"Right, let's get down to business."
Nero's voice made the atmosphere drop.
Despite his expression looking his usual laid-back mode, the people knew it's time to get to the main business.
"We need to know exactly what we're dealing with here."
The atmosphere shifted instantly from lighthearted to grim as everyone recognized the crisis they were in once more.
This wasn't a social gathering, it's an attempt to take down an anomaly that could massacre them all.
"Well, we need some introductions first."
Nero gestured toward the team with a casual look, giving a brief rundown of each member.
"Jina Martinez… also known as Jin, our team leader. Sarah Kim, our fire ability user. Rebecca Torres, an earth mage. Laura Frell, reconnaissance and skilled archer…. and Marcus Halner, the fist guy."
He paused briefly on Marcus, offering nothing more than the name and a vague introduction.
Marcus simply nodded, his expression neutral as his enhancement abilities continued their erratic flickering.
The parents exchanged somber glances before Juno stepped forward.
His usual analytical demeanor carried a weight of genuine concern.
"A complete tactical unit. Your group composition is well-balanced for handling anomalous threats."
He nodded with professional respect rather than academic curiosity.
"We'll need every advantage we can get."
"Can you show us this anomaly now?"
Jin's voice carried an urgency that made everyone's spine straighten.
"Every minute we waste talking is another minute that thing has to break free."
"Of course."
Haori's motherly warmth was overshadowed by visible worry.
"Juno will explain everything as we move."
Even Yuki's usual magical girl enthusiasm was subdued as she led them toward the forest.
"This way… and prepare yourselves."
Mina's tough exterior cracked slightly, revealing the fear underneath.
"You need to see what we're up against."
***
"It started three days ago."
Juno's voice was grim as they moved through vegetation that grew more twisted with each step.
The trees seemed to writhe in their peripheral vision, as if the very forest was infected.
"Massive mana fluctuations detected 2.3 kilometers northeast. The psychic pressure was... overwhelming."
"Psychic pressure?"
Sarah's hands unconsciously moved to her temples as the air grew thicker around them.
"... Yes. Just for reference, I have an ability that can accurately calculate possibilities and derive phenomenons, probabilities and scenarios based on the information I currently have."
Juno explained as Jin and Nero both nodded in amazement.
With both of them owning somewhat similar skills, they knew how useful it is despite the low tier ranking the system proclaimed it to.
'This guy basically owns a supercomputer inside his head.'
It's a rough evaluation, but Nero was sure that's the vague effect of Juno's unique ability.
"... Going back to the topic, when we investigated the psychic pressure, we found the creature establishing territorial dominance."
Juno continued while the group was thinking. His clinical tone barely masks the horror of the memory.
"Our initial engagement revealed disturbing capabilities."
"Such as?"
Jin's voice was tight with tension.
"Intelligence, adaptive combat behavior, and most concerning... long-range communication with other entities."
The implications hit the group like a sledgehammer.
"It's been commanding them."
Aurelia's golden eyes narrowed as understanding dawned.
*Crack!*
They pushed through a wall of mutated vegetation and emerged into a clearing that defied rational description.
The silence that followed was deafening.
"Holy crap…"
Sarah's whispered words carried more weight than any scream.
Before them stood something that shouldn't exist in any sane universe.
---
[New Entity Detected
Name: Verdant Tyrant
Rank: SR (Newly Evolved)
Threat Level: Catastrophic
Known For: Mental domination of local fauna. Acidic root system. Terrifying intelligence. Ability Absorption. Everything that makes you question life choices.]
---
"SR-tier... but newly evolved?"
Multiple voices spoke in unison as everyone's inspection abilities triggered simultaneously.
The creature's status screen was visible to all of them, and the implications hit them with confusion.
"Ability Absorption..."
Jin's voice was grim as she read the monster's capabilities.
"This thing wasn't always SR-rank."
"Something made it evolve recently."
Sarah's hands trembled as she processed the information.
"But what could cause such a dramatic power increase?"
