Senen's eyes flashed open, wide and sharp, an instant before claws ripped the air where he stood. His hands came up, palms open. A short, dark rod appeared there.
Time buckled as reflexes snapped into motion. Senen moved like water, flowing aside as the strike hit empty air with a sharp whoosh. At the same moment, he thrust his hands apart – one high, one low. The rod leaped instantly to staff-length. Its tip struck the beast's jaw with a solid crack of bone.
The creature shot backward, a heavy weight flung through the leaves and crashed hard against a distant tree. Silence, then the soft rustle of disturbed foliage settling. Time snapped back to its brutal pace.
Around them, the forest's willows trees were unlike any other—tall and bone-pale, their drooping limbs hung like severed tendons, dripping with clear sap that hissed faintly when it touched the moss. Even the rocks looked wrong: smooth and porous, like things pulled from underwater caves, half-dissolved.
Tiren stared, his mouth slightly open in surprise. "Was wondering where your staff went."
The Master's gaze swept the other creatures. They held back now, shifting uncertainly on their clawed feet, watching the humans. Their black eyes were cold, assessing. A low clicking sound came from deep in their throats.
"Floor 40 monsters." The way the Master spoke made hesitation feel like a crime "They have hide like steel – aim for weak spots." His own eyes narrowed, scanning the wary beasts. "But watch yourselves," he added, his focus unshaken. "They're smart. Not just dumb insects."
The clicking cut off. Everyone froze, eyes wide, scanning the dripping leaves and shadowed trunks. Something rustled high above, lost in the gloom. Then white rained down – a heavy net of thick, sticky strands plummeting towards them. At the same instant, six more shimmering lines shot inwards from the insects below on all sides. Time warped again as the ambush triggered.
Senen leaped high. Still rising, his fingertips sliced a clean circle through the falling net overhead.
"Duck!" Sye's voice almost quiet.
The Master, Kin, and Tiren dropped low. Senen hung suspended for a breath at the peak of his jump.
Sye took one slow inhalation, her eyes fixed. She spun, a blur of motion. Six arrows left her bowstring almost as one, a fan of deadly shafts. They flew straight and hard, ripping through the incoming webs. Each arrow punched through the sticky strands and struck the beast behind it.
Six creatures crumpled to the forest floor.
Above them, the severed centre of the great web floated down, settling gently around the ducking figures.
The Master cracked his neck; his mouth set in a grim line. He shot forward, bare fists ready. Kin and Tiren moved up swiftly on his flanks, spreading out as they met the first insects. Further from the initial clash, Senen brought his staff down in a vicious arc, its heavy end crushing a creature.
"These insects..." the Master grunted, his fist caving in a hard skull. He sidestepped a clumsy slash of claws."...They're not like the ones on the 40th floor." He drove a punch into another. "They feel... so much weaker."
"It's like they have never fought before." Senen called out, his voice tight with effort as he smashed another attacker.
"Not just that—their shells are softer," the Master said, eyes tracking the next target. His knuckles shattering a carapace. He then took a quick look at the swift, brutal work around him.
Moments later, they stood amidst the carnage. Broken insect limbs lay twisted among the ferns and roots. Dark, shattered pieces of shell littered the forest floor, against the vibrant green moss and damp earth. Sticky, emerald blood darkened the soil and stained the undersides of broad leaves. The air grew thick with a faint, sharp smell.
Tiren prodded a severed, twitching leg with the toe of his boot. "Well, that was underwhelming," he said, a clear note of disappointment in his voice.
Kin flashed an almost boyish grin, throwing his hands up wide. "Yeah! I was expecting something tougher than that two-headed dragon. Maybe a three-headed one this time!" He mimed its enormous, snapping jaws.
Sye's cheeks flushed a light pink. She pressed her hand to her mouth, a small smile crinkling the corners of her eyes as she stifled a laugh.
The Master's hard gaze fixed on Kin. "This is no time for jokes." He turned, his attention already piercing the dense, shadowed trees ahead. "Something's wrong with this place... let's get through here quickly."
