You have encountered Skull Harvesters!

Skull Harvesters?

A low chuckle escaped Scott's lips as he materialized behind one of the hulking creatures. Still shirtless from the previous trial, he barely flinched when the harvester lashed out—its spiked tail swinging toward his bare chest.

The tail's tip resembled a grotesque, fleshy mace—mangled, yet deadly. Scott's eyes narrowed. He relaxed his right hand, tracking the speeding tail. As it came within inches of his face, he struck—snatching it midair with a clean grip. His tanned frame tightened, muscles glinting under the radiance.

With a brutal pull, the harvester was yanked off its feet, its massive frame flung skyward like a ragdoll.

The other creatures froze, bewildered. Before they could process what was happening, Scott whirled his captive by the tail and hurled it like a comet into one of its brethren.

A sickening crack echoed. Muffled howls followed.

Both Skull Harvesters dropped like stones, skulls fractured and oozing greenish, luminous blood from fiery cracks. Neither stirred—just pitiful whimpers and twitching limbs.

The rest turned their attention toward Scott, jaws slack, tails twitching.

Scott smiled. Cold. Mocking. Promising more violence.

The harvesters howled in rage, their claws extending and digging deep into the soil. They prepared to pounce—only for Scott to vanish.

He reappeared midair in front of another beast. Both hands interlocked, eyes glinting with bloodlust. He descended like a meteor, fists first.

BOOM.

His blow landed squarely on the creature's skull. Another crack. Another eruption of green blood. The harvester crumpled, unmoving.

Silence.

Then, chaos. The harvesters lunged like berserkers, shrieking with feral rage—madder than when they'd attacked the Safe Zone.

Scott stood still, blood coating his body like a geyser had erupted over him. He laughed.

"What were you expecting?" he asked, voice dripping mockery. "This would be easier if you just let me end it quickly. I can make it hurt, you know."

His grin was razor-sharp.

Howls answered. The creatures surged.

Scott vanished again.

He reappeared atop a charging harvester's neck. His hands gripped the stubby, horn-like protrusions jutting from its skull.

Muscles bulged. A sharp crack. The head twisted 180 degrees.

Scott kept turning.

With a final snap, the harvester's head tore free from its spine.

Scott stood atop its twitching body, skull in hand, watching the flames inside slowly fade to black.

The remaining harvesters skidded to a halt. Encircling him, but silent now. No snarls. No movement. Just twitching tails.

Scott looked around, then smiled.

"Oh? You do know fear," he murmured, stepping off the corpse.

He casually tossed the skull aside, eyes sweeping the circle of beasts. He took a step forward.

They retreated.

Whimpering. But not fleeing.

Pathetic.

I really thought they'd put up more of a fight. Scott sighed. Now that the threat was gone, it all felt pointless. Too fast. Too easy.

If I'd known they could feel fear, I would've taken my time. That's on me, he thought, shaking his head in mock regret.

His mind drifted.

Those trees in the old man's domain... they were tougher than this. How the hell?

He had fought for hours just to break a few of them. At the time, he hadn't questioned it. After all, the old man used only crude tools. Were those trees stronger than the monsters I've been killing since I got back?

The realization didn't sit well.

Scott blinked back to the present, eyeing the creatures still surrounding him.

"If you're not gonna fight," he growled, "then fuck off."

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The harvesters flinched. Then—they fled.

No hesitation. No backward glances.

Scott wasn't sure if they understood his words—but they felt his bloodlust.

That was enough.

"Now that those guys are out of the—" Scott was cut off by a series of devastating booms that tore through the silence like cannonfire.

He turned toward where the harvesters had fled—just in time to witness gigantic black rods puncturing their skulls. Each one fell in an instant, slain before they could even scream.

Scott narrowed his gaze. The attack had come so fast, so precise—he hadn't sensed a thing.

Was that the Overseer's doing? Or a Hive member… maybe a Garden Servant?

He scanned the area, eyes wary. Only now did he notice the ethereal beauty of the active zone.

Thousands of radiant flowers bloomed between towering, cherry-blossom-like trees, stretching as far as the eye could see. Tiny insects flitted lazily through the air, dancing across petals. Though no wind stirred the leaves, a cool breeze brushed gently against his skin.

I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this, Scott thought, taking in the surreal landscape. His gaze soon returned to the corpses of the Skull Harvesters he'd killed himself—and he frowned.

From their remains, flowers had begun to sprout, feeding on flesh and bone. Their forms shrank visibly as the surrounding flora surged in vibrancy, as if enriched by death.

Strange... the last time I saw anything like this was with Plume—on that battlefield.

His attention shifted to the other corpses—the ones killed by the rods. No flowers had grown on them. But then, slowly, it began. A creeping bulge, silent and slow, blossomed into young flowers as those corpses too began to shrink.

So even the ones I didn't kill are feeding the garden...

