Chapter 5: The Audit's Awakening and Lemuria's Secret
A tremendous tremor from the Rabbit King's rampage shook the ground, tearing through the forest's tranquility. Dust and leaves flew everywhere, obscuring vision. Rian was thrown like a dry leaf, his body hitting a tree with a sickening thud before he collapsed. His short sword slipped from his grasp.
"Big Bro Rian!" Ramdan shrieked, his heart nearly stopping.
Before him, the monster stood in all its terrifying majesty. It was almost three meters tall, its once clean white fur now stained with dirt, its muscle veins bulging taut. Its eyes were no longer ruby red, but a pair of burning embers blazing with vengeance. It let out a low growl, a bone-rattling sound, and stomped its mighty hind leg, creating a small crater in the ground.
Pure fear coursed through Ramdan for a moment. This was no longer just a low-level quest. This was an unplanned event, a critical deviation from a supposedly easy hunting procedure. But amidst the panic, his brain, tempered by thousands of audits and non-conformity reports, began to work automatically. Calm. Analyze the situation.
"Audit Eye!" he whispered, focusing the remaining mana into his eyes.
Analysis Updated: Demonic Rabbit King (Enraged)Weaknesses: Eyes highly sensitive to sudden light changes, balance dependent on long cheek whiskers, mana core located under chin.Environmental Observation: Many puddles remaining from last night's rain. Dense tree branches create a contrast of light and dark areas.
A crazy yet brilliant plan began to form in his mind. This was no longer about strength, but about exploiting design flaws.
"Rian! Are you still alive?" Ramdan yelled.
"Ugh… still am," Rian coughed, trying to get up while clutching his tight chest. "This creature… it's so strong."
"Rian, I have a plan! I need you to distract it! Keep it moving, focus your attacks on its legs!" Ramdan shouted, his voice sounding more confident than he felt.
Though hesitant, Rian saw the earnestness in his adopted brother's eyes. He nodded, summoning his gleaming sword back to his hand, and with his remaining strength, he shot forward.
"Hey, long ears! Your opponent is over here!"
The Rabbit King roared and chased Rian, who moved agilely from tree to tree, his sword slashes leaving only minor scratches on the monster's muscular legs. Meanwhile, Ramdan took his position. He took a deep breath, feeling his fire mana gathering in his palms.
"Mantra! Fire, rise!"
It wasn't a large fireball he created, but dozens of small sparks the size of fireflies. With a flick of his fingers, he sent the sparks towards the puddles around the fighting arena. Each time a spark touched the water, a puff of hissing hot steam erupted, filling the air with a thin mist. The Rabbit King began to get disturbed, its vision slightly obstructed. This was the moment. Ramdan changed tactics.
He no longer created sparks, but a thin yet intensely bright beam of firelight at his fingertip. He aimed it at the dewdrops hanging on the giant leaves above them. Like thousands of tiny projectors, the dewdrops reflected and refracted Ramdan's firelight, creating dazzling, random flashes of light from all directions. The Rabbit King roared in pain, its sensitive eyes unable to withstand the light bombardment. It shook its head wildly. Its balance wavered.
"Now, Rian! The whiskers!" Ramdan yelled.
Rian, understanding the plan instantly, seized the moment. He leaped from a tree branch, his body spinning in the air. His sword blade, imbued with a little residual mana, glowed silvery. With one precise slash, taught by Ranjana, he cleanly severed the long whiskers on both sides of the monster's face. Losing its organ of balance, the Rabbit King staggered like a drunken giant before finally collapsing with a thunderous crash. The ground trembled again.
"Not finished yet! Its belly, under the chin!" Ramdan commanded.
Rian landed smoothly, and without hesitation, he plunged his sword deep into the exposed weak point. The monster screamed for the last time, a piercing shriek filled with pain before its giant body went limp and slowly began to dissipate into golden mana particles. All that remained was a mana stone the size of a soccer ball and a few shimmering strands of fur.
Silence.Both were panting, staring in disbelief at what they had just achieved.
Dingg!![Congratulations! You Have Defeated Hidden Boss: Demonic Rabbit King.][Outstanding Teamwork! EXP Bonus +500%!][You Leveled Up!][You Leveled Up!][Congratulations! Ramdan Has Reached Level 7!][New Skill Unlocked: Virtual Lab (Passive). Allows the user to create a dimensional analysis space to identify, dismantle, and re-engineer the mana properties of an object. Requires a physical sample and significant mana consumption.]
