Unknown Threat

So yeah, now we're officially a trio—me, your favorite camera hero Smit, the air-headed Mira, and the cool and mysterious Shimos Velhart.

You might be wondering why I’m calling her an airhead and him a cool dude, right?
Well, Mira keeps dropping stuff left and right. Like, seriously, how do you even drop your shoes while sitting still? That’s talent.
And Shimos... that ex-noble guy has that calm, "I’ve-seen-some-dark-sh*t" energy. You know, like he could smirk in the face of death while sipping tea.

Anyway, I’m not scared of nobles anymore. I mean, I died once already, so what's the worst that could happen? Dying again? Meh. (Okay fine, maybe I’m a little scared. Just a teeny bit. But don’t go spreading that.)

Back to the point.
The next morning, we decided to continue deeper into this cursed jungle. Not to escape—oh no—we were heading in to figure things out. But here’s the thing…

This jungle? It’s alive. Not like trees-waving "hi" alive. I mean living, breathing, thinking danger.
The beasts here? Let’s just say your nightmares would call them nightmares.

You might ask, "Then why haven’t any beasts attacked you guys before?"

Well, it turns out Mira has a magic barrier skill that hides our presence. As long as we stayed within its range, nothing could sense us. That’s why we were safe till now.

See? I give credit where it’s due. I may be a bit chaotic, but I’m not heartless.

So we’re walking between these giant trees and long, wild grass. Out of nowhere, Shimos yells, “Watch out!”
I barely dodge something that blurs past me—it felt like death brushed my cheek.

When we look up, we see it.

A monster.
It looked like a lion but was the size of a freakin’ elephant. And despite its massive body, it moved with terrifying speed. Its dark aura made the air around us feel like it was choking.

Mira froze. Literally, just frozen in fear.

Shimos shouted, “Don’t just stand there! This thing’s out of my league!”

He fired spell after spell—flames, explosions—but nothing slowed it down. I saw Mira still shaking, so I grabbed her and leapt onto a large rock nearby.

“Stay here,” I said, “We’ll handle this.”

No answer. She was still shocked, so I had no choice but to leave her for now and help Shimos.

I jumped into the fight and shouted, “Just give me five seconds!”

He nodded, and I pulled out my camera.

Shimos was going all out, but then the beast launched some kind of black projectile. Shimos blocked it with a shield, but the impact flung him into a tree like a ragdoll.

He groaned, “I don’t think I can hold on much longer. Just one hit and I’m wrecked…”

The beast charged again. Shimos tried to shield himself, but his magic was weaker now. The beast broke through, and Shimos was knocked out cold.

As the monster raised its claw to finish him off, I slammed the shutter.

“Reality Capture: Time Stopped.”

The world froze.

Everything stopped—the leaves, the monster, even the wind. But I didn’t know how long the effect would last.

I dragged Shimos beside Mira, then checked my item box for anything useful.

Sword? Yup. Grabbed it.
I tried slashing the beast while time was frozen, but its skin was like stone. No damage.

So I thought—what about the weak points?
I climbed a tree and thrust the sword into its eye. The blade sank in.

Okay! That’s something.

Then I remembered—fire and wind magic! I summoned a fireball, but it was tiny. I launched it into the beast’s mouth. Nothing. Ugh.

Then time started moving again.

The beast roared in pain from its injured eye. It thrashed around, trying to shake me off, but I grabbed onto its mane and held tight. Wildest rodeo of my life.

Suddenly I had an idea—combine fire and wind.
Fire needs oxygen, right? So… more wind, bigger fire.

I formed another fireball, infused it with wind, and it grew in size. I launched it again into the beast’s mouth, but still, not enough damage.

Then… it opened its mouth wide to roar, and some kind of weird liquid started forming inside—flammable liquid. At that moment, I launched the fireball straight into it.

BOOM.

The fire traveled straight into its gut. The thing roared one last time… then collapsed.

Dead.

A pop-up appeared:

“Memory Freed.”

Then everything went black…

And I was no longer in the jungle.

I was in someone else’s memory.