out a scream.
A twisted, beastly, almost joyful scream.
A scream of triumph.
> "GGRRRRHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"
The forest shuddered with fear.
Dean, drenched in blood, crawled toward Lior. He was barely conscious.
> "Lior… are you still with me?"
> "I… I think so…" he whispered, coughing blood.
The monster approached again.
Dean stood, staggering. He stretched his shadow and formed a wall—Shadow Twin – Dark Wall—to shield Lior from another blow.
But the beast's fist shattered it instantly. The impact still struck Lior, hurling him away, limp.
Dean's system blinked alive:
> "Quest objective: survive. Critical death risk. Recommendation: flee."
But Dean gritted his teeth. He looked at his brother—shattered, bleeding, broken.
> "I'm not leaving. Never again. If we die… we die together."
Lior, lying in the dirt, gasped for air.
> "The ground… I can still feel it… we can… trap it…"
Dean stepped back, guarding Lior as he concentrated what little mana he had left. He reshaped the earth beneath the monster's feet, digging a network of invisible pits.
Suddenly, the ground gave way.
The beast fell halfway into the trap.
Dean lunged forward and plunged a shadow blade into one of its eyes. The monster shrieked—but still didn't die.
Lior's system blared:
> "Mana depleted. Body in overload. Internal bleeding detected."
He collapsed, trembling, blood dripping from his nose.
The monster, maimed but enraged, pulled itself free… and froze.
It understood.
It leapt into the trees, abandoning the ground.
Lior reached upward, panic rising.
> "I can't sense it anymore… I CAN'T SENSE IT!!!"
A suffocating silence fell.
Then—branches rustling above them.
> "IT'S OFF THE GROUND!!! WE'RE DEAD!!!"
Dean looked up, ready to face death itself.
But the monster… wasn't done playing yet.