Traise lowered both daggers slowly while the last traces of adrenaline faded from his muscles.
Even after stopping, the rhythm between Viper Fang and Queen’s Fury still lingered faintly in his hands, as though his body had finally begun understanding how both weapons were supposed to move together instead of competing against each other during every transition.
Outside the cave entrance, cold morning wind drifted across the cliffs while pale sunlight gradually spread farther through the forest below.
Luna remained stretched beside the dying embers of the fire, though one glowing blue eye stayed fixed on him lazily while Nysera rested loosely around his shoulders.
Nysera had spent most of the practice session watching every movement intently whenever he accelerated through Quickstep, occasionally tightening slightly whenever he changed direction too abruptly.
Traise rolled one shoulder experimentally before reopening his status menu again.
He mainly wanted to review how much the new skill had actually changed beneath the surface now that his combat flow finally felt stable.
The familiar system interface appeared in front of him.
At first, nothing seemed unusual.
His attributes remained roughly where he expected after the Companion Bond stabilized with Nysera, and the bonuses from the paired dagger set still remained active throughout his body exactly like before.
Then his attention stopped on one specific skill.
Shadows had changed.
Traise raised his eyebrow in interest as he focused on the updated description.
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Shadows
Class: Initiate High
Type: Active / Stealth
Mana Cost: 1 per minute
Allows the user to conceal themselves within surrounding shadows for extended periods of time.
Visibility and detection become significantly reduced while remaining still or moving carefully through darkness.
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He stared at the screen longer than expected while the implications slowly settled into place.
Shadows had only recently increased a small Class realm not long ago through repeated usage, and yet somehow the skill had risen again without him realizing it.
Most of his recent efforts went toward surviving stronger enemies, adapting his combat style, and stabilizing his movements with the paired daggers rather than consciously training in stealth.
Shadows had quietly woven itself into nearly every part of his survival.
He used it while scouting unfamiliar territory, avoiding stronger predators, moving through darkness during hunts, and navigating the Roc Python tunnels whenever direct confrontation became too dangerous.
The skill had grown alongside those experiences without him paying much attention to it at all.
The Upgrade System seemed far more interested in practical application than repetitive grinding.
Shadows suddenly felt less like an emergency tool and more like something he could build plans around.
Earlier versions of Shadows barely lasted long enough to reposition during combat or break line of sight before the mana drain forced him out again.
Twenty seconds carried utility when spaced out, obviously, but the skill still functioned mostly as an emergency tool rather than something reliable.
One minute was completely different.
Combined with the mana reduction effect from his bracer, which effectively doubled the duration, his greatly improved Dexterity, and Luna’s natural Shadow Affinity, the upgraded skill suddenly opened possibilities that had not realistically existed before.
Traise slowly glanced toward Luna while she remained comfortably stretched beside the fire.
Even while resting, portions of her outline subtly blurred whenever nearby shadows shifted around her silver-black fur, almost like darkness instinctively tried concealing her presence without conscious effort on her part.
For the first time since obtaining Shadows, the skill no longer felt limited to desperate survival situations.
It finally felt useful strategically.
The hunting territory surrounding the cliffs had become too familiar anyway.
Moderate-ranked prey still provided experience, but nowhere near fast enough to match how quickly everything else around him continued escalating.
The Moonfang Alpha remained somewhere deeper within the forest, the dungeon beneath the ruins still lingered unanswered in the back of his thoughts, and the Roc Python Queen alone had proven how brutally the power gap widened once he encountered predators beyond his current range.
Staying near the cliffs indefinitely would only slow him down.
Traise dismissed the system window before stepping closer toward the cave entrance again.
Far below, the forest stretched endlessly beneath the morning light while thin layers of fog drifted between sections of canopy like pale rivers weaving through the trees.
He still had no intention of approaching the dungeon directly.
That remained well beyond what he could realistically survive right now.
But the surrounding territory was different.
Stronger prey almost certainly hunted closer to the dungeon’s influence zone, especially if the increased mana density continued affecting the region the way he suspected.
Dangerous-ranked creatures would still remain threats, but the balance had shifted compared to earlier hunts.
Luna’s speed and stealth, Nysera’s durability and venom, combined with his own mobility and dual-dagger combat style created far more battlefield pressure than before.