Ramdan smiled contentedly. "Finally… my personal laboratory."
Their return was met with shock. Not only did they bring back ordinary demonic rabbit mana stones, but they also brought a giant mana stone from the Demonic Rabbit King. Ranjana, who was sipping coffee on the porch, even spat out his drink. His eyes widened, alternating between the two exhausted boys and their abundant spoils.
"Sang Hyang Tunggal…," he murmured in disbelief, before a wide, proud smile spread across his face. "NOW THOSE ARE MY SONS!"
The news spread like wildfire in a dry field. That night, Taruma village celebrated. The backyard of the Segara family home turned into a sea of people. The aroma of andaliman and ginger-spiced satay meat wafted through the air, mixing with the joyful laughter of the villagers. Fire element Mages helped with the grilling, while others shared stories and warm drinks.
Amidst the festivities, Ramdan sat slightly apart. His eyes stared blankly into the air, his finger tapping on the system interface that only he could see. He was engrossed in reading the detailed description of his [Virtual Lab] skill.
"Son Ranjana," greeted an elder of the village sitting nearby. "What's wrong with your son? He's been talking to a wall and pressing buttons in the air all this time. Aren't you going to stop him?"
Ranjana turned, saw Ramdan's strange behavior, and burst out laughing. He put an arm around the elder and whispered in a mock-serious tone, "Actually, we've tried to stop him and even poison him repeatedly, Old Man. But alas, he seems too strong."
The villagers around them who heard this immediately laughed, taking it as Ranjana's typical joke. Only Sinta glanced at her son with a mix of worry and amusement, then gave him a gentle pinch on the thigh as she passed by.
When the party began to wind down and the neighbors said their goodbyes, the atmosphere turned quiet and slightly melancholic. Sinta and Ranjana exchanged glances, a wordless signal. The time had come. They gathered Rian, Ramdan, and Melati in the family room, lit by the soft glow of an oil lamp.
"There's something important we need to tell you," Ranjana said, his jocular tone gone, replaced by a rare seriousness. He looked at Melati with deep, paternal eyes. "Melati, have you ever wondered who your birth parents are?"
Melati, who was tidying cups, froze. The question hung in the air, heavy and full of meaning. Her eyes welled up.
"I… I've always considered Uncle and Auntie my parents," she replied softly.
Ranjana sighed. "Fourteen years ago," he began his story, his voice carrying them back in time. "A mysterious old man appeared before me. His clothes were tattered, his body seemed made of the dust of time. He was not a being of this era."
Ramdan gasped. "Grandfather? Could it be…"
"He said he came from a very distant past, from an ancient, long-lost continent called Lemuria. He used forbidden time magic to escape a devastating war against their rival continent, Atlantean. And he… brought a baby."
Ranjana paused, looking at Melati, who now covered her mouth in disbelief. "That baby was you, Melati. Your real name is Melati Sarasvati. You are a princess from the Kingdom of Lemuria."
Total silence enveloped the room. Rian stared at Melati with wide eyes; the shy girl he had secretly liked all this time turned out to be a noble from a lost legend.
"At that time, we were still active as warriors in Salakanagara, but when you turned 10, we were forced to retire to this village of Taruma because it was difficult to look after a baby while we fought," Sinta continued gently, taking Melati's trembling hand. "We introduced you to the elders and villagers as a helper to conceal your identity. We're sorry, dear."
Tears finally streamed down Melati's cheeks, but they were not tears of sadness, but of confusion, shock, and a strange relief.
"Can I still think of you as my Dad and Mom?" Melati asked softly.
"Of course! Melati, you are my child… my first child!" Sinta replied, hugging Melati.
A poignant cry erupted in Ranjana's family. Everyone shed tears of emotion. Then, to lighten the heavy atmosphere, Sinta stood up.
"It's late. Our firewood is almost gone. Rian, Ramdan, please get some more from the shed at the edge of the forest."
It was an ordinary task, a pretext to give Melati time to process everything. The two boys nodded and hurried out. However, as they approached the wood shed, the air around them suddenly turned bone-chillingly cold. Eleven figures in black cloaks with sinister masks emerged from the shadows of the trees, surrounding them. The emblem of the Angkara Murka clan was faintly etched on their masks.
"Hand over the Prince!" one of them hissed.
(To be continued…)