Chương 378: Chapter 368 - Here We Go Again

Alonso suddenly appeared in a completely new region. The white room vanished and the world shifted around him in an instant. The first thing he registered was gravity. A heavy pull dragged at his limbs and spine, far stronger than the previous stage, somewhere close to four times Earth's gravity. His muscles adjusted automatically, tightening and anchoring his posture, but it was not enough to concern him. His body adapted almost on instinct now. The second thing he felt was the air.

It was thick, humid, almost heavy to breathe. Each inhale carried moisture and the faint tang of rich soil. The temperature sat warm on his skin, not unpleasant, but dense enough that sweat would form quickly. He looked around. Towering vegetation rose on every side. Trees wider than small houses climbed straight up into a ceiling of leaves, an unbroken canopy so dense that only scattered patches of light broke through in muted green shafts. The ground was soft and uneven beneath his boots.

Damp soil swallowed a bit of his weight each time he shifted, and tangled webs of roots pushed up from below like knotted muscles. He crouched and touched the earth. Moist. Warm. Thick with organic decay. Some kind of forest. Sounds filtered in slowly. A distant rumble like shifting stone echoed somewhere far off. Insects hummed in a strange, oscillating pitch he had never heard before. Leaves rustled high above, not from any breeze, but from something moving along the canopy itself.

He inhaled again and let the forest settle into his senses. Everything felt more nuanced now. The world around him pulsed with quiet signatures. Small vibrations from insects on bark. The flutter of distant birds perched on thick branches. Even the faint, slow grind of worms shifting through the soil beneath the roots. He traced a swift arc with his sword. The motion was casual, effortless. A mantis-shaped insect, barely an inch tall, fell cleanly in two. As he expected, nothing changed in his Stage Progress.

No orb appeared. Weak creatures like these seemed to be simply part of the environment. Added depth. Nothing more. He scanned the forest again. No trace of the others reached him, though he had not pushed his waves outward. Better to remain quiet for now and scout the area without announcing himself. He steadied his breathing and called on a sustained Path of Shards variant, thinning and fracturing his presence enough to slip past any unfocused EM detection.

Once stable, he lifted his gaze toward the immense trunks around him. Then he moved. One step forward. Then another. His body angled and aligned as he began running straight up the nearest tree, using subtle waves to pull himself toward its centre of mass, enhancing grip where the bark grew slick. The ascent was smooth, fast, almost instinctive. In barely a fraction of a second, he reached the top. He crouched on a branch and let his balance settle.

A quick estimate placed him more than two hundred metres above the ground. He scanned the horizon, letting his enhanced senses stretch outward. His perception mapped several kilometres in every direction. The only real limitation wasn't his vision or his range… but the forest itself, its dense canopy and layered structure breaking line-of-sight.

He spotted several larger animals as he scanned the surroundings— rabbit-like creatures sprinting beneath the brush, thick-bodied snakes coiled around branches, owls perched with strangely elongated talons. The only real 'threat' nearby was a pack of wolves about 860m away. They were well hidden, twice the size of Earth wolves, closer to small tigers. But even then… they did not feel like a danger at all. More like just three-tailed Xok'al at best.

He exhaled slowly and shifted his focus toward what he truly wanted to find. The others. Three signatures caught his attention. One clearly belonged to a beastman, so that was likely one of Leonhard's men. The other two… no clue, so probably Leonie's men. He was in no mood to play group leader, so he simply marked their positions for later reference and moved on. With practiced ease he leaned back, adjusted Path of Shards again, thinning his presence as the field distorted light itself.

Then he took off, leaping from treetop to treetop, widening his scouting range while keeping his movement silent. He located several more people along the way until— He smiled. He immediately accelerated, keeping his movements soft, controlled, almost noiseless, before dropping down through alternating branches. A final blur carried him behind the person he had locked onto, and he tapped the man's shoulder with the flat of his blade.

Pablo jerked like he had been electrocuted, spun around with a pale face, then cursed under his breath.

"Fucker," he whispered. Alonso only grinned.

"What do you think of the place?" Pablo drew a slow breath, steadying himself as he studied the forest through the visuals of his summons.

