Daren had spent more than twelve years as a hunter, and during those twelve years, he had learned that survival inside dangerous regions depended less on courage than on knowing when courage became stupidity.
A hunter who refused to retreat from an enemy stronger than himself was not brave.
He was simply a corpse that had not realized it yet.
The same principle applied to terrain, weather, unexplored ruins, and every other danger that existed beyond the protected territories of human settlements.
Unfortunately, the young man walking several steps ahead of him did not appear to share that philosophy.
“Senior Kael, please wait.” Kael stopped and looked back.
Daren unfolded the damaged map again and pointed toward the enormous mountain dominating the horizon.
“That’s part of the Gravespine Range.
The mountain itself isn’t the only problem.
The forest covering the lower slopes contains several territorial species, and the cliffs become almost vertical farther up.
With our injuries, crossing over it would be extremely dangerous.” Kael looked toward the mountain before asking, “How long around?” Daren was relieved that he had finally asked a sensible question.
“Normally three days if we maintain a good pace.
In our current condition, probably four or five.” “No.” Daren waited for him to suggest an alternative.
Kael turned around and continued north.
For several moments, nobody followed.
Rhea was the first to move.
She hurried after her new master while Daren stared at Kael’s back with a complicated expression.
The other hunters looked toward their leader, but Daren eventually sighed and folded the map.
They followed.
Rhea caught up beside Kael and looked toward the mountain.
The closer they came, the more absurd their direction appeared.
The mountain was not some gentle hill that could be crossed with a difficult afternoon of climbing.
Its upper slopes disappeared behind layers of mist, and enormous cliffs of dark stone were visible between the trees.
“Master, are we going to climb it?” Kael looked at her.
“Why?” Rhea briefly wondered whether she had asked the question incorrectly.
“Because it’s a mountain.” “I noticed.” “Then how are we getting across?” “Straight.” Rhea looked ahead.
There was a mountain ahead.
She looked back at Kael.
He had already continued walking.
Rhea hurried after him while quietly deciding that she would wait before asking another question.
The forest became increasingly dense as they approached the lower slopes.
Trees that had previously stood several meters apart began growing close enough that their branches intertwined overhead.
Thick roots broke through the soil, while moss-covered rocks made the ground increasingly uneven.
Daren ordered the team to remain alert, but Kael continued at the same relaxed pace.
He could already perceive the creatures around them.
A long-bodied predator rested inside a hollow tree nearly eighty meters to their left.
Several smaller creatures were burrowed beneath the roots ahead.
Something resembling a large reptile watched the group from a rocky ledge farther up the slope.
None mattered.
They weren’t attacking him.
Kael had spent enough time surrounded by monsters that simply seeing one no longer gave him any reason to react.
If every creature that entered his perception deserved his attention, he would have accomplished very little during the last century.
The hunters did not possess the same confidence.
Their scout repeatedly stopped to examine tracks, while the archer kept an arrow ready.
Twice they changed their formation after noticing signs of predators nearby.
Kael ignored all of it.
Several creatures detected the hunters as they passed, but most remained hidden.
The Hollow Depth had its own hierarchy, and survival often depended on knowing when prey was not worth the risk.
Eventually, Kael stopped.
Rhea nearly walked into him.
An enormous creature was sleeping ahead.
Its body lay between two massive trees, completely blocking the most direct path forward.
The beast resembled a combination of a boar and some heavily armored reptile, though its size made the comparison almost meaningless.
Thick plates covered its shoulders, and two blunt horns extended from either side of its skull.
Daren immediately lowered his voice.
“Stonehide Brute.” The hunters began moving to the side.
Kael didn’t.
“Senior Kael,” Daren whispered, “we should circle around.
If we stay downwind, it might not wake.” Kael looked at the sleeping creature.
Then he looked directly beyond it.
The direction he wanted to travel continued through the space currently occupied by the monster.
He walked forward.
Rhea closed her eyes for a moment.
The Stonehide Brute’s eyes opened.
Its head rose, and a low rumble vibrated through the surrounding forest.
The hunters immediately drew their weapons, but Kael simply stopped several meters from it.
“Move.” The beast stood.
It was considerably larger than it had appeared while lying down.
The Stonehide Brute released a roar and charged.
Kael sighed.
The vegetation around him began changing.
Leaves curled inward.
Moss dried against the rocks.
The Stonehide Brute managed only several steps before the plates covering its head started losing their color.
Cracks spread across them as the enormous creature continued forward.
Its charge slowed.
One horn broke away.
Then its front leg collapsed.
The beast crashed into the ground, sliding several meters before stopping short of Kael.
Its breathing weakened while the armor covering its body became brittle, and within moments, the creature stopped moving entirely.
Kael stepped around it.
The hunters remained behind.
The archer stared at the corpse.
“Do you know how much a complete Stonehide Brute plate sells for?” Daren looked toward Kael, who had not even glanced back.
“I don’t think he cares.” The archer looked physically pained.
They hurried after him.
By midday, the incline had become considerably steeper.
The trees gradually thinned until the group finally emerged before an enormous wall of dark stone.
Daren stopped.
For the first time since they began following Kael, he felt vindicated.
There was simply nowhere farther to walk.
The cliff rose almost vertically.
Traveling east would eventually lead them toward a known mountain pass, while climbing directly upward with their injured companions was impossible.
Kael approached the rock.
Rhea watched him place a hand against it.
“Master?” “Stay behind me.” Rhea immediately stepped backward.
The other hunters did the same.
Nothing spectacular happened.
