Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Verdant Hollow Devours
The jungle was alive.
Not just with beasts or birdsong—but with something deeper. Something that watched.
As Kaien's team crossed the vine-choked cliffs of the Forgotten Wilds, the earth pulsed beneath their boots, like a heart. Giant roots curled across the path. In the sky, shadowed shapes moved between clouds. The entire forest seemed to breathe.
The third portal lay somewhere inside a region called Verdant Hollow.
But reaching it… was a trial in itself.
A Warning in the Trees
Toru led the way, massive hammer resting on his back. His steps cracked roots like twigs, but he was silent—more so than usual.
Saejin noticed.
"You've been here before."
Toru didn't answer immediately. His storm-blue eyes scanned the horizon.
"My clan once sent a siege force into this jungle," he finally said. "To hunt an ancient dragon. Verdant Hollow swallowed them whole."
Akari raised an eyebrow. "You were with them?"
Toru nodded.
"I was the only one who made it out."
Silence followed.
Lira gripped her staff tightly. "And the portal is inside that… thing?"
Kaien raised the Flamebond Spear, letting its rune-light guide them.
"The flame is pointing deeper in. That means it's waiting for us."
Yuki stepped beside him, her frost aura shimmering in the humidity.
"Or baiting us."
The Verdant Maw
At last, they found it.
A giant sinkhole, carved into the earth like the open mouth of a beast. Trees hung sideways from the edge. A strange green mist leaked from below. At the center: the third portal, pulsing with emerald flame, entwined in roots and spores.
A voice echoed from inside—neither man nor dragon.
"The jungle grows to consume, not protect.The Hollow Flame burns not in anger… but hunger."
Then something emerged.
Not a beast.
A dragon.
But unlike any they'd seen.
Its body was overgrown with bark and moss. Vines wrapped its wings. Antlers like twisted branches crowned its head. Eyes glowed faint green, filled with endless grief.
Lira gasped. "It's… Verdanox. The Guardian of Wild Growth."
Toru stared in disbelief.
"That's the dragon we tried to kill. The one that destroyed my squad."
A Guardian Turned Monster
Verdanox roared—not in rage, but in pain. From its chest pulsed a Hollow Flame seed—twisting its natural magic into corrupted growth.
Roots shot forward like spears.
Kaien leapt, blocking with his spear. "He's not evil! He's infected!"
"We need to cleanse him, not kill him!" Lira cried.
Baran shouted from above. "Then we'll have to survive first!"
Battle: Rootbound Arena
The crater became a battlefield.
Saejin used shadowsteps to slash the binding vines off the others. Yuki summoned a storm of frost petals to freeze spore-bursts in the air. Akari turned the jungle floor into a wall of fire.
Kaien lunged at the dragon's heart—aiming for the Hollow Seed.
But the Flamebond Spear hesitated again.
This time, the voice was clearer.
"Verdanox is one of the Seven Ancient Sentinels.If you destroy him… the jungle dies forever."
Kaien's grip tightened.
"Then we cleanse him without killing."
Lira nodded. "Use me. I'll hold the light."
They combined their powers—flame and healing—into the Spear of Renewal, a temporary form of the weapon glowing with both heat and harmony.
Kaien soared into the sky—
"Dragon Art: Flamebond Spear – Third Form: Verdant Rebirth!"
He hurled it directly into Verdanox's heart.
The jungle went silent.
The Hollow Flame Fights Back
The seed inside the dragon shrieked—shattering into black shards.
Verdanox collapsed, unconscious—but alive. The vines withdrew. The mist began to clear.
But from the cracked portal, a figure emerged.
Clad in ritual armor of thorned obsidian, face covered by a living wooden mask, it stood atop Verdanox's collapsed body like a priest before a temple.
"You would purify the sentinels?" the figure hissed."They were meant to be unleashed. You ruin our design."
Kaien raised his spear. "Who are you?"
The figure stepped down slowly.
"I am Thorn-Kin Tyrael, Warden of the Hollow Root.The third general of the Hollow Flame.And I carry the will… of the Void Dragon."
The portal behind him began to crack.
Not fully open—but awakening.
Tyrael raised his arm.
The trees around them moved.
Not creatures—but forest itself, reshaped by will.
"Let's see if your light survives nature's wrath."
Cliffhanger Ending
Kaien turned to the team.
"We seal the portal."
Yuki gritted her teeth. "And what about him?"
"We survive first. Then we decide."
Tyrael raised both hands—and the jungle came to life, not as ally… but as weapon.