The moment the first orc stepped into Auren's range, the forest seemed to tighten.
Not physically—
But something deeper.
Like the space itself resisted movement.
The orc's heavy footsteps slowed for a fraction of a second, confusion flashing across its brutish face. That single moment was enough.
Auren moved.
No—he didn't move.
He simply appeared.
The distance between him and the orc collapsed unnaturally, space folding as if it were nothing more than thin cloth. One instant he stood still, the next—
He was already beside it.
The orc reacted late.
Too late.
Its massive weapon swung downward with raw force, enough to crush bone and split earth.
Auren tilted his head slightly.
The strike missed.
Not because he dodged.
But because the space where the weapon should have landed… wasn't there anymore.
A slight distortion bent the trajectory.
The ground cracked behind him instead.
Auren raised his hand.
The shadows beneath the orc trembled.
Then—
They surged upward.
Not wildly.
Not uncontrollably.
But with intent.
They wrapped around the orc's legs, tightening like chains forged from darkness itself.
The orc roared, struggling against the binding.
Another screen flickered into existence.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Orc Warrior
HP: 82% ↓
Status: Restrained
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"…Weak control," Auren murmured.
The shadows wavered.
The orc's brute strength began tearing through them.
Behind him, the goblin tensed, gripping its dagger tightly, but still didn't interfere.
The other two orcs didn't hesitate.
They charged together.
Coordinated.
Fast.
Auren's gaze sharpened.
The air around him compressed again—
But this time, it wasn't enough.
One orc reached him first.
A heavy fist came crashing toward his head.
Auren shifted—
Space bent—
But not perfectly.
The blow grazed his shoulder.
A dull impact echoed through his body as he was pushed back several steps.
The ground cracked under his feet as he stabilized himself.
A faint line of blood appeared.
Behind him, the goblin's eyes widened.
Auren looked at his shoulder.
"…So this is the limit."
Not fear.
Not panic.
Just observation.
The two free orcs didn't give him time to think.
One attacked high.
The other low.
Perfect coordination.
Auren exhaled slowly.
Then—
His eyes changed.
The world slowed.
Not actually.
But in his perception.
Every movement became clearer.
Every shift in muscle, every step, every breath—
Predictable.
"…Better."
He stepped forward.
This time—
He controlled it.
The space twisted not randomly, but precisely.
The attacking orc's strike passed through empty air as Auren's position shifted by mere centimeters—
But those centimeters were warped.
Unreachable.
Auren's hand moved.
Not fast.
Not forceful.
Yet—
It reached the orc's chest before the orc could react.
And then—
The space there collapsed inward.
A dull, heavy sound echoed.
Not an explosion.
But compression.
The orc's body froze.
Its chest dented unnaturally, as if crushed by invisible pressure.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Orc Warrior
HP: 41% ↓
Status: Internal Damage
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The orc staggered back, coughing violently.
The second orc roared and swung again.
Auren turned.
This time—
The shadows responded faster.
They rose sharply, wrapping around the weapon mid-swing, dragging it off course.
Auren stepped inside the orc's guard.
Too close.
Too sudden.
His hand lifted again.
"…Collapse."
The air twisted.
The space around the orc's torso folded inward—
And snapped.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Orc Warrior
HP: 0%
Status: Dead
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The body fell.
Heavy.
Silent.
The remaining two orcs hesitated.
Just for a second.
That hesitation—
Was fatal.
Auren moved again.
Faster now.
More precise.
The distorted space carried him forward like a silent current.
The restrained orc finally broke free from the shadows—
Only to find Auren already in front of it.
No roar.
No warning.
Just—
A single touch.
The distortion concentrated into a point.
Then—
Release.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Orc Warrior
HP: 0%
Status: Dead
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The last orc stepped back.
For the first time—
Fear appeared.
It turned to run.
Auren watched it.
Then—
He raised his hand slightly.
The distance between them shrank instantly.
The orc stumbled as the ground beneath it shifted unnaturally.
Auren appeared behind it.
"…Running won't help."
The shadows rose one last time—
Binding.
Tightening.
The orc struggled, but its strength meant nothing now.
Auren's eyes remained calm.
Cold.
Precise.
He placed his hand on its back.
"…End."
The distortion crushed inward.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Orc Warrior
HP: 0%
Status: Dead
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Silence returned to the forest.
Heavy.
Still.
Only the faint rustle of leaves remained.
Behind him—
The goblin stood frozen.
Its dagger had lowered without it realizing.
Its eyes… had changed.
Not fear.
Not curiosity.
Something else.
Respect.
Auren exhaled slowly.
His body felt heavier now.
The strain was clear.
His control wasn't perfect yet.
But—
He was improving.
Fast.
Then—
A voice echoed.
Calm.
Old.
Yet carrying a weight that didn't belong to this place.
"You bend space… yet you don't understand it."
Auren's eyes sharpened instantly.
He turned.
The forest behind him felt… wrong.
No presence.
No movement.
Yet—
Someone was there.
From the shadows between the trees, a figure stepped forward.
Slowly.
An old man.
Frailed posture.
White hair.
Eyes that seemed dull—
Yet deeper than anything Auren had ever seen.
The goblin instinctively stepped back.
Its body trembling.
"…Dangerous," it whispered.
But Auren didn't move.
Didn't attack.
He simply observed.
Another screen tried to appear—
Then flickered.
Glitched.
And disappeared.
Auren's eyes narrowed.
"…Not measurable."
The old man smiled faintly.
"The system cannot measure what stands outside it."
Silence stretched.
The air itself felt heavier.
Auren spoke.
"…Who are you?"
The old man looked at him.
Not at his body—
But through him.
"Asking the wrong question."
A pause.
Then—
"I am someone who failed."
His gaze sharpened slightly.
"And you…"
For the first time—
There was interest.
Real interest.
"…are something that should not exist."
The forest grew quieter.
As if listening.
The goblin didn't dare move.
Auren remained calm.
But inside—
Something shifted.
The old man took a step closer.
Unhurried.
Unafraid.
"You were rejected by the system, weren't you?"
Auren said nothing.
That silence—
Was enough.
The old man's faint smile returned.
"Good."
Auren's eyes narrowed slightly.
"…Good?"
The old man nodded.
"Because the system only rejects what it cannot control."
A brief pause.
Then—
He looked directly into Auren's eyes.
And spoke the words that changed everything.
"You were not born weak."
Auren's breath stilled—
Just for a moment.
The old man continued.
"You were born beyond its limits."
Silence fell again.
Heavy.
Unshakable.
The forest no longer felt like a battlefield.
It felt like the beginning of something else.
Something far greater.
The old man turned slightly, as if losing interest already.
"Come."
Auren didn't move.
"…Why?"
The old man stopped.
But didn't turn back.
"Because if you continue like this…"
A brief pause.
"…you will break yourself before you ever reach your potential."
The words were calm.
Simple.
Yet absolute.
For the first time—
Auren hesitated.
Not out of fear.
But calculation.
Behind him, the goblin looked between the two.
Confused.
Uncertain.
Auren looked at the old man's back.
Then at his own hand.
The faint distortion still lingered around it.
Unstable.
Incomplete.
"…Tch."
A soft sound escaped him.
Then—
He stepped forward.
Not trusting.
Not submitting.
But choosing.
"Lead the way."
The old man smiled faintly.
Without turning.
"Good."
And as the two figures began walking deeper into the forest—
The goblin hesitated.
Then—
Quietly—
Followed.
Uninvited.
Yet unwilling to leave.
And far above them—
Hidden beyond sight—
The space itself seemed to ripple.
As if acknowledging—
That something dangerous had just begun.