Scott's gaze turned upward. The skies were calm. He couldn't see the hideous faces of the Garden Servants either. He looked behind. At some point, the doors to his personal safe zone had shut, melting into the landscape.

Then—ding. A system notification appeared, followed by a new guiding arrowhead flickering in midair. It pointed northeast.

"Oh. That's convenient," Scott muttered with a small chuckle.

He took a few steps forward, but suddenly stopped. "System," he asked aloud. "How many people are in the 8th zone?"

A chime followed.

Current number of champions in the 8th Zone: 58!

"That many already?" Scott's brow furrowed. Fifty more made it through? When?

Something tugged at the back of his mind. He frowned. I feel like I'm forgetting something important.

One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

Then—his eyes widened.

Wait... didn't it say the creatures in the active zone would respawn indefinitely?

As if on cue, bloodcurdling howls pierced the distance—followed by violent tremors that shook the forest floor.

Scott narrowed his eyes.

From the distant treeline, they emerged—packs of Skull Harvesters, but not like the ones before.

These were monstrous—five times larger, with skulls and tails bathed in neon-grey flames. Their golden eyes spun like magma-filled rings, and their howls shattered the stillness.

Scott glanced at the corpses of the previous batch. The garden had nearly devoured them entirely.

So they're not respawning. They're just... spawning stronger ones.

He cracked his knuckles, a familiar grin forming. Let's see how different this batch really is.

His form blurred, darting toward the creatures with breathtaking speed.

At the same moment, all six of the colossal harvesters leapt into the air. Their jaws unhinged, and in unison, they howled.

From their golden eyes burst raging infernos—waves of heat that twisted and zigzagged through the ethereal forest like intelligent missiles. Yet the surrounding flora didn't so much as smolder.

Perched on a high branch, Scott watched the zigzagging firestorms approach.

"I didn't expect heat vision," he muttered with a smirk—just before vanishing again.

The heat wave struck the space where Scott had stood just moments earlier, only to zag away once more in pursuit of his blurring form. Meanwhile, the smaller harvesters had formed a tight barricade around the perimeter as the larger ones unleashed unrelenting volleys of heat-seeking waves.

Though they couldn't keep up with his speed, their strategy was clear—box him in with continuous attacks.

They've got some brains, at least, Scott noted, easily dodging yet another wave. Oddly, the scorching energy still refused to harm the vegetation around him.

But if this is all they've got, it won't be enough.

He stopped dodging.

In a frightening burst of speed, Scott launched himself toward one of the newer variants. He arrived before it in an instant, fast enough to see the creature's pupils constrict in pure alarm.

"If you've got anything else," Scott said with a smile, "now would be the best time to use it."

The creature tensed and began to retreat, its fur bristling in panic.

Scott sighed. "I guess not."

In a blur, he reappeared behind the harvester. With his fingers interlocked, he hammered down on its spine with bone-shattering force.

A pitiful wail tore from the creature as it crashed into the ground, the light in its eyes snuffed out. The flames adorning its head and tail vanished instantly.

Another barrage of heat waves followed—but they couldn't touch him. They couldn't even ruffle his clothes.

He moved again—silent, lethal, ghostlike.

Scott appeared next to a second variant and slammed a ruthless punch into its skull. A sharp crack echoed, and the creature's head exploded in a fiery burst. Its limp body hit the ground with a dull thud, and greenish-blue blood spewed in arcs across the earth.

More waves came, but they were too slow.

One by one, he dispatched the remaining variants with surgical precision. A single strike was all it took to kill each of them. When the final variant fell, the waves vanished—as though extinguished by an unseen force.

The regular harvesters hesitated, then slowly began to retreat, tails tucked low. They stared at Scott for a heartbeat too long—then turned and bolted.

One, two, three, four, five…

A series of muffled thuds echoed through the forest, cutting his countdown short.

Scott smiled.

Black rods jutted out from the skulls of the fleeing harvesters—precise, fatal.

Although I was watching carefully, I still have no clue where those came from. He glanced toward the earlier corpses. Not a trace remained. The nearby flora, however, was more radiant than ever—nourished by death.

One, two, three, four, five… ninety-five…

The earth trembled beneath his feet. Trees shook. Eerie howls cut through the silence, followed by the sickening snap of trunks breaking in the distance.

Then came the titan.

A monstrous harvester, twenty times the size of the originals, stepped into view. Its fur burned with crimson flames, and its magma-ringed eyes churned with malevolent intent. Twin horns—long, curved, and blazing—jutted from its skull. Unlike the others, this one walked upright on two limbs.

Scott's eyes scanned the area. The other variants were nowhere in sight.

He chuckled softly. They skipped straight to the big guns, huh?

He cracked his knuckles and took a step forward.

Well, let's see what this bad boy can—

In a blink, the behemoth blurred forward, a colossal fist screaming toward Scott's face. At the same time, tsunami-like waves of heat surged from every direction, boxing him in completely.

Scott's grin widened. "Nice," he whispered. "This is what I'm talking about."

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