The forest held its breath.

  The growl rolled through the trees like distant thunder. Leaves shivered. Branches rattled. Even the candidates who’d been swinging weapons and screaming insults a heartbeat earlier went silent.

  Something big was moving.

  Not close yet. But coming.

  Mike felt it like pressure in his bones — like the air itself was bracing. Lumi’s claws dug into his shoulder hard enough to hurt, all six tails standing on end, sparks dancing along the fur. Sael clutched their crystal focus with white-knuckled hands, eyes wide, chest rising and falling too fast.

  The System, as always, chose the worst possible time to speak.

  [Anomaly Notice]

  Minor Boss: VERDANT MAW OF THE SHATTERED GROVE

  Status: Outside Assigned Territory

  Cause: Attraction to Chaotic Imprint

  Threat Level: Extreme for current average candidate level.

  Intervention: Not required. Tutorial parameters remain valid.

  Mike read the words and felt his stomach drop.

  “Oh, good,” he muttered. “So the boss is here early because I’m a walking bug report. Perfect.”

  Incorrect, the orb said calmly beside him.

  The System does not have ‘bugs’. Your chaotic imprint altered nearby threat routing. This is within expectations.

  “Your expectations suck.”

  Branches snapped somewhere in the distance.

  A group of candidates broke first.

  “Boss?! No way—”

  “Run!”

  “Back to the safe zone!”

  They bolted toward the obelisk, only to skid to a halt at the boundary where the shimmering dome had been.

  Nothing.

  Just empty air.

  The safe zone was gone.

  One of them hammered a fist against nothing anyway. “Come on! It has to come back, right? Right?!”

  [Safe Zone Cooldown: 96:00:00]

  The notification appeared in front of all of them.

  The candidate’s shoulders slumped.

  “Shit.”

  They scattered.

  Some fled deeper into the forest. Others huddled together, weapons shaking. A trio of warriors tried to form a line like that would mean anything against whatever was coming.

  Mike’s mind raced.

  “Options,” he said quietly. “We need options. Hiding? Running? Fighting?”

  “Running,” Sael whispered immediately.

  Lumi growled disagreement.

  The orb chimed.

  Recommendation:

  ? Direct engagement not advised.

  ? Survival priority: Avoid boss aggro.

  ? Additional note: Boss has already locked onto your imprint, Candidate Storm.**

  Mike stiffened. “…You mean it’s already targeting me?”

  Correct.

  “How far?”

  Estimated distance: 600 meters. Closing.

  “Of course.”

  Sael’s breathing hitched. “We cannot fight that. We cannot—”

  A tree toppled somewhere beyond the next rise.

  Not a branch.

  Not a sapling.

  A full tree.

  Crashing. Splintering. Ground shaking.

  The candidates fell silent again.

  Then it stepped into view.

  It was not a dragon.

  It was not a giant bear.

  It was… worse.

  A massive quadrupedal shape, twice the size of an elephant, its body a twisted fusion of wood, stone, and living moss. Bark plates layered over corded muscles. Vines coiled like tendons. Its head resembled a wolf’s skull grown grotesquely large, carved from ancient tree roots, with a maw full of jagged, glowing green crystal “teeth.”

  Verdant Maw.

  Its eyes were hollow sockets lit from within by pale emerald fire. Each step it took made the ground crack and sprout thin, thorny roots that writhed before sinking back into the soil.

  “Oh hell no,” Mike breathed. “That’s… that shouldn’t be legal.”

  Lumi hissed, fur buzzing.

  Sael stood frozen, shaking.

  The Verdant Maw paused, lifting its massive head. The green fire in its eyes brightened.

  It sniffed the air.

  Then turned directly toward Mike.

  He felt the focus lock onto him like a vice.

  “I hate my life,” he whispered.

  Not everyone had accepted reality yet.

  One warrior brandishing a sword — heavy starter gear, full leather armor — stepped forward with a wild grin.