"... Just what exactly happened three days ago? Before it appeared?"
The question hung in the air like a death sentence.
Haori's face went pale as painful memories resurfaced.
"... T-There was a supply team."
Her motherly voice is filled with guilt and sorrow.
"Five people went into the forest for a routine gathering mission. One of them... one of them had an adaptability power."
"Adaptability?"
Sarah's fire magic flickered nervously around her fingers.
"What kind of adaptability?"
"The ability to cope with certain amounts of damage and integrate some of the absorbed powers from those damage into his own."
Haori's voice dropped to barely above a whisper.
'Isn't that the Adapt-O-Mancer or something that I was given as a reward before…?'
Nero remembered how it was one of the rewards he was made to choose during his first monster kill.
'If it only absorbs a certain amount of damage… it must be a downgraded version of that or some sort of variant.'
He concluded as he listened back to the topic.
"They were supposed to return the same day. When they didn't… We thought they'd gotten lost or decided to camp overnight."
Haori had a sad frown.
"It wasn't unusual for supply runs to take longer than expected."
Mina's tough exterior cracked.
"... But even after days passed, they never came back."
Yuki's magical girl sparkles dimmed to nothing as she spoke.
"Instead, on a certain morning, that thing appeared at our perimeter."
Nero felt his stomach drop as understanding dawned.
His eyes moved across the creature's grotesque form, searching for confirmation of his worst fears…
And there they were.
"..."
Human faces.
There are multiple human "faces" sprouting from the creature's twisted stems like obscene flowers.
Five faces, frozen in expressions of terror and agony.
Their eyes moved independently, tracking the group's movements with desperate, pleading looks.
Their mouths opened and closed silently, as if trying to scream for help that would never come.
"!!!"
Everyone from the group except Nero, Jin and Aurelia paled at the grotesque sight.
Nero and Jin had a disgusted frown on their faces, while Aurelia narrowed her eyes with a stern expression.
It's like watching live humans melt in real-time.
It's disturbing for anyone, and not even Marcus is an exception.
"... Those are the missing team members."
Even Haori and the other parents looked pale despite them seeing it multiple times.
"The creature didn't just outright kill them."
Nero's voice was hollow as he processed the implications.
"It's like… trying to absorb them. All their bodies, their abilities, and their consciousness."
Jin noticed the flow of the energy as her eyes subtly glowed.
"They're still alive in there."
Aurelia's golden eyes reflected the sight with a cold expression.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Everyone stared at the human faces embedded in the monster's flesh.
One of the faces, what seems to be a young woman, seems to recognize them.
Her eyes widened with desperate hope, mouth forming wordless pleas for rescue.
"... W-We tried to save them."
Haori's voice broke completely as tears streamed down her face.
Juno hugged his wife, trying to comfort her.
"When we realized what had happened… Ren, Genya and the others attacked immediately."
"But not only was it too late, almost half of those who tried to save them were either killed or devoured by that monstrosity… it's a miracle Ren and Genya managed to seal it after spending all their mana."
Juno's analytical composure cracked as he remembered the sacrifice his two friends made.
"We thought it was all over, but…"
"The absorption of those it has eaten is almost complete… and the creature has evolved since then."
"... And that's when that bastard gained the ability to command other monsters!"
Mina's hands clenched into fists, a red sharp aura wrapping around her limbs.
"It's using their abilities and it's enhanced intelligence against us humans."
Juno noted with a calculated look while coldly gazing at the monster who caused such massacre and one who put his friends in that pitiful state.
The Verdant Tyrant is currently contained within what looked like a prison made of crystallized icy glass and magical chains.
But even after it was sealed, the thing radiated malevolent energy that made everyone's skin crawl.
Its massive flower head remained still, conserving energy.
Yellow eyes the size of dinner plates watched them with calculating patience.
*Thrum! Thrum! Thrum!*
The creature's roots pulsed with multiple heartbeats, each one belonging to a different absorbed victim.
