CHAPTER 190: INTO THE DEEP VERDANT FOLD

The jungle shifted around them as if exhaling. A low, rolling breeze swept through the undergrowth—too cool for the island’s humidity, too deliberate to be natural. Arios Pureheart slowed, one hand raised quietly, and the group behind him halted without a word.

Liza’s fingers brushed the dagger strapped to her thigh. Lucy’s staff angled slightly toward the ground, faint green motes flickering along its length. The air carried the smell of wet stone and overripe fruit, but beneath that... something metallic. Something wrong.

They had been moving for hours since crossing the river, heading deeper toward the heart of the island’s inner territory. The canopy grew denser with every step, the light above them shrinking into narrow columns that filtered through leaves like stained glass. The deeper they walked, the more the jungle seemed to gain... intent.

As if watching.

And it didn’t help that Phase Three—the phase their instructors purposely refused to detail—had begun two hours ago.

The exam had shifted.

The island had changed.

And the rules, invisibly, were changing with it.

Arios knelt, brushing the soil with the back of his knuckles. The ground here was too soft—freshly disturbed. He motioned for the girls to stay back, leaning closer until his cheek almost touched the earth.

Footprints.

Not of the teams competing in the exam. These were narrower, longer, spaced unevenly. Heavy at the heel. Clawed.

A creature. One large enough to snap a grown man like a twig.

Lucy crouched beside him, lowering her voice. "It’s following the same trail as us."

Liza’s eyes narrowed. "Or we’re following its trail."

Both possibilities felt equally bad.

Arios rose slowly. "We keep moving. Quiet. No light spells unless necessary."

The two nodded, understanding instantly.

They continued.

The path narrowed until there was no path at all—just winding roots, slick moss, and low-hanging vines that seemed to brush against their skin with too much awareness. The jungle felt tighter, as though the trees were leaning inward, curving subtly as if redirecting them. Twice already Arios had checked their orientation with the island’s sun position and twice the light had shifted in ways that made no sense.

The island was alive.

And it was steering them somewhere.

The deeper they went, the stranger the landscape grew. Fungus clusters glowed faintly blue beneath the shadows. Tree trunks twisted as if they had grown in spiraled knots. Some vines were taut as ropes, others soft as silk threads. Strange markings—grooves in bark—appeared in repeating patterns that did not match natural insect behavior.

Lucy’s voice broke the silence softly. "There’s mana in everything. Stronger than before. Dense... like the forest is condensed into itself."

Arios felt it too. The air hummed faintly against his skin.

Liza tugged aside a curtain of leaves, revealing an opening descending into a deeper basin. The slope was covered in stone that looked almost carved, though weathered by time and moss.

Lucy muttered, "This wasn’t on the topographical map."

"Good." Liza stepped forward, testing the stability of the terrain. "Means fewer teams will find it."

Arios exhaled. "Or it means we’re being guided toward it."

The girls exchanged a glance but didn’t disagree.

The basin ahead formed a wide crescent, sunk into the jungle floor like a forgotten amphitheater. Dozens of monolithic stones ringed the lower ground, half-swallowed by roots. Some had symbols etched across their surfaces—symbols older than the kingdom, older than the academy, older than any known dungeon script.

Lucy spoke barely above a whisper. "This place... predates magic refinement methods."

Arios descended first, boots sinking slightly in the damp moss. The basin carried no wind, no birdsong. Even the buzzing insects had vanished. It was soundless in a way that made their heartbeats feel too loud.

Liza moved near one of the stones, tracing the faded carvings. "It tells a story. A warning, maybe. But I can’t read the script."

Arios stepped closer, eyes scanning the lines. They spiraled outward, branching into branching arcs—like a starburst inverted. Like something sealing or containing... something.

Lucy knelt before another monolith. "These glyphs... they’re not dungeon glyphs. They’re primal."

"Primal?" Liza echoed.

"It’s the term old researchers gave to any script created before mana crystallization theory existed. Nobody’s deciphered it fully. It’s... lost magic."

Arios moved to the center of the basin.

The ground there wasn’t moss. Nor stone.

It was something harder. Smoother.

He knelt, brushing his fingers across it. The moss peeled away like a thin film, revealing a circular plate of black stone—or something resembling stone. It was flawless and cold to the touch, and unlike anything in the surrounding landscape.

As he wiped the surface clean, faint hexagonal lines shimmered beneath the darkness, glowing for a moment before fading back.

Lucy’s eyes widened. "That’s a containment seal."

"How old?" Arios asked quietly.

"A thousand years at least." She rose. "Maybe older."

Liza drew closer, hand hovering near her weapon. "Why would the academy send us here? No one has mentioned ruins."

Arios didn’t answer. He was staring at the central seal. The pattern was unmistakable now—concentric rings with three fracture lines radiating outward.

Cracks.

Not new ones.

Ancient.

But expanding.

Just a few hours earlier, the cracklines might’ve been hair-thin. Now they pulsed with faint light.

Someone—or something—was waking.

Before he could speak, the ground trembled beneath them. A deep groan rolled across the basin, vibrating through their bones. The monoliths flickered with faint residue of ancient magic. Leaves rustled at the rim of the basin, though there was no wind.

