The Scourged Zone's night pressed in from all sides, beautiful and merciless in equal measure. Kaelen supported Davos's weight as they moved through terrain that seemed to be designed to kill them slowly. Every step was careful, the injured instructor's breathing grew more labored with each meter they covered.
Kaelen's body screamed for rest. His left arm throbbed where the serpent had bitten him hours ago, the puncture wounds closed by Flow Regrowth but still tender. His ribs ached from the wolf's tail strike. Exhaustion pulled at every muscle, made his thoughts sluggish despite his best efforts to stay sharp.
But they couldn't stop. Not yet.
[HP: 380/380]
[A.E.: 416/480]
His health was full, but the numbers lied. Flow Regrowth maintained his HP while his body deteriorated in ways the System couldn't measure. Physical exhaustion, mental fatigue, the cumulative strain of supporting Davos's weight for the past hour.
The stats didn't show how much he had left in the tank. And right now, the tank was running on fumes.
Davos stumbled, his leg giving out momentarily. Kaelen caught him, bracing against the sudden weight shift.
"Sorry," Davos muttered, his voice strained.
"Don't be." Kaelen adjusted his grip, taking more of the load. "We're making progress."
It was a lie, and they both knew it. Progress implied movement toward something. They were just moving, direction dictated more by terrain than strategy.
The bioluminescent vegetation cast everything in shades of blue-green that made depth perception unreliable. Rock formations loomed out of the darkness without warning. The ground was treacherous, alternating between crystal-smooth surfaces and loose gravel that shifted under their feet.
And through it all, that persistent feeling of being watched.
Kaelen's Spatial Awareness was active, the three-meter detection radius his only early warning system. But the skill couldn't identify what was out there, just confirm that something was present, moving parallel to their path, keeping distance but never falling behind.
He'd felt it since leaving the cave. A presence in the darkness, patient. It wasn't rushing, but ust following.
"We're being tracked," Kaelen said quietly.
Davos didn't respond immediately. When he did, his voice carried exhaustion and resignation. "I know."
"How long have you known?"
"Since the cave. Felt it watching us while you fought those serpents." Davos's breath came in short gasps between words. "Didn't want to burden you with it."
Kaelen almost laughed despite the situation. "I was trying not to burden you."
"We're both idiots then."
They reached a cluster of crystal formations that offered slight cover. Davos's leg buckled completely, and Kaelen lowered him carefully to the ground.
The instructor's face was pale in the dim light. Blood had soaked through the bandages again, the white fabric turned dark. His breathing was shallow and rapid. The wound from the humanoid beast's strike had reopened despite the regenerative gel's best efforts.
"Can't keep going," Davos admitted, his gray eyes meeting Kaelen's. "Not without rest."
"Then we rest."
"No time. Whatever's following us will catch up if we stop."
"Then it catches up." Kaelen checked Davos's bandages, applying fresh pressure to slow the bleeding. "You need a few minutes, or you'll pass out from blood loss."
Davos's hand caught Kaelen's wrist, his grip surprisingly strong despite his condition. "Leave me. You can move faster alone. Get to the perimeter patrols, send help back."
Kaelen pulled his hand free, his expression hardening. "Not happening."
"Kid, be practical. One of us survives is better than both of us dying out here."
"I said it's not happening." Kaelen's tone left no room for argument. "We both walk out, or neither of us does."
Davos studied him for a long moment, seeing something in Kaelen's eyes that made him understand. This wasn't naive heroism or stubborn pride. It was something fundamental to who the kid was, a conviction that ran deeper than survival instinct.
"You stayed behind for the same reason," Davos said quietly.
"Yeah."
"That conviction is going to get you killed someday."
"Maybe." Kaelen finished securing the fresh bandage. "But not today."
Silence stretched between them, broken only by Davos's labored breathing and the distant sounds of the Zone at night.
Then Davos spoke again, his voice carrying grim practicality. "If we can't outrun it, we need to force it to engage on our terms."
"How?"
"Terrain advantage. Make it fight where we choose, not where it wants." Davos's eyes scanned their surroundings, tactical assessment overriding pain. "These crystal formations create choke points. If we can find a narrow passage, something that limits its mobility..."
