Transmigrating as an Extra, But the Heroine Has Regressed?!

Their bodies simply refused to obey. Their hands shook, their knees locked, their voices strangled in their throats.

The beast's aura rolled over them like a crashing tide, a suffocating pressure that made it feel like the world itself was trying to crush them.

It wasn't just fear. It was domination.

The Shadow Leech was here.

And the students, broken and bloodied, could do nothing but stare into its endless eyes as the mist closed in tighter around them.

The Shadow Leech moved without warning.

One moment it was still, pulsing like a dark mass of slime, and the next its tendrils lashed forward like spears. The air cracked with the speed of its strike.

KRAAASH!

A black tendril coiled around Leo's waist, lifting him screaming into the air. Before anyone could react, the beast smashed him against a tree with bone-cracking force. His body went limp instantly, blood spraying the bark before he collapsed into the roots below.

"Leo!" Fenn screamed, but the nightmare wasn't finished.

Another tendril whipped sideways, sweeping Mira and Talia off their feet. They crashed into the dirt, tossed like dolls, their staves clattering far from reach.

"Ahhh! No!" Mira gasped, blood dripping from her forehead as she struggled to rise.

Fenn staggered backward as a tendril darted for him. He tried to dodge, but the tip grazed his leg.

Where it touched, his skin blackened instantly, burning as though acid had eaten through it.

"AAAAHHHHH!" Fenn shrieked, collapsing to the ground, clutching his ruined leg.

Edwin's heart pounded in his ears. He couldn't hesitate. He couldn't let fear freeze him.

He gritted his teeth, raising his sword as mana surged into the blade. A faint white glow spread across the steel, lighting the mist around him.

"Cleave!" Edwin roared, dashing forward. His blade swung down in a furious arc, slicing into the nearest tendril.

SHHHK!

The tendril was severed cleanly, dark liquid spraying across the ground. For a brief second, victory sparked in his chest—

—but then the severed flesh writhed. The black ooze pulled itself back together, knitting like

living tar until the tendril was whole again.

Edwin froze. "It's… healing?" His voice trembled, his grip faltering.

He stared at the monster with wide eyes. (We only had a few minutes of rest… and Arcadia releases another beast like this? Do they want us to become strong—or just dead?)

As if in answer, the Shadow Leech's red eyes blinked open wider and locked onto Edwin.

The air thickened. Its tendrils curled and swayed like hungry snakes, every movement focused on him.

It could sense him.

The Shadow Leech felt the strong aura pulsing from Edwin's body. Among all the broken students, he was the only one still standing, the only one still burning with power.

And so, in the beast's mind, Edwin was the true prey.

The one it had to kill.

For the next minute, the forest turned into a nightmare.

The air was filled with screams, crashing sounds, and the whip-crack of black tendrils. Mist swirled around the chaos, glowing red eyes blinking from the Shadow Leech's writhing body as it lashed out again and again.

Edwin fought in the middle of it, his swords flashing silver arcs in the gloom. His strikes cut deep, leaving bloody gashes across the beast's shifting flesh. But every wound was worthless.

In seconds, the black ooze stitched itself together, healing as if he had never struck at all.

"Damn it—stay still!" he snarled, his arms aching, his chest heaving with every breath.

Nearby, Leo, clutching his injured arm, forced himself to act. His face was pale with pain, but he gritted his teeth, raised his spear with his good hand, and hurled it with all the strength left in him.

Thhhk!

The weapon pierced through the Shadow Leech's pulsing mass—yet instead of bleeding or weakening, the monster absorbed it whole. The spear sank into its body like a stone into water, vanishing into the swirling darkness.

"No…" Leo whispered, his heart dropping. "It—it swallowed it…"

"Stay back!" shouted Fenn, his hands glowing faintly. He spread his arms wide, summoning a trembling barrier of light around Mira and Talia, who were too weak to stand.

For a brief moment, the thin shield shimmered in the mist like glass.

Then—CRACK!

A single tendril slammed against it, and the barrier shattered instantly, shards of glowing light raining like broken glass.

The blow launched Fenn into the dirt, his body rolling until he coughed blood.

"Nothing works!" Edwin roared, swinging his sword with desperate fury. His blades sparked and hissed as they struck the monster's shifting flesh, each blow swallowed by the darkness.

"Its body—there's no core! No weak spot!"

But the Shadow Leech was not fighting to kill.

It was toying with them. Every tendril came faster, heavier, crueler, forcing them to the brink of collapse. Its many eyes blinked in unison, watching them break.

WHAM!

One tendril lashed out mid-dodge, slamming straight into Edwin's ribs. The impact knocked the air from his lungs. He flew back and crashed into the ground, dirt and leaves exploding around him.

Pain tore through his chest—he heard the crack of ribs snapping. His mouth filled with the copper taste of blood.

He tried to stand, but his body screamed with agony.

Above him, the Shadow Leech loomed, its tendrils swaying hungrily, glowing red eyes fixed solely on him.

The beast's fury had been unleashed.

And Edwin was its target.

The Shadow Leech began to rage.

Its massive body swelled and pulsed, veins of black slime twisting across its surface like living roots. Dozens of tendrils lashed out wildly, smashing into trees with bone-breaking force.

CRACK!

Bark exploded into splinters.

SNAP!

Branches rained down from above. Each impact shook the forest floor, making the very ground quiver beneath the students' broken bodies.

The battlefield was no longer theirs.

Kane lay utterly still, unconscious where he had fallen. His chest rose faintly, but he was out of the fight.

Mira and Talia, sprawled close together, clutched their wounds, their robes soaked in blood. Their hands shook too violently to channel mana—the power to cast was gone.

Leo dragged himself through the dirt, each movement pitifully slow. His blood left a trail behind him, and his face was ghostly pale.