"So that's Jinzhou. It's incredible."
The female Rover gazed at the distant city, awe slipping into her voice unbidden.
Yangyang and Chixia both smiled at the same time, pride brightening their faces. This was home, and it showed.
"Right? Pretty great, huh?"
"Huanglong has six states in total, and Jinzhou was the last to be established. But from the moment it was founded, it took on the burden of guarding the frontier and protecting hundreds of millions of civilians behind its walls."
"That's... remarkable."
He gave a quiet nod. He'd known all of this already, of course, every detail memorized from the game. But hearing Yangyang say it aloud, her voice carrying real weight, stirred something in him. A certain sentiment that hadn't changed one bit even after crossing into another world. His appreciation for Jinzhou deepened considerably.
Then the female Rover's sharp eyes caught something.
"Wait. Over there. Is that a person?"
"Who'd be out here at a time like... oh, it's Baizhi! Finally found her! Hold on, where is she?!"
Chixia's relief curdled into alarm mid-sentence. Beside her, Yangyang flinched, worry flooding her expression.
At the foot of the valley, a dark-haired girl in fitted dress-like attire crouched over a patch of ground that looked deeply wrong. She appeared to be collecting samples, studying something, oblivious to the danger.
"That idiot! She walked into a Tacet Field!"
"I don't know what class it is, but we need to get her out. Now. I have a bad feeling about this."
"Tacet Field?" The female Rover's eyes widened as she turned back toward the anomalous ground.
It stood out like a wound against the surrounding landscape. The earth had been bleached half-grey, color drained from it as if something had sucked the life out of the soil. At the dead center sat a massive cross-shaped Tacet Mark.
Yangyang explained quickly: Tacet Fields were zones that spawned massive numbers of Tacet Discords all at once. The longer one had been brewing, the more powerful the creatures it produced. Every occurrence was a high-priority emergency.
This wasn't something a handful of people could handle. They needed to report back to Jinzhou immediately and let the Midnight Rangers deal with it.
Even as she spoke, Yangyang and Chixia were already sprinting toward the field, intent on pulling Baizhi out. But the male Rover nudged his counterpart with an elbow. She was still processing the information.
"Hm? What is it?"
"Boss fight. Get ready."
"What?"
He knew the script. The game's story had a tutorial boss waiting right here: the Crownless.
They needed to prepare. Now.
Before they could, the world lurched.
"Baizhi!" Yangyang and Chixia screamed in unison.
The Tacet Field, silent a moment ago, erupted. Countless jagged spines punched through the earth. A pressure rolled outward, oppressive and suffocating, palpable even at this distance.
Inside the field, Baizhi's face went white.
She didn't hesitate. She turned and ran for the perimeter.
Too late.
The worst-case scenario had already arrived.
A figure materialized within the field. Humanoid. White as bone. It wore pallid armor like some spectral knight, a tattered violet cape trailing behind it. Its skull-like head bore a rictus grin that radiated killing intent.
"No! It spawned early!"
His golden eyes snapped wide. The realization hit again, harder than before: This isn't a game. This is real.
In the game, enemies didn't appear until the player walked into the trigger zone. Time stood still until you were ready. Reality offered no such courtesy. The world didn't wait. Miss your window, and it was gone for good.
And while the Crownless served as a tutorial punching bag in-game, its actual lore painted a different picture. This was a genuinely dangerous enemy. Not something to be underestimated.
Baizhi couldn't fight this thing.
"We're too far from the Tacet Field! Even the Glide module won't close the distance in time. If we don't do something, Baizhi will..."
"Damn it! If we had the Flight module we could make it!"
Yangyang and Chixia were frantic. They ran toward the field despite knowing they couldn't reach it in time. Neither of them had ever imagined Baizhi would be the one in danger. She'd always been the most rational, the most composed of the three. Now the most reliable person they knew was trapped, and they had no idea what to do.
But where panic gripped the two girls, both Rovers remained perfectly calm.
Reality wasn't a game. Things wouldn't go smoothly. But the real world didn't impose a game's artificial restrictions either. One glance between those matching golden eyes was all it took.
"Yangyang. You're the only one who can get us there."
"What?"
"It's the only way. Trust us."
Those identical gazes, steady and resolute, held hers without wavering. Yangyang went still for a beat, then nodded hard.
"Tell me what to do."
...
Inside the Tacet Field.
"I'm growing bored."
"A Tacet Discord... that can speak..." Baizhi coughed, blood flecking her lips.
The dark-haired girl was down on one knee.
She pressed a hand against the wound in her side, her Forte's cold energy numbing the pain, but healing was no longer an option. The creature before her was beyond anything she could handle. Forget a researcher like her. Even the Midnight Rangers' general might not win this fight.
Worse, there was no escape.
A barrier sealed the Tacet Field's perimeter, impenetrable to any ordinary Resonator. The Crownless had trapped its prey. A cage that wouldn't open until one of them was dead.
"Is this where it ends?"
The pale creature raised a clawed fist. Baizhi bit down on her lip, defiance and regret warring behind her closed eyes.
The killing blow never came.
"What is this?!"
The Crownless recoiled, putting distance between itself and Baizhi in an instant. She opened her eyes, confused, and found two black swords driven into the earth before her, crossed to form an X.
A wordless warning. You don't touch her.
Glass shattered overhead as the barrier broke apart, and two dark figures plummeted from the sky. They hit the ground hard enough to crack the earth beneath their feet.
"Who are you?!"
"Heard you're the one who patched us up. Thanks for that."
"You held out well. We'll take it from here."
Both Rovers glanced back at Baizhi with identical warm smiles, then pulled their swords from the ground. The moment their eyes turned toward the Crownless, that warmth vanished. What replaced it was pure, focused intent to kill.
The Tacet Field flooded with razor-sharp pressure. The aura rolling off the two Rovers matched the Crownless measure for measure. Resonance hummed along both blades.
Back at the valley's edge, the other two girls had collapsed.
"We... we made it. Thank the Sentinel." Chixia dropped onto her backside, exhaling so hard it left her lightheaded.
"I can't believe that reckless plan worked." Yangyang sat beside her, legs folded beneath her, fine sweat beading along her hairline.
When they'd realized the distance was too great for any conventional approach, the Rovers had pitched an audacious idea: use Yangyang's Forte to launch them across.
Breath of Winds. Her Resonance could sense information through the air, but it could also control wind to a degree. So the Rovers activated their Glide modules and took to the sky, closing as much distance as they could. Then Yangyang poured everything she had into a single gale and blasted them the rest of the way.
As for the barrier sealing the Tacet Field, the Crownless's cage designed to trap its prey, that arena of death that wouldn't dissolve until one side fell, strong enough to render ordinary Resonators helpless...
The Rovers had punched straight through it.
The girl's wind had become their wings, carrying them to their companion's side. And now, whatever came next...
That was a job for the swords in their hands.