Kai raised his bokken, adopting a ready stance as if preparing to charge into the thicket. His eyes darted towards the dense foliage where the Mire Lurker waited, then flickered meaningfully towards the left flank, reinforcing the feigned uncertainty about the 'secondary fluctuation' near Ming Hao.

  "Proceeding with caution, Senior Brother!" he called out, taking one step forward. Then, his free hand moved again, another small item materialized and tossed subtly towards the thicket's edge.

  [System Store Purchase: Sonic Emitter Pellet (Beast Agitation Frequency). Cost: 10 Points.]

  [Insufficient Funds! Balance: 5. Applying 5 Points to System Credit. Debt: 5 Points]

  The small pellet landed silently in the damp undergrowth. Kai pulsed it with a thread of Qi. An ultra-high frequency sound, undetectable to human ears but intensely aggravating to the Mire Lurker’s sensitive auditory organs, pulsed outwards.

  Deep within the thicket, the Mire Lurker, a four-meter monstrosity of corded muscle, slick grey hide, and multiple grasping claws, had been patiently waiting, sensing the approaching prey. Suddenly, an agonizing, high-pitched whine drilled into its simple brain. Pain flared, instinct overriding caution. With a guttural roar that ripped through the mist, it exploded from the thicket, abandoning stealth for pure, enraged violence.

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  It charged blindly towards the source of the irritation – generally towards Kai's group, but its initial trajectory, fueled by rage rather than tactical assessment, lined up almost perfectly with Ming Hao’s hiding spot on the flank.

  "Ming Hao, watch your left!" Kai yelled, his voice filled with urgent 'warning'. "It's breaking cover from the side!"

  The shout was deliberately misleading. The beast was coming from the general direction of the thicket, but Kai’s specific warning made Ming Hao instinctively focus his attention and Qi defenses slightly to his actual left, expecting an attack from that angle, not directly ahead from the thicket he was supposedly flanking.

  In that same split second of misdirection, as Ming Hao’s focus shifted and the roaring beast bore down on him, Kai executed his 'stumble'. It wasn't dramatic, just a quick, seemingly accidental loss of footing on a slick patch of mud near Ming Hao’s position. As Kai 'recovered', his foot lashed out, connecting solidly with a hidden, uneven root directly beneath Ming Hao’s rear foot. It wasn't a direct kick, just enough force applied to the unstable ground to disrupt Ming Hao’s already compromised balance.

  Ming Hao felt the ground shift beneath him just as the monstrous shape of the Mire Lurker filled his vision. His eyes widened in terror, his planned ambush forgotten, his Qi defenses faltering as his balance gave way. He tried to twist, to bring his weapon up, but it was too late.

  Kai, meanwhile, threw himself backwards, away from the trajectory, shouting, "Beast! Engage!" He raised his bokken as if preparing to intercept, but positioned himself carefully so he was clearly 'too slow', hampered by his 'stumble' and the sheer speed of the Lurker’s charge. He was out of the line of fire, a picture of frantic, failed intervention.

  The enraged Mire Lurker, ignoring everything else, slammed into the stumbling, momentarily defenseless Ming Hao with the force of a runaway cart.