The Lurker charged.
It moved faster than expected, like a blur of black glass and flame. Ethan rolled left, barely avoiding the first snap of its rotating maw. He sliced upward. His dagger skidded off its hardened scales, leaving only a faint scratch.
Too tough.
The beast spun, tail whipping low. Ethan leapt and tucked midair, landing behind it. His foot slammed into its rear flank to disorient it.
Velina took the cue. The fight had just begun. She jumped from behind a boulder, her sword aimed for the gap between its neck plates. She struck true, but the beast twisted, throwing her off-balance.
It opened its mouth and lunged for her.
Ethan body-slammed the side of its jaw, just enough to deflect the angle. Its teeth missed Velina by inches, but grazed Ethan's left arm, tearing through leather and biting into flesh.
He bit back a scream.
The beast reared up.
[HOST HARMED]
[HP: 10/20]
Ethan shoved his dagger into its side,not to kill, but to anchor himself, and pulled upward with all his strength. Velina, on the other side, saw the exposed underbelly and drove her blade straight into it.
The Lurker shrieked—
Thrashed—
Then collapsed, crushing Ethan partially beneath it. Velina yanked him free, blood running down her side.
"You idiot," she said, smiling weakly.
"You're welcome," he replied.
They both stumbled to the shade of a half-buried ruin. Ethan peeled back his arm guard, revealing the bite wound. It was deep, but not poisoned. Velina tore part of her cloak to bind it. No words passed between them. But the silence spoke volumes.
They had become something more than partners now. A unit. Synchronized.
66
---
Night fell.
The twin moons rose high.
They didn't stop marching.
They fought through sand crawlers, mirrorback lizards, and even a pack of Crimson Gnashers Class I Tartarus hounds that moved in total silence and attacked from shadows.
Ethan's instincts had saved them twice.
Velina's precision had saved them thrice.
Their synergy? That was what kept them alive.
---
Dawn crested again.
Ethan's legs ached. His vision blurred slightly from dehydration. His WRATH remained high, but he refused to use it.
Not unless absolutely necessary.
[CURRENT EXP: 200/500]
[WRATH: 27/35]
Velina stumbled once, but righted herself. Her breathing had slowed into a rhythm that matched Ethan's own.
"We're getting closer," she said at last.
Ethan glanced at the crystal beacon slung in his satchel. It pulsed faintly, brighter than before.
"Yeah," he muttered. "But the beasts are too."
They walked another hour in silence. Then, at the edge of a dune, Ethan paused. Velina joined him, and both of them stared down at the distant trail of tracks in the sand. Large. Fresh. Not scorpion. Not flayer. Something different.
"New threat?" she asked.
Ethan didn't answer immediately.
Then he whispered, "We're not the only predators in this desert"
The sun had risen to its peek, it peeled the sky apart. Twin fireballs burned high above the Expanse, and each passing hour felt like punishment. Every gust of wind threw hot sand into their faces like stinging lashes. The land beneath Ethan's boots no longer felt like stone or dune, but a slow-motion battlefield.
Every grain of sand had seen blood.
Ethan and Velina pressed forward, their shadows long, dragging behind them like ghosts. They said nothing as they passed the broken ruins of an outpost scorched by time. Ethan's hand hovered near his blade, not from fear but instinct.
Beasts were nearby.
The Trail Crystal pulsed faintly in his satchel.
[Time Remaining: 46 Hours, 11 Minutes]
[Distance to Beacon: Estimated... Nondisclosed]
The trial band displayed.
They hadn't slept in over a day.
But their footing was sure. Their reactions sharper than ever. Even without skills, the rhythm they'd developed had become something rare. Ethan would strike first. Velina would parry from behind. They switched roles without needing to speak. They faced two Class I beasts again, sandpanthers cloaked in heat mirage. Quick kills. Brutal. Efficient.
But Ethan had noticed something odd. A change in the creatures' behavior.
"They're coming sooner," he murmured. "Each stretch between encounters is shrinking."
Velina wiped blood from her cheek. "They're tracking the stronger ones."
Ethan gave a short nod. "Then we lead the pack."
But this wasn't logical, why would they track the stronger ones. Wouldn't it be easier for them to fight the weaker groups? No one has answers to this question.
---
By noon, they were bleeding again. Not from claws, from the wind itself. Their lips cracked. Sand ground between armor joints. Ethan had a blister forming on his heel, and Velina had gone hoarse.
Still, neither of them stopped. Every few kilometers, they'd see remnants of other groups. A broken banner. A discarded satchel. Once, the full skeleton of a noble boy, his crest half-buried in sand, eyes still wide in his mummified face.
"Gone soft," Ethan muttered as they passed the corpse.
Velina didn't argue.
They reached the top of another d'une, when a sound cracked through the dry wind like glass under pressure.
Screams.
Ethan paused. His eyes narrowed.
Below them, barely visible through the wavering heat, a group of six aspirants were surrounded. Beasts circled like jackals Class I desert types, maybe Class II, snapping and feinting. A long centipede-shaped one darted in and slashed open an aspirant's shoulder.
Blood spattered.
The group was barely holding them off. Two were already down. One had thrown down their blade and curled into the sand.
Velina gasped. "They need help."
Ethan didn't move. "That's not our concern."
"They'll die."
"They knew the risk."
"Ethan."
"No."
Velina turned sharply toward him, fury and disbelief painted across her sunburnt face. "They're human. We're human. We help."
"They're not us."
Ethan's voice was cold. Tired. Sharpened by every insult, every sneer from nobles who spat at his name.
"They wouldn't help us. Not now. Not ever."
"I would," she snapped. "And that's enough."
She stepped forward.
"Don't," Ethan warned.
Velina turned her head slightly, her voice soft but fierce. "Then stay behind."
And she lunged down the slope.
Ethan cursed under his breath. "Damn it, Velina—!"
She entered the fray blade-first, cutting down a beetle-like beast as it lunged toward a screaming boy. A second one came from behind, fast as lightning.
Too fast.
Ethan appeared in its path, slamming his shoulder into it mid-leap. Sand erupted. He dragged the beast down and drove his dagger into its skull. The group of aspirants stared in shock as Ethan and Velina pushed forward, covering the injured. Ethan struck with brutal economy, slashing tendon, crushing eyes, twisting steel through soft underbellies. How would a scum like him have such moves?
Velina parried for one of the girls, then turned and helped lift another who was bleeding from the waist.
"Behind!" someone yelled.