The moment Conner's fingers brushed the surface of the structure, everything changed.
No explosion. No warning. Just a sound—low and thick, like something old and heavy exhaling after holding its breath for a thousand years.
The violet runes etched into the floating disk blazed to life, rotating in concentric circles. The energy humming in the air shifted from faint and curious to sharp and aware.
Everyone in the group stepped back. Joey raised his axe. Katie dropped into a low stance, a thin layer of frost blooming across her shoulders. Neive whispered something to her summon, which crouched low and ready at her side.
Conner's gut twisted.
The ground behind the structure cracked.
Thud.
Thud.
The sound of something massive and alive.
From the treeline, a shape tore into view—shoulders broad as a small house, fur so black it looked like a hole in the air, and bones—so many bones—jutting out from its body like jagged armor.
It was a bear in the vaguest sense of the word. But this thing had been changed. Warped. Thick plates of calcified bone grew from its spine, ribs, and forearms, each one sharp enough to shred stone. Its white, pupil-less eyes glowed faintly in the dim mana-soaked sky.
Then Conner noticed it.
No system alert.
[No Threat Notification – Target exceeds detection threshold]
"It's over level five," he said.
Katie didn't even look at him. "Figures."
Joey shifted beside him, his huge frame tense—shoulders squared, weapon glowing dull red. "We doing this or what?"
The bear roared.
And the world tipped.
The sound slammed into them like a physical wall. Glass exploded from shattered windows. Ears rang. One of the background students dropped instantly, clutching his head and screaming. Another turned to run.
The bear didn't chase them.
It came for the center.
For the group.
Joey moved first, charging forward like a tank in human skin. At 6'5", he wasn't just tall—he was carved from power. Muscles strained under his torn hoodie as he raised his molten weapon with both hands and met the bear's first paw strike head-on.
The blow knocked him backward like a doll. He smashed through a chunk of stone wall, coughing hard, blood staining his lower lip.
But he stood.
"Not dead," he grunted. "Just pissed."
Katie raised her hand, lips tight, sweat already forming on her brow. A spear of ice burst into the air, sharp and fast, and shot forward. It nailed the bear in the side—shattering instantly against a layer of jagged rib-armor.
She cursed under her breath and summoned two more. Her long black hair whipped in the wind as the beast turned toward her.
She fired.
One missed.
The second lodged in its front shoulder.
It turned—fur boiling with mana.
Neive pushed her summon forward, but her hands were shaking. "Go—harass, not tank!"
The wolf sprinted in a zigzag path, biting the back leg and dodging a swipe—barely. It ducked under a tail made of thick, bone-plated vertebrae and backed off just as the beast spun in a blur.
Its claws slammed into the cobblestone, exploding chunks of earth skyward.
The force sent Katie stumbling. Her coat tore across the ribs from a near miss, thin blood lines forming quickly across her skin. She winced, breath catching.
Joey roared and struck again, burying his weapon into the bear's flank. Steam hissed from where the metal sank deep. But the bear turned into it, dragging its own flesh across the blade like it didn't care.
It raised a paw the size of a dining table.
"Joey—!" Katie screamed.
Conner moved before he thought.
He drew fast, Scope Eye flaring to life.
[Target Locked – Magic Scope Eye Active]
[Range: Close | Accuracy Bonus: +17%]
He loosed.
The arrow cracked into the bear's shoulder joint—not enough to stop it, but enough to shift the angle of the incoming hit.
Joey got clipped instead of crushed, thrown again, but alive.
Barely.
They regrouped behind scattered rubble.
Conner's heart was hammering. Katie leaned on a pillar, chest heaving. Her shirt stuck to her side where blood was soaking through.
Neive collapsed next to him, her summon flickering in and out of visibility like it was losing cohesion.
"We can't keep this up," she said, voice shaking.
Joey limped over, blood on his forehead. "Got another hit in. I think I broke something though."
"Just one?" Katie muttered.
The bear roared again.
And started walking toward them.
Conner's vision flashed.
[Quest Triggered – Solo System Challenge]
[Objective: Land the killing blow on the Bone-Twisted Alpha (Lv. ???)]
[Reward: Trait Evolution – Hollow Marksmanship -> ???]
Another line followed immediately:
[Stat Allocation Mandatory – Recommendation: Immediate Distribution]
He didn't want to.
But now wasn't the time to hold back.
He opened the panel and poured in the points.
Conner moved on instinct, fast but focused. He didn't dump them randomly—he measured. Every number meant something now.
• Perception: +5 — for sharper aiming
• Agility: +5 — for dodging tight
• Intelligence: +5 — more mana, more shots
• Wisdom: +3 — for casting control
• Vitality: +5 — he wasn't going down in one hit
• Strength: +5 — his bow would draw faster, heavier
• Magic: +2 — still untested, but connected to power
The changes were immediate. His breath evened out. His hands stopped shaking. The cold air no longer bit at his lungs. His limbs felt lighter, like tension had been replaced with rhythm.
The world didn't slow down.
He just sped up.
He ran from cover, slipping behind the statue Joey had been thrown into. The bear noticed—of course it did—and turned.
Its chest heaved.
It charged.
Conner slid low under the swing of its claw, rolling to one knee, bow already drawn.
[Magic Scope Eye – Locked]
[True Draw – Activated]
Three seconds.
His breathing matched his heartbeat.
One.
Two.
Release.
The mana arrow screamed forward—slamming under the bear's jaw, through the soft spot near its gullet. Not a kill shot, but deep enough to make it screech, head snapping backward in rage.
Joey took the opening, slamming his molten axe into the back of its leg, blowing out the knee.
The beast staggered.
Katie shouted something—Conner turned just as three ice spikes shot forward in unison, orbiting from behind her like blades. One struck the bear's side and shattered. The other two hit flesh.
The third spike exploded, a blast of frost that momentarily froze a section of the bear's body in place.
"Now!" she screamed.
Neive gritted her teeth, poured every drop of mana she had left into her summon.
The wolf leapt forward—its form altered, sleeker, claws longer. It tore into the frozen side of the bear with brutal efficiency, biting deep and ripping until steam hissed off the wound.
The bear screamed.
A deep, furious, wounded sound.
It slammed one paw down, crushing the summon instantly. Neive choked on the recoil and dropped to her knees.
Joey got clipped again—his side ripped open as the beast twisted mid-lurch, throwing him back against the shattered walkway.
He didn't get up this time.
Conner ran toward the creature, arrows forming faster now, mana moving easier through him. But even with speed, he couldn't kill it alone.
Its hide was still thick. It was bleeding—but fighting harder.
His eyes flicked to Joey.
Unmoving.
To Neive, barely conscious.
To Katie—who had dropped to one knee, drained, her breath fogging heavily in the cold forming around her.
He was the only one left standing.
[Trait Quest Active – Final Blow Required for Evolution]
He had one shot.
He ducked behind the wrecked statue, raised the bow, and stared through the Scope Eye. His vision narrowed to the weakest point: the back of the skull, just below the ridge where bone plating didn't cover.
He drew.
Three seconds.
[True Draw – Engaged]
The bear turned.
It saw him.
It charged.
He released.
The arrow punched through the air like a thunderclap.
It hit the beast's skull.
And embedded—not deep enough.
The bear didn't stop.
Conner turned, sprinting as fast as he could, trying to get another arrow drawn, trying to—
But it was too close.
Too fast.
He slipped.
Hit the ground.
Looked up.
The bear loomed overhead, blood and frost dripping from its mouth, bones like spears surrounding its face like a twisted crown.
It raised its paw.
[HP: 100 → 19]
Something hit.
Everything went black.