Earlier fights against Dangerous creatures nearly killed him because he approached those threats alone or severely underprepared.
Now their coordination was steadily improving with every hunt, and once Luna and Nysera adapted properly to fighting beside each other, those same threats would become far more manageable than before.
Traise exhaled slowly before glancing back toward both companions.
“We’re going farther today.”
Nysera immediately lifted her head while curiosity pulsed faintly through the bond.
Luna reacted differently.
Her ears twitched once before she rose from beside the fire and stretched slowly, alertness gradually replacing the lingering fatigue from the Queen fight.
Neither of them resisted the decision.
The descent from the cliffs began shortly afterward.
At first, the changes throughout the forest felt subtle enough that Traise almost questioned whether he was imagining them.
The terrain became rougher beneath his boots while thicker roots twisted farther across the ground between rocks and fallen logs.
Trees widened noticeably as well, their trunks gradually growing massive enough that several looked ancient compared to the forests surrounding the eastern hunting grounds.
The farther west they traveled, the quieter portions of the forest became.
The territory near the cliffs always carried constant background noise.
Insects, distant movement, territorial calls, predators shifting somewhere beyond sight, even danger itself sounded alive there.
This region felt different.
Long stretches of forest occasionally fell completely silent without warning, leaving only the sound of wind moving slowly through the upper canopy overhead.
Traise found himself slowing instinctively each time it happened.
The silence never lasted particularly long, but it returned often enough that he gradually stopped dismissing it as coincidence.
Massive claw marks scarred portions of exposed stone and bark throughout the region as well.
Some gouges stretched high enough above him that whatever created them had to be enormous, while others carved deeply enough into solid rock to leave him questioning what kind of creature possessed that much raw force behind a casual territorial marking.
Old ruins appeared more frequently the farther inward they traveled, though the forest had nearly consumed most of them entirely.
Broken walls disappeared beneath roots thicker than his torso while collapsed pillars leaned sideways beneath layers of moss and creeping vines.
In several places, enormous trees had grown directly through ancient stone foundations, splitting the structures apart so completely that nature and ruin looked fused together now.
The air itself carried a faint difference too.
Mana density pressed subtly against his senses whenever he slowed enough to notice it properly.
Not overwhelming.
Not suffocating.
Just heavier somehow, like the environment itself possessed more weight beneath the surface than the regions surrounding the cliffs.
Distant calls occasionally echoed somewhere farther ahead through the trees.
None sounded familiar.
Traise kept one hand resting near Queen’s Fury while his pace gradually slowed into something more cautious.
Luna moved several yards ahead through scattered patches of shadow while Nysera remained loosely coiled around his shoulders beneath the dark cloak draped across part of his upper body.
The forest no longer felt empty here.
It felt inhabited.
Traise slowed once the terrain began descending into a series of overgrown stone ridges partially swallowed beneath the forest floor.
Massive roots twisted through cracked ruins ahead while layers of hanging moss draped between branches high overhead, reducing the sunlight filtering through the canopy into dim green haze.
The deeper territory already demanded more caution than the hunting grounds near the cliffs, but now he had another problem occupying his attention.
He wanted to test Shadows properly.
Traise stepped behind the remains of a collapsed stone wall before quietly activating the skill again.
Darkness spread outward across his body almost immediately, thinner and smoother than before.
Earlier versions of the ability always felt unstable once he tried moving too quickly, forcing him to constantly balance speed against mana drain while the concealment flickered around him.
Now the shadows clung naturally against his cloak and exposed skin while the mana consumption remained almost nonexistent beneath the bracer’s reduction effect.
Nysera shifted slightly around his shoulders as he began walking again.
Then Traise stopped.
Nysera had disappeared too.
Only her golden eyes remained faintly visible beneath the folds of his cloak before even those dimmed beneath the concealment effect entirely.
Traise lowered one hand carefully toward her while continuing forward through the ruins, watching closely for changes in the mana drain or instability within the skill. Read this novel at NovelPing for the best experience.
Nothing happened.
Nysera remained concealed alongside him without increasing the mana cost at all.
Nysera’s head rose higher beneath the cloak, clearly interested in the way the shadows now covered both of them simultaneously.
