The group barely had a moment to breathe when a deafening roar shattered the forest's stillness.
BOOM.
The ground trembled beneath their feet. Birds scattered. Trees groaned and cracked under immense weight.
From the shadows beyond the treeline, it emerged.
Massive. Towering. Deadly.
A creature almost twice the size of the Nightfangs they had just defeated stepped into view, its fur darker than the void, laced with glowing crimson veins that pulsed with unnatural energy. Its claws gleamed like forged steel, and its eyes burned brighter than the others—intelligent, wrathful, and locked on them.
> [Beast Identified: Nightfang Alpha – Rank D]
[New Quest Received Defeat The Alpha Nightfang +5000 Exp]
[Sub Quest: Survive +1000 Exp]
Dave's expression hardened. "We're not done yet."
Mike's voice cracked with disbelief. "That… that's an Alpha?!"
Stive's usual cold demeanor faltered. "D-Rank. That's no regular Nightfang."
Tobin tried to stand straighter despite his injured shoulder. "We already spent everything on those five…"
Emily took a deep breath, wind swirling faintly around her. "We fight or we die. Simple as that."
The Alpha snarled—and charged.
The Battle Begins
It moved like a black blur, faster than anything they'd fought. The ground shattered beneath its paws as it pounced straight for Emily.
Dave shoved her aside. "MOVE!"
The Alpha slammed into him mid-dodge, sending him flying across the clearing like a ragdoll. He smashed into a tree, groaning as the bark cracked under the force.
Stive yelled, "We need to scatter and flank it! Now!"
Mike summoned a vortex of water to slow the Alpha, blasting its side with a compressed surge. It barely flinched.
The beast turned with terrifying speed and slashed. The water wall shattered—and Mike screamed as claws raked across his chest. He flew backward, coughing blood.
Emily retaliated, launching slicing wind blades from above, slashing the Alpha's back. The creature roared, enraged, and leaped skyward—straight at her.
"EMILY!" Tobin shouted.
She tried to dash sideways with a gust of wind, but the Alpha's paw clipped her midair, sending her spiraling to the ground like a falling star. She landed hard, barely conscious.
Tobin ignited both fists with fire and screamed, "OVER HERE!" to draw its attention.
The Alpha turned—and lunged.
Tobin met it head-on, fists ablaze, unleashing punch after fiery punch. His strikes landed, burning patches of the beast's fur, but the Alpha endured—and retaliated. It slammed into Tobin, pinning him to the ground, jaws inches from his face.
"GET OFF HIM!" Stive shouted.
Stive hurled a volley of ice spears, one of them stabbing deep into the Alpha's back. It howled and turned toward him, giving Tobin just enough time to roll away, gasping and coughing blood.
Dave returned, limping, blood on his brow. He looked around—everyone was down, barely holding on.
He took a deep breath and yelled, "We bring it down together! Focus and don't stop moving!"
The Final Push
Mike, bleeding heavily, forced himself to rise and formed twin whips of water. He wrapped them around the beast's front legs, trying to slow its movement.
"NOW!"
Emily, staggering to her feet, launched a concentrated vacuum blade at its hind legs. The impact staggered the Alpha.
Tobin roared and unleashed a wave of fire across the beast's back.
Stive ran in a wide arc, preparing his final move.
"Dave!" he shouted. "I need a clean shot!"
Dave nodded, blades flashing in the dim light. He charged.
The Alpha lunged at him, jaws wide—but Dave ducked under, slashing both legs with brutal precision. The beast howled and stumbled.
Everyone moved at once.
Mike slammed his water whips into the beast's neck.
Emily launched a cutting cyclone to keep it off balance.
Tobin set the ground ablaze under it.
And Dave struck one final blow—sliding beneath the Alpha and jamming both twin blades into its belly.
The beast staggered, roaring in agony.
"Stive—now!"
Stive's Finisher
Stive stood tall, his breath calm, eyes locked on the limping beast.
Around him, a cold mist gathered.
From thin air, he conjured a massive spear of pure glacial ice—twice his height, glowing faintly blue with runic frost. The temperature plummeted.
"Cryo Execution: Glacier Spear."
He hurled it with all his strength.
The spear whistled through the air like a frozen missile.
THWUMP!
The icy weapon pierced the Alpha's chest clean through—freezing the wound instantly. A wave of frost spread from the impact point, encasing the beast's body in shimmering ice.
The Alpha took one final step…
And collapsed, dead.
> [Quest failed Defeat Alpha Nightfang]
[Quest complete Survive +1000 Exp]
[EXP: 1755/1600 Level up]
[Level 7]
[New Stats points 3]
[Exp 154/3200]
The team collapsed to the ground, exhausted and bruised. Blood soaked their clothes, breaths came in ragged gasps, and silence finally returned to the forest.
Emily leaned against a rock. "That… was insane."
Tobin lay on his back, staring at the sky. "We should be dead…"
Mike winced, clutching his chest. "We would be… if we didn't have each other."
Dave crouched beside the frozen corpse of the Alpha, panting. "You all did great. That wasn't just power… that was teamwork."
Stive wiped frost from his hands and looked away. "We barely survived."
Dave glanced at him. "But we did. That's what matters."
But he was sad he didn't get to last hit to finish the beast, he just lost a huge amount of Exp
"Let's head back to camp," Mike said, pressing a cloth against the deep cut in his shoulder. "We need rest. Badly."
No one argued.
With tired limbs and quiet footsteps, the team made their way back through the dense forest, the tension still lingering. Each snap of a twig made them flinch. After today's battle, they knew better than to let their guard down.
Their camp was a modest clearing, marked by a ring of stones, a few basic tents, and a central fire pit. It wasn't much, but right now, it felt like sanctuary.
As they reached the edge, Dave slowed. "Emily, help Mike clean that wound. Tobin, get the fire going. Stive—watch the perimeter."
"And you?" Stive asked, already scanning the tree line.
Dave looked up at the dimming sky. "I'll reinforce the traps."
They nodded and moved like clockwork, the silence between them now one of mutual understanding rather than awkward tension. Tonight, no one doubted each other.
Ten minutes later, the fire crackled in the center of camp, casting flickering shadows across their weary faces. Mike winced as Emily tightened a wrap on his shoulder.
"That thing was nothing like the Nightfangs," Mike muttered.
"It was on a different level," Emily agreed. "Faster. Smarter."
Tobin stirred the fire. "It knew how to cut us off—like it was studying our movements."
Stive sat against a log, eyes closed, one leg stretched out with a bandaged gash. "A D-ranked beast this early… we weren't supposed to face something that strong yet."
"We're two days in," Dave said, returning from the shadows. "Five more to go."
Emily groaned. "You just had to remind me."
"Hey, on the bright side," Tobin said with a half-smile, "if we survive the week, nothing back at the academy is going to scare us."
Dave didn't laugh. His expression was unreadable as he stared into the fire.
Mike noticed. "What is it?"
Dave hesitated. "That beast wasn't supposed to be here."
They all looked at him.
"D-ranked creatures don't usually roam this area. Something's pushing them out of their territory."
Emily frowned. "You think there's something worse… deeper in?"
Dave didn't answer. He didn't have to.
The silence around the fire grew heavier.
Finally, Stive opened one eye. "Then we train harder. Rest now. Tomorrow, we adapt."
Dave nodded slowly. "Tomorrow, we get stronger."
As the fire crackled and the forest whispered in the distance, the group laid
down one by one, weapons close, eyes heavy—but never fully closed.
Somewhere out there, the forest was shifting. And this was only day two.
Give this chapter a title according to It's content