Chapter 30: Invitation from the Forgotten Trickster.

[??? POV]

Within a clearing deep in the forest, a bear with blackish-brown fur kneeled, his chest heaving.

Something was changing inside him… something he didn’t understand.

Just a few moments ago, they had been chasing the arrogant human who dared step into his territory… and mock his chosen mate with some weird gestures.

So, he naturally chased the human… he didn’t wish to appear weak in front of his love.

He’d brought his oldest friends—the ones he’d grown up with—to hunt. But the crafty human killed them brutally.

He felt ashamed. He should have protected them. Instead, he had charged like a fool.

He wanted to give up… but then he thought of his mate, waiting at the edge of their settlement.

He couldn’t join his friends yet. Not like this.

Then—

He felt it. A call from something ancient and far beyond his comprehension.

He didn’t know what it was but it promised him a second chance and he grabbed on it without any hesitation.

As soon as he did… he felt something change within him. His body exploded with energy and that weird human was thrown backward.

His mind sharpened unlike before.

And in that clarity, he saw it — the human’s strange movement. He didn’t know how it worked… but his body did.

It wasn’t the human who killed his friends.

No.

It was his own recklessness that killed them.

But he would make the human pay in full.

__

[Rael’s POV]

There’s a certain point in every fight when you realize—without a doubt—you’ve accidentally chosen hell mode instead of easy.

For me, this was that moment.

The bear’s fur had gone from edgy blackish-brown to this furious blood-red glow, like it had just screamed its tragic backstory into the void and unlocked some dramatic anime power-up.

And I… was the final boss it had decided to solo.

I mean I could understand the poor guy.

If someone cursed me out, exploded my best friends and insulted my love life in the span of twenty minutes, I too might scream at the universe for a dramatic power-up.

But the world—cruel little shit that it is—wouldn’t have given it to me.

No, of course not. It saves all the glow-ups for emotionally devastated forest beasts with revenge arcs.

Meanwhile, I was lying here with a cracked rib, half my mana gone and the distinct feeling that my internal organs were trying to riot against me.

Tsk. Life really has no chill.

But I didn’t have time to mope or die, as tempting as that sounded.

I had survived twenty days in Razek’s “bond with nature” hell camp. I had outlived assassination threats of Lyra and even Ru’s makeover session. So this much was nothing.

I pushed myself up using the remains of a half-shattered tree. My legs wobbled. My vision blurred. But hey, at least there was no pain thanks to the artifact but I had no idea how long that mercy would last.

I was no longer in the clearing. The shockwave had dragged me deep into the forest — thick trees stood tall around me.

The bear didn’t lunge immediately, instead it studied me carefully.

That was new. Up until now, it had fought like a beast.

Now?

Now it looked like it was learning. And honestly I didn’t have any good feelings about it.

Thankfully, it hadn’t gone full protagonist and awakened some hidden second phase from the power of grief yet. Because if it roared something about vengeance and unlocked a second phase, I was out.

I stared at it. It stared right back. A full minute passed.

Blood was dripping down my side constantly. I could feel my vision fading at the edges.

So I did what any responsible person would do when their internal organs were screaming.

I reached into my storage ring — the one I kept for emergencies, or for when my cloak decided to betray me like now—and tried to pull out a healing potion.

The bear moved.

It didn’t walk. It just vanished.

With a burst of speed that cracked the air, it reappeared right in front of me.

My brain short-circuited.

VoidPulse Step.

Holy shit… the bear just copied my movement technique.

Before I could dwell on it, a punch came straight for my abdomen. I twisted my body, barely dodging as the strike sent a shockwave through the empty air.

The force sent me tumbling back slightly.

My ribs screamed. I had no time to think as the next strike came immediately.

A horizontal kick.

From a bear. Which should’ve been impossible. But here it was, swinging its leg at my head like it had trained in a dojo all its life.

I ducked low, feeling the wind against my hair.

I countered on instinct using [VoidPulse Step], aiming for its ribs again.

But the bear twisted mid-air, landed on its front paws and spun into another kick. Like a goddamn breakdancer.

I blocked my forearm and pain flared through it but it was immediately blocked out by the artifact.

My stance cracked. But the bear didn’t stop.

It was relentless with precision that shouldn’t belong to a creature of this size.

It wasn’t just mimicking my technique anymore. It was refining it.

For every strike I threw, it answered with two.

For every gap I saw, it closed it a heartbeat later.

I jumped back, mana pulsing at my heels and threw a pair of explosive cards using my skill to force some distance.

But it tore through the explosion without even flinching.

Nothing was working.

Pride told me to keep it clean — martial artist versus martial artist, technique against technique.

But pride wasn’t the one getting its organs rearranged.

And, let’s be honest—this furry bastard cheated first.

Two minor ranks higher than me and it gets a free dramatic power-up from some cosmic sugar daddy?

So why the hell should I play fair?

