"The fuck man, where did he place it?"
I stepped deeper into the forest, pushing aside wet branches that clung to my coat. The air smelled of rotting leaves and old rain.
My boots sank into the soft ground with every step, but I kept going, eyes scanning the underbrush for any sign of that damn bush.
Something hissed nearby. I didn’t look at it directly—just flicked my wrist. A silver chain shot out, coiling around a thick branch. It pulled me sideways, and a thorned vine whipped through the space where I’d just stood.
A single ringed vine monster was attacking me, but I ignored it.
I kept moving. The light barely reached through the thick canopy, and the ground was littered with roots and half-hidden holes. Every few steps, I felt the earth shift under me, as if something was waiting just out of sight.
Then another sound came from behind. I turned, sending a chain snapping through the leaves to keep whatever it was at bay. The chain glinted, then curled back to me like a living thing.
Sweat clung to my neck. The deeper I went, the thicker the air felt, as if the forest itself was alive.
I stepped around a cluster of mushrooms that oozed dark sap. My chains swayed at my side, ready to lash out again if something lunged.
A few more steps, and the undergrowth thinned. My eyes caught something half-buried behind a fallen log—small, gnarled branches heavy with dark yellow fruit.
I found it—a bomberry bush.
I quickly plucked a fruit from it and injected a thin stream of mana into its core. The skin of the fruit pulsed, veins of faint orange light spiderwebbing across its surface.
Then I tossed it onto the ground.
It bounced once, rolled a few meters, and—
The fruit ruptured with a sharp crack, unleashing a burst of scorching light and a wave of pressurized air. Shards of tough rind splintered out like shrapnel, slicing through the grass and scoring deep cuts into nearby roots.
Smoke curled upward, tinged with the acrid scent of burnt pulp, as bits of smoldering husk clattered back to the forest floor. It was truly a beautiful scene.
"Now that’s what we call an explosion. Nyx, you beauty," I whistled, eyeing the scorched patch of earth.
One of these could easily kill any beast of the first ring, and if I threw a few together, even a second-ring beast wouldn’t stand a chance.
Last night, Nyx had slipped in and planted these bushes at my request.
Knowing the future came with perks, and one of them was knowing where important events would unfold.
The Battle of Dominion was set to happen on a small island beside the Imperial capital, Nest. Thanks to that, Nyx had sneaked in unnoticed and seeded these bomberry bushes.
For a one-of-a-kind shadow-psychic cat, slipping past security was child’s play.
"Keke, now no one will suspect me for this," I giggled, plucking every fruit I could store. By the end, I’d gathered around fifty bomberries, stuffing them into the torn shirt of some poor guy I’d beaten and robbed earlier.
And for good measure, the rest of the bomberries wouldn’t stay here to rot.
One by one, I plucked them too and threw them deeper into the forest. Each fruit flew through the smoky air, bounced once, then—
Flames roared out, shaking the ground. Smoke and splinters shot up like black rain. The blast bent small trees and ripped leaves from branches.
A bee beast the size of a horse crawled from behind a rock with its claws raised. But it was too slow. I tossed a bomberry right under its belly.
Its shell cracked open, spilling guts and black blood across the moss. Bits of chitin landed at my feet, still steaming from the blast.
My vision flickered as +50 Points floated above my sight in pale letters.
"Lovely," I whispered.
From the smoke ahead, three examinees stumbled out, coughing.
One of them saw me. His mouth opened to shout—but I’d already thrown another batch of fruits.
They rolled between them and—
The explosions threw them into the air like broken dolls. One hit a tree so hard that the trunk split apart. The other two vanished into the smoke, seemingly out of the exam.
The forest shook as fire spread through dry branches. The air smelled of burnt flesh and sap. Now I had exhausted all the excess bomberries, so I began to move.
My chains swayed at my side, ready to strike. Sweat dripped down my neck, but I couldn’t stop grinning.
Another beast charged at me—a boar with tusks like blades. I spun a chain at it, hooking it with a bomberry, then whipped it straight into its open mouth.
The beast froze as the fruit entered its mouth. Its small eyes widened—and then—
The blast tore its head apart. The body crashed sideways, crushing bushes and sending black smoke curling upward.
More numbers rolled in. +10... +50... +100... Each kill made the tally climb higher. It felt good—too good.
Shadows moved in the smoke. More examinees had surrounded me. One of them lifted his bow, aiming at me.
But before he could shoot, I tossed a bomberry underhand. It bounced against a root and exploded beside him.
Flames swallowed him. When the smoke cleared, nothing moved but burning scraps of cloth.
"Keke... beautiful," I whispered.
The ground shook again as another bomberry exploded nearby. Roots and dirt flew into the air. Burning leaves floated down like black snow.
A lizard-beast with scales burned raw tried to crawl away. I threw a fruit at its tail.
Its back half vanished in a spray of blood and mud. The beast twitched once, then lay still.
My points shot up higher and higher.
This side of the forest had become a battlefield. Craters smoked in the soft earth. Broken bodies lay half-buried under burnt leaves. Fire crackled in the branches above.
I walked through it all collecting spirit orbs, calm as ever. My coat brushed ash from dying roots. My chains glinted in the firelight, curling around me like silver serpents.
Further away, another examinee shouted. I flung two bomberries at him at once.
The twin blasts shook the trees as smoke swallowed their screams. When it cleared, nothing was left but scraps of armor and scorched earth.
+250... The numbers danced across my sight like a song only I could hear.
The ground was torn open. Smoke rose in twisting columns. Burnt blood stained the roots black.
I kept throwing. Monsters, beasts, men—it didn’t matter. Everything burned the same.
And as the forest roared and burned around me, my grin grew wider.
All according to plan. And with that, I was almost in the top ten.