"I... am....so... lonely... hm... hm hm... hmm... lonely..." Robert’s gloomy voice drifted through the quiet forest as he and his team patrolled, scanning for anything unusual.
He kept humming his off-key tune, face downcast. "Nobody... loves... me... hm hm hm hmm... I am sooo lonely..."
The others looked visibly annoyed, but no one said anything. It wasn’t exactly the right time—things had been rough for their group lately. First, Shera broke up with Altev. They weren’t that close to her, so it didn’t hit too hard, but still.
But Robert? He’d gotten rejected by some mercenary girl he tried flirting with, and instead of moving on, he took it personally. Now he wouldn’t stop with the constant whining and his made-up sad songs, giving everyone in the squad a collective headache.
Theon couldn’t take it anymore and was the first to crack. "Enough with the songs, man... First they were just depressing, now they’re making me want to stab nails into my ears."
"Oh, I’m sorry..." Robert said, looking a bit dazed, like he’d just snapped out of it. Glancing around at everyone’s expressions, he added, "I didn’t know my sadness was so annoying to my friends..." Then, with a dramatic sigh, he mumbled, "But I guess I really am loneliiii..."
Well, that was Robert. Cassian had his own troubles. Mostly just one, actually—Alix. She’d been making his life difficult enough that he’d been deliberately volunteering for jungle patrols all week. There hadn’t even been a major monster wave since the one on their first day here, but still, it was better than dealing with her.
There had been a lot of monsters sneaking near the camps lately, which was why the patrols were happening so often. The reason there hadn’t been another big wave was because the cult had used some kind of summoning magic to bring in a huge number of monsters all at once. They did that a lot in the beginning, mostly because it was hard to figure out how they were doing it.
But after a few sacrifices, Princess Aria managed to discover a massive mana circle spread across the forest. Now, everyone was focused on destroying those.
Clearing out those summoning circles was also part of their patrol task. But one thing didn’t sit right—these summoning circles were huge, and placing them around the forest would’ve taken a lot of time. There were too many of them, which meant the cult had been planning this for a while—right under the Earl’s nose. How had no one noticed anything?
There were a few summoning circles found in Magisteria too, but barely ten or so, and most were used early on and quickly destroyed. But here, nearly three dozen have already been wiped out—and there are still more left, some visible even from the last monster wave’s aftermath.
It was pretty clear someone on the Earl’s side had been helping the cultists. Probably for a while now, even before anyone knew the cult existed. It all started coming to light during the chaos with Valtross Academy and the Iron Kingdom’s civil war. That’s when whispers about these hidden bastards started popping up in shady groups’ conversations—until everyone slowly realized that all those powerful shady groups were the cult in disguise.
That aside, Cassian had no idea what those summoning circles were even supposed to look like, or how anyone was supposed to tell if they were standing in one. Supposedly, they were big enough to summon hundreds of monsters at once.
He asked Lumine, though she had her own frustration going on—mostly about not getting any alone time with him. "I don’t know," she replied, a bit annoyed. "Ask Wanni. She’s the one who got the full briefing."
Cassian couldn’t really blame her. Back at camp, Alix definitely wasn’t going to let him spend any peaceful time with Lumine. And out here in the forest? Not exactly the best place for alone time with all the danger around. Letting out a sigh, he glanced over at Wanni, who was scanning the area ahead.
"Hey," Cassian called out, "is there a way to tell if we’re inside one of those summoning spells?" Then added, "Explain it like you’re talking to someone with a tiny brain, yeah?"
Wanni gave him an annoyed look too for some reason and sighed. "Mana circles are usually drawn using powdered mana stones mixed with infused colors to power them. But once you scale them up and place them in open areas, you don’t need that many mana stones anymore. Still, they have to be drawn with specific symbols and patterns. Sometimes those symbols are made using things like trees grown in exact spots, or stones, or even parts of the ground being dug up in shapes that match the circle."
She glanced around, then pointed at some stones nearby. "The easiest way to spot them is by checking for patterns—like stones placed in a perfect shape. These circles need to be precise from every angle. The tree-based ones are rare, though. No one’s dumb enough to waste all that time planting trees just right when one storm could ruin everything."
"As for the ones dug into the ground—good luck spotting those. You’d need to be flying and looking from above, and even then, it’s not easy. That’s why the most reliable way is to sense the mana around you."
She paused, then continued, "In cities, mana isn’t that noticeable—too many people, too little nature. But out here in the jungle, mana’s everywhere. Some areas have more, some less, but the change is usually subtle. You don’t really feel it unless you’re paying close attention."
"But with these big mana circles, since they pull mana from the surroundings to charge themselves, the difference becomes obvious—if you’re sensitive to mana. Which, lucky for you, every mage is. So, no need to worry about accidentally standing inside one without realizing."
"Sheee..." Althea suddenly hissed, cutting off the conversation with a sharp shush.
Everyone immediately turned to her, confused, until they followed her hand as she pointed between the trees—just beyond the thick underbrush.
Down near a cluster of bushes, a large rock seemed to be... moving. Or at least, it looked like a rock at first. But then it expanded slightly, like something breathing in, followed by a soft, wheezing sound as air escaped. The faint hissing echoed just enough to carry to where they stood.
Cassian narrowed his eyes. That wasn’t a rock.
Even Robert, momentarily forgetting his heartbreak, leaned forward and whispered, eyes wide, "It’s a fucking troll..."
The thing was huge. Its back was hunched, skin rough like stone, blending perfectly with the surroundings. But now that they were staring, the slow rise and fall of its breath was clear.
Wanni’s voice was low, tense. "Looks like it’s asleep."
Lumine leaned closer to Cassian and muttered, "Please don’t say we’re about to fight that."
Cassian sighed. "You know how our luck goes."
Althea slowly reached for her weapon. "Stay low. Stay quiet. If it wakes up, we run." Then, under her breath, she muttered, "At least I will..."
As everyone started stepping back, Cassian didn’t argue. He wasn’t dumb enough to try and fight it—impulsive, sure, but not suicidal. Even with his war armor, taking on a four-star monster alone wasn’t something he could handle easily. Those things were roughly on par with an early third-circle warrior in terms of strength.
They moved carefully, watching the troll as it continued snoring loudly, still deep in sleep. Eventually, they put enough distance between themselves and the creature, crouching behind a large boulder where they were completely hidden.
Everyone finally exhaled.
"We should go let the others know," Wanni whispered. "Someone who can actually handle that thing."
"Yeah, but," Robert leaned toward Cassian, speaking in a low voice, "didn’t he kill that third-circle warrior before? This troll doesn’t look that much stronger..."
Before Cassian could say anything, Lumine shot Robert a glare and snapped, whispering harshly, "Are you trying to fucking get him killed?"
"I didn’t mean it like that..." Robert whispered, sounding a bit apologetic. "I just thought—what if it’s gone by the time we come back with help..."
That only made Lumine more irritated. Her expression tightened as she leaned in and hissed, "So you’re saying we should all risk dying just to maybe keep it here? When there are plenty of strong people back at camp who could deal with it in one strike?"
As the two of them whispered back and forth, Cassian’s brows furrowed. He wasn’t paying attention to their argument anymore. Something felt... off.
A moment ago, there had been a steady background sound—the troll’s loud, rhythmic snoring.