"Gravity's annoying, but manageable. Area's huge. No real threats yet, though." Alonso nodded, his gaze drifting briefly to the hide bag at Pablo's waist, bulky with a couple dozen Warden orbs. More than enough to keep him active for now, especially with his two unique skills backing him.

"Have you seen anyone?" Pablo adjusted his cloak, eyes narrowing in concentration.

"I found two others. Told them to come toward me." Alonso exhaled, half a sigh, half acceptance.

"Alright, I'll leave that part to you. Here," he added, sending Pablo the coordinates of everyone he had located so far.

"I'll keep updating. You handle the gathering point." Pablo stared at him.

"I… what about you?"

"I'll keep scouting and try to figure out what this place is about," Alonso replied, already turning back toward the trees.

"Stay safe. See you soon." He vaulted upward, landed on a limb, and climbed back to the canopy in a swift, fluid motion. Pablo let out a breath he had not realised he was holding. At that moment he could not deny it — he was a little jealous of those who trained their bodies. Alonso continued through the forest, locating several more individuals — Wang among them, and that guy Stephen. He marked their positions and sent the data to Pablo before moving on. It was then that he felt a wave sweep past him.

Path of Shards scattered it too heavily for him to read the content, but the signature was familiar. He traced its origin and sent a pulse back." Have you found any of the others?" Chiara answered almost instantly." Yes. I am with Imani and some others not worth mentioning." Alonso chuckled. Chiara being Chiara." Got it. I'm sending you the coordinates of Pablo, Wang, and Stephen."

"Stephen…" Chiara exhaled sharply. In the last few days she had learned about his feelings toward her, and the whole thing had become… awkward." I… will group with them later, alright? Try to find Lukas and Ayu first. I'll stay around here with Imani." Alonso raised a brow but sent back a confirming signal. A couple of seconds later, after covering several more kilometres, he finally detected movement and active EM waves. The picture formed in his mind and made him frown. A large group. Heightened tension.

Ayu, Lukas, Leonhard… and several of Leonhard's men.

Alonso narrowed his eyes, then stepped in without hesitation, dropping from above and landing silently beside Ayu. Every head snapped toward him the instant he touched the ground." What happened?" he signalled privately." I killed Ian," Ayu replied. Alonso absorbed the information in one breath. Leonie had said she had not told Leonhard about Ian, wary that he might warn the man beforehand. It seemed Ayu had simply acted, and finished him off in front of witnesses.

He looked briefly at the orb on the ground that was probably Ian's before shifting his attention to Leonhard. The man, or rather beastman, had lion-like features, a towering two-metre frame dense with muscle, and an oversized sabre strapped across his back. Alonso's gaze slid toward Lukas, who nodded back. Then he spoke aloud, voice calm and clear.

"Chiara is waiting for you. I found most of the others. Only your sister is missing."

"I see," Lukas answered.

"Alright. Let's go." Alonso turned, and Ayu moved with him without hesitation. They barely took three steps before Leonhard's voice cut through the clearing. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

"Wait." Leonhard's voice was low and tense.

"You just killed one of my men. And a fellow Climber. Why?" Ayu paused only halfway, tilting her head just enough for him to catch her eyes.

"Because he deserved it." Leonhard's brows drew tight.

"I know Ian had grudges with Gen-1, but that is not—" He never finished. The air thickened instantly, like a storm pressing down on the lungs. Gravity seemed to double. Even the trees felt quieter, as if the forest itself knew better than to breathe.

Leonhard straightened, instinctively pushing back with his own aura. His Predator's Dominion rolled outward. Pressure radiated through the clearing, muscles tightening, the ground creaking under the strain. For a heartbeat, he felt powerful. A moment later, everything inside him froze. His Dominion — the embodiment of his instincts, his strength, his pride — scattered like dust in a gust of wind. Not shattered. Not resisted. Dismissed.

His eyes widened as something deeper, more primal than his own instincts rose in response. A warning. Run. Right in front of him, Ayu's outline shifted. A translucent tiger rippled into existence around her, its presence silent yet absolute. The beast wasn't roaring. It didn't need to. It simply looked at him. And in that look was a promise. A predator acknowledging prey. Leonhard swallowed hard. His legs refused to move. Breathing burned like he was drowning under invisible weight.

