The forest reacted immediately.
Branches shook.
Leaves trembled.
Low growls echoed from multiple directions.
The disturbance spread outward like ripples across still water.
The cultist's hands trembled as he maintained the signal.
Sweat gathered at his temples.
Aldric noticed.
"Don't collapse mid-wave," he muttered.
The first beast burst from the trees.
C-rank.
Larger.
Faster.
Its hide thicker than the earlier ones.
Draven's arrow flew before it fully cleared the undergrowth.
The shot pierced its eye.
The creature staggered—
Draven was already moving.
One step forward.
A single punch.
Its skull folded into the earth.
Dead.
Three more rushed in from the flank.
Aldric raised a hand.
Crimson threads snapped outward—not to extract, but to restrain.
Blood magic coiled around one beast's limbs mid-leap.
It crashed into the ground awkwardly.
Draven crushed its throat beneath his heel.
The second lunged—
Draven caught its jaw mid-bite.
Twisted.
Bone cracked.
The third reached the cultist.
Too close.
The cultist stumbled back—
Aldric clicked his tongue.
"Useless."
A thin spear of condensed blood shot forward, punching clean through the beast's skull before it could reach him.
It dropped inches from the cultist's feet.
Silence returned.
Brief.
Then heavier footsteps approached.
Slower.
Measured.
Something larger.
The trees parted.
A bigger C-rank stepped into view.
Scarred hide.
Mana pulsing visibly along its spine.
It didn't charge immediately.
It assessed.
Draven's eyes narrowed.
The cultist's breathing hitched.
"My lord—"
"Quiet."
The beast moved first.
A blur.
Draven stepped into it instead of away.
The collision sent a shockwave through the clearing.
The ground fractured beneath them.
For a split second, the beast thought it had overpowered him—
Then Draven's hand drove upward.
Through jaw.
Through skull.
Mana surged.
The creature froze.
Its body twitched.
Collapsed.
Dead.
Aldric whistled softly.
"That one had some weight."
Draven withdrew his arm.
Blood slid down his sleeve.
He didn't bother shaking it off.
More rustling.
Then—
Nothing.
The disturbance had reached its limit.
The cultist dropped to one knee.
Breathing hard.
"I… that was the full pull."
Aldric stepped forward at once.
Red threads spread across the battlefield again.
Extraction began.
Cores tore free one by one.
Brighter this time.
Denser.
Stronger.
The blood sphere swelled larger than before.
Heavier.
Dozens of cores spun within it.
Aldric exhaled slowly.
"That's it."
He looked at the cultist.
"You're done."
The cultist nodded weakly.
"Yes…"
Draven approached the floating orb.
The crystals hummed as he drew near.
Forty percent…
Forty-two. Perhaps forty-three…
Closer.
But still not enough.
He could feel it.
The threshold was nowhere near.
Aldric studied him.
"Still short?"
He clicked his tongue.
"Then he drinks again."
The cultist looked up sharply.
"My lord… I can perform it one more time if I take the second potion."
Draven's gaze shifted to him.
"You said two."
"Yes… this would be the last."
Aldric folded his arms.
"He's barely standing."
Draven stepped closer to the cultist.
"You will not die from it."
Not a question.
A statement.
The cultist hesitated.
"…No."
Draven's eyes were cold.
"Then drink."
The cultist swallowed.
Slowly reached into his satchel again.
The final vial.
Blue liquid shimmering faintly in the fading light.
He uncorked it.
Drank.
His body trembled as mana flooded back into him—more violently this time.
Too much.
Too fast.
Aldric watched carefully.
"If he bursts, that's on you."
Draven didn't respond.
The cultist steadied himself.
Breathing ragged.
"I can… do it."
Draven turned toward the forest once more.
"Then do it."
The cultist lifted his hands again.
Mana rippled outward—
Stronger than before.
More reckless.
The forest answered instantly.
A roar echoed from deep within.
Not C-rank.
Heavier.
Denser.