  “It’s just a minor boss!” he yelled. “We’re a dozen people here— we can take it! Form up! Don’t be cowards!”

  No one moved.

  The Verdant Maw turned its head toward him.

  The warrior swallowed, but cleared his throat and charged anyway with a wordless scream.

  “Don’t—” Mike started.

  The boss opened its jaws.

  Green light built between the crystal teeth.

  “Oh that’s not good,” Mike muttered.

  The breath weapon hit like a tidal wave of corrosive energy. Nature-flavored annihilation. Vines, moss, and razor-leaf fragments erupted in a cone, shredding earth and everything unfortunate enough to be in the path.

  The warrior vanished under the onslaught.

  When the beam stopped, there was nothing left of him but shredded armor and a half-melted sword.

  A System notification blinked.

  [Candidate Eliminated — Cause of Death: Verdant Maw (Minor Boss)]

  [No PvP rewards distributed.]

  Everyone went very quiet.

  Then someone screamed, “RUN!”

  The clearing erupted into chaos.

  Candidates scattered in all directions, some tripping over roots, others dropping their weapons in blind panic. A mage tried to cast something and fumbled the incantation, nearly blowing their own head off.

  The Verdant Maw ignored them all.

  It stepped forward, each impact shaking the ground.

  Its gaze never left Mike.

  “Why is it only looking at you?” Sael whispered, voice high with terror.

  “Because I apparently smell like chaos-flavored steak,” Mike snapped.

  The orb pulsed.

  Boss prioritizes strongest or most anomalous mana signature.

  In this case: yours.

  Sael swallowed. “Then we must— we must hide your imprint.”

  “How?!”

  “Not hide,” the orb said.

  But you can dilute it.

  Mike blinked. “What does that mean?”

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Move. Don’t stay isolated. Stay near other active mana sources. Spread the scent.

  “Are you telling me to use other people as… imprint decoys?” Mike asked, appalled.

  The System does not provide moral commentary. Only strategic advice.

  “Cool. Love that.”

  Another tree cracked as the boss pushed through the forest edge, closing in.

  They didn’t have time to debate ethics.

  “Sael,” Mike said, eyes locked on the advancing Maw, “can you move?”

  Sael’s legs shook, but they nodded.

  “Lumi?”

  The fox bounded in place, sparks popping from his tails.

  Mike exhaled.

  “Okay. We move.”

  He ran sideways, not directly away from the boss but at an angle — toward the densest cluster of panicking candidates.

  “Mike?!” Sael gasped, sprinting after him. “Why are we going toward them?”

  “Because if the boss kills us out here alone, we accomplish nothing,” he said. “If we’re going to die, let’s at least delay it, okay?!”

  “THIS IS A BAD PLAN!”

  “WELCOME TO MY LIFE!”

  Lumi barked like he agreed with both of them simultaneously.

  They reached the panicked cluster just as a mage finally got their spell off — a spear of ice that shot toward the Verdant Maw’s chest.

  It struck bark and shattered.

  The beast didn’t even slow down.

  “Are you kidding me?” Mike groaned. “That was your big move?”

  The mage hissed, “You do better!”

  “Working on it!”

  The boss opened its jaws again, drawing another breath of emerald light.

  Mike’s instincts screamed.

  He grabbed Sael and tackled them behind a thick boulder just as the second breath tore through the clearing.

  Candidates screamed. Armor screeched. Flesh hit the ground.

  When the beam faded, half the nearest group was gone.

  The other half fled in mindless terror.

  Mike peeked out from behind the rock.

  The Verdant Maw took another step forward. Vines rippled along its legs, hooking into tree roots, drawing power. Its eyes flared brighter.

  And all that focus — all that hate — still locked onto him.

  “Why is it always me?” Mike whispered.

  “Because you are… loud,” Sael whispered back, eyes wide. “To it. Your soul… shouts.”

