The moment the three boys saw the beast in front of them, instinct took over.
Split apart.
Without even speaking, all three moved in different directions, sprinting through the forest to create distance. If the monster had to choose one target, at least the others might survive.
For a brief moment the creature hovered, its massive wings beating against the air as it watched them scatter, deciding who would die first.
Then it chose.
The Aurex shot forward like a living missile, tearing through the air straight toward Luka.
"Luka!" Riven shouted.
Riven immediately turned and sprinted back toward him, trying to draw the beast's attention, but it was already too late. The creature was simply too fast.
In a blink it was right in front of Luka.
A massive claw flashed toward his neck.
But just before the strike landed, Luka suddenly felt a heavy weight press down on his body. His muscles reacted instantly and he dropped low, barely managing to dodge the killing blow.
The Aurex shot past him, crashing through several trees before it could slow down.
Breathing hard, Luka glanced over his shoulder.
That was when he saw it.
A faint golden aura wrapped around Joey.
Realization hit him instantly.
That pressure that forced him down… that sudden burst of weight…
Joey had saved his life.
"Damn," Leo muttered as he rushed over to Luka's side. "I don't know if this thing hates you or if it thinks you're the easiest kill because you're carrying someone, but it's definitely going after you."
Leo turned and shouted toward the distance.
"Riven!"
Riven sprinted back toward them, stopping a few yards away.
"I have a plan," Leo said quickly. "Think we can distract that thing?"
"No," Riven replied immediately.
Leo snorted.
"Yeah… me neither."
He scratched the back of his head before continuing.
"But I'm betting on something here. It seems like it has something against Luka. So if Luka runs, maybe the beast will be so focused on chasing him that it won't even bother attacking us. Or it might get confused and hesitate between chasing him or fighting us."
Luka frowned.
"You're betting a lot on this plan… especially with your friend Harkel already gone."
Leo's voice grew more serious.
"Look, if we don't try something, we all die. In a head-on fight we can't beat this thing. But if we buy time for Harkel's plan to work, we might survive long enough to see tomorrow."
He looked directly at Riven.
"It depends on you. I can't distract it alone. I'd be dead in a second. But if both of us keep its attention, we might buy some time."
Riven's fists slowly clenched.
Fear was obvious on his face, but he still nodded.
"I'm in."
He turned to Luka.
"Take Joey and run. As fast as you can."
Luka hesitated.
"I'm not—"
He stopped mid-sentence and looked down at Joey.
The boy could barely move right now.
If Luka stayed… Joey would definitely die.
"…Fine," Luka said through gritted teeth.
Then he ran.
Once Luka disappeared deeper into the forest, Riven turned back to Leo.
"So… do you actually have a plan for distracting it?"
Leo cracked his knuckles.
"Yeah."
The Aurex had already regained its footing and turned toward the direction Luka ran.
"Just one simple plan."
"And that is?"
Riven suddenly noticed something strange.
Dark fur began spreading across Leo's forearms. His teeth sharpened into fangs, and his nails lengthened into claws.
Leo swung his arm.
At first Riven thought he had simply missed.
Then the Aurex suddenly jerked backward.
Leo's claws had already raked across the beast's eye.
Blood sprayed out as the creature roared in pain, its pursuit of Luka instantly halted.
Leo didn't even look away from the monster.
"My plan," he said calmly, "is attacking before you think it's the right moment."
Riven blinked in confusion.
Leo continued.
"This thing has intelligence. Not human intelligence, but adaptive intelligence. It reacts quickly. If we wait until the perfect moment, it'll already be too late because of how fast it is."
He glanced at Riven.
"So in simple terms… attack two—no—three seconds before you think you should."
The Aurex shook its head violently, one claw gently touching its bleeding eye as it stared at the two boys with pure hatred through its remaining good eye.
Leo felt his chest tighten.
There was something he hadn't told Riven.
A third possibility.
The beast might stop chasing Luka entirely and focus all of its hatred on them.
The creature's wings slowly spread.
Leo's heart skipped a beat.
But then he realized something strange.
The Aurex wasn't preparing to attack them.
It was preparing to fly away.
That realization hit him instantly.
"This thing really did have something against Luka," Leo muttered.
Riven suddenly hurled a rock straight toward the beast's injured eye.
The Aurex reacted instantly, raising one wing to block the attack.
The rock shattered against the feathers.
It was clear now.
Its eyes were its weakness.
But it was still fast enough to protect them.
The beast looked at Riven… but didn't retaliate.
Instead it crouched, ready to take off.
Leo moved.
He lunged forward and jumped onto the creature's leg, digging his claws into its hide.
The Aurex roared and thrashed violently, trying to shake him off.
Leo's claws scraped against its skin, but they barely pierced through.
The creature's body was far tougher than he expected.
"I get it now!" Leo shouted.