"We turn the hunter into prey," Kaelen finished.
"In theory. In practice, we're still wounded and exhausted facing something that's been stalking us for an hour." Davos managed a faint smile despite the situation. "But it beats dying while running."
Kaelen helped him stand again, moving carefully between the formations. They searched for defensible ground, something that would give them an edge despite being outmatched.
Behind them, in the darkness, something moved.
...
The creature emerged from shadow like darkness made solid.
Kaelen sensed it before he saw it, his Spatial Awareness flaring with warning. He turned, positioning himself between Davos and the threat.
Then it stepped into the light of the bioluminescent vegetation, and Kaelen's breath paused.
[Analytical Scan Lv. 2]
[–5 A.E.]
[Obsidian Mauler]
[Classification:???]
[Rank: C]
[Threat Assessment: Catastrophic]
[Traits: ???]
[Weaknesses:???]
Four meters at the shoulder. Massive didn't begin to describe it. The body was feline, built like a panther but scaled up to nightmare proportions. Obsidian-black fur seemed to absorb light, making its exact outline hard to track. Crystals protruded from its shoulders and spine, glowing deep crimson like dying embers.
Its eyes found Kaelen's, and intelligence looked back. Not animal instinct, but recognition of prey that might prove interesting before it died.
Claws the length of Kaelen's forearms scored the ground with each step, leaving deep gouges in the crystal-hard earth.
C-rank.
One full tier above the D-rank matriarch that had nearly killed their entire team. Two tiers above anything Kaelen had successfully faced alone.
"Fuck," Davos breathed, recognizing the species. "Obsidian Mauler. It is a rare variant. I've only seen them in reports."
"First time for both of us then," Kaelen said, his voice steadier than he felt.
The Mauler watched them with what might have been amusement. No rush, or an immediate attack. Just patient observation, like a cat watching mice realize they were trapped.
Then it moved.
Not with a charge but just a casual lunge, testing their reaction speed with barely any effort behind the movement.
But casual for a C-rank beast was still faster than anything Kaelen had faced.
He activated Flash Step on instinct.
[–19 A.E.]
[A.E.: 397/480]
Reality blurred. He appeared three meters to the left just as the Mauler's paw swept through the space where he'd been standing.
But the beast anticipated the movement. Its body twisted mid-strike with impossible flexibility, the momentum redirecting toward his new position.
Kaelen saw it coming. Saw death approaching in the form of obsidian claws and knew he couldn't dodge again.
The impact hit him like a freight train.
The massive paw caught him across the left side, and the force was catastrophic. His ribs cracked with sounds like gunshots. His entire left arm went numb instantly. The world spun as he was thrown backward, slamming into a crystal rock hard enough to crack it.
[–170 HP]
[HP: 210/380]
Pain exploded through his left side, so intense it painted out his vision white for a moment. When clarity returned, he was on the ground, gasping for breath that didn't come properly. His left arm hung useless, broken in multiple places. Blood filled his mouth.
Through the haze, he saw the Mauler watching him with what looked like a smile touching its muzzle. It had barely tried, and it had nearly killed him in one hit.
This wasn't a fight he could win conventionally.
Flow Regrowth activated automatically, golden time-threads becoming faintly visible as they wove through his shattered ribs and arm. The healing was agonizingly slow, working to stabilize damage that should have been fatal if not for his defense.
Davos tried to stand, to help, but his injured leg collapsed under him. "Kaelen..."
"Stay down," Kaelen managed through gritted teeth. He forced himself to his knees, then his feet, every movement sending fresh waves of agony through his broken side.
The Mauler tilted its head, as if impressed the prey was still moving.
Kaelen grabbed Davos with his good arm, hauling the instructor up with strength born from pure desperation and survival instinct.
"We run. Now."
He activated Aether Burst, releasing it at the ground between them and the Mauler. The explosive force created distance and a cloud of debris that momentarily obscured vision.
[–29 A.E.]
[A.E.: 368/480]
They ran.