Lucy spun toward Arios. "The seal’s destabilizing!"

Arios steadied his stance. "Prepare—"

A roar tore through the trees.

A deep, resonant, bone-shaking howl that cracked through the jungle like a blade splitting the atmosphere.

The same creature whose tracks they’d followed.

It was close.

Too close.

The roar echoed again, this time sharper, more furious—like it had discovered something intruding in its territory. The canopy rustled violently as branches snapped.

Liza darted to Arios’s side. "It’s coming straight here!"

Lucy raised her staff, magical light cascading down the wood. "Do we retreat?!"

Arios glanced at the seal. The cracks were widening—slowly but visibly. The ancient structure was reacting to the presence of the creature—or perhaps the creature was reacting to it.

If they left the basin now, they would be chased down. This creature was fast—the long strides of its tracks confirmed that. The basin offered no paths, no cover, no terrain advantage.

But it did offer one thing:

A controlled battlefield.

Arios exhaled softly, letting the tension flow out in one steady breath.

"No," he said quietly. "We hold our ground."

Liza smirked, though her expression was tight. "I hoped you’d say that."

Lucy planted her staff, mana flaring. "I’ll anchor our defense—just don’t die."

Arios stepped forward, drawing a slow circle in the air with his finger. The mana around the basin shifted in response—a subtle distortion, drawn by his attunement. The jungle was saturated with energy, and Arios harnessed it, letting it gather along his spine like a rising tide.

The creature’s massive silhouette emerged through the upper foliage.

A hulking shape.

Quadrupedal.

Covered in jagged, dark-green plates that blended with the foliage.

Its eyes glowed like embers beneath a stone hood.

A Verdant Mauler.

A rare-class beast... no, a variant of one. Larger, broader, with thornlike protrusions across its shoulders. Its breath steamed despite the humid air, and the moss beneath its paws wilted upon contact.

The beast unleashed another roar, shaking the monoliths.

Lucy staggered back. "Its mana output—Arios, that’s not just a variant. It’s mutated!"

Arios stepped ahead of them. "Then we adapt."

The Mauler bounded down the slope, each step shattering stone.

Arios braced himself—then dashed forward.

The air cracked around him as mana surged through his limbs. His foot hit the ground once, twice, and then he launched into the creature’s path. The Mauler swung a massive claw toward him, its weight enough to pulverize bone.

Arios ducked.

The wind pressure alone flattened the grass around him.

He slid under the beast’s torso, striking upward with a mana-formed blade. The blade carved sparks along its armored chest but didn’t penetrate fully.

The Mauler pivoted, tail whipping toward him like a falling tree.

Liza intercepted, slashing the tendons at its base. The beast roared in pain, stumbling slightly. Lucy’s magic flared behind them—roots erupted from the ground, wrapping around one of the Mauler’s legs, anchoring it momentarily.

The creature reacted violently, tearing the roots apart in seconds.

Its attention shifted—toward Lucy.

Arios moved instantly.

He crossed the distance before the beast lunged, slamming his palm against its snout. Mana detonated outward, like a shockwave rippling through the basin. The force staggered the Mauler but didn’t stop it. Its jaws snapped shut a breath from his shoulder.

Lucy’s vines surged again, this time reinforced, binding its torso. Liza leapt onto its back, driving both daggers into the gaps between plates.

The Mauler twisted, throwing its body violently.

Liza held on, barely.

Arios slid beneath it again, his fist enveloped in condensed mana. He struck upward—once, twice, thrice—each blow leaving a crater of shimmering force on its underside. The beast shrieked, falling onto its side.

Liza jumped off.

Arios gathered all the dispersed mana he could pull from the forest and shaped it into a blade—bright, compressed, humming with dangerous density. He hurled it upward, straight into the creature’s chest.

The blade pierced through the exposed gap, embedding deep.

The Mauler trembled.

Then collapsed.

Its breath rattled out slowly until silence filled the basin once more.

Lucy sagged to her knees. "That... was not a normal exam monster."

Liza wiped sweat from her brow. "No. Someone tampered with the ecological system here."

Arios didn’t answer.

He was staring again at the seal in the center of the basin.

The cracks—

The glow—

The trembling—

During the fight, they had widened. By several centimeters.

He walked toward it slowly.

Lucy’s voice softened. "Arios?"

He didn’t look up. "This beast wasn’t guarding territory. It was checking it." He knelt beside the seal. "Because something beneath this is stirring. And with the seal unstable..."

Liza completed the sentence with a quiet breath:

"...it’s waking faster."

Arios placed his palm against the seal.

The moment he did, the air around them vibrated—softly, but undeniably. Like something below recognized the contact.

Lucy stepped forward, gripping her staff tightly. "We report this to command the moment we regroup with the others."

Liza nodded. "And until then, we stay together."

Arios stood slowly, eyes narrowing. "Phase Three isn’t about survival anymore."

Lucy swallowed. "Then what is it?"

Arios looked at the monoliths, the ancient script, and the steadily widening cracks.

"Containment," he said softly.

"And whatever’s below us...

isn’t meant to be set free."