The forest beside the highway was quiet.
Too quiet.
Ryan stood at the edge of the broken asphalt, staring down at the massive hoofprints pressed deep into the ground.
Each indentation sank several inches into the road.
Cracked.
Split.
Destroyed.
Alice stepped closer behind him.
Slowly.
Carefully.
"So… that's from the awakened beast?"
Ryan didn't look away.
"Yeah."
Alice crouched beside one of the prints.
She placed her hand next to it.
Her fingers barely reached halfway across.
Her eyes widened.
"That thing is huge."
"Not really."
She looked up at him.
"Ryan."
A beat.
"That's bigger than my hand."
Ryan's gaze shifted toward the tree line.
Dark.
Dense.
Watching.
"It just awakened."
Alice frowned.
"And that means…?"
Ryan's voice was calm.
"It's only going to get bigger."
Alice immediately regretted asking.
A breeze passed through the trees.
Soft.
Whispering.
But beneath it—
Something felt off.
Ryan studied the surrounding ground.
The tracks weren't clean.
They were violent.
Torn earth.
Deep gouges.
As if the creature didn't just move—
It crashed through everything in its path.
He straightened.
"Boar."
Alice blinked.
"You can tell that from footprints?"
Ryan smirked faintly.
"I spent a hundred years fighting things like this."
Alice opened her mouth—
Then stopped.
In Ryan's mind Iris spoke.
[Your heartbeat has increased.]
Ryan didn't react outwardly.
I'm cautious.
[You're worried.]
It's near the road.
A pause.
Then—
[You're worried about her.]
Ryan ignored that.
Alice gestured toward the forest.
"So… what do we do?"
Ryan stared at the trees.
Listening.
Watching.
"If we're lucky…"
A slight pause.
"…it's already gone."
Alice brightened slightly.
"And if we're not lucky?"
Ryan cracked his neck.
A sharp sound in the silence.
"Then you get a real lesson."
Alice sighed.
"Why does every lesson involve almost dying?"
Ryan walked back toward the car.
"Because the world ended today."
She couldn't argue with that.
They got back in.
Ryan eased the car forward, steering carefully around the broken road.
The tires rolled over cracked asphalt.
Grinding softly.
The forest stretched beside them.
Endless.
Dense.
Oppressive.
The sunlight barely reached the ground now.
Shadows layered over shadows.
Alice stared out the window.
Her fingers played with a thin thread of green mana.
Nervous.
Unsteady.
"So beasts are different from the Fallen?"
Ryan nodded.
"Very."
"How?"
"The Fallen are humans who failed."
Alice looked down.
"…Yeah."
Ryan's eyes flicked toward the trees again.
"But beasts didn't fail."
Alice tilted her head.
"So they succeeded?"
"In a way."
A pause.
"Animals don't resist the change."
Alice frowned slightly.
"So they just… adapt?"
Ryan nodded.
"Faster than humans."
"And then?"
Ryan's voice lowered.
"They become something else."
Alice swallowed.
"Not comforting."
Ryan slowed the car.
The forest ahead—
Was darker.
Not just shadow.
Something else.
Stillness.
Then—
[Stop.]
Ryan's eyes sharpened instantly.
Why?
[You're being watched.]
He slammed the brakes.
The car jerked to a stop.
Alice flinched.
"What happened?!"
Ryan was already opening the door.
"Stay behind me."
Alice's stomach dropped.
"…That means it's here, doesn't it?"
Ryan didn't answer.
He stepped onto the road.
Silence pressed in from all sides.
No wind.
No birds.
No insects.
Nothing.
The air grew heavier.
Harder to breathe.
Ryan's eyes moved slowly across the tree line.
Then—
He saw it.
Movement.
Deep within the forest—
A shape shifted.
Branches snapped.
Heavy.
Measured.
Alice stepped out of the car.
"Ryan…?"
His voice was quiet.
"It's here."
A deep rumble rolled through the ground.
Then—
The forest exploded.
Wood cracked.
Leaves scattered.
And then—
It stepped out.
The ground trembled.
Alice's breath caught.
"Oh my god…"
The boar was massive.
Nearly the size of a horse—
But broader.
Heavier.
Denser.
Its hide shimmered darkly.
Not fur—
Something closer to armor.
Two enormous tusks curved upward, sharp and gleaming like polished ivory.
Its eyes—
Burned amber.
Filled with violent, unstable mana.
It exhaled.
Steam burst from its nostrils.
Hot.
Aggressive.
Then—
It pawed the asphalt.
The ground cracked beneath its hoof.
Ryan stepped forward.
Alice grabbed his arm instantly.
"That thing will kill us!"
Ryan smiled.
Small.
Calm.
"Yeah."
The boar lowered its head.
Muscles coiling beneath its armored hide.
Alice's voice dropped.
"…Ryan."
Ryan rolled his shoulders.
"Perfect training opportunity."
Alice stared at him.
"You cannot be serious."
The boar moved.
Not a charge—
An explosion.
The ground shattered beneath it as it launched forward.
"IT'S COMING!"
Alice's voice broke.
Her legs refused to move.
Ryan didn't move.
His eyes locked onto it.
Tracking.
Measuring.
Too fast for most.
Not for me.
Three seconds.
Two.
One—
He stepped.
A single shift.
The boar thundered past him—
Close enough that the wind of its movement dragged at his clothes.
Its tusks carved through empty air.
Where his body had been.
The road cracked beneath its momentum as it skidded.
Then turned.
Violently.
Alice stared.
"You almost died!"
Ryan pointed.
"Alice."
She blinked.
"What?!"
"Your turn."
She froze.
Looked at the boar.
Then at Ryan.
Then back at the boar.
"I hate you."
Ryan grinned.
The boar roared.
It turned.
Locked onto her.
And charged.
This time—
Not at Ryan.
At Alice.
She wasn't ready.
And this time—
Ryan wasn't stepping in.