"Mmpf!" Her trembling hand flew to her mouth, stifling the gasp that threatened to escape as she subconsciously began to step back from terror.

Her wide eyes darted to the lifeless man sprawled before her, hollow eye sockets weeping crimson tears.

The silence of Todesfall Forest was oppressive with its shadows stretching like hungry fingers, waiting for the faintest sound to betray her.

Her breath came in rapid 'huff huffs' as she scanned the warding stones encircling the camp. However, they were still in place, which confused her even more.

Desperate to warn the others, she began scuttling toward the nearest tent, but her maternal instincts took over.

"My son," she murmured, anxiety gnawing at her thoughts.

Coincidentally, "Bodily functions are within normal parameters."

She turned toward the familiar voice with an expectant expression and a racing heart.

A small boy stood in place.

"Huff, huff, swe-sweetie? Huff," her chest felt suffocated with rampant emotions.

"..."

She reached for his shoulders, but hesitated mid-step. "Sweetie, what happened?!" Her eyes fixed on the blood smeared across his small hands.

"..."

She strove to remain calm for her son. "Sweetie, are you hurt somewhere?"

The boy only blinked once in response and tilted his head sideways. His eyes looked empty, but his lips curved into a faint, unfamiliar smile.

She hurried toward him to check. "Sweetie, please talk to..."

"To ensure complete security, the potential threats in the proximity have been successfully terminated," he interrupted in a monotonous tone.

Confused, she roughly stopped in her tracks. "W-what do you mean, 'terminated'?"

"..."

With a racing mind, her breaths were quickening, in contrast with the calming wind of the forest. A shiver ran down her spine as she glanced at the nearby corpse then back at the boy.

Time seemed to slow as a drop of blood cascaded from his small hands.

No, without hesitation, she reached out. As if acknowledging her surging mana, the wind began to blow stronger once more.

"Where's my son?!" she cried as she tried to bind him with ice, no longer concerned with keeping it low.

The boy's reaction time was fast as he jumped away from her, precisely dodging her cryokinesis with an unreadable expression.

The leaves shuddered as the wind grew colder.

"Release him!" she demanded. Ice shards formed at her fingertips and launched them like arrows.

The boy calculated her attack's trajectories with simple gestures, sidestepping at the last moment, as if dancing along the shadows of the night.

"Energy depleting—threat detected—neutralizing," he spoke. When cornered, he would disrupt her ice with brief but sharp bursts of energy, changing their directions.

The trees around them reverberated with hollow thunks as the ice shards pierced their bark. Those that struck the ground made a faint squelch, while those that crashed on rocks sounded like breaking glass.

Each time the woman's ice missed, a weight was surprisingly lifted from her heart, puzzling her mind.

That's not my sweet boy, she justified, her breaths shallow and uneven.

At this point, it's unsure whether she's subconsciously causing her attacks to miss, or if she's simply up against a true monster.

His smile, it was wrong. Too cold.

The warm, innocent grin she had vowed to protect was gone, replaced by something that chilled her to the core.

What's happening—where are you, sweetie? Her trembling hands curled into fists, whitening her knuckles.

She remembered the way he used to cling to her, his small arms wrapping around her neck after a nightmare, the way his laughter used to light up their tiny home.

I promised to keep you safe, so tell me... "Where is my son?!!"

The noise stirred the people in the stillness of the sleeping night, rousing them from their slumber.

"Stop at once!"

"Neve? What are you doing?!"

Neve didn't even take a second to glance at the source of the voices; her eyes were completely locked on the boy.

"AHHHHHH!" A woman screamed. "His eyes... they're, bleurgh!"

"Did you murder that mercenary?"

"I don't see the other men. What did you do to them, you devil?!"

"Hostile target identified. You pose a risk to the awakening process," the boy stated, followed by the sound of crashing ice.

Everyone's attention shifted to the boy who was flawlessly dodging Neve's attacks.

"Isn't that... her son?"

"How is that small boy dodging her attacks?"

"There's no time to think. We have to restrain them both before the noises attract monsters. If that happens, we're as good as dead."

Amidst the whispering argument around her, Neve's sweat dropped.

Unexpectedly, the boy then dashed beyond the warding stones' zone.

"No!" Neve screamed.

"Stop him!" a red-headed mercenary shouted as he chased after the boy.

Another blonde mercenary pinned Neve violently to the ground. "What is going on, you crazy woman? Explain yourself now, or..."

"Get away from me!" Neve protested.

"Snap out of it!" The blonde slapped her.

Without warning, the running boy abruptly stopped.

"Energy... depleted." The boy's voice faltered as the energy around him shifted. His small frame swayed before hitting the ground with a thud, devoid of control.

A whooshing wind blew through the momentary silence as they realized something.

"He looks like he's possessed or something."

"There are ghosts in the forest?"

"I wish it were that simple. If it's something worse…"

"My son!" Neve's heart skipped a beat while staring at the boy's unconscious body, realizing her mistake. She wished it was over when low growls from afar shattered that hope.

Todesfall Forest was waking up, and it was hungry.

While everyone's attention was drawn to the rising danger, a faint glow began to emanate from the boy's chest, pulsing outward rhythmically, each beat stronger than the last. The ground trembled beneath their feet.

A memory flashed inside Neve's mind, '"Mama, will I become a Magian one day? I will be strongest who pwotects Mama," he said as his small but warm body hugged Neve.'

