Annoying. Frustrating.

Those were the two words echoing inside Risha's mind.

Over and over again, the same exact thing—little to no progress being made. And yet, she couldn't keep this up forever. Her strength was being drained by the second.

She was running through the forest, trying to lead the monster away from the other large conglomeration of trees. It was hard, not just for her, but for everyone, to do this. They were in a massive forest after all.

The monsters weren't too intelligent. While under constant enemy attack, their priority wasn't the spreading of their demonic influence across the trees and plants. They were simply too preoccupied with fighting.

Everyone was a distraction, using their own bodies as bait.

Risha let out a sharp breath and raised her claymore high. Her arms trembled; sweat dripped down her face as the sun beat down from above. Her clothes clung to her skin. The cloak she wore only made the heat worse.

A grunt escaped her lips as she swung again.

Silvery-white light burst from her blade—it whipped across the clearing, slicing through grass and dirt. The wave-slash struck a small protrusion on the ent's shoulder. A dark branch, one that had begun to spread into thin tendrils and slither toward a nearby brush, was severed clean. It dropped, twitching once, then lay still in a small patch of dirt.

There was one thing they had all learned by now: the severed pieces didn't spread corruption.

As long as it wasn't part of the main body, there was no further risk.

Risha's knees buckled. She slammed her claymore into the ground to catch herself, breath ragged. Her chest rose and fell too quickly. Her lungs burned, and her muscles screamed.

She was exhausted.

And still, the twisted ent showed no signs of slowing.

It dragged itself forward again, towering and unnatural. Its blocky legs of tangled wood scraped across the ground. Bark split, then knit back together, healing slowly as vines coiled around its trunk like armor. It was changing—growing more resistant with each blow it endured. The grass beneath it withered with every step, the green turning black and brittle.

Risha heaved.

"Just… one… more…" she muttered through clenched teeth.

She ripped her claymore up from the ground, lifted it high, and forced her body to move. One more swing. One more wave-slash. One more staggered step in reverse.

The blast struck the ent's chest—square in the center.

It barely reacted. Only a few small splinters snapped off and tumbled to the forest floor.

Slowly, she forced herself to move backward to gain distance.

Risha was only nine years old. Although she knew basics of combat, she wasn't strong enough to compete against these monsters. But still, she insisted on coming anyways.

Risha blamed herself. She thought that it was partly her fault that Enya was taken. If she had just spoken up to Celeste, maybe none of this would have happened.

If something really happened to Enya… she wouldn't be able to take it. Therefore, she had to save her. She had to show courage and determination.

That was, after all, what her class was all about.

Lightway Academy—that was the school she'd tried to get into. The one she still wanted to join. A place where she could really learn how to fight.

But… the idea felt ridiculous now.

A school meant to train future War Paragons—yet it practically demanded students who already were fighters before they ever set foot inside.

What's even the point? she thought bitterly. Why go to Lightway when everyone who gets in already knows how to fight?

Her thoughts spiraled. Some of it was self-pity. Some of it was plain frustration.

Her eyes darted across toward the others.

Manny and Nakrin—the draconid War Paragon—were locked in fierce combat with one of the ents. Blasts of wind and flame erupted in steady intervals. Bark exploded. Fire licked the edges of the trees. The air shimmered from the heat of Nakrin's flames.

The other girl—the one with the bright red scarf—was holding her own against another ent.

It surprised her. She wasn't a War Paragon either. She looked like a teenager. And yet… she fought with terrifying strength. And her expression was… frightening.

Rage. Pure rage twisted her face, tightening her jaw and lighting her eyes. Her knuckles were bloodied from repeated strikes, and the aura behind her radiated a heavy pressure. It looked almost like a beast—coiled around her back, invisible but present.

Risha had the sudden, irrational thought that if she got too close—Berry might hit her, too.

But even with all that power, even with her monstrous aura—her fists only caused minor splintering. Small cracks in the bark. Nothing decisive.

But she didn't need to deal real damage. She just had to distract, and that was enough.

