The ground shook.
A massive shadow lumbered into view, parting the trees like grass. The surrounding orcs hissed and snarled but fell back at its approach.
The leader had arrived.
It was enormous—easily twice the size of the others, its gray-green muscles roped with scars, and its armor was crudely forged from blackened plates covered in crude sigils. Two jagged axes hung from its belt, each larger than Leo's torso. Its eyes burned not with mindless rage, but with cruel intelligence.
And it was staring directly at them.
"They're targeting us," Aric said, voice tight. "We've drawn too much attention."
"Good," Mira growled, cracking her knuckles. "Let them come."
The leader howled—a deep, bone-shaking roar—and thundered forward. Trees splintered beneath its charge.
Mira was the first to engage, darting forward with terrifying speed. Her fists slammed into its chest, but it barely flinched. She ducked a retaliatory swing that carved a deep trench in the earth.
Aric moved behind her, summoning twin ribbons of water that wrapped around the orc's arms, slowing its movements just enough for Mira to strike again—this time to its knee, trying to destabilize it.
It grunted, dropped to one leg, but then surged upward with a feral roar, shrugging off the water bindings and swinging both axes in a wide, brutal arc.
Leo watched, sweat stinging his eyes, breath shallow. They're strong. They're perfect together. But even they're struggling...
The orc leader was adapting fast.
Leo tightened his grip. His body still buzzed faintly from the earlier strike—the rhythm, the path. He focused again, heart slowing. Space shifted. The hum returned.
He saw it.
An opening—narrow, perfect—just as the orc lifted both axes high, exposing its ribs.
This is it.
He dashed forward, the world contracting again.
The spear thrust.
But something was wrong.
The air was thicker this time, the space slower to obey. The orc twisted—faster than expected—and caught Leo mid-strike with a brutal backhand. The spear glanced off hide and armor with a metallic clang, but the orc's fist connected squarely with Leo's side.
A sound like cracking bone split the air.
Leo flew back, crashing through a sapling and hitting the ground hard. Pain flared through his chest, white-hot and searing. He coughed—red spattering his lips.
"Leo!" Aric shouted, sending a wide arc of water to intercept the orc's follow-up.
But it didn't reach in time.
Mira, already moving, surged under the orc's next swing. With a primal shout, she leapt upward, both fists glowing faintly with condensed qi. She struck with everything she had—fists crashing into the side of the orc's neck like twin hammers.
A sickening crack.
The massive creature staggered, then collapsed to its knees. Mira didn't let it fall. She planted one foot on its thigh, launched herself upward, and drove a final punch down into its skull.
The beast toppled like a falling tree.
Silence fell over the forest.
The other orcs scattered like smoke in the wind, their morale shattered.
Mira stood over the corpse, breathing hard, blood spattered across her arms. Then she turned.
Leo knelt on one knee, coughing again, his spear planted in the ground for support.
She walked over, eyes unreadable.
"…Thanks for the distraction," she said finally. "But next time—watch yourself. You're not invincible."
Leo gave a weak grin. "Noted."
Aric approached and crouched beside him, placing a palm on his shoulder. A cool wave of water-qi pulsed through Leo, easing the worst of the pain. Not healing—but enough to steady him.
The three stood in silence, the tension slowly easing.
But then—nothing happened.
No light. No voice. No shift back to the square.
The forest remained still.
Too still.
"…Why aren't we being transported?" Leo asked, glancing at the others.
Aric's calm expression tightened.
Mira looked around slowly, eyes narrowing. "The trial isn't over."
Somewhere deeper in the forest, something growled—low, guttural, and inhuman.
The silence had teeth.