Kaelen supported Davos's weight despite his own broken state, adrenaline overriding the pain signals his body was screaming. His left arm was uselessly hanging at his side. His ribs grated with each breath. But his legs still worked, and that was enough.
Behind them, the Mauler watched them flee. It didn't give chase immediately. Just stood there, observing, as if their desperate sprint was entertainment rather than escape.
Then it began following. Not running. Walking. A leisurely pace that ate up the ground effortlessly while they struggled forward with everything they had left.
It was playing with them.
...
They fled through increasingly hostile terrain, navigating between formations that grew taller and more elaborate as they went deeper. The bioluminescent vegetation thickened, casting everything in shifting patterns of light and shadow that made footing treacherous.
Kaelen's Spatial Awareness tracked the Mauler's position. Twenty meters behind. Then fifteen. Then twenty again. It was herding them, he realized. Keeping close enough to prevent rest but not closing for the kill.
Driving them somewhere specific.
"It's intelligent," Kaelen gasped between breaths. "Too intelligent."
"Variants often are," Davos replied, his voice strained. "Especially rare variants. They hunt like we do. Strategy, not just instinct."
A ravine opened before them, cutting through the terrain like a wound. The walls were unstable, showing visible cracks and stress fractures. A narrow passage ran between two massive rock formations, barely wide enough for two people to stand side by side.
The Mauler appeared at the ravine's entrance behind them, blocking retreat. Its eyes gleamed with satisfaction.
It had herded them into a trap.
Kaelen lowered Davos carefully behind a defensible rock near the passage's center. The instructor's face was pale, blood loss effects finally catching up despite his determination.
"Leave me," Davos said again, his voice weaker now. "You can make it alone through the passage. I'll slow it down, buy you time."
"And what, you'll fight a C-rank beast while you can barely stand?" Kaelen shook his head. "We both die if we try that."
"Then we both die here. That conviction of yours will really kill you someday, kid."
"Maybe." Kaelen positioned himself at the choke point, staring at the Mauler as it approached with confident leisure. "But not today."
His mind raced through options, each one seemingly impossible:
The passage was narrow, forcing single-file engagement. That eliminated some of the Mauler's mobility advantage. The walls were unstable, showing stress fractures throughout. If he could bring them down on the beast...
"Can you still use your ability?" Kaelen asked Davos.
"Barely. Why?"
"The walls. They're unstable." Kaelen pointed to the visible cracks running through both sides of the passage. "If we can collapse them on that thing, and trap it under the rubble..."
"That's suicide. The entire ravine could come down, including on us."
"Better than letting it kill us slowly." Kaelen checked his stats.
[HP: 247/380]
[A.E.: 368/480]
[Stat Points: 21]
He allocated quickly, prioritizing survival:
+6 Vitality (66 –> 72)
+10 Intelligence (70 –> 80)
+5 Agility (53 –> 58)
[HP: 277/410]
[A.E.: 443/530]
The added Agility wouldn't help much. He'd seen how fast the Mauler moved when it wasn't even trying. But every advantage mattered.
"I will bring it to position," Kaelen said. "I'll use Spatial Lance to destabilize one wall. You hit the other with your ability. The whole thing comes down on it."
"And if it doesn't die?"
"We're fucked anyway, so it won't matter."
Davos managed a weak laugh despite everything. "Solid plan."
The Mauler entered the passage, its massive form barely fitting through the narrow space. It moved with predatory confidence, each step deliberate and controlled.
Kaelen met its gaze, setting his stance. His gauntlet hand rose despite the pain in his broken arm. Aether coating activated automatically.
[–3 A.E./sec]
"You sure about this?" Davos asked from behind the rock.
"No," Kaelen admitted honestly. "But I'm sure about not running anymore."
The Mauler charged, deliberately slow. Fast enough to be dangerous, slow enough to show it was toying with him still.
Kaelen activated Chrono-Perception.
[A.E.: 440/530]
The world fractured into slow motion, but it was sluggish. His exhaustion degraded the effect, made the temporal dilation less pronounced. The Mauler's charge became somewhat readable, but not enough.
