"We can't stay here anymore," Asher said, forcing himself to stand. His legs felt like lead, but his mind was much clearer. "We're sitting targets if something bigger comes. We have to move while we still have some strength."
He exchanged a glance with Ryn.
"The surroundings are clear," Ryn replied.
"Good, then here's how we are gonna move," Asher directed. "I'll take point. Clara, Maya," he said, using the names the girls had hastily given, "you two shield the middle, protect Grandma and the kid. Conserve energy, use basic runes and spells only. Ryn," he paused, the name feeling heavier now, "you watch our backs."
Ryn moved to the rear of the group, his posture relaxed but his eyes scanning the flickering shadows behind them.
Then, they moved out.
The new formation worked.
With Asher probing ahead and Ryn silently neutralizing any threat that tried to flank or ambush from the rear: a stray Vicious Rat dispatched with a teleported piece of debris, a lurking Corrosive Slime diverted by a precisely dropped luggage crate, and so on.
They also met a few other survivors, but they refused to join them and preferred to stay hidden, which Asher found a bit reassuring since there were enough people in his little group anyway.
Overall, the journey was tense but manageable.
The battles were quicker and less energy-consuming.
Finally, after twenty minutes of slow, brutal progress, they pushed through a sealed bulkhead door and stumbled into the relative quiet of the head carriages.
They had reached the front.
"We are here!" The girls exclaimed.
Asher put his shoulder against the door and pushed. However, it didn't even budge.
"Hmm?" He tried channeling a trickle of Arcana into the access panel. It beeped a dull red, denying entry.
"Damn it!" he cursed, slapping the cold metal. "It's locked from the inside. Or jammed."
"Open up! Please!" Clara shouted, pounding on the door with a fist. "There are people out here!"
"Open the door!" Maya joined her friend.
"Don't bother. They can't hear you," Asher said, frustration sharpening his tone. "The command car is at the very front. This is just the first-class buffer. Unless there's a Master Arcanist in there, they won't be able to hear us."
"W-what?"
"No way!"
The hope that had carried them this far began to curdle in the cramped space.
"Don't cry, child. It's going to be ok." The elderly woman hugged the toddler tighter.
Just then, Ryn spoke up, his voice cutting through the growing despair.
"Guys." He was looking back the way they'd come, down the shadowy corridor of the carriage they'd just sealed. "...They're coming." He paused, his head tilting slightly as if listening to something only he could perceive. "…A lot of them."
Everyone froze.
For a second, there was only silence—then they heard it. The scratching. The wet snarls. The uneven rhythm of claws against metal.
What they'd left behind wasn't distant anymore.
It was closing in.
Asher's chest tightened. 'This isn't right.'
The dream memories replayed in his mind, still blurred and fractured, but clear on one thing: monsters were supposed to be scattered, not moving in large groups.
Something was wrong, but he had no time to spare.
"No other choice," he muttered, more to himself than anyone. He stepped forward, his expression hardening with resolve. "Guys, I have a way. But it won't last long."
He pulled a small vial of murky blue liquid from his pouch, a second-grade Arcana Boost Potion.
He uncorked it and downed it in one grimacing gulp.
'Urgh, it tastes awful.'
A sudden, artificial warmth flooded his veins, a shaky surge of energy refilling his depleted core. It wouldn't last long, but it was the only thing he could afford.
Next, he produced a palm-sized, intricately carved rune crystal.
He knelt and pressed it to the floor at their feet, channeling the potion-boosted Arcana into it. The crystal glowed, and lines of pale blue light spread from it, weaving into a complex circular pattern that rose to form a faint, shimmering dome around their group.
"An invisibility barrier?!" Clara, the Rune Arcanist girl, gasped, recognizing the advanced pattern. "That's a Third-Circle Rune! You can cast that?"
"Barely," Asher admitted through gritted teeth, already feeling the strain. "And only for a minute, maybe less. So listen closely. The barrier masks our sight and smell, and most of our energy signature. So don't move and don't speak. Don't even breathe loudly. If we are lucky, they might leave after not finding anything. If we aren't… be ready to fight for your lives the second the barrier drops."
Everyone nodded grimly.
The grandma clamped a hand over the toddler's mouth, her own eyes wide with terror.
Ryn, still watching the approaching corridor, finally glanced back at the huddled group under the shimmering dome. His gaze lingered on the grandmother and child for a brief moment before returning to the shadows.
"They're here," he whispered.
The next moment, shadows poured into the far end of the carriage.
Dozens of eyes flickered to life in the dark.
"Clatter… Clatter…"
The sounds of claws and chittering filled the air, a wall of noise pressing towards their fragile, glowing bubble.
No one dared to make a sound, for if they did, the fragile light would shatter, and the darkness would swallow them whole.
The monsters flooded into the dim light of the carriage: a seething mass of Skitterjaws, Glimmerfangs, and other, less nameable things, all moving with a chilling, unified purpose.
They sniffed the air, heads swiveling, mandibles clicking.
They passed within feet of the shimmering dome. One Glimmerfang stopped right in front of Asher, its snout inches from the barrier.
"!"
The girls huddled together, hands clamped over their own mouths, tears streaming silently. Asher knelt at the center, his entire body trembling like a tuning fork. Sweat poured down his temples, stinging his eyes. His vision was starting to blur at the edges.
Every second felt like it was peeling a layer of his soul away.
Ryn remained a step behind him, posture loose but coiled, eyes tracking every movement in the dark.
'Go… just go…' Asher pleaded silently, his heart hammering against his ribs so hard he feared the monsters would hear it.
The lead monster snorted, shook its head, and turned away.
The tide began to recede. Losing interest, the creatures started to shuffle back the way they came.
The tension in the dome snapped. Relief, heavy and intoxicating, crashed through the group. The grandmother, sensing the danger passing, relaxed her grip just a fraction.
"WAAAH—!"
The piercing cry of the child shattered the silence like a hammer on glass.
Asher stared in horror as hundreds of glowing eyes snapped back toward them.
'F**k.'