NOVGO.NET Chapter 50: Forest training
Chapter 50: Forest training
The vast canopy of the ancient forest stretched before Atlas like an endless sea of emerald and obsidian.
Down in the valley, beneath the thick, interlocking branches, the air hung heavy with the scent of damp moss, crushed leaves, and the sharp, metallic tang of wild magic.
Standing at the base of the rolling green hill, Atlas tightened his grip on the hilt of his practice blade.
Beside him, Skull let out a low, crackling growl, the dark blue soul-fire within his eye sockets flaring with eager anticipation.
"Alright, Skull," Atlas muttered, his eyes scanning the looming treeline.
"This isn’t just about hacking away at whatever comes at us. Crosswell made it clear yesterday — the noble students in the tournament aren’t going to give us room to breathe. We need seamless synergy. I move, you cover. You strike, I flank. Got it?"
Skull clicked his jaw twice in a rapid, rhythmic snap, dropping into a low, predatory stance that perfectly mirrored Atlas’s shift in weight.
"Good. Let’s hunt."
The moment Atlas’s boot crossed the threshold of the treeline, the silent woods erupted into sudden, vicious movement.
From the high branches above, a swarm of Thorn-Clawed Stalkers — panther-like beasts covered in jagged wooden armor and razors of bark — rained down upon them.
Red eyes gleamed through the dim underbrush as dozens of low-tier beasts surged forward in a chaotic wave.
"Skull, defensive arc!" Atlas barked.
Instantly, Skull charged ahead. Instead of mindlessly leaping into the pack, the skeletal hound executed a sharp drift across the forest floor, sweeping his tail to kick up a spray of dirt and dark mana, blinding the lead beasts.
Atlas sprang off a moss-covered boulder, using the split-second distraction to vault over Skull’s frame and bring his blade down in a heavy, mana-infused vertical slash.
The lead Stalker splintered under the strike, dissolving into raw blue particles. But before Atlas could pull his sword back, two more beasts lunged at his exposed flank.
Skull’s jaws clamped around the throat of one mid-air beast, slamming it into the trunk of a massive oak, while his razor-sharp tail whipped around to intercept the second, buying Atlas the exact window he needed to pivot and thrust his blade through its core.
The rhythm was brutal, relentless, and exhausting.
Hours blurred into continuous combat. Wave after wave of forest beasts crashed against them — spiked boars with hide like iron, shadowy serpents that spat corrosive venom, and winged night-hawks that swooped from the canopy.
The simulated realm offered no respite.
There was no real risk of death, but the pain, the physical strain, and the burn of overused soul essence were excruciatingly real.
Atlas’s breath came in ragged, burning gasps.
Sweat drenched his tunic, stinging his eyes as he fought side by side with his summon.
They adapted on the fly. Atlas learned to read the subtle flickers of Skull’s eye-flames to anticipate where the hound would strike next, while Skull began adjusting his movements to frame Atlas’s sword arcs, herding clusters of beasts straight into Atlas’s path.
By the time the forest floor was littered with fading mana particles and shattered beast cores, Atlas had lost count.
The system interface flickered into view near the corner of his field of vision, recording their steady, grueling progress:
[Sub-Entities Defeated: 700 / 700]
[Current Synchro-Rate with Summon: 68% -> 82%]
Atlas leaned against a shattered tree stump, his chest heaving as he wiped blood and sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm. "Seven hundred... man, my arms feel like lead."
Skull trotted over, his dark ribcage rising and falling in tandem with Atlas’s breaths.
Though constructed of bone and soul-fire, the hound showed clear signs of mental exhaustion, his blue flames dimming to a steady glow.
"We’re getting better," Atlas panted, reaching down to pat the smooth bone plate between Skull’s ears. "Your timing on that last shadow step was perfect."
Before Atlas could even catch his full breath, the ground beneath their feet began to tremble.
A deep, resonant hum vibrated through the soil, sending flocks of wild birds fleeing from the canopy in a frantic frenzy.
The air pressure plummeted instantly.
From the dense, dark thicket deeper in the woods, the trees themselves seemed to part.
The air turned freezing cold, frost rapidly spreading across the mossy ground and climbing the bark of the ancient trunks.
Out stepped the first of the domain’s rulers.
Standing nearly fifteen feet tall, the massive beast was a monstrous force of nature. Its thick fur was pure white, matted with heavy ice plates, and massive, jagged icicles jutted out from its spine like a crown of frozen blades.
Its breath billowed in thick clouds of freezing fog, and its glowing blue eyes locked onto Atlas with pure, territorial fury.
