Charles checked his sword blade. Clean. He hadn't engaged. Naomi noticed but didn't comment. Belle's glance toward the back of the formation carried enough contempt for both of them.
Dante's nullification field had never activated. The encounter lasted less than six seconds, faster than his deployment window.
"Good," Naomi said, because someone had to and she'd learned from watching Jace that acknowledging success mattered even when the success was small. "Let's keep moving."
The ravine opened its throat wider and swallowed them deeper. The walls climbed higher on both sides, pressing inward until the root canopy overhead thickened into something that blocked out the sky completely. What had been an uncomfortable passage transformed into a tunnel with living walls. The humidity stopped being merely unpleasant and became an active presence in the air.
