A blade deflected a claw.
An axe shrieked against green scales.
Blood, crushed beneath their boots, echoed across the cavern floor.
"Twenty seconds!" Seran shouted.
He shifted sideways, narrowly slipping past the Evox's frenzied charge.
Sweat soaked his brow. His vision, blurred and tinged red, struggled to keep pace.
Schockwawe pushed his affinity to its limits, shaping rough but powerful constructs to restrain the creature—walls erupting, pillars rising, earthen weapons launching one after another.
The lizard was beginning to tire.
But it didn't stop.
Its fury only intensified.
Not far away, a dome of ice pulsed with dense mana.
Frost was almost ready.
Just a little longer—and she would create the opening to end it.
Seran, on the other hand, was breaking.
His legs trembled. His arms felt heavy. His body strained under the effort.
Forcing his body to match the speed of his mind came at a cost.
The balance within him faltered—pressure building, muscles twitching under the strain.
He slowed.
Not even half a second.
The creature didn't forgive.
Its battered tail came crashing toward his face—
A thick wall of stone slammed between them.
"Lag, don't you dare quit now. If we get out alive, you're buying me a drink!" Schockwawe shouted.
The taunt drew the creature's full attention.
Seran didn't answer.
He moved.
"Ten seconds!"
He struck relentlessly.
A brutal rhythm took hold.
"Five seconds!"
The pressure surged.
The cavern filled with the sounds of impact, growls, and pain.
"Three…"
Almost there…
Then—
A scream tore through the battlefield.
"SNOW FAAAALL!"
CRRRAAACK—!
The ice dome shattered.
Frost stood at its center, body coiled, eyes sharp and unwavering.
In her hand, a spear encased in unnatural ice—now stretched to nearly four meters.
She aimed.
And threw.
The weapon carved through the air, leaving behind a trail of frost and snow.
The air itself seemed to freeze.
Like victory.
But in Seran's slowed world—
The creature moved.
Reptilian muscles tightened.
Its legs coiled, ready to leap away.
It's going to dodge.
No hesitation.
A streak of silver burst forward.
Seran closed the distance in an instant.
His blades sank into the creature's shoulders—
Like reins.
His muscles screamed, on the verge of tearing apart.
Still—
he pulled.
Forcing the creature off balance.
Dragging it—
straight into the spear's path.
And then—
Impact.
An explosion of ice swallowed Seran and the T2 whole.
"CRACK!"
Silence followed.
"Kid… what the hell did you just do…?" Schockwawe whispered.
A body hit the ground.
Frost collapsed, completely drained.
"Help… Lag…" she called weakly.
Schockwawe—now the only one still standing—staggered forward, exhausted.
Before him stood what looked like an iceberg.
Inside it, the creature—frozen, motionless.
Its red eyes locked in the cold.
The spear had pierced through its skull, down its neck, and lodged deep into its torso.
He looked up.
No sign of Lag.
Only the two blades still embedded in the creature's back.
"Where are you, kid…" he muttered, circling the frozen mass.
A few meters away—
A body.
Shaking.
Arms turning blue.
Face smeared with blood.
"C…co…cold…" Seran stuttered, teeth chattering.
Schockwawe let out a breath, half disbelief, half admiration.
"You're insane… but you've got guts."
He quickly injected him with a first-aid stimulant.
Then hoisted him over his shoulder, doing the same for Frost.
Still conscious, she whispered:
"Get the others… let's go…"
Her eyes closed.
At the cave entrance, the guards—already on edge—heard footsteps.
And something else.
A dragging sound.
They raised their rifles toward the darkness.
"Heyyy… a little help would be nice."
The lone raider emerged, dragging behind him six makeshift stretchers shaped from earth.
"Medics ready. Six injured—no… five" one of the guards corrected himself, noticing one of the bodies was missing its head.
Inside the field hospital, medics worked relentlessly.
Closing wounds.
Stitching torn flesh.
Disinfecting.
Resetting bones wherever possible.
Behind a glass window overlooking the operating room, a man in a black suit stood with his hands behind his back.
"I hope they managed to extract enough evonium" Clint said, his tone indifferent.
"Mm…ngh…"
A boy stirred, slowly opening his eyes.
A sterile room surrounded him.
Four beds lined the walls.
Two were occupied by women still unconscious.
Another by a young man, his abdomen wrapped in heavy bandages reinforced with metal braces.
The last—
A handsome face.
But where an entire arm should have been…
very little remained.
"I'm… alive…" he whispered, disbelief in his voice.
He tried to move his hands.
Both were secured inside braces that emitted a faint warmth.
"If it weren't for Frost and Schockwawe… I never would've taken it down alone…"
His thoughts began to spiral—
"Hey, Lag. You're the first one up."
The only one who had come out of it relatively well approached.
"Yeah… keep it down," Lag murmured, raising a hand slightly. "Don't wake the others."
"You owe me a drink, remember that."
A faint grin.
"Anyway… once everyone's awake, the man in black wants to talk to us."
"Did you already hand over the cargo?"
"Not yet. We'll need to renegotiate the contract."
He paused, glancing toward the others.
"And I'm pretty sure Frost will have more important questions for him."
"What kind of questions?"
A quiet chuckle.
"You're still too green, kid. Just wait… you'll see."
Schockwawe then added to shift the topic.
"About what I said this morning…"
A brief pause.
"…your parents did a great job."
"Forget it. Water under the bridge" the boy replied with a smirk.
"Though sometimes you're still an asshole."
Lag let out a weak laugh.
"Don't make me take that back."
They both chuckled softly.
And for the first time since the fight—
they talked.
For hours.
Getting to know each other a little better.