Rustle.
Rustle…
Deep within Tob Forest, grotesquely twisted trees loomed overhead, their thick vines winding like snakes along gnarled trunks. Mottled beams of light pierced the dense canopy, illuminating the damp ground strewn with moss and rotting leaves.
A large troll trampled forward, its bulky form effortlessly parting the foliage. Each step it took reverberated with weight, forcing a crude path through the underbrush.
Trailing just behind was a monstrous ghost bear. Its brown-and-black fur shimmered faintly with a ghostly gleam, its blood-red eyes glaring from a massive head. As it walked, its powerful limbs disturbed the leaves below with soft crunches.
"Your leader summoned me. What happened?" a hoarse, weathered voice asked from atop the beast.
Perched on the ghost bear's back was a peculiar, hideous figure. Its lower body was serpentine, covered in pale green scales that glistened faintly in the filtered sunlight. The upper half resembled a shrunken old man with withered limbs and a face like twisted bark—tight skin, black-green hair, and countless wrinkles compressed into a grotesque mask.
This was Naga, known as the Demonic Serpent of the West—one of Tob Forest's three rulers.
Bang!
The troll up front—Guu, the so-called leader of the trolls—slammed his thick arm into a branch that blocked the way. With a dull crack, the wood split and scattered, but Guu said nothing, continuing ahead without glancing back.
Naga's lip curled.
"Useless slab of meat…"
He gave up speaking further. Trying to reason with Guu was less productive than whispering to moss. Despite the trolls strength and followers, his inability to strategize or communicate made him an eternal disappointment to the shrewd Naga.
Still…
Something had clearly happened.
Naga's golden snake eyes flicked across the forest, his instincts sharper than ever. Though not truly worried—none of the forest's beasts dared challenge the rulers—he remained alert. The only real danger was Guu himself if the troll lost control.
Hence the ghost bear. Should Guu go berserk, it would buy time for an escape.
"If only that brute had half your brain…" Naga muttered to himself. "Actually, no. That'd be too troublesome."
With a sharp slap of his tail, he urged the ghost bear faster.
As they approached Guu's territory, Naga's nose twitched.
The scent of blood.
A lot of it.
His eyes narrowed. Tree trunks were stained with dark, crusted blood, and the ground bore large, red-streaked patches—faded but potent.
"So many… did Guu kill this many?"
The forest began to open. Cracks in the canopy widened into a clearing near Guu's den. It was usually a disgusting cesspool, filled with bones, rotting flesh, and buzzing insects.
Today?
Clean.
Unnaturally clean.
Naga's expression twisted. "What…?" he hissed. This was wrong—trolls thrived in filth. They didn't clean.
Then his gaze dropped to the earth.
Reddish soil. Soaked. Dried. Still reeking.
It wasn't the absence of corpses that disturbed him. It was the presence of something worse.
"Move. Faster!"
He whipped the ghost bear again. With a low growl, it surged forward, overtaking Guu and charging toward the familiar cave at the heart of the trolls lair.
Before it, a rough wooden shed stood. Inside, a dark-furred hound lay curled up—a small, medium-sized evil dog with one glowing eye.
It stared silently at Naga.
Tamed?
Livestock?
He didn't know. Normally, he'd crush it without thought. But now… his heart felt tight. Something was off. He scanned the surroundings cautiously, aware that every breath he took was tinged with an invisible tension.
Then, in front of the cave, he saw him.
Guu stood still, massive and unmoving, back turned, as though guarding something behind.
Naga signaled the ghost bear to slow, his bony hand resting on its fur. He stayed a cautious fifty meters back.
"Guu. Why did you call me here?"
"And what's going on with you?"
No reply.
But then—
"I'm afraid you're mistaken."
A voice answered.
Not Guu's.
A young man's voice. Calm. Gentle. Human.
Guu stepped aside.
And there—seated on a simple wooden stake, a white-robed young man rested beside a large wooden barrel filled with blood. His left hand was pressed against a wound on Guu's thigh, which was still bleeding unnaturally fast.
A human. In the trolls den. Bleeding him.
Naga's jaw tightened. He grabbed the ghost bear's fur reflexively.
This shouldn't be possible. With an trolls regenerative abilities, such a wound should've closed in moments.
And yet…
"What are you? Human?" Naga hissed.
His wrinkled face contorted, gaze darting from the entranced troll to the calm human. Was this magic? Enchantment?
"It wasn't him who called you," the young man said, dipping a small ladle into the blood barrel. "I did."
Naga's face darkened.
"Don't joke, human. This is our land. Not yours!"
Emerald magic shimmered around his thin body.
"[Charm: Humanoid!]"
But the white-robed young man blinked lazily and raised a hand.
"[Charm: All Races.]"
A pale green glow flashed across Naga's body. And then—nothing.
Naga's face twisted in mockery. "Nice try, human. Your charms won't work on me."
He extended a finger, a red glow forming at its tip.
"But now, you've provoked me. [Fireball!]"
A blazing sphere shot forward.
But the youth did not move.
He simply raised the sheathed blade at his side, drawing it with a whisper of steel.
A faint glow, like misted glass, gathered at its edge.
"You call humans weak."
"Maybe we are. But that's only because—"
"You haven't met me."
[Magic Slash!]