[Warning: Boss Entity Encountered — The 1st Forest King: Frost-Spine Ursus]
"No rest for the wicked, huh?" Atlas gritted his teeth, forcing his exhausted muscles to lock back into a combat stance. "Skull... we do this fast. One heavy strike."
The Frost-Spine King roared — a sound so deafening it rattled Atlas’s ribcage — and charged forward.
Despite its colossal size, the beast moved with terrifying speed, sweeping a massive, ice-coated claw across the glade.
"Jump!" Atlas yelled.
Both Atlas and Skull leapt in opposite directions as the claw shattered the tree stump behind them into a thousand frozen splinters.
Atlas landed on a high branch, pushing his remaining mana into his legs. He launched himself downward, targeting the back of the beast’s neck.
At the same exact moment, Skull lunged from the shadows below, sinking his jaws into the King’s rear leg joint, dragging his weight down to lock the giant in place for a fraction of a second.
"ROAR!"
The Frost-Spine King thrashed, but that single second was all Atlas needed.
Focusing every ounce of his internal soul essence into the edge of his practice blade, Atlas descended like a falling star.
The blade ignited with a sharp, dark aura, slicing clean through the thick ice armor and driving deep into the nape of the beast’s neck.
The force of the impact created a shockwave that blew away the surrounding fog. The Frost-Spine King let out a final, shuddering roar before its massive body stiffened, crumbling into a mountain of sparkling, blue-white light particles that washed over the glade.
[Target Eliminated: 1st Forest King — Frost-Spine Ursus]
[Kings Remaining: 4 / 5]
Atlas hit the ground hard, rolling onto his back and staring up at the violet sky.
He was completely spent. His stamina was drained to the absolute bottom, and his soul essence channels throbbed with a dull, burning ache.
Skull collapsed beside him, flopping onto his side with his tongue practically hanging out of his skeletal jaws.
"We... we actually did it," Atlas gasped, letting out a weak, hoarse laugh. "One down... four to go."
Knowing they couldn’t push any further without recovering, Atlas dragged himself to his feet and led Skull to a small, sheltered cavern nestled beneath the roots of a massive, ancient oak tree nearby.
He kindled a small, controlled campfire using dry branches and his own remnant heat energy. The crackling flames cast long, warm shadows against the stone walls of the alcove, providing a brief sense of security in the hostile domain.
Atlas sat cross-legged near the fire, pulling out a ration bar from his storage space and tossing a chunk of dense mana-crystal to Skull.
The hound happily snatched it out of the air, crunching down on the glowing stone to replenish his soul-fire.
"Tomorrow, we take on the second king," Atlas murmured, leaning back against the cool stone wall and closing his eyes.
"We need to refine that twin-flank maneuver... it worked, but it took too much out of us."
As the warmth of the fire lulled him toward a well-deserved rest, the quiet atmosphere of the cavern was suddenly shattered.
Atlas’s eyes snapped open instantly.
The crackling fire flickered wildly, the warm yellow flames suddenly turning a sickly, toxic shade of bright emerald green.
The air inside the small cave grew suffocatingly hot, smelling violently of scorched sulfur and burning ash.
Beside him, Skull scrambled to his feet, his jaw popping open as a high-pitched, defensive hiss escaped his throat.
The blue flames in his eyes flared to maximum intensity, fixated entirely on the cave entrance.
Atlas slowly reached for his sword, his heart hammering against his ribs.
Shadows stretched long across the ground outside, and from the quiet darkness of the night, a pair of slitted, burning yellow eyes emerged.
Slowly, deliberately, a towering figure stepped into the green light of the fire.
It didn’t attack. It didn’t roar. It simply stood at the mouth of the cavern, looking down at Atlas with an intelligence that far exceeded the wild beast he had just slain.
A crown of dark, molten horn-spikes curved backward from its head, and its entire body was draped in armor of red-hot obsidian scales that radiated blistering waves of heat, melting the very stone floor beneath its paws.
[Warning: Unexpected Intrusion!]
[The 2nd Forest King — The Ember-Scale Chimera has tracked your scent!]
[Current User soul essence: 12% — Combat Condition: Critical!]
The Chimera raised its massive, scaled head, its serpentine tail flicking behind it like a whip. It locked its burning eyes onto Atlas, opening its maw to reveal a throat pooling with liquid fire, completely cutting off their only exit.
Atlas gripped his blade, his knuckles turning white as sweat trickled down his temple in the rising heat.
’It hunted us down while we were resting...?’