  “Tell it to shut up.”

  Sael swallowed.

  “…Maybe I can.”

  Mike turned to them sharply. “What?”

  Sael’s hands shook as they raised their crystal focus.

  “My illusions… are weak. But they are still echoes of self. Self-pattern. Mana shape. If I… amplify an echo… maybe I can create—a fake ‘you’ loud enough to confuse it.”

  Mike stared.

  “Are you saying you can… spoof my imprint?”

  Sael exhaled shakily. “Maybe.”

  The orb’s glow brightened slightly.

  Theoretically plausible.

  Failure likely lethal.

  Proceeding will significantly improve data.

  Mike glared at it. “I hate when you sound happy about experiments.”

  The Verdant Maw reared back, claws digging into the ground.

  They had seconds.

  Mike looked at Sael.

  Sael looked back, fear and determination warring in their eyes.

  “We’re doing this?” he asked.

  Sael’s throat bobbed. “We are doing this.”

  Mike nodded once.

  “Alright,” he said. “I’ll draw its attention. You… fake me.”

  “That is a terrible plan.”

  “Yeah,” he said. “It’s ours.”

  He stepped out from behind the rock.

  The Verdant Maw’s gaze locked on him immediately. Green fire flared hotter in its empty sockets.

  “Hey!” Mike yelled, forcing his legs to move. “You want me? Come get me, you overgrown salad!”

  The thing roared.

  It charged.

  The ground shook with every impact.

  Mike’s heart tried to climb into his throat. He forced it down, forced his feet to move, forced his hand to lift the conductive blade.

  Lightning sparked.

  “Static Step!”

  He blurred sideways as the Maw’s front limb smashed down where he’d been standing, roots exploding upward in a shower of dirt.

  “Sael!” he shouted. “Now!”

  Behind him, Sael stood rigid, crystal focus blazing.

  They closed their eyes.

  And reached.

  Mike felt it — like something tugged at his soul, not violently but gently, copying, sketching his pattern into light.

  An image flared in the clearing.

  Not just visual this time.

  A ghost of Mike, crackling faintly with chaotic lightning, imprint echo bleeding from it in unstable waves.

  The Verdant Maw’s head jerked.

  For a split-second, its gaze flickered between the real Mike and the illusion.

  The orb pinged.

  Illusion includes partial imprint!

  Boss targeting: confused.

  “I’ll take confused!” Mike yelled.

  The boss lunged at the phantom Mike.

  Its claws tore through the illusion, shredding it.

  The fake Mike vanished in a burst of light.

  The Verdant Maw paused.

  Its head snapped toward Sael.

  The orb chimed grimly.

  Boss recognizes source. New priority target: Illusion caster.

  Sael’s eyes widened.

  “Oh,” they whispered. “That’s… bad.”

  “Sael, MOVE!” Mike roared.

  They tried.

  The boss leapt.

  Mike’s body moved before his brain could.

  He sprinted, every muscle screaming, lightning bursting along his legs. Static Step triggered twice in rapid succession — uncontrolled, stuttering him forward in two jagged blurs.

  He crashed into Sael, shoving them sideways as the Verdant Maw’s claws slammed into the ground.

  The shockwave threw all three of them.

  Mike hit a tree.

  Pain lanced down his spine.

  He rolled, coughing, vision blurring.

  Through the haze, he saw Lumi — tiny, furious, sparking — standing between him and the Maw, tails puffed, growling.

  “No—” Mike croaked. “Lumi, don’t—”

  The fox bared his teeth.

  Lightning exploded out of him — not a bolt, not a beam, but a small dome of crackling energy that wrapped around Mike like a shield.

  The Verdant Maw swiped.

  The claws struck the lightning dome and skidded off, deflected, leaving deep grooves in the ground inches away.

  The dome shattered.

  Lumi yelped and collapsed, smoking lightly.

  “Lumi!” Mike shouted, horror spiking through him.

