Rain struck the clearing like a falling sky. It came heavy, relentless, turning packed dirt into sludge, bleeding down bark walls and soaking through every threadbare wrap and layer of bark-woven armour. Thunder cracked in the distance, muted by the towering jungle canopy, but close enough to make the air taste of iron.
The Splitjaw Stalker burst from the fog before anyone could cry a warning.
Raif barely had time to react. Its body was a blur, low, hulking, built like a bark wolf but longer, segmented, with armour plates that shimmered like wet stone and teeth that clicked even when its mouth was closed. It lunged toward the shattered shelter where Syl lay prone beneath Mira's watch.
"Mira!"
His shout vanished into the storm.
Mira spun instinctively, her body twisting between the beast and Syl, pushing Lira back in the process. The creature's leap closed the distance in a heartbeat, claws outstretched, its massive lower jaw yawning wider than any normal anatomy should allow. Raif didn't think. He charged.
His boots skidded in the mud as he planted himself, spear held low, braced for impact. Naera appeared beside him, eyes locked, her stance tight and angled, soaked hair sticking to her jaw. Her grip on the spear was pure muscle memory. Kael veered left, already a shadow in motion, his outline vanishing behind a curve of splintered shelter beams.
Lira, slower due to her limp, staggered to position but grit her teeth and pressed forward. Her stave clutched like a lifeline. Her eyes dart to Syl, and Mira, before landing on the creature.
The Splitjaw landed, but not in front of Raif. It twisted mid-air, striking the ground several paces short and slashing sideways through the shelter remains. Its tail whipped with precision, scattering debris and sending bark slats flying.
"Flanking!" Raif bellowed. "It's not charging, it's thinking!"
The creature lunged low, forcing Raif to turn and pivot. Its eyes gleamed, dark and calculating. Not frenzied. Not instinctual. It was testing them.
Mira threw herself over Syl, shielding her with her whole body. Vines, torn from the earlier attack, still clung to Syl's limbs, twitching faintly with residual rot. Syl's breath came in stuttering gasps. She was awake, dazed, her gaze unfocused.
Kael re-emerged behind the Splitjaw, blades drawn. He slashed once across its rear haunches, a blur of motion, but the creature turned too fast. Its tail struck Kael in the ribs, flinging him across the clearing into a soaked tangle of vines and stakes.
Raif lunged. His spear found purchase, but barely. It glanced off the plated hide with a dull crack, like hitting stone. He growled and pressed harder, shoving the shaft beneath the creature's forelimb. It twisted, jaws snapping inches from his face.
Naera struck next. Her spear came from above, aimed for the soft gap beneath its mandible. But the Splitjaw pulled back, feinting again, its extended jaw twitching unnaturally, almost dislocating, like it could catch her from a distance.
"It's studying us," Raif said, breath ragged. "Like it's planning the kill."
"Then we don't give it time."
Lira heaved a snapped roof beam and hurled it into the beast's periphery. It flinched. Kael, already recovering, surged forward from the blind spot, his blade flashing in the rain. He struck low, burying stone into the exposed underbelly.
The Splitjaw screamed. Not a howl or roar, something worse. A serrated screech, like splintering wood and breaking teeth. It bucked violently, knocking Kael aside again.
"Get it off Syl!" Mira shouted, pushing herself to her feet, one hand dragging Syl with her, the other clutching a broken spear.
Raif threw himself into the beast's shoulder, teeth bared in raw defiance. He felt its weight resist, then shift.
"Naera, now!"
She came from the right, stabbing just below its jaw with a stone knife that Kael threw at her. It reeled back, its grotesque mouth swinging open, and Lira lunged in. She jammed the stave between the jaws, pinning them wide. The Splitjaw thrashed, but the makeshift wedge held.
"Finish it!" Lira roared.
Raif dropped his ruined spear and drew Kael's chitin blade, a third knife wrapped around Kael's ankle. He leapt, grabbed one of the beast's shoulders, and drove the blade deep into its exposed throat. The cut was shallow at first, then met soft tissue, and Kael arrived beside him. Together, they carved upward.
The creature shrieked. Its limbs spasmed, one claw gouging into the shelter wall, the other scrabbling at the ground. Then it collapsed, breath shuddering out in one long, rattling exhale.
Mira rushed to Syl, checking her limbs, her pulse, her breath. "She's alive," she whispered. "She's still here."
Syl's fingers clung to Mira's forearm. Her lips moved, trying to speak.
"Shhh," Mira whispered. "Not yet."
Lira fell to one knee, breathing hard, her arms shaking from effort.
Rain hammered down.
The orb, buried beneath layers of bark and tarp near the shrine, flared.
