The vines quivered but did not retreat. Instead, they thickened, fusing together into colossal tendrils as wide as tree trunks. The Guardian Beast roared, its voice cracking the air like thunder. Its antlers flared, summoning down another storm of viridian lightning that danced across the vines, charging them with molten green energy.

The forest itself was being weaponized.

Roots tore free of the ground, writhing into a cage that threatened to close around Rhys, Bounce, and Puddle.

"Trying to box us in?" Rhys growled, eyes flashing silver. He raised his sword, light spiraling along its length. "Not happening."

He dashed forward, blade igniting with layered power—Puddle's water flowing around it, Bounce's lunar glow reinforcing it, and his own Aether Vein blazing white-hot.

Magic Sword Technique – Arc Surge Slash!

The blade cracked down, lightning-infused mana ripping a path through the roots. Sparks and steam burst in every direction, momentarily opening a gap.

But the Guardian was waiting. It lowered its crown of jagged antlers and loosed another roar—

[ Skill – Wild Hunt's Wrath ]

From the treeline, a flood of spectral beasts emerged. Wolves made of bark and fire, ravens with obsidian feathers, stags with skeletal ribs—all surged at Rhys in a tidal wave of corrupted phantoms.

Bounce stepped forward, his body glowing brighter.

Divine Skill – Crescent Rush!

He charged headlong, a silver comet that plowed through the phantom beasts, shattering them like glass. Yet for each that fell, another rose, the Guardian's antlers pulsing with new summons.

"Kuyuuuuu!" Puddle's voice sharpened, halos expanding until he was practically a miniature sun.

Tri-Cast: Light Barrage + Shadow Tendrils + Aqua Cannon!

Explosions of radiance burst through the horde, while black tendrils ripped phantoms apart mid-charge. A torrent of water carved through the lines, blasting them back.

Still, the spectral beasts kept coming.

Rhys spun, carving arcs left and right. Each slash burned through phantoms, but more filled the gaps. His breath came hard, Legacy Awakening blazing at full peak.

The Guardian Beast's antlers glowed brighter—channeling an ultimate. The corrupted forest responded, the ground cracking, vines twisting into an enormous spear of living wood infused with lightning and venom.

[ Guardian Beast – Ultimate Skill: Verdant Annihilation ]

It raised the spear, roots anchoring it, lightning screaming along its length. The very air turned acidic, and the canopy shrieked as birds fled the storm above.

Rhys's instincts screamed. He had seconds.

"Bounce! Puddle! With me!" His voice carried, and their bond pulsed as one.

Bounce howled, silver lunar runes forming around him.

Puddle's halos spun like whirling orbs, water-light-shadow fusing into a radiant maelstrom.

Their essence rushed into Rhys, Legacy Awakening reaching a fever pitch. His sword transformed—its blade no longer solid steel, but pure fusion: a core of silver light wreathed in flowing water, shadows dancing along the edge, with arcs of moonlight reinforcing it.

The Guardian hurled the spear down. It ripped through the forest like a falling star, lightning screaming with it.

Rhys leapt. His body became a streak of silver.

"Magic Sword Ultimate—Celestial Sever!"

He struck upward.

The clash was cataclysmic. Lightning and corruption collided with water, light, and shadow in a blinding storm. The forest floor cratered, shockwaves flattening trees for hundreds of meters. Steam erupted as the river burst into vapor, turning the clearing into a boiling fog.

For a heartbeat, everything was white.

When it cleared, Rhys stood in the center of the broken caldera, sword still glowing. The massive spear was gone—shattered into drifting fragments. And the Guardian Beast staggered back, chest split open with a deep, glowing wound.

Its roar was weaker now, strained, but still defiant. The moss across its body burned away, revealing raw obsidian bones beneath. Its antlers cracked, viridian lightning sputtering.

"Still standing?" Rhys exhaled, wiping blood from his lip. He lifted his sword again, Legacy Awakening still burning strong. "Good. That means I don't have to hold back."

Bounce stomped beside him, ready to charge again. Puddle's halos spun, gathering another tri-cast.

Together, they surged forward—toward the wounded but raging Guardian Beast.

The Guardian Beast's obsidian ribs heaved, each breath rattling like broken drums. Its wound glowed with searing light, the corruption fighting against Rhys's fused strike, trying desperately to heal.

But the Legacy power thrumming through him wouldn't let it. Not now.

"End it before it recovers!" Rhys shouted, boots digging into the cracked soil as he dashed.

Bounce howled, his lunar aura igniting into a burning crescent.[ Skill – Moonfang Rend! ]His claws, brighter than starlight, slashed across the Guardian's flank, carving deep furrows that sprayed corrupted ichor across the battlefield. The monster reeled, swinging a tendril to swat him away—but Puddle intercepted, a surge of black-water tendrils lashing upward to bind it in place.

