For a while, no one knew what to do — they could only stand there in silence, troubled.

Diluc glanced at Tartaglia and said quietly:

"Don't you love fighting? Go on, challenge the Naga one-on-one. Test your combat skills."

At that, Tartaglia shuddered, forcing a dry laugh.

"Uh… maybe not the one-on-one. I actually prefer fighting together with everyone."

Diluc smirked faintly.

"Nice excuse. You're just scared, aren't you?"

Tartaglia's expression darkened with annoyance.

"Don't you feel anything? That kind of terrifying monster — even in the Abyss, I've never seen anything scarier!

A snake's body with a human head!"

Hearing that, Diluc fell silent.

He couldn't argue with Tartaglia.

This monster really maxed out the fear factor.

Facing it as a group was one thing — the fear was spread around.

But going solo? Watching that grotesque head rush straight toward you… anyone would probably freeze on the spot.

They didn't know how much time had passed before Jean finally stirred, her eyes blinking open in a daze.

And instantly, she realized she was in Ryen's arms, his face warm and gentle.

A strong sense of safety surged in her chest — but she quickly flushed red and leapt away.

"Ryen, I…"

"You were just startled, that's all. It's fine."

Ryen gave a small chuckle, speaking softly:

"It's nothing to be ashamed of. The Naga really is terrifying — you've never seen anything like it before."

Jean pressed her lips together, casting him a complicated glance. Suppressing her embarrassment, she murmured quietly:

"…Thank you."

Seeing that she'd recovered, the others hurried over. Rosalyne asked at once:

"Captain Jean, what exactly did you see just now?"

At the question, Jean's mind flashed back to the horrifying scene. She shivered again despite herself, a flicker of fear in her eyes.

"It had… a green, block-shaped head.

At first, I thought it was some strange building, so I observed it through my telescope. Then… it seemed to notice me.

Suddenly, it turned its head — its pupils were scarlet slits, its mouth full of sharp, hideous fangs.

Its forked tongue was pitch-black… its mouth opened wide.

It was staring right at me. I'm sorry — as the Acting Grand Master of the Knights, I… was frightened."

Lisa gently patted Jean's back and said softly:

"It's alright. The monsters in this world truly are terrifying — no one is immune to that."

Jean lowered her head slightly, a little downcast.

Lisa could tell her confidence had taken a hit. The best way to fix that would be for Jean to personally defeat a Naga.

She turned toward Ryen.

"Ryen, do you have a plan?"

Ryen thought for a moment before speaking in a calm voice:

"The Naga may look frightening, but in truth… it's actually the weakest among all the powerful foes in the Twilight Forest."

"It's not hard to deal with — just make sure you don't get rammed by it," Ryen said.

"Since we've already found it, of course we have to kill it. If we don't take down the Naga, the Lich Tower's barrier won't unlock, and we can't make any progress."

Pausing for a moment, Ryen crouched down and began crafting a workbench on the spot.

"Let's set up a battle plan. Against the Naga, good armor is a must — which we already have.

Next, we'll need shields. When the Naga charges, it can destroy any blocks in its way… but if it crashes into a shield, it'll be stunned."

At that, Ningguang frowned slightly.

"The Naga can smash through bedrock, yet it can't break a shield made of iron and wood?"

"…"

Ryen fell silent.

That was, in fact, something he had always found absurd.

After a brief pause, he mumbled vaguely,

"Let's just call it… a special rule of this world. Anyway, don't think too hard about it."

"We bring the shields, go in, spread out, and focus fire on it with ranged weapons — that'll bring it down.

One more thing: do not build pillar blocks to fight it from the air."

"The Naga has three main abilities:

First — Regeneration. If it goes thirty seconds without taking damage, it will rapidly heal and even grow in size.

Second — Charge. This attack hits hard and destroys everything in its path. That's when we use the shield to stun it.

Third — Gaze…"

Ryen's tone softened.

"The so-called Gaze is when, if we're standing above it, the Naga can destroy the blocks beneath us from a distance.

So, aerial fighting is dangerous.

If you're too high up, you risk heavy fall damage — and fighting it while injured is dangerous.

In short, don't fight it from the air."

"Stun it with the shield, then focus all attacks on it. The Naga has a lot of health, but there are more of us.

With sustained firepower, it'll go down. And — aim for the head if you can, it'll deal more damage."

"Understood?"

Ryen swept his gaze over the group. Seeing them all nod, he continued:

"The fight itself isn't difficult. The hardest part is that when it charges, its expression will be terrifying. As long as you suppress that fear…

I believe with everyone's strength, stunning it and finishing it off won't be a problem."

"If there's no issue, we can head out now. Once we kill the Naga and collect the materials, we'll make some new weapons — then we can plan our next move."

Everyone took a deep breath, drawing their ranged weapons and shields, and nodded to Ryen.

Without wasting words, Ryen led the group slowly toward the Naga's courtyard.

Only Jean had seen the Naga's true appearance — naturally, she was more tense than anyone.

Fortunately, with the others by her side, and Ryen giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, she steadied herself.

Rallying their resolve, they prepared to enter the Naga's courtyard — the first boss fight of the Twilight Forest.

Except…

No one noticed.

Far away, beneath the shade of a tree, a strange creature — its entire body green — had appeared out of nowhere.

It silently watched the group heading into the Naga's domain.

In its hand, it held a bizarre staff.

~~----------------------

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