At present, his body began floating upward as her son's dream was realizing itself—weightless and radiant, the air around him crackling with raw mana.

Neve's breath hitched. "Sweetie…" Neve whispered as a tear fell from her eye. Her voice barely audible over the rising hum of energy.

The air around them shifted, growing heavy with an invisible force, as if the forest itself had drawn a sharp breath. Leaves trembled on their branches, the ground quaked, and a chilling stillness fell over the clearing.

The boy's glow intensified, casting long, sharp shadows across the forest floor. It wasn't just light—it was life, spilling into the darkness like a sunrise breaking the night. Light swirled around him, like radiant colorful threads, each strand pulsing with raw, unbridled power.

Mana poured out of the boy like a tidal wave, invisible yet palpable, pressing down on Neve and the mercenaries with a suffocating weight.

The only merchant of the group muttered under her breath, her hardened expression cracking into one of awe. "How could a Magian's Awakening be this… beautiful?"

An archer beside her wasn't as captivated. Without hesitation, she pulled her bow taut, the string creaking under the strain. "Beautiful?" she snapped, her voice sharp with urgency. "It's a death sentence! Look around you!" she jabbed his finger toward the shifting shadows creeping behind the trees.

The forest responded in kind. Distant howls broke the silence, guttural and haunting, echoing from every direction.

A flock of birds erupted from the treetops, their frantic wings cutting through the thick air. Somewhere nearby, the sharp snap of branches signaled movement—fast and relentless.

"Perfect. An awakening in the forest of death?" the blonde said sarcastically. "We just escaped the Barony from those heretics, and now this?"

A grizzled man with a jagged scar running down his cheek, took a step back, his sword trembling in his grip. "You've doomed us, Neve!" he hissed through clenched teeth, his voice barely above a whisper. "That glow—it's like a beacon! Every monster within miles will be here any second!"

A younger mercenary, wide-eyed and pale, looked like he might bolt at any moment. "This—this is insane," he stammered, clutching the hilt of his dagger as if it might ward off the inevitable. "You didn't tell that your kid is about to awaken as a Magian! You've killed us all!

The stoic leader of the group, barked an order. "Quiet!" Her sharp gaze darted between Neve and the awakening boy. "Panicking won't save us. But if you—" she jabbed a finger at the pinned Neve on the ground "—don't control this now, we're done for."

Neve didn't respond, her eyes locked on her son. Her silence only deepened the tension.

Her son was about to become a Magian. But the cost of this was high, as it attracted the forest's threatening attention.

Suddenly, a shriek-snarl cut through the air, followed by the scream of the mercenary who had chased the boy outside the camp's perimeter.

Neve whipped her head intensely around just in time to see a human-shaped creature leap from the shadows.

The red-head's body crumpled like a rag doll after the monster slashed him, blood splattering everywhere.

"They're here!" the young mercenary hissed, his voice cracking.

The monster has a twisted green skin and red eyes, locking on its prey with feral intensity. A low growl rumbled in its throat as saliva dripped from jagged teeth, its maw twitching with anticipation, voracious.

More followed, Saliva dripped from jagged teeth as growls rumbled in their throats, their grotesque forms emerging from the underbrush with gnarled claws tearing at the foliage. The goblins' sickly green skin gleamed under the boy's Awakening's glow, their hunched bodies twitching with anticipation, drool pooling on the forest floor as one let out a guttural growl.

Neve's maternal instinct sharpened as alarm rang in her ears. Her heart thundered as she saw the goblin lurch toward her floating son. She couldn't let it happen—not now, not ever.

Adrenaline surged, igniting her mana in a burst of heat and light that left the air frigid and brittle. With a flare of explosive fire, she sent the blonde mercenary pinning her down hurtling through the air.

"Stay away from him!" she roared, thrusting her arms downward. Ice spikes erupted from the ground, spearing the goblins in their path.

"It's dangerous!" a young mercenary tried to grab her shoulder as she attempted to run towards her son, but the leader stopped him.

"Don't you dare stop me," Neve warned, her eyes brimming with killing intent.

"Y-you…" the mercenary stammered, grasping her determination.

"It's your call, Neve." the leader asked. "We misunderstood you earlier, and I apologize—but you have to rely on us now."

Neve ignored them, her gaze locked on her son, floating helplessly as goblins circled him.

"Don't even think about it, Neve!" the merchant warned.

Neve glanced at the older woman, then sprinted toward her son. Sorry, but I can't let him die. He's all I have left, she thought. Not him—not again.

"Follow her! We must protect her and her son!" The mercenaries banded together, inspired by Neve's maternal resolve.

Neve's feet pounded the ground, her ice carving a path toward her son as the goblins closed in like vultures. Her son hung motionless in the air, unaware of the chaos below.

The five mercenaries fought relentlessly beside Neve, relying on sheer skill and grit. Swords cleaved through goblin flesh with precision, shields absorbed brutal claw strikes, and arrows flew true, piercing skulls with deadly accuracy, thinning the horde with calculated efficiency and teamwork.

"Sweetie…" Neve whispered, taking a step forward. She couldn't wait any longer.

The goblins closed the circle, their claws scraping the dirt.

One, larger than the rest, crouched low, muscles coiling to strike.

Neve's heart raced. Her mana was depleting, and she was covered in beads of sweat, but she was determined to protect her son, I can't lose my son.

With a roar, the goblin lunged, claws outstretched towards Neve.

The sole merchant from the nearby camp watched the scene unfold.