Aldric's smirk faded.
"…Well."
Draven's eyes sharpened.
Good.
The ground began to tremble.
It didn't stop.
The trembling intensified.
Branches snapped.
Trees bent aside as something massive forced its way forward.
Then they appeared.
One.
Two.
Three.
Trolls.
Towering bodies of dense muscle and thick gray-green hide. Long arms nearly dragging against the ground. Tusks jutting from wide, snarling mouths. Eyes burning with dull, violent intelligence.
B-rank.
Aldric stared.
"…You've got to be kidding me."
Another tree split as a fourth troll stepped out.
The cultist's face drained of color.
"I—I did not mean to pull something of this level—"
Aldric shot him a sharp glance.
"It seems your disturbance spell escalated."
He gestured toward the trolls.
"That's a problem."
One troll slammed its fist into the ground and roared.
The sound shook the clearing.
Aldric continued, voice dry despite the tension.
"You were supposed to irritate beasts. Not announce a banquet."
The cultist staggered back.
"My spell must have resonated deeper into the forest…"
Another roar.
The trolls advanced.
Slow.
Confident.
They weren't rushing.
They knew their strength.
Aldric narrowed his eyes.
"B-rank trolls."
He glanced at Draven.
"They regenerate."
As if to prove the point, one troll's scarred arm visibly knitted flesh over partially exposed bone.
Fast healing.
Thick hide.
Brute force.
The cultist whispered, horrified.
"I… attracted even them…"
Draven didn't answer.
He stepped forward.
Calm.
The nearest troll lunged, covering distance with terrifying speed for its size.
Its massive fist crashed downward.
Draven sidestepped.
The impact shattered stone where he had stood.
Before it could recover, Draven drove his palm into its abdomen.
The force lifted the creature slightly off the ground.
Ribs cracked inward.
The troll coughed blood—
Then grinned.
Flesh began knitting back together instantly.
Aldric clicked his tongue.
"See? That's what I meant."
The troll swung again.
Draven caught its wrist.
The ground fractured beneath his feet from the pressure.
The other trolls joined in.
Now it was a battlefield.
One charged Aldric.
He leapt back, crimson threads snapping outward and slicing across its thigh.
The wound split open—
Then sealed halfway within seconds.
Aldric grimaced.
"Annoying."
The cultist retreated further, barely able to stand.
"My lord—"
"Shut it and stay back," Aldric snapped.
A second troll rushed him.
He formed a condensed spear of blood and drove it straight through its eye.
The troll staggered—
Then the ruined socket began regenerating.
Slowly.
But visibly.
Aldric swore under his breath.
Draven shifted tactics.
He twisted the wrist of the troll he held—
And tore the arm clean off.
The limb hit the ground with a heavy thud.
The troll roared in pain—
But the stump was already writhing.
Flesh crawling outward.
Bone extending.
Reforming.
Aldric stared.
"Yes. Definitely B-rank."
Another troll slammed into Draven from the side.
The impact sent a shockwave through the clearing.
Dust exploded outward.
For a moment, Draven vanished in the debris.
The cultist's heart nearly stopped.
"My lord—!"
The dust settled.
Draven stood.
Unmoved.
One troll's fist still pressed against him.
Draven slowly looked up at it.
Then grabbed its head—
And drove it into the ground.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
On the third impact, the skull collapsed inward.
Brain matter spilled.
The body twitched—
And began regenerating.
Slower now.
Aldric exhaled.
"…We'll have to destroy them completely."
Draven's eyes sharpened.
"Yes."
Another troll charged.
Another roar tore through the clearing.
The cultist whispered in disbelief.
"I brought out B-rank trolls…"
Aldric shot him a glare while dodging a sweeping arm.
"Yeah."
He formed a massive crimson blade along his forearm.
"Next time you say you can 'only attract once,' be specific."
The trolls surrounded them now.
Four massive, regenerating B-rank beasts.
And the ground kept trembling—
As if something even larger stirred deeper within the forest.