The Tree Sea's silence exploded into chaos the moment that roar rang out. Birds and beasts scattered in panic—humans and monsters alike, including Duncan and Bell, all sprinted like their lives depended on it. When the lord of a territory was enraged, nobody wanted to be the one left holding the bill.
As they fled, Duncan could clearly see the forest behind them convulsing. In a woodland packed with towering trees, a creature that massive simply couldn't charge at full speed without smashing through everything in its way. When the turbulence started to fall behind, Duncan finally let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
In terms of speed, both of them were standouts among adventurers of their level. And thanks to their earlier scouting, they didn't need to waste time reorienting—they could run straight toward the ruins.
Perhaps realizing it couldn't catch those irritating intruders, the monster behind them bellowed again—huge, resentful, and furious.
Before Duncan could even finish processing that—
A second roar, almost identical, erupted ahead of them.
"Damn it—don't tell me there's more than one?!" Duncan's face drained.
He'd badly underestimated monster cunning. He'd assumed they wouldn't dare set an ambush near the ruins out of fear.
Instead, there were multiple beasts—one in front, one behind—closing in for a pincer.
"Why?!" Bell blurted, his expression twisting. "When we went to check the ruins before, we didn't run into anything!"
"They probably wanted to net us cleanly," Duncan snapped, mind racing. "They noticed us a long time ago. One blocks the front, one blocks the rear so we can't escape. Tch… careless."
The noise from both ends grew closer.
Bell's panic finally broke through. No matter how mature he was for his age, he was still seven—dropped into a sudden dead end, his hands moved before his brain could.
"Then what do we do?!"
Duncan grit his teeth and made the call.
"Same plan—head for the ruins. That place has to be abnormal. We go there first. But don't run straight at the one ahead—cut at an angle."
He glanced back at Bell, voice hard and fast.
"And Bell—stay behind me. If we make contact, don't stop. Keep running forward. I'll hold it off and look for a chance to break away."
"I got it!" Bell nodded, then slapped both cheeks hard. The sting left them red, but it also shook some of the panic loose.
They had only seconds—yet the pounding and crashing drew nearer.
Once they committed, both of them burst into a full sprint on a diagonal line. The earlier commotion helped: the local monsters were so desperate to flee the territory lord's rage that Duncan and Bell didn't need to worry about random attacks while running.
At full speed, they widened the gap behind them.
But the front grew closer.
After only a few seconds of changing direction, the beasts on both ends adjusted their pursuit routes as well. Tracking by scent alone couldn't re-acquire them that quickly.
There had to be another method—something unknown.
Duncan tightened his grip on the spear, forcing his body into peak readiness.
And then—
A gigantic silhouette burst into view ahead.
It was a bear the size of an African elephant, with a protruding horn on its forehead. It charged on all fours like a heavily armored tank, smashing trees out of the way as if they were clutter. The dense forest was literally being converted into a broad "road" by sheer brute mass.
Like an enemy spotting its hated prey, the bear let out a furious roar and lunged.
Its speed made Duncan's blood run cold.
This thing hadn't even been sprinting at full power before.
"Up into the trees!" Duncan shouted.
In an instant, he judged that they couldn't outrun it on the ground. He leapt upward, aiming to exploit their smaller bodies by traveling along the canopy.
The bear's horn flashed green.
Wind blades—glowing with sickly green light—tore through the air with terrifying speed, chasing the midair Duncan and Bell.
At the critical moment, Duncan grabbed Bell, stomped hard—
—and shot into the treetops, barely clearing the wind blades.
Sky-Step—Duncan's unique skill, turning air into a foothold.
The bear froze for a heartbeat, stunned that a wingless creature had changed trajectory in midair and avoided what should've been a killing strike.
Then it erupted in rage and surged after them, furious enough to grind them into paste.
"Keep going—don't look back!" Duncan shouted, lowering Bell onto a branch. "I'm using magic!"
If you can't create distance while being chased, you're in lethal territory—especially now that they knew the bear could throw wind blades.
"Okay!" Bell didn't argue. His trust in Duncan was absolute. Duncan said it—Duncan did it. That had been the rule for this entire expedition.
The bear was on them in a blink.
It saw Duncan standing his ground and hesitated—
then delighted in the opportunity and pounced.
"Flash!"
Duncan shut his eyes and roared the word.
A burst of light detonated so violently it made daylight itself look dim. The world became a basin of brilliance. The bear was caught dead-on—its eyes seared by the sudden radiance.
Its howl of agony shook the forest.
Blind and thrashing, its enormous body smashed trees apart. Its paws raked once—thick trunks snapped like noodles.
The pain of sudden blindness stripped away its ability to pinpoint Duncan and Bell. It could only vent, firing wind blades wildly into the place they'd been moments before.
But Duncan had already bolted—like he'd greased his feet and slipped away.
At last, the "borrowed" magic—something he'd acquired as part of his skillset—was doing something other than merely inflating his magic stat.
He had dumped all of a Level 2 adventurer's magic into that one flash.
Perhaps no one in recorded history had ever used their mana like this.
Because his spell was the kind that technically worked… but usually felt useless.
The rapid mana drain turned Duncan's face pale; his steps went unsteady, and he couldn't maintain maximum speed. But the overcharged flash had bought them time—the bear's eyes were effectively "blinded" for the moment. Duncan didn't need to sprint flat-out. He used the breathing room to swing back onto the direct route toward the ruins.
Five minutes later—
Bell dropped down from the canopy in front of him, face full of worry.
"Duncan! Are you okay?!"
"Bell?!" Duncan's eyes widened, equal parts shock and anger. "Didn't I tell you to go ahead?!"
A few minutes' distance meant nothing to either side—closing speed in this world was terrifying. Waiting this close to the battlefield was suicidal. Duncan had taken the risk specifically to let Bell escape first; at Level 2, he could catch up easily.
And Bell had stopped to wait.
"I was worried about you," Bell said, staring at Duncan's face. "Your—"
"It's nothing," Duncan cut him off, forcing his voice steady. "Same as always—just burned too much magic."
He pointed forward, not allowing any debate.
"Move. While they haven't caught up. You take point again. I'll cover the rear. Go."
....
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