  The System chimed.

  [Companion Ability Awakened: Lightning Veil (Rank F)]

  (Generates a weak protective field that reduces incoming physical damage. Overuse causes exhaustion.)

  No time.

  No time.

  The Verdant Maw turned toward the fox — toward the weakest thing on the field.

  Mike’s vision tunneled.

  “NO.”

  He pushed himself to his feet, entire body screaming, lightning boiling under his skin.

  Something inside him cracked.

  Not like before.

  Deeper.

  Older.

  The world muted.

  Sound dulled.

  Only the Maw’s glowing eyes remained sharp.

  And the tiny, fallen shape of Lumi.

  He raised his blade.

  Lightning surged.

  Chaos stirred.

  The System screamed silently in his vision.

  [Warning: Chaotic Discharge Threshold Approaching]

  [Stabilization not guaranteed.]

  “Good,” Mike growled.

  He swung.

  Not at the beast.

  At the air.

  The blade carved a line of lightning so dense it became a physical arc — a crescent of crackling, seething power that screamed as it flew toward the Verdant Maw’s face.

  The impact was like a thunderclap shoved into a coffin.

  The crescent exploded against the Maw’s skull, blasting away chunks of bark and crystal. Green fire sputtered. The beast recoiled with a roar that rattled Mike’s teeth.

  He staggered, knees buckling.

  His mana bottomed out at once.

  [Mana: 3% — Critical]

  He dropped to one knee, gasping.

  The boss shook its massive head, dazed but not defeated. A chunk of its face was missing — charred wood and shattered crystal raining down. Green fire flared anew, raging.

  Sael crawled to Mike’s side, eyes wild.

  “How did you—?”

  “Recklessly,” Mike wheezed. “Don’t try this at home.”

  The Verdant Maw stomped the ground.

  Roots surged upward like a forest trying to stab them.

  “MOVE!” Mike yelled.

  Sael grabbed him, pulling with strength born of panic. They rolled as roots slammed into where they’d been, splintering stone and bark.

  Other candidates, emboldened by seeing the boss stagger, tried to attack from the flanks.

  A barrage of arrows pinged off bark. A lightning bolt from a mage scratched one leg. A rogue darted in and slashed at a root.

  It was like gnats biting a bear.

  The Maw roared, spun, and swatted three candidates aside with one sweeping limb. Two hit trees and didn’t get up.

  The third screamed until a falling branch cut him off.

  [Candidates Eliminated]

  Mike’s limbs felt like lead. His vision trembled around the edges. Lumi lay unconscious. Sael’s illusions had saved them once but made them a target.

  We’re going to die here, he thought.

  Unless—

  “Sael,” he gasped. “Can you do that imprint trick again?”

  Sael’s face twisted. “It nearly killed us the first time.”

  “I just hit its face with a chaos lightning crescent,” Mike said. “It’s not going to get less mad. We need one more shot.”

  “And what will you do with it?” Sael demanded.

  Mike stared at the beast’s chest — at the tangle of roots and crystal, glowing faintly under bark.

  “The same thing,” he said. “But deeper.”

  “The System warned you,” Sael whispered. “Your class— your power— it is tearing you apart.”

  Mike smiled weakly.

  “Then let’s make it worth it.”

  Sael swallowed.

  Their eyes were full of fear.

  And then — resolve.

  They nodded.

  “Very well,” they said quietly. “If we die, we die making a mark.”

  Mike grinned. “That’s the spirit.”

  Lumi stirred faintly but didn’t wake.

  Mike wanted to stay. To hold the fox. To protect him.

  There wasn’t time.

  He pushed himself up again, legs wobbling. Sparks flickered weakly along his bracers.

  The Verdant Maw lowered its head, preparing another breath.

  “Sael,” Mike said, not looking back. “Lure it.”

  Sael stepped forward.

  “No,” they said quietly. “I will lure it away from you.”

  Mike turned, startled.