[Hostile Neutralised – Category: Splitjaw Stalker]
[Kill Type: Coordinated Execution]
[Reward: +5 KE]
No one cheered. No one moved.
Raif wiped his face, smearing blood and mud from his brow. The blade in his hand dripped red. His chest heaved, but he didn't collapse. Not yet.
He turned to Kael, who nodded once. Bruised, silent, but steady.
Raif glanced at Mira, at Syl, at the ruin of their shelter.
This wasn't over.
On the other side, Goss ducked under a snapping jaw, swung a wooden club he had found on the ground, and felt the satisfying crunch of bone. The bark wolf yelped and staggered, but didn't fall. The air stank of wet fur and bitter smoke. Rain poured down in sheets, reducing visibility to little more than silhouettes.
"Another's pushing from the south!" Eloin's voice cracked across the clearing.
Hennick grunted nearby, wielding a bark-hilted spear like he'd been born with it, jabbing between lunges, never overreaching, forgoing the axe for more reach. Beside him, Eloin moved with urgency, mud clinging to his knees, jamming sharpened poles into the soft ground, trying to plug every new weakness the downpour revealed.
"Wall's too soft," Eloin growled. "We keep holding, the whole damned section'll give."
"Then we don't let them reach it!" Goss barked, swinging again. This time, the wolf collapsed with a final twitch.
From the corner, a screech peeled out.
"The Mantis!"
The Vielback Mantis crawled low, clever. It clung to the angled frame of the perimeter, ducking beneath hanging leaves, using the shadows and fog to mask its approach. Its forelimbs twitched, bladed and angled wrong, too long for its frame.
"I see it," Rix hissed, spinning to face the sound. "It's using the damn fog!"
The Smogcoil slid behind it, releasing more haze into the clearing. Goss coughed, vision stinging. Hennick wiped at his face, blinking through tears. Shapes blurred.
"I can't see," Eloin muttered, sounding small.
"Strike where the ground buckles!" Rix barked. "You feel it shift, stab deep!"
They split. Goss and Hennick surged left to flank the Mantis. Rix ran opposite, trying to triangulate the Smogcoil's shifting mass. He crouched, speared low, and pressed forward. Something slithered just out of reach.
The bark wolf came from nowhere.
Eloin stumbled, nearly falling onto a broken stake, but caught himself. He jammed his pole sideways and swung with desperation as the wolf lunged.
"Eloin!" Goss shouted.
Hennick turned and slammed a chitin shield into the wolf's shoulder. It staggered. Eloin struck blindly and caught its ribs.
Another shriek, the Mantis swiped. Goss ducked, rolled through the mud, and came up inside its reach. He didn't hesitate. Club met thorax, creating a crack in its exoskeleton.
"Rix, now!" Goss yelled.
Rix pivoted and lunged. His spear hit the Smogcoil dead-on, but the creature coiled tight, vapour hissing into his face.
"Burns!" Rix gasped.
"No more," Hennick muttered. He spun his spear in his grip and drove it into the Smogcoil's base where the mist was thickest.
It spasmed and retreated, slithering through the wall gap, leaving smoke behind.
"Don't breathe in," Rix warned. "It scrambles the senses."
A low rumble from Goss. "Like your plans."
Despite the tension, Hennick gave a small chuckle. "Still breathing, aren't we?"
Rain kept falling. The Mantis reeled, oozing ichor, legs jerking erratically.
"Finish it!" Goss called. Eloin rushed forward, drove his stave into its mouth. The creature thrashed and collapsed.
They stood still, panting. Only two more shapes moved in the mist.
And the wall, still holding.
The storm reached its crescendo, rain hammering the clearing in wild sheets. Thunder cracked again, this time so close it rattled through the posts and into their bones. The sky opened fully, soaking skin, weapons, and bark alike.
Then, from the depths of the jungle, a howl cut through the downpour.
It was long. Deep. Unlike the bark wolves. This one held weight, not rage, but command.
The clearing went still.
The storm screamed. And from beyond the trees, something stirred.
But barely. The clearing stank of blood and smoke, the rain washing crimson into the soil. Goss gripped his side, breath ragged, while Rix scanned the fog for movement, spear trembling slightly in his grasp.
"No call from the west," Hennick muttered. "Too quiet."
"We haven't killed everything on our side either," Rix said, frowning toward the treeline. "Something's still watching."
Then Kael emerged from the haze, his blade raised, not in threat, but warning. And behind him, Raif, Mira, Syl, Naera, and Lira, their faces tight with something unspoken.
"It's not done," Raif said, voice low. "Something else is inside the camp."