The remains of the Graveback Ravager lay motionless in the middle of the clearing, yet none of the surviving hunters dared approach it immediately.
Only after Kael had agreed to take Rhea as his disciple did Daren cautiously move toward the enormous corpse.
He crouched beside one of its collapsed limbs and touched the armor with the tip of his remaining dagger.
The dark plate that had shattered his sword only minutes earlier broke apart under the slightest pressure, falling onto the grass like pieces of dried bark.
Daren’s expression became increasingly serious as he examined the corpse.
The damage was unlike anything he had encountered before.
There were no burns, cuts, punctures, or traces of poison.
The creature’s flesh had simply deteriorated.
Its muscles had shriveled, its armor had become brittle, and even its bones looked as though they had spent decades exposed to harsh weather.
“What did he do to it?” the archer whispered.
Daren glanced toward Kael.
“Don’t know.” Kael was standing several meters away, apparently more interested in looking through the surrounding forest than in the creature he had just killed.
That alone made the situation stranger.
A Graveback Ravager was a nightmare for hunters of their level, yet Kael treated killing one with less importance than most hunters gave to cleaning their weapons.
Rhea had remained close to him since becoming his disciple.
The excitement she had felt when he agreed was gradually being joined by several questions she probably should have considered before asking a complete stranger to become her master.
Kael eventually looked at her.
“What’s your name?” Rhea froze.
Daren slowly turned toward her.
The archer covered her mouth.
Rhea’s face reddened when she realized she had asked someone to become her master without ever introducing herself.
“Rhea Valen.” Kael nodded.
“Kael.” “I know, Master.” “Then we’re done.” Rhea opened her mouth before deciding there was probably nothing useful she could add to that conversation.
The hunters spent the next several minutes treating their injuries and gathering whatever equipment remained usable.
Fortunately, the hunter who had pushed Rhea away from the Graveback’s claw was still alive.
His injuries were severe, but their healer managed to stabilize him.
The team had entered the Hollow Depth with considerably more supplies than they currently possessed, and much of what remained had been damaged during their retreat.
Daren eventually unfolded a leather map on a relatively flat stone.
Several sections had been torn away, while blood covered part of the western side.
He studied what remained before looking toward the forest.
“We need to move before something smells the corpse.” Kael glanced at him.
“Where are you going?” “Out.” “Which direction?” Daren pointed northeast.
“Our camp was established near the fifth boundary marker.
If we can reach the old expedition trail, we should be able to follow it toward the outer regions.” Kael looked northeast for a moment before turning his head north.
Daren noticed.
“Is something wrong?” “No.” Kael started walking north.
Everyone watched him.
Rhea hurried after him.
Daren stared at the two of them before calling out, “Senior Kael, the trail is this way.” “I know.” “Then where are you going?” “Out.” Daren looked down at the map and then back at Kael.
“The route north passes through Blackroot Basin.” Kael continued walking.
Daren waited for some reaction that never came.
“Blackroot Basin,” he repeated.
Kael glanced over his shoulder.
“I heard you.” “You know what it is?” “No.” Daren briefly closed his eyes.
“It’s one of the most dangerous territories in this section of the Hollow Depth.
We need to circle east.” “Why?” Daren wondered whether this was some strange test.
“Because we’d die if we went through it.” Kael considered his answer.
“I won’t.” Daren had no response.
Rhea looked at her new master, then at Daren, before quietly following Kael deeper into the forest.
The other hunters hesitated.
Under ordinary circumstances, nobody in the team would have considered entering Blackroot Basin.
However, ordinary circumstances had stopped applying around the moment they watched a young-looking man reduce a Graveback Ravager to a decayed corpse without touching it.
Daren folded the map.
“We follow him.” Nobody objected.
The group had traveled for less than half an hour when their scout suddenly raised his hand.
Everyone stopped except Kael, who continued walking until Rhea hurried forward and whispered that the others had stopped.
“Movement ahead,” the scout said.
He crouched and touched two fingers to the ground before studying the vegetation.
“Could be three.
Maybe four.” “Seven,” Kael said.
The scout looked at him.
“Seven?” Kael pointed casually toward the trees.
“Two behind the fallen trunk.
Three farther left.
One in the tree above them and another underground.” The scout stared into the forest.
He had detected the movement ahead, but even after Kael explained where the creatures were, he could barely identify four of them.
“Underground?” Daren asked.
“About eight meters ahead.” Nothing happened.
Several seconds passed.
The scout began wondering whether Kael had been mistaken when the ground suddenly burst apart.
A long creature covered in segmented brown armor erupted from beneath the soil.
Its jaws snapped shut where the scout had been standing a moment earlier, but Daren had pulled him backward after hearing Kael’s warning.
Weapons were immediately drawn.
Kael simply watched.
The creature twisted toward them before suddenly stopping.
Its armored segments became dull, then brittle.
Several broke apart as it tried burrowing back underground.
