The gravel crunched sharply beneath Aster's boots as the squad marched further away from the safety of the castle walls. The air out past the Lower Valley was different—thicker, heavier, and smelling faintly of crushed pine and damp earth.
"Hey, kid, you're breathing too loud," Elio muttered from his side, not even turning his head. His eyes remained locked on the dense treeline. "Calm your lungs. In this world, some monsters hunt by listening to a racing heartbeat."
Aster swallowed hard, trying to slow his breathing. He glanced down at the standard-issue shortsword strapped to his hip. It felt awkward, heavy, and completely alien against his thigh, like a piece of metal that belonged to someone else entirely. He still couldn't understand how he had ended up here—in a world where people cast spells, terrifying beasts roamed the wilds, and five absolute, god-like Lords ruled over everything from distant thrones. He was just a guy from a completely different reality, completely out of his depth.
"Don't scare the rookie, Elio!" Finn called back from a few paces ahead, his massive iron shield slung casually over his back. He turned around, walking backward on the dirt path with a lazy grin. "Don't worry, Aster. If anything jumps out of those bushes, you just dive right behind me. My shield can take a hit from a raging forest tusk and barely get a scratch."
"And if you get in Finn's way, I'll just blast whatever it is with a fireball," Junie chimed in, floating a tiny, flickering spark of blue magic between her fingertips before letting it pop into nothingness. "Though, let's hope it doesn't come to that. My robes are fresh from the wash."
"Focus, everyone," Kael's deep, grounding voice cut through the banter from the front of the line. The squad captain didn't turn around, but his posture was alert, his hand resting lightly near his weapon hilt. "We're entering the outer boundary. The local scouts reported unusual mana fluctuations in this sector yesterday. Keep your eyes open, keep your formations tight, and remember your training."
Aster gripped the strap of his leather chest piece, looking at the backs of his squadmates. Despite his lingering fear, a strange warmth bloomed in his chest. He was completely lost in an unknown world, but as he stepped into the shadows of the looming forest, he knew he wasn't walking into the dark alone.
The winding dirt path finally gave way to a wide, eerie clearing where the forest seemed to open up, only to fracture into three distinctly different trails. To the left, a path dipped down into a foggy, shadowed ravine; the middle path was choked with dense, twisted roots; and the right path climbed sharply into a rocky, uneven ridge.
Kael raised a hand, signaling the squad to a halt. He walked up to the intersection, looking down each path with a focused, analytical eye. The wind hissed quietly through the trees.
"The mana distortion is splitting," Kael said, his deep voice serious. "If we stay together, we'll lose the trail completely. Let's separate team out. Two people go one way."
Aster's heart skipped a beat. He subconsciously moved closer to the group, his hand tightening nervously around the strap of his foreign gear. Separating in an unknown world full of monsters felt incredibly high-risk.
Kael turned back to face them, his expression calm but authoritative as he quickly calculated the best pairings to keep everyone safe.
"Finn, go with Aster," Kael commanded, pointing toward the rocky ridge path on the right. "Keep your shield up and keep him secure."
"You got it, Captain!" Finn grinned, slapping a heavy hand against his massive iron shield, sending a reassuring wink toward a very relieved Aster. "The rookie is safe with me."
"Elio, go with Eva," Kael continued, nodding toward the dark, foggy ravine on the left. "Watch the high ground, and don't let anything sneak up on her."
Elio gave a curt, silent nod, already checking the tension on his bowstring, while Eva offered a sweet, calm smile that belied the dangerous daggers hidden beneath her cloak.
"And Junie, follow me," Kael finished, turning his attention to the root-choked middle path.
"Right behind you, boss," Junie said, her energetic demeanor shifting into a focused, battle-ready stance as a faint blue aura flickered around her fingertips.
Kael looked at each pair one last time. "If you encounter anything higher than a Tier-2 threat, do not engage. Retract, signal with a flare, and wait for backup. Move out."
The rocky ridge path climbed steeply, forcing Aster to carefully watch his footing on the loose gravel. Massive boulders flanked the trail, casting long, sharp shadows in the morning light. Every rustle of the wind through the high mountain grass made Aster's hand twitch toward his awkward, unfamiliar shortsword.