"Kuyuuuuuu!"

The slime's halos detonated again—[ Tri-Cast: Abyssal Grasp + Gleaming Halo + Aqua Veil ]Darkness pinned, light seared, and water surged to heal and reinforce. The battlefield was theirs for a heartbeat.

Rhys didn't waste it. He blurred forward, every nerve alight, the fused sword in his grip trembling with more power than his body should've been able to handle. His eyes glowed silver as he invoked the bond deeper.

"Legacy Awakening—Overdrive Mode!"

Aether Vein flared, its edge fracturing into three overlapping blades of water, light, and shadow. His entire form looked half-human, half-spectral, his allies' essence pouring through him.

The Guardian roared again, tearing free of Puddle's bindings. Its antlers pulsed violently, summoning not beasts this time but a storm of thorns and lightning, a dome of viridian wrath meant to crush everything inside.

"Too late," Rhys whispered.

He leapt, the ground shattering beneath him, his sword carving a luminous arc.

"Final Arc—Trinity Sever!"

Water spiraled like a tidal wave, light blazed like a falling star, and shadows curved like a predator's claw. The strike hit dead center, splitting through the Guardian's glowing wound and cleaving its body open from crown to chest.

The roar it loosed shook the forest. Antlers shattered into dust, lightning sparks flickered, and the corrupted moss burned away. The Guardian staggered, one colossal leg collapsing, then another.

With a final, thunderous crash, it fell.

The ground trembled, the phantom beasts shattered like glass, and the forest finally—finally—grew quiet.

System messages flared before Rhys's eyes, golden text scattering like fireflies.

[ Guardian Beast of Verdant Wrath – Defeated ][ Level Up! 184 → 186 ][ Rare Equipment Acquired: Verdant Crown of Resonance ][ Skill Acquired: Nature's Pact – (Rare) ][ Legacy Sync: Puddle + Bounce – Resonance Enhanced ]

Rhys dropped to one knee, chest heaving. Bounce limped back to his side, silver glow dimming but steady, while Puddle bounced weakly, halos flickering like lanterns in the fog.

"We did it," Rhys muttered, gripping his sword and letting its glow fade. His lips tugged into a tired grin. "That's another one down."

The forest, for the first time in hours, sounded alive again—birds cautiously chirping, the wind rustling leaves without malice.

"Only one more boss left." He straightened, eyes narrowing toward the distant peaks, where smoke and shadow twisted against the horizon. "The hardest one."

A faint shimmer drifted from the Guardian's corpse, not of corruption but of purified essence—an emerald light, soft and alive, like the forest exhaling relief. It gathered into a crystalline crown, roots woven into its shape, pulsing faintly as though it had its own heartbeat.

[ Verdant Crown of Resonance – Rare ]

Increases affinity with nature-type beasts and summons

Grants passive regeneration in wilderness zones

Resonates with bonded companions, slightly amplifying their stats

The item floated into Rhys's hands. The instant he touched it, he felt a subtle vibration run down his arms, into his core, and outward toward Puddle and Bounce. Both reacted instinctively—Bounce's silver aura steadied, Puddle's halos brightened.

"You feel that too?" Rhys asked, breath still ragged.

Bounce dipped his head, eyes gleaming like twin moons. Puddle let out a soft kuyuuu, swaying gently as if approving.

But the crown wasn't all. Another pulse of system light traced across his vision:

[ Skill Acquired: Nature's Pact (Rare) ]

Forms a bond with the natural world

Enhances regeneration and resistance when fighting in forests, plains, or wild zones

Unlocks potential fusion techniques when paired with Summoned Beasts

Rhys clenched his fist, the glow fading. A pact with nature itself… fitting after that fight. It wasn't as flashy as a massive attack skill, but he could tell its value wasn't in combat bursts—it was in synergy. A long-term anchor, a foundation.

Legacy Awakening's glow finally ebbed, leaving his body drained but steady. He sheathed Aether Vein across his back, the Spiritbound blade pulsing faintly, like it too was satisfied.

He turned his gaze once more toward the distant peaks. Even from here, the horizon looked wrong. Smoke, yes, but threaded with something darker—spires of shadow, writhing and twisting like fingers clutching at the sky.

The final Rank 1 boss.

The Black Forest had been nothing but a crucible, and yet, this presence dwarfed the Hydra, the Gatewarden, even the Verdant Guardian he had just felled.

Bounce growled low, fur bristling.Puddle shrank slightly, then pulsed defiantly, halos sparking with light.

"Yeah," Rhys said quietly, adjusting the crown onto his head. The moment it touched him, he felt his bond with both of them deepen—like his thoughts were clearer, their emotions louder. Resonance.