It was still too fast.
He used Spatial Warp as the beast closed distance, cutting space to increase the gap between them.
[–24 A.E.]
[A.E.: 416/530]
The Mauler's eyes focused on him, intelligently recognizing the spatial manipulation. It increased its speed, closing the seemingly expanding distance with effortless power.
Its massive paw swung forward with casual force that would shatter reinforced steel.
Kaelen couldn't dodge completely in the narrow passage. He blocked with his gauntlet instead.
The impact was catastrophic.
His gauntlet cracked, stress fractures spreading across the E-rank weapon's surface like spiderwebs. The force drove him backward, his boots scraped across stone as he was pushed several meters. His arm went numb instantly.
[–127 HP]
[HP: 150/410]
[Warning: HP Low]
The gauntlet held, barely. But another hit like that would shatter it completely.
Kaelen stayed upright through pure stubborn refusal to fall.
The Mauler watched him, and that smile touched its muzzle again. It was enjoying this, the struggle of the prey that refused to just die.
It attacked again, thus time faster with a combination strike: right paw slash, followed immediately by a bite attempt at his throat.
Kaelen positioned himself to take the paw strike on his gauntlet rather than his body. The impact jarred his entire arm.
[–73 HP]
[HP: 77/410]
[Warning: HP Critically Low]
He used Flash Step to avoid the bite as jaws snapped shut where his head had been.
[–19 A.E.]
He created an Aether Barrier against the follow-up strike, buying precious seconds.
[–8 A.E.]
The construct shattered immediately, but it gave him the opening he needed.
His gauntlet fist drove forward, aether-coated, targeting the Mauler's jaw with everything he had.
The hit connected solidly.
The Mauler's head barely moved. Its C-rank durability obvious in the way it absorbed a blow that should have shattered bone.
Kaelen's strongest strike, and it did nothing.
The Mauler's expression was still one of predatory amusement. Then its eyes narrowed slightly, the playtime ending.
It struck with its right paw, putting real effort behind the blow now. Intending to end this.
Kaelen activated his skill synergy without conscious thought.
Temporal Rift.
[–250 A.E.]
[A.E.: 140/530]
The rift tore open between them, swirling void that defied comprehension. Space and time warped, creating a wound in reality itself.
The Mauler's strike entered the rift and vanished.
The beast jumped back, its ntelligence eyes recognizing Something's wrong. Its eyes tracked Kaelen, trying to understand what just happened.
Five seconds passed. Kaelen counted them with Chrono-Perception's perfect temporal awareness.
Then the rift opened behind the Mauler.
Its own strike emerged from the void, catching it across the spine to the face with devastating force. The beast hadn't expected its own attack from its blind spot, couldn't defend against its own strength turned against it.
The impact threw it forward, slamming into the passage wall. A visible scar appeared across its face where the reversed blow had struck.
The Mauler recovered quickly, but it was injured now. Actually hurt. The playful expression vanished, replaced by pure hatred.
No more games. Just killing intent.
It charged again, this time with real speed. The kind of speed C-ranks possessed.
Kaelen could barely move, his body was past its limits. His A.E. was critically low. His HP hovered just above death.
But he'd made a choice. And he wouldn't die until he'd executed the plan.
He formed Spatial Lance in his palm and charged it. The compressed spatial distortion hummed with barely contained power.
[–121 A.E.]
[Aether Chain-E-rank activated]
[A.E.: 119/530]
His reserves dropped into dangerous territory, the System automatically drawing from his Aether Chain to keep him conscious.
He aimed not at the Mauler, but at the weakest section of the ravine wall. And released.
SHRIEEEK
The lance tore through air, through stone, through structural integrity. The wall cracked, stress fractures spreading like lightning across its entire face.
The Mauler charged toward them, almost at Kaelen's position when it realized what they'd done.
"Now!" Kaelen shouted.
Davos gathered green energy around his palm despite his injuries, Verdant Annihilation charging. He released the concentrated beam at the opposite wall.
The attack was devastating.
Both walls collapsed simultaneously, tons of rock and crystal coming down from both sides. The passage became a death trap, the ceiling following as structural support vanished.