Moreover, the artifact’s pain-numbing effect was already starting to fade and once it wore off, every injury I had ignored would come crashing down on me.

And counting on that bastard Razek or anyone else to save my ass? Yeah, those chances were somewhere between low and none.

The man hadn’t saved me once. If anything, he went out of his way to toss me into dangerous situations and then made it a rule that no one else could set foot in this forest.

I didn’t even know how my overprotective father even agreed to such a condition…. But it didn’t matter.

If I wanted to live, I couldn’t afford to drag this out.

So I started running, dodging in between the trees, making my retreat look desperate.

Because in actuality, it was just bait for the beast.

The beast chased after me but at least it couldn’t use [VoidPulse Step] in this dense mess of trees—not without smashing its own skull into a trunk.

Moreover, its body was no less damaged than mine. In that condition, trying it here would be suicide. One wrong angle and it would break its own neck.

The trap I had marked came into view. All I had to do was get him to step in.

I jumped over it, my heart pounding, waiting for the satisfying crash behind me—

But nothing.

I glanced back. The bear had stopped just at the edge, its eyes narrowing as it scanned the ground.

It stepped around the pit with caution that didn’t belong to something this massive.

Of course. It saw me dodge and learn.

Just my fucking luck.

I gritted my teeth. The damn thing wasn’t just strong. It was getting smarter. Too fast.

But that was okay.

Because I wasn’t done yet.

I turned and bolted again but this time with purpose. The second trap was up ahead. It was something older, deeper and crueler.

One I made out of panic and paranoia during my first few nights here. It was never meant to be used unless things got really bad.

The entrance was wide and camouflaged—too wide to bait the bear alone.

So I did the only thing that made sense.

I ran straight towards it and stopped, right atop the second trap.

I kneeled on the perfect spot—not out of weakness but because the trap was pressure-sensitive. It was tuned to something barely my size.

The bear charged, seeing his moment. And that’s where he screwed up.

Just as its claws were inches away from my face, his weight hit the trap and the ground shattered beneath us.

I let myself fall just enough. Then, at the last moment, I grabbed hold of a narrow gap I carved into the side wall.

The bear wasn’t so lucky. Its massive body slammed into the trap.

Dozens of stakes waited below… but most snapped against its tough hide.

Almost.

Only a few found their mark—slipping into the open wounds it had accumulated during our fight.

It screamed but it still wasn’t dead. It tried to climb out with its half-impaled body. But the stakes had done their job. They slowed it and gave me just enough time to act.

And if I didn’t act soon, I would be the one skewered next.

I gritted my teeth and pulled my body up. My muscles screamed a painful melody. The artifact’s effect was almost over.

But I climbed and dragged myself onto solid ground.

The bear was still moving in the trap, thrashing violently.

It looked up at me and we locked eyes.

For a moment, I almost respected it. Maybe in another world, we would have been allies instead of killing each other in a pit.

But this was wasn’t such world. So, it had to die.

I stretched my hand toward it, channeling what little mana I had left as a single card appeared in front of me.

“For what it’s worth,” I said with hoarse voice. “you were terrifying.”

A pause.

“And I still think you were cheating.”

I flicked the card straight towards the largest injury it had—the gaping wound near its ribs, still leaking blood.

The card sliced through the air and lodged itself in it.

“It was a good fight, my friend.”

With those words, the card exploded with a boom sound.

The thrashing finally came to a stop. I didn’t look at the pit again.

I just stared at the sky. Breathing hurt. Thinking hurt. Everything hurt. But I was alive.

I reached into my storage ring and pulled out the healing potion and gulped it down. A cool sensation spread through my chest and limbs.

This area was safe and quiet. There were no monsters here. That was also the reason I picked this exact spot for my emergency trap.

Guess I owe myself a thank you.

I took a deep breath before a soft chime echoed in my ears.

Then, a system window appeared before me.

Red, glitched and distorted at the edges like it wasn’t meant to exist.

It looked nothing like the usual system screens.

『✦ The Forgotten Trickster is amused by your performance. ✦』

⟦ You have been granted an Audience. ⟧

Before I could voice a rejection—an insult or even a scream—

A red light covered me completely.

And then,

Darkness.

Only one final thought echoed through my mind before everything vanished,

What the hell is happening?

__________

Author’s Note:

Hey legends, thank you for surviving Rael’s unhinged saga all the way to Chapter 30.

Heads up! Starting next Chapter, the story will shift into Premium.

We’re crossing a threshold — from survivalist chaos and adoption to new world into divine trickery, eldritch systems and choices that echo far beyond Rael’s world.

And yes, for those wondering… the bear? Let’s just say death might not be the end for a creature that unlocked forbidden power.

Thank you for reading. Thank you even more if you’re choosing to stay.

Next up: Rael meets the Forgotten Trickster. And maybe… someone very familiar.

– Crimson

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