And it's noticeable how each passing second, the malicious aura around its body was only getting stronger.
"The containment system was implemented by Ren and Genya."
Haori's voice carried crushing worry as she pointed toward two figures lying unconscious near the crystalline prison.
"They've been maintaining the seal for three days straight… and they haven't woken up yet."
Both men were wrapped in blood-soaked bandages, looking like casualties from a brutal war.
"It's severe mana depletion, but their vitals are stable."
Laura knelt beside the injured men, some of her medical expertise confirming their condition.
"They'll wake up soon, but recovery will take time."
Ren Kazuri looked like an older, more weathered version of Kaito.
Same determined jawline and black hair, but his face was gaunt from exhaustion and pain.
Multiple lacerations covered his arms where the creature's acidic attacks had eaten through his defenses.
Genya Shizuure was built like a fortress, broad shoulders and muscular frame telling stories of countless battles.
But his left arm was completely gone from the elbow down.
The stump was wrapped in layers of bandages that couldn't quite hide the horror of dissolved bone and flesh.
His face was ashen from blood loss and trauma.
"Genya lost his arm during the initial containment battle."
Mina's voice cracked with raw emotion as she knelt beside her unconscious husband.
Her hands trembled as she adjusted his bandages, her tough exterior completely shattered.
"The creature's acid ate through his armored transformation abilities like they were nothing."
"... B-By the power of desperate love, my dear Ren used everything he had!"
Yuki's magical girl persona cracked as tears streamed down her face.
She cradled Ren's bandaged form, her rainbow sparkles completely extinguished.
"He froze Genya's wound to save his life, then helped create the ice prison!"
"... Juno calculated the containment parameters while barely conscious from mana drain."
Haori's motherly composure wavered as she gazed and nudged her head at her husband.
"He worked all this time with barely any rest, adjusting magical equations while the creature tried to break free."
The weight of their sacrifice hung in the air like a funeral shroud.
Three men had nearly died to contain something that could erase them all. While two of them fell unconscious after temporarily sealing an SR-tier creature.
"The creature's regeneration exceeded our combined damage output."
Juno's computational analysis couldn't hide his own guilt and exhaustion.
"Direct combat proved suicidal. Containment was our only option at that time… No, even this time."
"And that's when this all happened."
Haori's voice dropped to barely above a whisper.
"For approximately every 6 hours, there were waves of monsters attacking our base. … Dozens of them, all with the same glazed look in their eyes."
"Like they're not in control of their own bodies anymore."
Mina's expression grew haunted as she stared at the sealed creature.
"The thing is broadcasting commands across miles after evolving… turning every creature in the forest into its personal army."
"Which means every monster within miles is marching toward this location…"
Rebecca studied the ice prison with growing dread.
"How long can this containment hold?"
"Based on current degradation rates and the creature's increasing efforts to break free, and even with my regular adjustments... approximately 18 hours."
Juno's matter-of-fact delivery made the deadline sound like a countdown to the apocalypse.
Well, it is the apocalypse.
"After that, the structural integrity will collapse completely due to the degrading mana supply and the strengthening of the Verdant Tyrant's power."
Everyone fell silent at the truth.
The atmosphere was completely heavy.
An SR-rank creature with absorbed human abilities would be unleashed soon.
An army of mind-controlled monsters would converge on their location.
And they had less than a day to figure out how to kill something that's almost unkillable.
'Not to mention, now that it evolved to SR-tier, it's stronger than before… and will be stronger as time passes by.'
The realization made Nero frown, and considering how the others also had similar looks, it seems everyone had the same conclusion.
*Crack!*
As if summoned by their growing despair, a hairline fracture appeared in the crystalline prison wall.
The Verdant Tyrant's yellow eyes focused on the crack with obvious satisfaction.
One of the human faces embedded in its flesh looked directly at Nero.
Her mouth moved silently, forming a single word over and over again.
"... Hewwlp."
The countdown to a fierce battle had begun.
***
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