Risha realized, without meaning to, that she'd been comparing herself to everyone around her. There was an age difference, sure. That was obvious. But that didn't matter to her. All she could feel was the gap. A wide, overwhelming gap—between them and her.

There was no rest for the weary. The world flooded back in, cutting her off from her momentary mental respite.

An attack came.

She didn't have time to think. No time to react.

The twisted ent she had been keeping at bay reached sideways, grabbing hold of another tree. Smaller than itself. About half its size.

"No…!" Risha shouted.

The corruption spread instantly.

But it didn't stop there. Its tendrils coiled around the trunk, tightening. The bark groaned. The ground rumbled beneath her feet. That oily black stain of demonic energy crawled down the tree's base, infecting its roots, poisoning the earth.

Risha gripped her claymore, preparing to strike. To intercept. To stop it.

But she could barely lift it. Even with the strength granted by her class, the blade felt impossibly heavy now. Her arms trembled. Sweat beaded on her brow as she strained just to hold it up.

It was too late.

The ent tore the tree from the ground. Roots snapped free, dirt flung into the air with a violent crack. Then, with a thunderous roar, it hurled the entire thing across the clearing, straight at her.

It was too fast. Too heavy. She wouldn't be able to block it.

Panic overtook her. She shut her eyes and braced, waiting for the world to crash down on her. Waiting to be erased by the sheer weight of it.

And then—

A bang.

A powerful shockwave burst through the air in front of her.

Her eyes flicked open. A red streak blurred across her vision. It vanished the moment she noticed it. Only the trailing after-image remained.

The blur had been Berry.

Mid-air, fist extended, she smashed into the flying tree. The impact rang out like thunder. Splintering wood echoed across the forest as the tree's momentum shifted completely.

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It veered left and slammed into another tree several dozen meters away, exploding into massive chunks of shattered timber.

Berry landed on one knee. Her fists were raw. Blood soaked her knuckles. Her teeth clenched hard. The fire in her eyes still burned, though dimmer than before. Her chest heaved from exhaustion, but the aura around her—the monstrous, rage-born spirit—held her upright.

It refused to let her fall.

"Stay back," she growled at Risha.

Her eyes were still bloodshot, still wild, but there was reason behind them. She had just saved her life, after all.

The twisted ent she'd left behind let out a low roar.

She hadn't beaten it. Not even close. She was struggling just as much as the rest of them. But even while fending off one of those monsters, she kept an eye on Risha's fight.

The girl was just too young for something like this. So when she saw that tree get uprooted, she didn't hesitate to take action.

She dashed over and stopped it.

Berry was impressed at Risha, though. The little girl had held her own for several minutes. It was just that this fight with the Twisted Ents, it was just simply out of the girl's league.

Honestly, it was severely out of all of their leagues.

The demonic tree Berry had briefly ditched lurched over again.

It slammed its limbs into the ground, and from its arms, large vine-like appendages made of wood lashed out. With a sickening scrape, the dark tendrils snaked across the forest floor, leaving a trail of dead, blackened grass in their wake.

They spread fast. Too fast.

Jagged. Chaotic. They burrowed up and down through the dirt, rushing toward Berry in staggered waves.

With a roar, she slammed her right foot forward and screamed. The hem of her shirt snapped upward. Her red scarf flared violently into the air. A burst of disruptive energy exploded from her.

Just as the roots got within range, they were caught in the wave. Each tendril stopped mid-lunge. They trembled, locked in place, then dropped to the ground like puppets with cut strings.

Berry exhaled, her fists trembling.

It worked.

Her mana-berserking class was still effective against the strange energy animating the demonic ents. It wasn't pure mana, but it was close enough. Close enough for her disruption to sever their connection.

But that skill had a cost. Her mana drained fast—too fast for how long this fight was going.

Both ents began to move again. Their bodies lumbered forward, one step at a time, side by side. The battlefield had shifted. This wasn't two separate fights anymore.

Now, it was two against one.

Risha was still breathing, but barely on her feet. She staggered in place, too exhausted to keep swinging. Too weak to move fast enough. Which meant Berry had to take them both.

