One week later, the Douglas forces continued following the enormous footprints the beast had left behind throughout the forest.
With every kilometer they traveled, the vegetation became more and more overwhelming. The trees reached impossible heights, the leaves shimmered with a faint glow, and the air itself seemed to vibrate around them.
Then it happened.
Several knights began to slow down.
One collapsed to his knees.
Another placed a hand over his chest, struggling to breathe.
Even the mages, accustomed to controlling vast amounts of mana, began to grow pale.
Sofia felt the pressure as well.
It was a strange sensation. The mana saturating the forest was so dense that it felt as if it was forcing its way into their magical cores.
She immediately turned toward Lusian.
—"How are you feeling?"
Lusian was breathing heavily.
A sharp pain pierced his chest every time he inhaled.
—"I... I'm having trouble breathing."
He pressed a hand against his heart.
—"It feels like something is trying to enter my body."
Sofia slowly nodded.
—"It is the mana of the forest."
She looked at the soldiers struggling to remain standing.
—"The concentration here is too high. Our magical cores cannot absorb this much energy all at once."
Lusian understood immediately.
It was similar to climbing a mountain too quickly.
The body needed time to adapt.
Except here, it was not the air that was changing...
It was the mana itself.
—"What do we do?" he asked.
—"Wait."
Sofia's answer was immediate.
—"Forcing our advance will only cause our cores to collapse. We will rest until our bodies adapt to this level of mana concentration."
No one objected.
Even the veterans understood that, in this forest, the enemy was not only the beast they were pursuing.
The environment itself was trying to reject them.
Meanwhile, several kilometers away, the Sneider family's unit advanced with extreme caution through a vast swampy region.
The ground was a trap.
Every step sank their boots into the dark mud, while a thick fog covered the surface of the water. Trees grew at unnatural angles above the swamp, hiding the sky beneath a ceiling of tangled branches.
No one spoke.
Only the sound of boots splashing through the mud could be heard...
And, occasionally, a distant scream.
A massive winged creature descended from the treetops.
Before the soldiers could react, its claws pierced through a knight's armor and lifted him into the air.
—"Help!!"
His voice disappeared among the branches.
A moment later, the forest fell silent again.
Gonzalo Sneider, commander of the expedition, gritted his teeth.
—"Do not look up. Keep moving."
No one answered.
Fear had already begun devouring the unit's morale.
Then it happened.
The swamp water began forming small ripples around Gonzalo.
The commander barely had time to look down.
A gigantic jaw emerged from beneath the mud.
—"Commander!!"
The monster closed its jaws around him and violently dragged him into the depths.
Everything happened in a single second.
The water became still again.
As if nothing had ever happened.
The soldiers remained frozen.
One of the commanders, Briggs, stepped forward.
He took a deep breath before raising his voice.
—"Commander Gonzalo Sneider has fallen."
The men lowered their heads.
—"From this moment onward, I will assume command."
His gaze swept across the swamp.
—"Do not forget where we are."
This forest is not hunting us...
It simply does not care that we exist.
Four days later.
Across an expansive plain covered in tall grass, the Bourlance unit advanced in a long formation.
Wilbur Bourlance was examining the map when a figure suddenly fell from a nearby bush.
She rolled several meters across the ground before quickly jumping back to her feet.
—"..."
Wilbur closed his eyes.
—"Miss Kara..."
The young woman adjusted her helmet as if nothing had happened.
—"You saw nothing."
—"Your father is probably searching the entire duchy for you."
—"I have no idea what you are talking about."
Wilbur released a long sigh.
—"Please, return. I can assign you an escort..."
He never finished the sentence.
The ground began to tremble.
Thousands of birds took flight at the same time.
Then the herd appeared.
Dozens of enormous magical deer, Class B creatures, ran desperately across the plain, accompanied by their young.
Their eyes reflected absolute terror.
—"Do not attack them!" Wilbur immediately shouted.
But it was already too late.
Several knights had fired.
The first deer collapsed, pierced by magical attacks.
The stampede continued without slowing down.
None of them attempted to fight back.
They were only running.
Wilbur felt a chill run down his spine.
What could possibly cause such fear in Class B creatures?
Then...
The forest became completely silent.
Until a deep voice echoed inside everyone's minds.
—"Humans..."
The knights shuddered.
The voice did not come from any specific direction.
It seemed to emerge from the forest itself.
—"You invade my territory..."
—"You steal my prey..."
—"I will kill you."
The trees began to move aside.
One after another.
As if a mountain itself was advancing through them.
Then it appeared.
Basilco.
Eight meters tall.
Fifteen meters long.
Green scales covered with ancient scars.
Its golden eyes looked upon the humans with the same indifference a man would show toward a group of ants.
Kara felt a chill travel down her spine.
—"Is... is it speaking to us?"
No one answered.