It managed to disappear beneath the soil, but its movements weakened rapidly until they stopped entirely.
The remaining creatures hidden among the trees fled.
The scout looked at the disturbed ground and then toward Kael.
“How did you know it was there?” Kael looked at him as though the question itself was strange.
“It was there.” The scout waited.
That was apparently the entire explanation.
As they continued traveling, Rhea began paying closer attention to her new master.
She quickly noticed something she had overlooked during the chaos of their first meeting.
Kael almost never searched his surroundings.
He didn’t glance behind himself when branches moved.
He didn’t examine the ground for tracks.
He didn’t look upward when something passed through the canopy.
Yet nothing surprised him.
A small venomous creature dropped from a branch behind him, and Kael stepped slightly to the side before it landed.
Several minutes later, he changed direction by half a step immediately before a thorn-covered vine snapped from beneath some leaves.
He had not looked at either one.
Rhea couldn’t understand it.
The deeper they traveled, the more the forest changed.
Ordinary trees gradually disappeared, replaced by massive black-barked growths whose roots rose several meters above the ground.
Some twisted around one another until they resembled enormous walls.
Gray moss covered nearly every exposed surface, and even the light filtering through the canopy became noticeably weaker.
Daren’s expression darkened.
“We’ve entered Blackroot Basin.” Kael continued forward.
Rhea moved closer to him.
“Master, are you sure about this?” “No.” Rhea nearly stumbled.
Kael glanced at her.
“I’ve never called it Blackroot Basin.” “That’s not what I meant.” “I know.” “Then…” “We’re already here.” Rhea stared at him for several seconds before deciding that becoming his disciple might require learning an entirely new method of conversation.
The group continued deeper.
Approximately an hour later, Kael noticed something entering the outer edge of his perception.
It was large.
Four-legged.
Its body moved between the roots with enough control that none of the hunters noticed the vibrations it produced.
The creature kept its distance while following them, occasionally circling to approach from another direction.
Kael recognized it.
He had encountered the species before.
It wasn’t particularly interesting.
He kept walking.
Nearly three kilometers later, Daren suddenly stopped.
“Something’s following us.” Weapons came out immediately.
Rhea looked toward Kael.
“Master?” “Hmm?” “Something is following us.” “I know.” Everyone became silent.
Daren frowned.
“Since when?” Kael thought for a moment.
“About three kilometers.” The scout’s expression became complicated.
“You knew something was stalking us for three kilometers?” “Yes.” “Why didn’t you say anything?” “You didn’t ask.” The scout opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
The creature attacked before he could decide how to respond.
A massive shape burst from between two black roots.
Its body resembled a heavily muscled feline covered in overlapping gray scales, while two long tusks curved downward from its upper jaw.
It had approached from behind, choosing the injured hunter as its target.
The hunters reacted immediately.
Kael did not turn around.
The creature crossed into the area surrounding him.
Its front paw landed.
The scales around its leg darkened.
By the time it took another step, cracks had spread toward its shoulder.
The beast roared and forced itself forward.
Unlike the Graveback Ravager, it did not collapse immediately.
Its body resisted the deterioration for several breaths as fresh tissue struggled against whatever was destroying it.
Kael kept walking.
The creature attempted another charge.
Its muscles failed.
One leg collapsed, followed by another.
Scales broke away from its body while its tusks became brittle and fractured against the ground.
Rhea watched the monster die behind her master.
Kael never looked back.
Something about that frightened her more than watching him kill the Graveback.
The hunters followed much more quietly after that.
By late afternoon, the black roots gradually disappeared and ordinary stone became more common beneath their feet.
The trees thinned enough for them to finally see farther ahead.
Daren stopped.
His face slowly lost color.
An enormous mountain rose before them.
Its upper slopes disappeared into mist, while dense forest covered almost everything below the exposed cliffs.
Daren immediately pulled out his damaged map.
He checked it once.
Then again.
His expression became worse.
Rhea noticed.
“What’s wrong?” Daren pointed toward the mountain.
“We’re supposed to turn east here.” Rhea looked at Kael.
Kael was still walking north.
Straight toward the mountain.
Daren hurried after him.
“Senior Kael!” Kael stopped.
“We’re going the wrong way.” Kael looked toward the mountain and then back at Daren.
“Is the exit on the other side?” Daren hesitated.
“Eventually…
yes.” “Then we’re going the right way.” “There is a mountain in front of us.” “I can see it.” “The safe trail goes around it.” Kael looked at the enormous mountain again.
Then he looked toward the east, where the safer route would add several days to their journey.
He had decided to go north.
The mountain happened to be north.
That sounded more like the mountain’s problem than his.
Kael resumed walking.
Daren stood motionless with the map still held in his hands.
Rhea looked at the mountain, then at the back of the man she had somehow chosen as her master less than a day ago.
For the first time since making that decision, a strange thought entered her mind.
Perhaps surviving the Hollow Depth had been the easy part.