To their right, Manny and Nakrin continued their battle. The third ent was ablaze, flames swallowing its bark. It thrashed wildly, but Manny worked fast, cutting off any roots that tried to stray too far. Controlled winds scattered smaller fires, keeping the forest from igniting further.

The forest trembled once more in front of her. Both Twisted Ents moved at once.

The left one threw a punch forward, its arm rapidly extending toward them at frightening speed. Berry roared, pushing off the ground to leap upward and dodge the blow.

Risha wasn't as lucky.

She was too slow, too exhausted. The giant fist slammed into the ground directly in front of her. An explosion of dirt and debris erupted from the impact, blasting her backward. She rolled across the grass, body tumbling uncontrollably, limbs aching.

Berry glanced back briefly—just a single heartbeat. But then she continued the fight.

She landed lightly on the ent's extended arm, breaking into a sprint along its length. She charged straight for its twisted face, her fist pulled back, glowing with power.

The monster reacted. Its body morphed, bark shifting and layering itself rapidly, creating a dense barricade around its face.

Berry's punch collided with the hardened wood. Splinters burst outward from the impact, but that was it. Nothing else happened. She growled in frustration, preparing another strike.

But then the other Twisted Ent attacked, launching a punch toward Berry's location.

Berry reacted instantly. She jumped high, soaring into the air and twisting around, hoping that the second ent's strike would smash straight into the first one's head.

That wasn't what happened.

The second ent's fist struck the first—and instead of destroying it, their demonic wood merged seamlessly on impact. Before Berry could adjust, a wooden tentacle shot upward, wrapping tightly around her ankle. It yanked her violently downward in an arc, slamming her onto the ground with brutal force.

The earth beneath her cracked from the impact, and Berry gasped sharply, coughing up a mouthful of blood.

Above her, the other ent's arm pulled back, detaching from its companion as it moved. It lunged forward again, splitting into multiple vine-like appendages. They surrounded Berry, rapidly forming a cage and trapping her limbs.

She struggled fiercely, but the bark continued shifting, growing thicker and thicker, rapidly encasing her body.

She was about to be completely enveloped.

"Berry!" Manny shouted desperately.

He watched as the two remaining ents worked together—moving in tandem with unsettling coordination. Berry had just been taken down, trapped beneath layers of shifting, demonic wood.

For a brief moment, Manny hesitated. Then his decision was made.

He stopped focusing on the ent he and Nakrin had been fighting. Wind surged around his legs, boosting him forward as he dashed rapidly toward his sister. His clothes fluttering against him as he prepared another spell, forming a tightly compressed bundle of air in his palm.

"Stay focused!" Nakrin's voice roared from behind.

The draconid was embedded in the third twisted ent's chest, claws tearing deeper toward its core. His scales glowed fiercely, wreathed in flames as he struggled against the ent's grip. Nakrin turned his head, seeing Manny move away.

"I need you here, boy!" he shouted, his voice thick with urgency. "This one's too close to the trees. You need to extinguish the flames!"

It was true. Without Manny to control the fire and slice away the small, spreading tendrils, Nakrin had no choice but to increase his heat even further. Doing so would destroy the ent faster—but it risked igniting a large section of the forest.

Still, Manny couldn't abandon his sister.

He grit his teeth, extended his hand, and fired a sharp blade of condensed air at the wooden cage. The compressed slash tore through the air, carving into the layers of bark that threatened to fully encase Berry.

Splinters flew, wood shredded apart, and a gap formed. Berry gasped for breath, though she was still trapped beneath the grasp of the twisted ent.

Behind him, Manny felt a surge of heat. Nakrin's roar echoed again—more intense, more furious.

Flames surged higher, crackling violently as the draconid prepared to take desperate measures. Heat built-up in his body, the temperature around him rising once more.

He noticed that the other children were being overwhelmed—that two of them possibly heavily injured. Being forced to restrict his powers in fears of burning the forest just pissed him off. Now that the boy helping him control the flames and corruption moved away—he had to end this fast.

Surely, a few dozen trees catching fire wouldn't cause a monster flood that quickly.

