The pass narrowed like a noose.
Jagged cliffs flanked both sides, rising high above the caravan as they rolled deeper into Hollowfang's Mouth. Sunlight struggled to pierce the canyon's twisting shadows, and the air carried the scent of dry stone and something older—something buried.
Rael walked beside the final wagon, fingers grazing the hilt of a curved blade he'd taken from one of the guards. His senses were taut, stretched like a bowstring. The Predator's Intuition had faded at dawn, but its echo remained—like a heartbeat in his blood.
Ahead, Lin rode alongside a merchant courier, eyes sharp under her hood. She didn't speak, didn't look back.
But he knew she felt it too.
The silence wasn't natural.
No wind. No birds. No beast calls.
Only the steady creak of wheels and the slow, uneven breathing of the chained creature in the second wagon.
[System Notice: Detection Disabled for External Entities]
Internal scan authorized.
Physique: Reforged Vessel (Incomplete)
Qi Circulation: Stable – Core forming in marrow
Cultivation Status: Unaligned
Current Trajectory: Threat emergence probability – 87% within 1.5 hours
Rael exhaled quietly.
They wouldn't make it through this canyon untouched.
---
It began with a whisper.
At first, Rael thought it was the wind returning. But wind didn't chant.
Low, guttural syllables echoed from the rock—too soft to understand, but heavy with hunger.
A guard raised his hand.
Then the canyon floor shifted.
A flash of movement—a claw, too long, too thin—burst from the sand and dragged a horse beneath the earth. The rider didn't even have time to scream.
Chaos erupted.
"AMBUSH!"
From both sides of the canyon, creatures poured forth—bipedal things with jagged armor fused into their flesh, eyes like molten rock. Their limbs stretched unnaturally, some wielding bone-carved weapons, others biting through steel with elongated jaws.
Lin drew her blade.
Rael didn't.
Instead, he ran.
Straight toward the sealed cage wagon.
The guards yelled, trying to form ranks. The merchant master shouted orders from her canopy, flinging talismans into the air.
But it wasn't enough.
There were too many.
---
Rael reached the cage just as the first of the creatures leapt onto the roof.
It snarled at him, blood dripping from its teeth.
He met its eyes—and let go.
Veil unfurled, snapping through the air like a spear of moonlight. She coiled around the beast's neck and crushed it in a single twist.
Rael kicked the corpse aside and slammed his palm onto the cage's lock.
[Warning: Forbidden Seal Detected]
Beast status: Dormant – Aggression level: Unstable
Do you wish to release it?
Note: You will bear responsibility.
"…I always do."
[Seal Broken.]
The air turned cold.
And then it roared.
---
The chains shattered.
The creature inside tore through iron like cloth. Long, obsidian horns curved from its skull. Its body was feline, but armored in plated hide that shimmered with runes. Eyes like silver lanterns snapped open—and focused on Rael.
It didn't attack.
It bowed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
And then it turned, hurling itself into the attacking swarm.
---
The battle turned.
The beast—some ancient relic of war—slaughtered the canyon horrors with brutal precision. Where it moved, the enemy died.
Rael leapt onto the wagon roof, scanning the battlefield.
Lin was holding her own—barely. Her blade technique was swift, flexible, using the narrow terrain to her advantage.
A creature lunged at her blind spot.
Rael threw a knife—clean through the eye.
She nodded once. Then moved again.
---
By the time the sun dipped behind the cliffs, the enemy was dead.
The canyon stank of blood and burnt marrow.
The guards were broken. Half the wagons destroyed.
The merchant master sat against a cracked wheel, blood running down her arm.
"You—" she gasped, looking at Rael. "That… thing… it obeyed you?"
He said nothing.
"Are you a beast tamer? No. Something else…"
She reached toward a pouch at her side.
Rael didn't wait.
He moved.
A single blow to her throat. Not enough to kill—just silence.
Lin approached, wiping her blade.
"She was about to mark us."
Rael nodded. "I don't want to be followed."
She eyed the great beast, which now crouched silently at the canyon's edge, licking its wounds.
"You planning to keep it?"
Rael looked at the creature. It stared back.
"No," he said. "It's choosing to stay."
---
They left the canyon by dawn.
The remaining guards—fewer than ten—were too broken to ask questions.
Rael and Lin took one of the intact wagons and the beast followed them of its own will, keeping to the shadows.
The road ahead forked.
One path led to Kalduen, a fortified city of sects and scholars.
The other led into the Fog Vale—a wild region said to hold lost legacies and forbidden temples.
Rael chose the vale.
Because no one followed you into the fog.
---