Is this really a Game?!

The core was defenseless for a moment, the moment that Shadow decided to show himself and attack it, cutting it in half and destroying it.

The creature stopped moving for an instant when the core was destroyed and simply stared at the core that was slowly falling down to the ground in two pieces, only for the monster to suddenly roar and the two pieces to start glowing.

Both Shadow and Reign widened their eyes and moved, trying their best to get far away from the core.

Shadow immediately teleported away from the core while Reign covered himself in black lightning, boosting his speed to its limit and running away from the core that suddenly exploded.

The explosion was deafening, sending shockwaves rippling through the air and shaking the ground beneath their feet. The force of the blast knocked Reign off his feet, sending him tumbling through the air before he landed hard on the forest floor.

Shadow, having teleported to a safe distance, watched in horror as the explosion consumed the area where the core had been. The blast tore through the surrounding trees, sending splinters and debris flying in all directions.

The rest of the group scrambled to take cover, shielding themselves from the blast as best they could. Laura quickly erected a barrier of demonic energy around herself, Beast, and Aelrinder, Tank used multiple skills, placing three large magic shields between the explosion and himself, Wolf, Greenie, and Mia.

He also used another skill that created a barrier around them while Mia encased it in ice, further boosting the defense of the barrier.

Since they were not that close to the monster or the core, Laura, Beast, and Aelrinder were able to defend against the powerful shockwave and remnants of the blast without too much trouble, Tank and the others had it harder, the explosion taking place much nearer and destroying the shields that had been placed by Tank, but being stopped by the barrier, unable to even destroy the ice.

As for the monster, it simply stood there, the barrier passing around it and doing no damage whatsoever.

It seemed that it was another one of its powers, one that allowed it to be unharmed by the explosion of its own core.

The forest fell silent once again, the echoes of the explosion fading into the distance. Slowly, the group emerged from their makeshift shelters, assessing the damage and checking on one another.

Reign pushed himself up from the ground, feeling the dull ache of bruises and the sharp pain of his wound. Laura rushed to his side, her demonic energy enveloping him as she worked to heal his injuries.

"Are you alright?" she asked, her voice filled with concern.

Reign nodded with a sigh, managing a small smile. "I'll be fine, the injuries are not that bad."

"But, now we have to get rid of that guy, without the core present to give it mana and heal it, how long do you think it'll be able to last against us?" Reign asked as he got up on his feet while staring at the monster that was staring at him.

Without any wait, Mia and the others attacked, forcing the monster to quickly jump to the side while summoning thick vines from the ground in an attempt to block and dodge their attacks.

It was very different from what the monster had done before, and it was obvious to them that now, the monster was apprehensive about their attacks, and about getting injured.

The group pressed their advantage, attacking the monster with renewed vigor. Wolf unleashed torrents of fire while swinging his greatsword, scorching the wooden body of the monster and cutting deeply through it each time he hit it. Mia conjured icy winds, freezing certain parts of the monster's body in order to slow it down while attacking with her sword, inflicting injuries on it.

Beast and Aelrinder continued to pepper the monster with arrows and wind-enhanced thrusts, not really even aiming at any particular spot, just making sure to hit the body of the monster with their sharp attacks that pierced through its body with relative ease.

Tanks and Greenie worked together, using their brute strength to overpower the monster and keep it off balance. Laura attacked from a distance, her demonic energy blasts striking the monster while the demonic weapons she summoned hit it from the side.

Reign, despite his injuries, joined the fray, his lightning-infused attacks striking true and even being capable of shocking the monster a bit. He also used his darkness to cut through the monster, easily inflicting more injuries.

Shadow attacked from behind, even though it was not really the monster's blind spot thanks to the many vines and branches the monster was capable of unleashing from its body alone. Many times he was forced to dodge the attacks that came from the monster, some nearly hitting him.

The monster fought back fiercely, lashing out with its vines and branches, but the group's coordinated assault was too much for it to handle. With each strike, the monster grew weaker, its movements becoming slower and more sluggish.

Without the core, it was not capable of withstanding the immense firepower that Reign and the others possessed, and soon, it was barely even resisting, its legs barely moving at all, and the vines and branches nearly completely gone.

Its body was riddled with numerous wounds, one of its arms was cut off, a leg was later severed as well, and there was nothing the monster could do but fall down on the ground.

Greenie was the one to end its life, with a powerful downward swing of his hammer, he struck the back of the monster, causing cracks to appear, splinters to break off, and then the back caved in before the monster's torso was flattened completely.

Reign immediately felt the monster's death as what seemed like its soul left its body. Reign didn't collect it, it was too weird, too different from other souls, and for some reason, he felt that there was no need to do anything with it.

"This was a spirit of nature, well, one kind of spirit, that is why the soul felt different to you," Aethion said as he glanced at the soul that was leaving.

"Their souls are different because they are one with nature, after death, the soul will go back to nature, it will rejoin it."

"Taking the soul wouldn't have any negative effects, but there is no need to go as far as to take them, they can be difficult to control, and at times, you might even draw other spirits that sense the soul that is inside of you."

'I see, so it's better to be safe than sorry with these souls, huh?'

"Exactly." Aethion nodded as Reign stared at the dead body of the monster.

"Can we even use any part of its body for crafting, I mean, it is wood, after all, it should be usable, right?" Shadow asked as he crouched next to the body and stared at it.

Of course, they didn't need to think too much, after all, the system was capable of identifying the parts of the body that were usable for crafting and those who are not usable. The system itself would also collect those parts, which meant that they didn't need to do anything.

And just like that, the body parts were collected by the system, leaving the broken and cut pieces on the ground, with the monster's body no longer being a body at all, just pieces of wood on the ground.

With the monster defeated and its body disintegrated by the system, the group took a moment to catch their breath and assess their surroundings. The once oppressive atmosphere of the forest seemed to lift slightly, the sounds of the jungle returning to normalcy.

"We did it," Laura said, relief evident in her voice as she looked around at the rest of the group.

"Yeah, we did," Reign replied, a smile breaking through the fatigue on his face. "That was quite a fight."

"Indeed, it was," Aethion added, leaning back into his chair with a smile. "That was not a normal monster at all, it was quite a powerful one, one that would have been quite difficult to defeat by a group of a similar size as yours."

"You have a right to be proud of this victory, and to rest a bit, you shouldn't be too apprehensive about exploring the forest further, after all, the other monsters you will come across shouldn't be as dangerous as this one."

After a short break, the group gathered their gear and prepared to continue their journey. They ventured forward, slightly eager to hunt more monsters and level up.

After all, even though the weird wood monster was very powerful, they didn't even use their marks when fighting against it, so they weren't too worried about coming across powerful monsters.

As they ventured further into the forest, they encountered more creatures, but just like Aethion had said, none were as powerful as the one they had just defeated. They dispatched them with relative ease, their confidence bolstered by their recent victory.