Sensing the tense silence behind him, Finn slowed his brisk pace. He turned his head back to Aster, a bright, completely unbothered smile breaking across his face.
"Don't worry, I will protect you," Finn said, his boisterous voice instantly cutting through the eerie quiet of the ridge. He gave his massive iron shield a confident pat. "Nothing gets past this shield. Seriously, Aster, relax those shoulders! You look like you're waiting for the sky to fall."
Aster managed a small, grateful smile, though his heart was still thumping against his ribs. "Thanks, Finn. It's just... back where I come from, the biggest danger on a walk was getting hit by a car. I've never had to worry about monsters hiding behind rocks."
"A car? Is that some kind of rare beast?" Finn laughed, turning back around to lead the way, though he kept his shield slightly angled to cover Aster's front. "Well, whatever a car is, it sounds like it doesn't have sharp teeth. Just stay close to my back. If anything jumps out, I'll take the hit, and you can just focus on keeping your eyes open. Deal?"
Finn froze mid-step, his boots locking onto the loose gravel.
"It's here..." Finn murmured, his voice dropping into a low, deadly serious register that Aster had never heard from him before.
The casual, boisterous big brother vanished. Finn smoothly drew the heavy steel sword from his hip, the sharp shring of metal echoing against the rocks. He didn't carry a physical shield—instead, he held his left hand out, palm facing the darkness. A bright, translucent barrier of golden magic instantly hummed to life, forming a protective dome that enveloped both him and Aster.
Aster stopped dead in his tracks right behind him, his breath catching in his throat. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. The air around them suddenly felt suffocatingly heavy, vibrating with a foul, dark energy that pressed against Finn's glowing magic shield.
From the dense shadows of the boulders up ahead, a low, guttural growl echoed across the rocky ridge. Slowly, a pair of glowing, corrupted crimson eyes materialized in the darkness, locked entirely onto them.
A sudden, violent gust of wind whipped across the ridge, howling as it slammed against Finn's golden magic barrier. The force of the gale kicked up a blinding cloud of dust and loose gravel, forcing Aster to shield his eyes with his arm.
Through the swirling dirt, a figure slowly emerged from the shadows of the boulders.
The creature was horrifyingly skinny, its limbs unnaturally long and emaciated, with pale, leathery skin stretched tight over a visible ribcage. But its most terrifying feature was its face—or lack of one. Its head seemed to split open, revealing a massive, cavernous mouth that stretched from ear to ear, packed with rows of jagged, yellowed, sharp teeth dripping with a dark, foul saliva.
The beast stopped just a few paces outside the golden dome, tilting its head at an unnatural, sickening angle. It stared at them, and then, its jaw unhinged further.
"Huuu-man..."
The word didn't sound natural. It came out in a creepy, layered nightmare voice—like multiple distorted whispers scraping together at the same time, echoing directly inside Aster's mind rather than just the air.
Aster stumbled back a half-step, his hand shaking violently as he gripped the hilt of his awkward shortsword. He had never seen anything like this in his life. A monster that could speak.
The creature's nightmare voice still echoed creepily in the air, but Finn didn't flinch. In fact, the tense line of his shoulders relaxed, and a confident, cocky smile broke across his face. He lowered his heavy steel sword just an inch, looking at the horrifying, skinny beast as if it were nothing more than an annoyance.
"A normal monster," Finn said, his voice entirely unbothered, even letting out a small, amused chuckle.
Aster stared at him in utter disbelief. Normal?! The thing had a mouth full of jagged teeth and was literally speaking into their minds!
"Normal?!" Aster squeaked out, his voice cracking slightly as he kept his eyes glued to the drooling creature outside the barrier.
"Yeah, just a standard corrupted low-tier mimic-beast," Finn explained casually, not taking his eyes off the target but keeping his tone perfectly relaxed to calm Aster down. "They mimic human words to try and freeze you with fear. Creepy? Sure. But beneath all that ugly skin, their defense is total garbage."
Finn tightened his grip on his hilt, his golden magic shield flaring with a warm, steady light.
"Watch closely, Aster," Finn grinned, his stance shifting into an offensive print. "I'll show you how Squad 4 handles these pests."