Big Trees

The underground parking lot fell into silence, the weight of Akira's words pressing down like an iron cage. No one moved. No one dared to breathe.

Anna's eyes widened in sheer disbelief, while the other Stars stood frozen, too stunned to react. But no one was more shaken than Grido himself.

His chest tightened as he stared at the boy—no, the young man—standing before him, the one who had just threatened to kill him if he stood in his way. Grido had faced death countless times.

But this?

This was different.

Before Grido could open his mouth to argue, Akira spoke again, his voice like steel slicing through the tension.

"I'm saying this to you, Grido, because even though you too are furious now, I know you're the most level-headed one here."

The words carried weight—acknowledgment, reason, and unshakable resolve.

Akira's gaze swept over the group, lingering on each of them a second longer than necessary, as if memorizing their faces. He exhaled, slow and measured, before continuing.

"Don't follow me inside. If I can't take care of him—" His voice dropped lower, sharper. "Wait for him outside. Call reinforcements. Kill this bastard without fail."

Silence.

The others barely processed his words, but Grido understood. Akira wasn't planning on losing. He was stating a contingency—one he fully expected would never be needed.

Then it happened.

Akira's pupils ignited, shifting into an eerie, luminous white. His exhausted eyes blazed anew with terrifying intensity. Power surged through him, the fatigue that had weighed him down moments ago vanishing as if his body had simply rejected weakness.

Grido swallowed hard, remaining silent.

Anna found her voice and took a step forward, reaching for him.

"Please, stop, Aki—"

Grido's hand shot out in front of her before she could finish. His expression was unreadable, but the gravity in his gaze was unmistakable.

"Let him go."

Anna recoiled, eyes darting to him in shock.

"Grido, are you serious?! We can't just let him—"

"It's not worth it," Grido cut in, voice firm. "We can't stop him."

Akira was already stepping toward the dungeon's portal when Grido spoke again, quieter now, his words laced with something rare—something real.

"I believe you'll come back."

Akira paused just inches from the swirling green abyss.

"You have things to finish before dying. I know that much."

For a fleeting moment, Akira's expression flickered—his eyes widening slightly before narrowing again, the emotion locked away. He didn't respond immediately.

Then, with a final glance back, his voice rang out clear and unwavering.

"I will."

He stepped forward—vanishing into the emerald void.

The portal pulsed in his absence, its eerie glow throbbing like a heartbeat..

The underground parking lot was thick with tension, the air suffocating under the weight of everything that had just happened. Akira had vanished into the dungeon, leaving behind a silence more deafening than any battle cry.

Anna stood frozen, her chest rising and falling in uneven breaths, fists clenched so tightly her knuckles blanched white. She whirled toward Grido, desperation flashing in her blue eyes.

"Why didn't you stop him?" she demanded, voice cracking. "You know the condition he's in! Do you want to lose him like Guildmaster Sylara?!"

Grido inhaled deeply, closing his eyes briefly before meeting her gaze. His expression was unreadable, but the heaviness in his voice betrayed him.

"I know you're worried, Anna... but he made his choice. And as much as I hate to admit it, it's the best option we have."

Anna's breath hitched as Grido continued, his tone unwavering.

"Look at who we have here. Do you really think this team—a group of Stars thrown together in chaos—stands a chance against a B-rank dungeon monster and a demonic human? The same bastard Akira and Guildmaster Sylara couldn't defeat together?"

Anna's protests died on her lips.

"You've been out of action for a while, so maybe you don't see it yet... but Akira isn't the same person he was before," Grido said firmly. "He's stronger now. Stronger than me, by every measure."

Anna took a shaky step back. She'd seen glimpses of his strength, but hearing Grido—a veteran—admit it outright shook her to the core.

Grido exhaled sharply and shook his head.

"I know how you feel. Everyone here feels it—grief, anger, the need to avenge Sylara. But here's the truth: we can't." His voice hardened. "That's a fact. My eyes were clouded by rage too. I wanted to charge in and tear that bastard apart myself. But Akira snapped me out of it."

Anna lowered her gaze, lips trembling. "I understand... I'm sorry." Her whisper was barely audible. "I just—I know he's in no state to go in alone."

Grido's fists clenched at his sides.

"You think I feel good about this?" he muttered, voice strained. "It's borderline suicide... and yet, my gut's never been surer."

He turned to Healer Guan, steel in his tone. "Guan, call reinforcements. Contact the guild—no, not just ours. Alert the others. The Terra Agents too. Tell them a demonic human has appeared."

Guan's eyes widened. "Are you sure? That's—"

"They'll understand," Grido cut in. "This isn't a normal outbreak. They'll send real firepower. Secure the perimeter until then."

Guan nodded. "Understood."

Grido scanned the shaken Stars, his voice dropping low and steady.

"I know you're angry. I know you want revenge. But we don't throw our lives away for vengeance. We avenge her the right way."

"Yes, sir!" they barked in unison, fists pressed to chests, resolve cutting through their fear.

Grido turned back to the portal, its emerald glow pulsing like a sick heartbeat. Under his breath, barely a whisper:

"Survive, Akira... Prove I was right to believe in you again."

The scene faded to the hum of the portal, its eerie light the only witness to the battle raging beyond.

The moment Akira stepped through the portal, reality twisted around him.

Instead of the dark, decaying dungeon interior he'd expected, he found himself standing in the heart of an impossible forest—a primordial expanse that defied all logic.

The air hung thick with unnatural stillness, heavy enough to choke on. Towering trees, their trunks wide enough to swallow city blocks, stretched endlessly toward a sky he couldn't see. Their emerald leaves pulsed with faint bioluminescence, casting shifting patterns of light across the unnaturally lush undergrowth. The scent of damp earth filled his nostrils, undercut by something subtly wrong—a presence that raised the hairs on his neck.

Akira's glowing white eyes narrowed to slits.

"A new type..." he murmured, scanning the alien terrain. "And a quiet one. This silence is worse than screams."

Every instinct screamed at him. Not just because of the eerie tranquility, but the complete absence of life. No rustling foliage. No distant monster calls. Not even the whisper of wind through branches. Just perfect, predatory silence stretching into infinity.

His attention dropped to the savage wound across his torso. The bleeding had stopped, but the flesh remained torn and angry. His black hood hung in tatters, his cloak barely clinging to his shoulders. He exhaled sharply through his nose, compartmentalizing the pain.

"Energy's running low," he admitted to the empty air, fists clenching. "And with most monsters already outside from the outbreak... No chance to hunt for recovery."

A slow, deliberate inhale.

A razor-sharp exhale.

His voice dropped to subzero temperatures: "I'm ending this. Here. Now."

The glow in his eyes intensified as he scanned the canopy.

"System," he whispered. "Vital scan. Same parameters as the dungeon entrance."

A beat of silence before the response came:

Ding!

[Requires elevation]

Akira moved before the words finished echoing. Wounded muscles protested as he launched himself at the nearest trunk, fingers finding purchase in the bark.

Up.

Higher.

Each movement sent white-hot lances through his body. He ignored them. He had to.

At the canopy's zenith, the view stole his breath—in all the wrong ways.

An endless sea of trees stretched to every horizon, bathed in sourceless ambient light. The air here tasted metallic, wrong. This wasn't nature—it was a carefully constructed nightmare.

"Sufficient?" he ground out.

[Affirmative. Scanning...]

Akira's pulse pounded in his ears. Every instinct screamed danger.

Then—

BOOM.