He wanted to speak, to defend himself, to demand respect… But instinct smothered all of it. This wasn't an enemy he could fight. This wasn't even a fight. He was just… prey. Ayu turned her head away, and the pressure vanished as if it had never existed. She leapt off into the canopy, Alonso and Lukas following without a single backward glance. A heartbeat later, Lukas sent him a crisp, cold transmission." Do not dig further into this. That man died because the grudge was unresolvable.

For your sake, and your men's, let the matter go." Leonhard stood there long after they had vanished, chest rising in uneven breaths. His men stared at him with confusion and unease. He had no answers for them. What was that? A unique skill? Her mutation? It felt like the beastman path… yet nothing he had ever seen or heard came close. Leonie's earlier warning echoed in his mind. Gen-1… is stronger than us. Do not mess with them.

He exhaled slowly, grounding himself, and finally turned back to his group without a word. Whatever they were… they were not normal Climbers. And he understood then, with a quiet heaviness settling in his chest, that he would have to adapt to this new status quo.

As they leapt over the canopies, Alonso studied Ayu's expression. She wasn't weighed down anymore. Ian was not a wound for her now, just a decision — someone she would never forgive or work with, but no longer something she carried inside.

"Anything odd you have noticed about the new stage?" he asked, shifting the mood.

"Wolves don't give orbs," Ayu replied. Not even wolves? Alonso frowned. Interesting. He had expected them to function like the weaker dinosaurs from the last stage, maybe as a baseline challenge, but they might truly be nothing more than local fauna. Perhaps just a source of food. He glanced back at Lukas, who was using the Dark Stars Chiara had given him, magnetising them to pull himself forward. It worked well enough, but his speed was still far below theirs, forcing Ayu and him to hold back for him.

"What about you joining Chiara and the others," Alonso suggested, "and Ayu and I scout ahead, maybe find Leonie and figure out what this forest or this stage is supposed to be?" Lukas nodded with a grin.

"Fair enough. Don't want to slow you two down." They reached Chiara's position soon after and split there, with Lukas joining the group while Alonso and Ayu headed east, or what felt like east, following the world's magnetic pull that defined the direction. They had barely covered a few kilometres when Alonso picked up disruptions in the EM field far ahead. Ayu sent him a quick transmission at almost the same time." I heard something." A simple nod passed between them, enough to settle intent.

They accelerated together, slipping from treetop to treetop as the terrain shifted into a steeper rise, patches of exposed rock breaking through the dense forest floor. And then they saw it. A fight. Movement. Multiple unknown signatures. And between them… Leonie. Alonso veered left while Ayu swung right, both adjusting instantly to terrain and angle.

He let Path of Shards bloom into its full combat state and closed the distance swiftly. An arrow streaked toward him from ahead. He shifted his torso a fraction and let it whistle past. His boots locked against the uneven ground, and he dashed straight into the line of cloaked men. Alonso tapped a quick pulse toward Leonie mid-motion." Having fun already?" Her returning signal came quickly." Might as well." He smiled. A cloaked man lunged from the left.

He slid under the swing, blade carving clean through tendons before the man hit the ground. Another came from behind. A quick pivot, a rising slash, and the attacker split open across the chest, collapsing with a wet gasp. To his right, Ayu tore through the brush like a lightning bolt, her knees and elbows striking with brutal precision. She shattered one man's jaw with a rising knee, flipped over another's blade, and crushed his throat with her heel on landing.

Ahead, Leonie stood at the centre of three opponents, her blade tracing arcs of lightning as she dismantled them with ruthless efficiency. One head dropped. Another arm flew. The third man tried to run but a shard burst from Leonie's forearm and pierced the back of his skull. More attackers burst from the rocks. Alonso surged forward, carving through two with a single sweeping motion. Ayu intercepted a third mid-leap and slammed him into the ground hard enough to crack stone.