The Mauler tried to reverse its course, but momentum carried it forward into the collapsing zone.
Rubble crashed down, burying the C-rank beast under tons of debris.
Kaelen grabbed Davos with his one good arm, dragging him over the falling rocks and out of the devastated ravine. Behind them, the entire passage collapsed completely, sealing whatever was trapped inside.
They made it twenty meters before Kaelen's legs finally gave out. He collapsed, unable to go further, his body shutting down from accumulated damage and exhaustion.
[HP: 77/410]
[Warning: HP Critically Low]
[A.E.: 119/530]
Behind them, the rubble shifted.
The Mauler emerged, clawing its way out of the collapsed passage. Injured now, actually hurt, but very much alive.
And absolutely enraged.
Davos tried to stand, to fight, but his body wouldn't cooperate. He managed to raise his palm, gathering what little green energy he could muster.
A weak beam lanced from his hand, hitting the Mauler's flank. It barely slowed the beast.
The Mauler charged, closing the distance with terrifying speed. Its jaws opened wide, baring fangs meant for one thing: ending them both.
Kaelen tried to move, to do something, but his body was done. Finished. He'd pushed past every limit, and there was nothing left.
The Mauler was three meters away. Then two. It was already at his face baring its fangs.
Then a figure appeared between them and death.
Instructor Mira materialized like a force of nature. She didn't seem to have run, rather she moved so fast it appeared like teleportation, her amber-gold eyes blazing with barely restrained power.
The Mauler's charge met her palm.
The impact created a shockwave that cracked the ground in radiating patterns. The C-rank beast, massive and deadly and unstoppable, stopped completely.
Halted by a single-handed block that defied physics.
Mira's presence flooded the area, her aether pressure making the air itself feel heavy. Even the Mauler recognized its mistake, finally understanding it had made a grave error.
"You,'She said to Kaelen."I will lecture you later."
"You made me search for four hours," Mira said quietly, her voice carrying weight beyond volume. "You hurt my students. You made me worry."
Her other hand rose. Amber light gathered around her palm, compressed energy that made the air shimmer.
"Die."
The Mauler tried to retreat, recognizing superior predator but it was too late.
Mira's attack released. Not a beam. A sphere of annihilation that expanded outward, reality itself screaming as the technique manifested.
The C-rank beast met her power.
It didn't survive the contact. Didn't even have time to register pain. Just immediate disintegration of existence, its body unmade at the molecular level by force it had no capacity to resist.
When the light faded, nothing remained. Not ash, not fragments. Just empty space where the Obsidian Mauler had been.
Silence.
Mira turned toward Kaelen and Davos, her expression shifting from cold fury to visible relief. She moved to Kaelen first, kneeling beside his collapsed body.
"I've got you," she said, her voice gentle now. All the terrifying power contained again, hidden behind concern. "You're safe."
Kaelen tried to speak, to explain what happened, to ask about the team. But exhaustion claimed him before words could form.
His last thought before consciousness faded:
*We survived.*
...
The medical transport arrived within minutes of Mira's emergency call. She'd carried both Kaelen and Davos to a clear landing zone, her strength making their combined weight trivial.
The pilot loaded Davos onto a stretcher first, the observer unconscious from blood loss and exhaustion. Medical equipment immediately began working, stabilizing vitals and administering emergency treatment.
Kaelen was placed on the second stretcher. His left arm was immobilized, his ribs wrapped, his vital signs dangerously low but stable.
Mira climbed into the transport, positioning herself where she could watch both patients. Her amber-gold eyes tracked their status monitors with intensity that made the medical techs nervous.
"How bad?" she asked the lead medic.
"The Observer will need surgery, but he'll survive. The kid..." The medic checked Kaelen's readings. "Honestly? He should be dead. Multiple broken ribs, shattered arm, internal bleeding, severe aether exhaustion. But his regeneration is working overtime. I've never seen passive healing this aggressive in an Initiate-level cultivator."
Flow Regrowth was still active, golden time-threads faintly visible as they wove through Kaelen's worst injuries.