There was no explosion or violent impact.
The stone beneath Kael’s palm simply changed.
Its dark surface became lighter as tiny fractures spread outward.
Small pieces broke away and fell to the ground.
More cracks followed, spreading deeper into the mountain.
Then the stone began crumbling.
Daren’s expression froze.
A shallow hollow appeared in the cliff.
It became deeper.
And deeper.
Kael stepped forward.
The mountain deteriorated before him.
Stone that had remained intact for countless years weakened within moments.
Hard rock became brittle, fractured, and collapsed into fragments and dust.
The effect continued several meters ahead of Kael, creating empty space before he reached it.
He walked directly into the mountain.
Rhea stared.
Daren stared.
Everyone stared.
“Master!” Kael glanced back.
Rhea pointed toward the tunnel forming around him.
“We’re going through it?” “Yes.” “The mountain?” “That’s generally what ‘through’ means.” Rhea’s mouth opened before slowly closing again.
The group entered behind him.
The newly formed passage was wide enough for several people to walk side by side.
Stone continuously deteriorated ahead while the area around the hunters remained stable, leaving walls of rough but solid rock behind them.
After several minutes, Rhea could no longer keep the question inside.
“Master.” “Hmm?” “Couldn’t we have gone around?” “Yes.” “Then why didn’t we?” Kael looked at her.
“Because I wasn’t going that way.” Rhea stared at his face, searching for some indication that he was joking.
There was none.
She finally understood.
Kael had not chosen this route because it was safer.
He had not chosen it because it was faster.
He had decided to travel north.
The mountain happened to be north.
Therefore, they were going through the mountain.
Rhea suddenly wondered what would happen if something more troublesome than a mountain eventually stood in his way.
Several hours passed inside the tunnel.
Kael continued without hesitation, but something eventually entered the range of his perception.
He noticed it long before anyone else.
Deep beneath the mountain was an enormous network of natural caverns.
Something had been living there for a very long time.
The creature was curled around a chamber filled with bones.
Kael’s newly created tunnel was approaching its territory.
He considered changing direction for approximately half a second.
Then dismissed the idea.
He was going north.
The creature could move if it disliked that.
Several minutes later, the mountain trembled.
Daren immediately drew his dagger.
“What was that?” “Something lives here,” Kael answered.
Rhea stared at him.
“You knew?” “Yes.” “How long?” “A while.” Before she could ask why he had not mentioned it, the wall to their right exploded.
Stone fragments flew through the tunnel.
An enormous segmented limb emerged first, followed by a head covered in thick mineral-like armor.
The creature resembled a centipede, but its body was wide enough to nearly fill the passage.
Its mouth opened into several concentric layers of teeth.
Daren’s face changed.
He didn’t recognize it.
That was worse than recognizing it.
The creature ignored Kael.
Its senses locked onto the hunters behind him.
It lunged.
Decay spread through the tunnel.
The monster’s outer armor immediately began deteriorating, but unlike the creatures they had encountered earlier, it continued moving.
Rhea’s eyes widened.
It was resisting.
For the first time since meeting Kael, she saw something remain functional inside whatever terrifying ability he possessed.
Kael stopped walking.
He looked at the creature.
“Oh?” There was no fear in his voice.
Only mild interest.
For an instant, an old memory surfaced.
A darker part of the Hollow Depth.
A younger Kael standing before something vastly larger than himself while the ground around him had already become lifeless.
The creature had refused to die.
Back then, Kael had spent days considering the problem before realizing something simple.
Making decay spread farther was not the same as making it deeper.
The memory disappeared.
Kael increased the depth.
The centipede-like creature froze.
Its armor, which had resisted moments earlier, suddenly aged beyond recognition.
Layers cracked apart and collapsed.
The flesh beneath them shrank, organs failed, and entire segments of its body began breaking under their own weight.
The creature fell before reaching him.
Kael watched it for another moment.
“Better.” Then he resumed walking.
Rhea looked at the corpse.
Then at her master.
A disturbing realization entered her mind.
Everything she had seen until now might have been Kael barely trying.
Several more hours passed before a faint point of natural light finally appeared ahead.
Kael walked toward it.
The remaining stone deteriorated, and daylight flooded into the tunnel.
He stepped outside.
Rhea followed, shielding her eyes for a moment before looking back.
A dark opening now existed in the mountain behind them.
A road where no road had existed that morning.
Daren emerged last.
He looked at the tunnel.
Then at his damaged map.
After several seconds, he folded the map carefully and put it inside his coat.
Rhea noticed.
“You’re not checking the route?” Daren shook his head.
“I don’t think the route matters anymore.” Rhea couldn’t disagree.
She hurried after Kael, who had already started walking again.
“Master, where are you planning to go after we leave the Hollow Depth?” Kael slowed slightly.
For a very long time, the Hollow Depth had been everything around him.
Forests, monsters, caverns, mountains, and endless stretches of wilderness had once been interesting enough to occupy him.
Now there were humans.
And somewhere beyond the Hollow Depth was an entire civilization he had never seen.
“Don’t know.” Rhea nearly stumbled.
“You don’t know?” “I’ll decide when I get there.” Kael continued north.
Rhea watched him for a moment before following.
Behind her, the hunters exchanged tired looks.
They were beginning to understand something about the strange man they had encountered.
Kael had no urgent destination.
He was not searching for treasure.
He was not completing some great mission.
He had just walked directly through a monster-infested mountain instead of taking the established route around it because he had decided to walk north.
For Kael, that had apparently been reason enough.