"Fall back!" I shouted, my voice echoing through the cavern as I narrowly avoided an attack that could've ended my life.
"Shit! How the hell did we end up running into this monster?" Leon yelled, his voice tinged with panic.
A few hours earlier...
The group was making steady progress through the forest when I decided to create a shortcut. Using my earth magic, I carved out a narrow tunnel through a large hill that blocked our path. The others followed close behind, their trust in me growing with each step.
"Say, Arax, I'm curious," Leon started, his voice cutting through the silence. "How old are you?"
I glanced back at him, a small smirk tugging at the corner of my lips. "You probably won't believe me, but I'm almost nine years old."
Leon blinked in surprise, his disbelieving expression illuminated by the faint glow of mana light.
"Okay, sure," Ashlyn interjected with a sarcastic tone. "You can keep your secrets, prodigy boy."
"See? I told you that you wouldn't believe me," I said coolly, shrugging my shoulders.
"It's not about disbelief—it's about impossibility," Ashlyn replied, her tone serious now. "I don't know if you're ignorant or just messing with us, but it's literally impossible for any human, even those with Reverend blood, to awaken before the age of twelve."
"Yeah," Greg chimed in. "Unless you're an elf, a djinn, or maybe even a fae, there's no way you could've awakened that early. The Blightfalls are impressive, but not even they could make that happen. I've heard they tried, though. They failed at early awakenings but succeeded in creating Ether Cores—those things that help people during their awakening process."
I froze for a moment, their words lingering in my mind. If what they were saying was true, then… something wasn't adding up. I distinctly remembered my parents discussing my early awakening like it was a normal occurrence. They even said I should awaken by the age of seven or eight, and I'd witnessed other Blightfall children achieving the same.
Could it be that my family had succeeded in creating a way to awaken earlier but kept it hidden from the public? No, that didn't seem right. A secret of that magnitude would be impossible to keep, even for the Blightfalls.
Unless…
Could it be that the Blightfalls possess some unique, hidden bloodline or special physique that allowed for such an early awakening?
"Hey, Arax, you good?" Ashlyn's voice pulled me out of my thoughts.
"Yeah," I replied, shaking my head slightly. "Just thinking."
"Well, you'd better snap out of it," she said, her tone shifting. "I can feel some strong auras at the end of the tunnel. We need to prepare."
The air grew heavier as we advanced, and even I could feel the oppressive mana signatures waiting for us at the tunnel's exit. Although my mind was still racing with questions about my family's secrets, I knew now wasn't the time to dwell on it. Whatever was ahead demanded my full attention.
As we emerged from the tunnel, the oppressive aura became nearly suffocating. I could see it in their faces—Leon, Greg, and even Ashlyn were on edge.
"Why is this quest, which was supposed to be simple, turning out to be so dangerous?" Leon muttered, gripping his staff tightly.
It was a valid question. The further we ventured, the more unnatural everything seemed. The number of strong creatures wandering freely in this area didn't make sense. This region was supposed to be protected by monster hunters and mana barriers, yet it felt like no one had culled the stronger beasts in years.
"Something doesn't add up," Ashlyn said, her voice low. "Either the monster hunters slacked off, or something else is pushing these creatures out of their usual territories."
Whatever the reason, I knew one thing for certain: the world was full of tribulations, and I intended to overcome every single one of them.
Suddenly, I felt it—a presence so powerful it made the previous mana signatures feel insignificant.
"Get ready," I warned, my voice steady but firm.
The ground trembled as a hulking shadow emerged from the dense forest ahead. It was a massive, reptilian creature, its scales glinting like obsidian in the faint light. Its eyes glowed a fiery orange, and its razor-sharp claws left deep gouges in the earth with every step.
"A Shadow Basilisk," Ashlyn whispered, her face pale.
"How the hell is a High Rank 3 monster here?" Greg asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
The Shadow Basilisk was an apex predator, a creature that should've been confined to high-danger zones far from human settlements. Its presence here was not just unusual—it was downright terrifying.
"We can't fight this," Leon said, panic creeping into his voice.
"Fall back!" I shouted, taking the lead as the Basilisk lunged toward us. Its claws sliced through the air, narrowly missing me as I dodged to the side.
The group scrambled, trying to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the monster. I could hear their panicked breaths, the sound of boots crunching against dirt, and the Basilisk's guttural growls as it pursued us.
"Split up!" Ashlyn commanded, her voice sharp. "It can't follow all of us at once!"
We scattered, each of us taking a different path through the dense forest. I activated my Omni Vision, scanning the terrain and tracking both my teammates and the Basilisk.
"Damn it," I muttered under my breath. The creature was fast—too fast for its size. It was gaining on Greg, who had made the mistake of running in a straight line.
"Greg, turn left!" I shouted.
He hesitated for a moment before veering off the path, narrowly avoiding the Basilisk's claws as they crashed into the ground where he'd been moments before.
"Leon, use a distraction spell!" Ashlyn yelled from somewhere nearby.
"Got it!" Leon replied. A second later, a brilliant flash of light erupted in the Basilisk's path, momentarily blinding it.
"Nice one!" Ashlyn shouted, taking advantage of the creature's disorientation to regroup with me.
"What's the plan?" she asked, her breathing heavy.
"We can't kill it," I said bluntly. "Not with what we've got. Our best bet is to lead it to a stronger monster or a natural trap." It's not that i can't kill it but doing so would be very risky specially with the rest of them here.
"Great," she said, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "And where exactly do we find either of those?" Any other monster would do, but for now i would prefer something like another Rank 3 beast.
Before I could answer, the ground beneath us began to quake. A low, guttural growl echoed through the forest, but it wasn't coming from the Basilisk.
"What now?" Ashlyn muttered.
From the shadows emerged another creature—a massive stone-armored bear with glowing red eyes. A Rank 2 Peak Earth Elemental Beast.
"Perfect," I said, a small smirk forming on my lips. This waa great though it Couldn't hope to kill the Basilisk it was sturdy enough to hold it for at least a few minutes enough for us to escape.
"What's perfect about this?" Ashlyn snapped.
"Just watch," I replied, channeling mana into the ground beneath the Basilisk's feet.
With a surge of energy, I created a fissure that redirected the Basilisk's attention toward the Earth Elemental Beast. The two creatures locked eyes, their primal instincts taking over.
As they clashed, I turned to Ashlyn. "Now we run."
Without another word, we bolted, the sounds of the two monsters fighting fading into the distance.
This quest was turning out to be far more dangerous than any of us had anticipated. But as I glanced back at the chaos we'd left behind, I couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.
The stronger the challenges, the stronger I would become.