"Will he recover fully?" Mira asked.
"Given time and proper treatment, yes. But he pushed himself way past what his cultivation should have survived." The medic's expression was a professional respect. "This kid's got a will that doesn't quit."
Mira looked at Kaelen's unconscious face, seeing the exhaustion even sleep couldn't hide. "Yeah. He does."
The transport lifted off, its engines screaming as it accelerated toward Veyra Enclave. Through the viewport, the Scourged Zone fell away beneath them, beautiful and deadly and finally left behind.
Inside, Kaelen's consciousness drifted in darkness. It wasn't that if dreams or thoughts but the void of complete exhaustion claiming what it was owed.
System notifications overlooked waiting to be read.
[Quest Complete: Sentinel's Shield]
[Rewards: +1000 XP (Base & System) | Rare Skill Upgrade Token | ??? Reward]
[Processing...]
Everything faded to black as the transport flew toward safety.
...
In Vice Chancellor Aris Vale's office, she stood at the window, watching the transport's distant lights approach the academy through the night sky.
"He survived," Riven's voice came from behind her, carrying surprise and something like respect.
"Did you doubt he would?" Aris didn't turn from the window.
"You left him out there to face all that. Let a mere instructor search for him while you orchestrated everything." Riven's tone carried accusation. "If he's so precious to you, why risk it?"
"Because I needed him to know despair," Aris replied calmly. "To grow through adversity rather than be coddled through comfort. If he couldn't survive out there with his advantages, then he was merely a wasted potential."
"You treasured him enough to make such generous offers," Riven said. "Yet you orchestrated his near death. Your logic escapes me."
"When I first evaluated him, I thought he was simply fortunate. Granted an S-rank ability as cosmic pity." Aris finally turned from the window, her expression unreadable. "But after researching his background, his lineage that he doesn't even know himself... I see now he's something far more significant."
"If he's so significant, why let him face such danger? You didn't even inform the major or any guilds at that. Just sent an 'unknown instructor' to find him."
A faint smile touched Aris's lips. "You think Mira Ashveil is a mere instructor?"
Riven's expression shifted. "Yeah, i do."
"Of course. Even with your influence, you don't know her. She is using an alias after all."
"How special could she be?"
"I will give you a hint. She's a prodigy added to hardworking and great genetics. She's related to the 'silent family'." Aris said still staring off into the dark aurora sky.
"You don't mean Lady—"
"Don't speak it aloud," Aris interrupted. "But yes. The woman who delivered the final blow in the SOYA SS-rank Beast raid. One of the youngest to ever reach Sovereign Primal cultivation. She teaches here because she decided to retire from field work but even her position here is undermined and not worthy of her capability."
"Does she know about the orchestrated incident?"
"No. And she never will." Aris's tone hardened. "What matters is Kaelen survived genuine danger, grew through facing impossible odds, and proved he's worthy of what's coming."
"What is coming?"
"Everything."
Aris returned her attention to the window. The transport was almost at the academy now, carrying two survivors who'd faced death and refused it.
"The B-rank beasts, the increased beast activity, the facility anomalies—all of it was preparation," she said quietly. "Because what Kaelen will face next makes tonight look gentle by comparison."
Riven was silent for a long moment. Then: "You're playing a dangerous game."
"I'm not playing." Aris's reflection in the window showed eyes that held depths Riven couldn't fathom. "I'm ensuring the pieces are where they need to be when the board inevitably catches fire."
She continued,"Aren't you only worried because he is a potential pawn to you and... what was the name of your group again?"
"That's not it." Riven said.
"Really... an allie to help you up your family's hierarchy, then..." She said with a smile.
Riven stayed silent not replying her.
Outside, dawn was beginning to break over Veyra Enclave. The transport descended toward the medical facility, carrying its precious cargo home.
And in the darkness of unconsciousness, Kaelen Burn slept, unaware that his trial by fire had been orchestrated from the beginning.
Unaware that it was only the first of many tests to come.
The hunter had become the hunted. The prey had survived.
And somewhere in the shadows, wheels were turning that would shape everything that followed.