Leonie flipped over a fourth, landed behind him, and cut him in half in one clean stroke. In less than a second, silence reclaimed the slope. The three of them stood amid the aftermath with over a dozen bodies scattered around, some slumped over roots, others dropped across stone. Weapons clattered uselessly to the dirt. Ayu exhaled, wiping the blood from her cheek. Leonie planted her sword into the ground and flicked gore off the blade with one sharp motion.

Alonso rolled his shoulders, checked the surroundings once more, and then his attention settled on the only one left alive. A young man crouched behind a tree, trembling slightly. He tried to make himself small, but the shallow breath and frantic heartbeat gave him away instantly.

"Hey, lad… we have some questions for you," Alonso said calmly. The man froze. A few seconds passed before he slowly stepped out, hands raised above his head.

"I… I give up, please don't kill me." Alonso's brows drew together. He'd only thrown out the words in his direction to bring him out, but the fact the man actually spoke English? That was… unexpected. He kept his focus on the man as the prompt surfaced. Given Name: Jaro Bartson Stage 1 – 14. 532% He had inspected the rest during the battle, and their Stage Progress hovered between 15% and 17%, making the one before him arguably the weakest of the bunch. Not that it made much difference to them.

They were about as strong as a four-tail Xok'al used to be, which, to be honest, came as a surprise. He had half expected everything in this new stage to be at least a bit of a challenge… but it seemed he was wrong. Perhaps this time, they weren't the ones at the bottom of the barrel. The young man himself was… pretty much a human like any other, with Caucasian features and looking roughly 22 or 24.

He wore rough leather gear: a scuffed jerkin reinforced with metal studs, patched trousers tucked into worn boots, and mismatched bracers tied with crude cord. A small knife hung at his hip beside a battered pouch. He looked like something straight out of a medieval bandit troupe, enough for Alonso to start piecing together the stage's theme.

"We just want answers," he replied. Leonie gave him a sideways look." Can you leave the interrogation to me?" Alonso shrugged." Be my guest." Leonie stepped forward without haste. She crouched in front of the man, her expression unreadable, her eyes tracking every twitch of his face.

"What is your name, and who are you?" she asked. The man swallowed hard.

"Jaro, miss. Jaro Bartson. I'm… part of the Red Fang band." Leonie nodded once.

"Why did you attack me?" His breath stuttered. He avoided her eyes.

"Saw yer armour… and the blade. Thought we might scrape a few coins off it." Leonie's expression did not change.

"So simple robbery," she said.

"No deeper motive." Jaro shook his head, desperate to look cooperative.

"Aye. Nothin' more to it. We reckoned ye were travelin' alone. Looked an easy mark. Didn't know ye were… whatever ye are." Leonie tilted her head slightly.

"And what do you think we are?" The question seemed to confuse him. He glanced between the three of them carefully, as if trying to reconcile their appearance with anything he knew.

"I can't say," he admitted.

"Travellers, maybe. Wanderers. Or… knight apprentices? Hard to tell." Leonie exchanged a very brief glance with Alonso.

"I see," she said.

"So you have no idea who we are."

"No, miss. Not at all," he whispered. She nodded again, then let her gaze harden.

"Tell me about this place," she said.

"This forest. The land around it. Settlements, factions, dangers. Everything." Jaro swallowed again. His eyes darted nervously.

"This here's the outer stretch o' the Gura Forest," he said.

"We're sittin' near its eastern edge. Closest village'd be Riviera, under Baron Hogg's lands." Leonie's face didn't move, so he rushed on.

"As for dangers… wolves now and then, sure, but the real trouble's in Gura's Dungeon. Folk head in lookin' for fortune. Mercs, adventurers, the Baron's own knights. Some return. Plenty don't." He hesitated before adding, "Bandits too, like us. We're not the worst lot out here, but… we take what we can." Still no reaction. He rushed on.

"It depends who ye cross. If ye get on Hogg's bad side, then you're in big trouble. His knights… they roam all this land. But if not—" he looked them over, awe and fear mingled "—with the skill ye three have… ye'll be safe anywhere outside the dungeon." Alonso's eyes widened as the man spilled all of that out. Baron? Dungeon? Adventurers? Knights? What the…