They pushed deeper into the forest. An eerie quite pressed in around them, broken only by the faint, almost constant hiss of clear sap weeping from the bone-pale willows. The strange, porous rocks continued to line their path.
Kin hopped onto a flat, grey rock, then took a careful step over a narrow stream that cut through the moss. Its water swirled with shifting colours – reds, blues, and greens – like liquid rainbows caught moving in the current, glowing softly in the dim light filtering through the dense canopy overhead.
As he stepped back onto the mossy bank, his gaze swept their surroundings, his head tilting slightly. The silence, beyond the trees' soft hissing, seemed to deepen around him.
"Anyone seen any animals?" Kin asked, his voice sounding loud in the quiet, a slight frown creasing his brow as he continued to look around. Tiren let out a short, dry chuckle. "Relax, kid. Nothing living here but us and these creepy trees."
"But isn't that strange?" Kin persisted, slowing his pace a little, his attention drawn more inward now. He glanced at Tiren, then back at the motionless, lush surroundings, his frown deepening. Tiren gave him a blank look. "Huh?"
Kin gestured at the abundant, silent growth. "This forest… it has plants and trees," he said, his gaze sweeping the dense greenery. "So many different kinds, and they all look so healthy." He trailed off for a moment, one hand rising to rub his chin, his eyes unfocused as if seeing something far off, or piecing together a difficult puzzle.
The Master, who had been observing Kin's growing preoccupation and the unusual turn of his questions, now held up a hand, bringing the small group to a halt. He watched Kin, his own expression thoughtful. "What are you getting at, Kin?"
With everyone stopped and looking at him, Kin continued, his voice lower now, his gaze still distant, "Well, most plants need pollen to reproduce. They get it from insects, or birds, sometimes the wind carrying it." He paused, then emphasized, "Or they need animals to spread their seeds. But there are no insects, no animals at all." He looked down at the ground, his usual bright expression clouding over with a serious, troubled look. "So how do they… grow? How do they spread?"
A heavier silence fell upon them, the only sound the soft, persistent hiss of the weeping sap.
Senen watched Kin intently, his own face still, his dark eyes tightened slightly as if trying to see the thought forming in Kin's mind. "What is it, Kin?" he asked, his voice even.
Kin lifted his head, his eyes wide and now very focused, a dawning, dreadful understanding in them as he met the Master's gaze. "It means these plants… this whole forest… it isn't real" He swallowed, the sound was audible in the quiet. "It's been… created."
The Master's breath caught. All his surroundings seemed to fade except for Kin. His eyes, fixed on the younger man, widened almost imperceptibly as a profound, unsettling realization rippled through him. A muscle twitched once along his tight jawline, but he said nothing, the sheer impossibility of Kin's words warring with the undeniable logic.
Sye's voice, clear but gentle, broke the charged silence. As every head turned towards her, she knelt slowly, her fingers brushing against the dark, damp earth at her feet. She picked up a small pinch, letting it sift through her fingers. "Kin's not wrong," she stated simply, looking up at them, her expression serious. "How can there be plants without sun or rain?"
Tiren's eyebrows shot up. He looked from Sye to the ground she had touched, then back at the unnaturally lush trees. "You know," he said, a confident smile spreading across his face as he nodded. "That's a good point, Sye."
"Hey! It was my idea!" Kin protested, though his face was comedically furious, he jabbed an elbow towards Tiren, a hint of his usual playful spirit trying to break through the gravity of his discovery. Tiren chuckled, a more genuine sound this time, and nudged him back. As their brief exchange momentarily lightened the mood.
While their playful jabs continued nearby, the Master's expression remained deeply troubled as he watched them. He then spoke to Senen, who stood beside him, he spoke, his voice edged with a tension that hadn't been there before. "What does this mean?"
Senen's eyes clung to the shadowy depths of the forest ahead, where the trees huddled in secrets and dusk; his face was a locked vault, betraying nothing. When he finally spoke, his voice was flat, untouched by awe or fear. "There's something really intelligent in here..." He turned and stepped into the wooded dark, his shape already slipping into its shroud. "And we're going to find it."