"This thing isn't chasing Luka anymore! If it wanted him, it would've ignored us and just gone after him!"
The beast flapped its wings violently.
"It's scared!"
Leo clung tighter.
"That's why it's trying to fly away! Something here is terrifying this thing!"
He didn't know what that something was.
But he desperately hoped it would arrive soon.
The Aurex suddenly twisted its body and slammed Leo into a tree.
Leo barely managed to grab a branch before he hit the ground.
He pushed off the branch and jumped back toward the beast—
But it was already airborne.
The creature climbed into the sky.
Then something strange happened.
Its speed slowed.
Its wings faltered.
The Aurex began losing altitude.
It dropped lower and lower until it crashed somewhere deeper in the forest.
Riven immediately prepared to chase it.
But Leo grabbed his arm.
Then he started running the opposite direction.
"What are you doing?!" Riven shouted. "It's weakened!"
Leo didn't slow down.
"Ever heard the saying curiosity killed the cat?"
He glanced toward where the Aurex had fallen.
"It could be pretending to be weak. Waiting for one of us to get close before killing us."
"We regroup with your friends, then find Harkel—"
Leo suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
His entire body froze.
It felt like his heart had just fallen into a bottomless pit.
Riven felt it too.
A pressure so overwhelming it made his legs tremble.
"What… is that?" Riven asked, his voice shaking.
Leo swallowed hard.
"It's… mana."
His eyes widened.
"A huge amount of mana. That should be impossible—"
Before he could finish, a massive beam of white aura erupted from the direction where the Aurex had crashed.
It shot into the sky like a pillar of light, obliterating trees and tearing apart the surrounding terrain.
At the same time, every camera in the testing zone suddenly flickered.
The devices were powered by mana.
And the surge completely disrupted them.
Back in the control room—
"What's going on?" a man shouted while typing frantically on a computer.
"A huge surge of mana is interfering with our devices, sir!" another scientist replied.
"Then fix it!" the man snapped. "I want those cameras back online now!"
None of the people in the room liked what they were seeing. Even Darius's face had changed from its usual calm expression to one of concern.
"Shoot… if these cameras don't come back on, Darius is going to kill us," the man thought as he typed faster, trying to bring the cameras back online.
"What is that… Four?" Darius muttered while staring at the black screens. "I know all one hundred beasts that the Shadow Mark ability can produce. That one right there was just Number Four — Maximum."
His eyes narrowed as he thought deeper.
"So right now he has Number One: Dark Worm… Number Fourteen: Blob… Number Thirty-Nine: Iron Shade… and Number Four: Maximum."
Darius slowly bit his thumbnail.
"What else is he hiding? This is bad. If a member of the Voss family can awaken four already… I know exactly what he could become once he reaches adulthood."
The room stayed silent.
⸻
Back in the forest, both Riven and Leo were breathing heavily. Leo had just tackled Riven to the ground so the boy wouldn't get caught in the white beam of light that had erupted moments earlier.
Riven slowly pushed himself up.
"What was that?" he asked.
"It was mana," Leo said as he stood up. "Pure mana."
He looked toward the direction where the beam had appeared.
"Something on that scale is impossible for a regular person to do. Either the attack would take too long to charge and the person would already be dead before finishing it, or the attack itself would be too weak no matter how long they charged it."
He paused, frowning slightly.
"Unless someone has a shadow beast that specifically maximizes their mana output… and multiplies it."
A voice suddenly came from the bushes.
"Exactly."
Both boys turned instantly.
Harkel stumbled out from the bushes, looking completely exhausted. His legs gave out almost immediately and he dropped to his knees.
Leo rushed over to him, catching him before he fell completely. As he did, Leo forced his wolf features to disappear, returning to his normal form.
"That attack was Shadow Beast Number Four — Maximum," Harkel said weakly.
"It doesn't just release a person's mana in one attack… it maximizes it and multiplies it, forcing all of it into a single strike."
He struggled to breathe.
"The downside is it can't be used again until four weeks pass… and it leaves the user incredibly weak afterward."
"Hey, don't talk," Leo warned. "You need to save your energy."
At that moment the bushes rustled again and Luka stepped out, still carrying Joey.
"You guys are okay?" Luka asked quickly. "What was that?"
"We'll explain later," Leo replied. "Right now we just need to get out of here—"
He stopped suddenly.
All three of them realized something at the same time.
"…Where's Riven?"
They looked around.
Riven was gone.
⸻
Riven had already gone back to where the Aurex had fallen.
As he approached the massive beast, he noticed something immediately.
The quest notification was still there.
Not completed.
He frowned slightly.
That left only two possibilities.
Either the quest would remain until he personally finished it… or the Aurex wasn't dead yet.
As he stepped closer, he saw the creature's chest moving slowly.
It was still breathing.
Barely.
The beast was dying.
Lightning slowly began forming in Riven's hand as he prepared to take advantage of the opportunity.