Basilco slowly opened its mouth.
Inside its throat, a blinding sphere of light began to gather.
Wilbur immediately understood the danger.
—"EVERYONE TO THE GROUND!!"
The world turned white.
The explosion shook the entire plain.
When the light disappeared...
Where hundreds of soldiers had stood before...
There was only a massive smoking trench.
Two hundred and twenty-one knights.
Seventy-six mages.
They were gone.
The survivors reacted instinctively.
Rains of fire.
Spears of ice.
Lightning.
Dozens of spells struck Basilco.
The explosions illuminated the plain.
When the smoke cleared...
The beast remained motionless.
Not a single scale had been damaged.
Wilbur felt despair spreading among everyone.
That thing...
Was not a creature they could fight.
Without wasting a second, he pulled a magical flare from his belt and fired it into the sky.
A column of red light pierced through the clouds.
The distress signal.
Then he grabbed Kara by the arm.
—"We are retreating!"
—"No!" she shouted, struggling against him. "We have to help them!"
Another flash illuminated the forest.
The second beam tore through the knights' ranks.
The screams stopped almost immediately.
Wilbur did not look back.
He tightened his grip on the young woman's arm.
—"We cannot save them anymore."
—"If we stay..."
His voice became colder.
—"...we will die with them."
When Sofia saw the column of light rising between the trees, she immediately understood that something had gone terribly wrong.
She did not need an explanation.
The earth trembled beneath the roar of a gigantic creature.
In the distance, a colossal mass moved between the trees, knocking them down as if they were blades of grass. Each step left a crater in the ground.
Lusian felt his face grow cold.
There was no mistake.
It was exactly the same.
The monster that, across countless playthroughs, had caused the deaths of hundreds of players.
The king of the forest.
—"Mother... wait."
Sofia stopped Thunder.
—"What is it?"
Lusian did not take his eyes off the monster.
—"Do not send all the soldiers. You will only get them killed."
The duchess frowned.
—"Explain."
—"That creature is called the Sarcosuchus Imperator."
Albert and the commanders exchanged confused looks.
They had never heard that name.
—"It is immune to almost all elemental magic. The more attacks it receives, the more mana it absorbs. If we launch a frontal assault, we will only strengthen its resistance."
Silence fell among them.
Lusian continued.
—"Its main weapon is a light beam. Before firing it, it gathers an enormous amount of mana around its four legs. For only an instant, all of its defensive power shifts toward that spell."
—"And then?" Sofia asked.
—"At that moment, a single opening appears."
He took a deep breath.
—"If Umber strikes one of those points with dark magic at the exact moment the concentration ends, the mana flow will be interrupted. The beam will explode inside its own body, leaving it immobilized for a few seconds."
Sofia remained thoughtful.
—"Are you completely certain?"
—"I am."
It was not a guess.
He had seen it hundreds of times.
It was the only pattern that allowed them to defeat it without sacrificing thousands of lives.
The duchess looked back toward the monster.
At that moment, Basilco opened its mouth.
A white glow began gathering.
Four enormous luminous circles appeared around its legs.
Lusian's eyes widened.
—"Now!"
Umber vanished into the shadows.
A spear of darkness struck one of the circles.
The monster roared.
The light it was gathering went out of control.
For a moment, its entire body convulsed violently.
—"It worked!"
—"Attack!"
Sofia was the first to move.
Thunder exploded forward, wrapped in lightning.
At the same time, Larriet leapt from a cliff like a silver arrow.
The lion grabbed onto the monster's neck.
His claws tore through scales the size of shields.
Basilco responded with a brutal shake.
Larriet was thrown dozens of meters away.
Before he could recover, the enormous tail struck Thunder.
The lightning horse rolled across the ground, raising a cloud of dust.
Sofia landed gracefully, but felt the impact travel through both arms.
It was absurdly strong.
Far too strong.
Basilco rose again.
Although the attack had interrupted its spell...
It had suffered no serious injuries.
It was simply furious.
The monster released a roar so powerful that the entire forest trembled.
Thousands of birds fled in terror.
The knights involuntarily stepped backward.
—"Do not lower your guard!" Sofia shouted.
Basilco began gathering light again.
The four circles reappeared.
Lusian watched every movement.
—"Umber! Again!"
The second interruption came just before the shot.
The beam exploded inside the beast once more.
This time, Larriet took advantage of the opening.
He jumped directly onto the monster's face.
His fangs pierced one of its eyes.
A horrifying roar shook the forest.
Golden blood spilled across the vegetation.
But Basilco reacted instantly.
Its jaws caught the lion's shoulder.
Only a massive discharge from Thunder forced the monster to release him.
Larriet fell heavily to the ground, wounded.
Sofia felt a knot tighten in her chest.
This was only beginning.
They were not hunting a beast.
They were facing the true king of the forest.