  Sael smiled faintly.

  “You are more important.”

  Before he could argue, they raised their focus.

  Light exploded.

  Not a simple bird illusion this time.

  A towering image of Mike erupted in front of the boss — crackling with lightning, chaos pouring off him in waves. An amplified, insane echo of his imprint, magnified and flung like a beacon into the air.

  The Verdant Maw’s head snapped to it instantly.

  It roared and lunged.

  Sael moved the illusion backward, away, step by step — leading the beast in a curve, its massive body tearing trenches in the earth as it followed.

  The orb’s voice was low.

  Illusion stability at 40%… 30%… strain increasing.

  Sael’s hands shook violently. Blood trickled from one nostril.

  “Come on,” they whispered. “Look at me. Not at him. Look at me.”

  The boss followed.

  Mike saw what they were doing.

  His chest tightened.

  “Sael!” he shouted. “Stop—”

  Sael glanced back at him.

  Their eyes were full of apology.

  And something like gratitude.

  “Make it count, Michael,” they said softly.

  The illusion stuttered.

  Then surged brighter — Sael pouring everything into it, burning their mana reserves dry. The phantom Mike screamed a silent challenge, chaotic lightning flaring so bright it hurt.

  The Verdant Maw roared and unleashed its breath weapon.

  It hit the illusion and Sael both.

  Light and emerald death collided.

  For a moment, the clearing became pure white.

  When the flare faded—

  There was no Sael.

  No body.

  No crystal focus.

  Just scorched earth, still hissing with residual energy.

  The Verdant Maw staggered, disoriented by the discharge.

  And for the first time since appearing—

  Its attention flickered away from Mike completely.

  The orb chimed.

  [Candidate Sael — Eliminated]

  Cause: Verdant Maw breath (Minor Boss)

  Final Action: High-difficulty Illusion Imprint Divergence

  Evaluation: Exceptional.

  Mike stared at the empty space where Sael had been.

  His chest felt… hollow.

  Something inside him wanted to break.

  Lumi whimpered weakly at his feet, as if sensing the loss even in unconsciousness.

  The Verdant Maw shook itself, recovering.

  Its head turned back toward Mike.

  The moment of safety was over.

  Mike tightened his grip on his blade.

  His eyes burned.

  “Alright,” he whispered, voice hoarse. “Let’s make it worth it.”

  Lightning crawled up his arm again.

  Chaos stirred.

  No time. No hesitation.

  He charged.

  The Verdant Maw inhaled to roar — but Mike was already in motion, Static Step triggering in sharp, painful bursts that tore at his muscles. He darted between roots, under a swinging limb, sparks marking his path.

  He reached the beast’s chest.

  The glow under the bark pulsed there — a cluster of crystal and verdant energy, the center of its power.

  Mike lifted his blade.

  The System screamed again.

  [Warning: Chaotic Discharge Level Critical]

  [Proceeding may cause severe backlash.]

  “Shut up,” Mike snarled.

  He brought the blade down.

  Lightning and chaos erupted together.

  Not in a controlled arc.

  Not in a clean strike.

  In a vertical explosion of raw, desperate power that carved through bark, crystal, and mana alike. The world vanished in light and pain and noise. The impact was like being inside a collapsing thunderstorm.

  Something big and heavy hit him.

  Then nothing.

  Silence.

  Darkness.

  Then—

  Faintly:

  [Minor Boss: Verdant Maw of the Shattered Grove — Defeated]

  [Contribution: 62% — Candidate Storm]

  [Contribution: 24% — Candidate Sael (deceased)]

  [Remaining contribution: various candidates]

  [Level Up!]

  [Level Up!]

  Somewhere far away, another window tried to appear, but Mike’s consciousness was already slipping.

  The last thing he felt before blacking out was something warm and trembling pressing against his chest.

  Lumi.

  Alive.

  Then the dark took him.

  Thank you for reading!

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