The forest changed.
It was still the same jagged maze of bark and vines, but something about it felt… alert. As if the trees themselves had seen what they'd done and passed the message along. The silence wasn't silence anymore—it was expectation. A warning.
Caleb kept low, moving between the shadows, eyes scanning every branch, every root, every patch of moss. The others followed, spread in a rough arc like he taught them. No talking now. Only gestures. The air was tight, the kind that wrapped around your chest and made every breath feel like a risk.
A single word pulsed into his mind.
[Ambush Territory]
No warning. No map. Just that phrase, cold and absolute.
He stopped and raised his fist.
The group dropped low instantly.
Something was wrong.
A goblin—just one—stepped into view a few meters ahead. It wasn't armed. Just walking, wobbling like it was drunk or injured. Too exposed. Too easy.
Dina's whisper was almost soundless. "It's bait."
Caleb nodded.
He scanned the area again, slower this time. There. A slight shift of light—glint on a sharpened stake, half buried. And there—netting, woven into the canopy, ready to drop. A crude but smart trap.
"Multiple contacts. Setting up defenses."
Soren looked tense. "They're learning from us."
"No," Caleb muttered. "They already knew."
The bait goblin groaned and fell to its knees, playing weak. He ignored it.
Instead, he pointed toward a hill that sloped to the right, covered in thick fern. "There. Circle around. Avoid their kill zone."
The others moved.
Caleb stayed back a second longer, watching the bait. Its eyes flicked toward him once, sharp and cold.
So. They weren't just acting on instinct anymore.
They were adapting.
By the time they flanked the kill zone, the forest shifted again. This time they heard it first: voices. Goblin voices. Barking, hissing, guttural commands.
A patrol.
Five of them, armored in bone and scraps, weapons drawn. Real weapons now—hatchets, spears, even a bow. The one in the middle wore something like a helmet made from a human skull.
Caleb didn't wait.
He threw a rock down the opposite path, hard. The goblins reacted instantly, three of them rushing toward the noise.
Split.
Caleb signaled.
The ambush was tight. Precise.
Soren came in first, shield raised, smashing one into a tree trunk. HP dropped:
[Goblin Captain – HP: 71%]
Ellen and Marek rushed the second from behind, driving their weapons into its side. It flailed, screeched, swung wide.
[Goblin – HP: 38%]
Dina's stone slammed into the one with the bow. It shrieked and stumbled back, then turned and ran. Caleb chased it—one, two steps—and tackled it down. Knife. Throat. Silence.
[Goblin – HP: 0%]
Three goblins left. The fake bait among them. They didn't scatter.
They charged.
Caleb shouted, "Hold the line!"
They clashed.
The bait-goblin was faster than expected, swinging a jagged blade at Ellen. Soren blocked just in time, the impact shuddering through his shield. Dina struck it from the side—barely a dent.
[Goblin – HP: 83%]
Marek roared and stabbed low, catching it in the thigh. Blood sprayed.
[Goblin – HP: 51%]
Then the one with the skull helmet lunged, knocking Ellen down.
Caleb grabbed a spear off the ground, spun it, and drove the blunt end into the helmeted goblin's jaw. It stumbled. Marek finished it.
[Goblin Captain – HP: 0%]
The bait-goblin froze. Looked around. Saw only blood and corpses.
It turned to flee—
Caleb threw the spear.
[Goblin – HP: 0%]
It didn't get far.
The system chimed.
[Experience Distributed Based on Contribution]
Caleb – EXP: +14.0%
Soren – EXP: +10.2%
Marek – EXP: +9.6%
Ellen – EXP: +6.4%
Dina – EXP: +6.1%
Then another pulse:
[Hidden Objective Cleared: Disrupted Enemy Patrol Before Reinforcement Call]
Reward: Uncommon Equipment Drop Enabled for Next Encounter
Bonus: +2% HP Recovery]
A second notification shimmered faintly:
[Unknown Observer Alerted]
Caleb frowned.
He opened his interface but found no explanation.
"Unknown observer?" Ellen asked.
He shook his head. "Ignore it for now."
Dina was still breathing hard, staring at the corpses. "That one… the bait. It looked at me. Like it knew."
"They did," Caleb said. "And now they'll adapt again."
Soren wiped blood off his shield. "So what do we do?"
Caleb looked toward the treeline. The goblin village was only a few hills away now. Smoke still rose above it.
"We keep killing them. Smarter this time."
Because the Tower wasn't just testing their strength anymore.
It was testing who they would become.
And somewhere out there, something was watching.
Still. Waiting. Judging.