Nakrin roared, no longer caring about holding back a portion of his power. Flames erupted across his scales, burning hotter and brighter as his eyes flared with intensity. The heat he unleashed now matched—even surpassed—the inferno he had summoned earlier when he'd obliterated the first two ents.

His body ignited fully, a fierce column of flame gradually building around him. With a final explosive roar, the flames shot upward, towering into the sky like an enormous candle—if the entire candle were forged purely of fire.

The twisted ent beneath him shrieked, its horrific wail filling the forest as flames consumed its body from within.

Just as Nakrin had feared, the flames spread outward rapidly, erupting in every direction. Every wooden tentacle that the ent had crawling outward, was now another trail of flames. Surrounding trees instantly caught fire, their branches blackening, their leaves turning to ash in moments. Beyond those, even more of the forest ignited, smaller fires quickly multiplying behind them.

When the flames finally receded, Nakrin leaped back from the smoldering remains of the ent. Only a charred husk remained, glowing faintly with lingering embers. He turned swiftly, staring at the growing flames spreading into the nearby forest.

They had no time. He needed to finish the remaining two ents quickly, or else the entire area would be consumed by fire.

"Boy! You need to—!"

But when he looked over toward Manny, his slitted pupils dilated.

The boy who had been helping him was now ensnared—caught by thick vines that had burst from the earth, wrapping themselves tightly around his body. Manny struggled desperately, wind flaring around him in sharp bursts, but the vines pulled relentlessly, dragging him toward the ground. He just didn't have enough time to compress wind, his exact specialty of power.

More and more tendrils emerged, thicker wooden limbs surging upward, rapidly burying him beneath layers of demonic wood and bark.

"Boy!" Nakrin shouted, flames still flickering off his body as he realized the direness of the situation.

Berry lay trapped as well, half-conscious and coughing beneath the remains of the wooden cage Manny had partially shattered.

Nakrin cursed under his breath, eyes blazing with fury and determination. He glanced back at the burning trees.

His flames were hot. Hotter than most. That wasn't to boast, but a simple fact. The sheer heat caused by draconids were stronger than any other flames. For regular fires—even if the battle lasted a dozen more minutes, they could control the regular spreading of the flames.

This was not the case with draconid flames. The fires were spreading across the trees quickly.

For each minute that passed, up to five more trees could be sit aflame, depending on their proximity. He focused his gaze back on the remaining two ents. He had to prioritize the rescue of the civilians first, even if that meant taking down half the forest with them.

Just as Nakrin was about to move—there was a distant sound rumbling beyond the forest.

It came from the same direction that Josier and that accursed skeleton had gone.

Draconids had better senses than regular human-folk. Although his ears could pierce the veiled ambiance of the forest, along with the deep groans of the monsters—he couldn't smell anything.

But he knew what he was hearing.

Galloping.

Josier must have come back.

Nakrin growled, elated that some back up was coming. He could focus on the ents now while Josier managed the others and helped with calming the forest fires.

He charged forward, aiming for the long logs that were entrapping the two teenagers. He shot through the field, singing a trail across the dirt. His clawed hand burst through and shattered the logs, dozens of pieces of corrupted bark flying into the air. The prison surrounding the teens weakened, before falling apart to dead branches.

Manny was still fine for the most part, though his body wasn't as durable as Berry's. Several dark marks were left on his arms and legs, the sheer strength of the constricting tendrils noticeable. Berry on the other hand, could now breath—though she wasn't in the best condition. She had just been slammed hard, straight into the ground.

Both ents roared side-by-side. As they moved forward, their bodies began to merge. Large chunks of wood protruded to their bodies, like a multitude of arms, to wrap around the other. Their bodies sank inward, combining into one large mass.

Although this was probably more dangerous to most—this just gave Nakrin a bigger target to burn.

The galloping noise grew louder. He turned, hoping to see Josier and the skeleton with the rescue target, all three, back safely.

However, that wasn't what he saw.

Yes, Josier had arrived. Yes, he was with the skeleton and the little girl.

But no—they were not on a bicorn.

It was something else entirely.

A creature, made entirely of bone.

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