Traise exhaled quietly while glancing ahead through the trees again.
Luna already possessed her own form of concealment through Shadow Affinity and Shadow Blend.
Half the time she practically vanished from sight on instinct alone whenever darkness thickened around her.
But Nysera had no stealth capabilities outside remaining physically unnoticed, which meant scouting with both companions previously carried far greater risk.
Now he could move with Nysera hidden directly against him while Luna scouted independently ahead.
Traise continued deeper through the ruins afterward while carefully monitoring the mana drain.
Even after several minutes, the cost remained manageable enough that he no longer felt pressured to immediately deactivate the skill every few seconds.
Combined with his increased Dexterity and Quickstep stabilization, moving quietly through uneven terrain felt smoother than it ever had before.
The forest around them gradually shifted again as they pushed farther west.
Older stone appeared more frequently beneath the undergrowth, often shaped too deliberately to be natural.
Sections of broken pathways occasionally emerged beneath moss before disappearing again beneath roots and soil, while cracked pillars leaned sideways between the trees like the remains of structures consumed by the forest centuries ago.
Then Traise noticed the first sign that something else lived here besides beasts.
A sharpened wooden stake protruded from the ground near the edge of a narrow trail ahead.
He immediately crouched lower.
The stake itself looked primitive, little more than stripped wood hardened through fire, but it had been placed deliberately beside the path instead of randomly scattered by nature.
Several more appeared nearby once he focused harder, partially concealed beneath brush and roots in a rough perimeter pattern.
None of them resembled animal behavior.
Traise deactivated Shadows instinctively while studying the area more carefully.
Luna emerged soundlessly from deeper within the trees moments later before stopping beside the ruins overlooking the trail ahead, while Nysera remained loosely coiled beneath the cloak around his shoulders.
Through the bond, he felt alertness replacing Luna’s earlier calm almost immediately.
She noticed it too.
Traise slowly approached one of the stakes while keeping his movements controlled.
Faint markings had been carved into the wood near the base — crude symbols formed from intersecting lines and circular patterns that meant nothing to him.
The cuts looked rough, but still intentional enough that there was no mistaking intelligence behind them.
He continued forward more cautiously afterward.
The signs appeared more frequently the farther they traveled.
Primitive rope traps hidden beneath leaves.
Narrow pathways worn through dense undergrowth in repeating patterns.
Small clusters of broken bones stacked beside stone markers.
At one point, Traise spotted faint smoke rising through distant sections of canopy before it disappeared again behind the trees.
Even the movement patterns throughout the region felt different now.
Predators left signs of their presence wherever instinct carried them.
Claw marks appeared without pattern.
Trails ended abruptly.
Territorial markings spread across wide stretches of forest with little regard for anything around them.
Here, the signs connected to one another.
Paths led somewhere.
Traps protected specific approaches.
Carved markers appeared along routes that seemed intentionally chosen rather than randomly claimed.
Someone lived here.
Traise eventually lowered himself beside the remains of another collapsed wall while staring through a narrow opening between the roots ahead.
Beyond the ruins, movement shifted faintly through the trees in coordinated patterns instead of wandering beast behavior.
A figure emerged several seconds later.
Tall.
Broad-shouldered. overed in overlapping dark-green scales thick enough to resemble natural armor beneath the sun.
The creature walked on powerful, reptilian legs that bent backward beneath the knee, giving its movements an unnervingly agile quality despite its size.
A long spear tipped with sharpened stone and bone rested in its grip.
Smaller scales lined portions of its jaw and neck like layered plating, while yellow eyes scanned the surrounding forest with steady focus rather than animal instinct.
Another emerged moments later farther behind it.
Then another.
Traise remained perfectly still while Observation activated automatically.
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Race: Mirefang Lizardman
Threat: Dangerous
Armored reptilian humanoids that hunt cooperatively in packs.
Highly territorial ambush predators capable of coordinated attacks and environmental trapping.
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The Mirefangs disappeared through the trees again shortly afterward, but the silence they left behind felt entirely different from the predators he encountered earlier in the forest.
These creatures did not wander territory blindly.
They patrolled.
Traise waited several more seconds before carefully shifting farther along the ruins to gain a better angle through the undergrowth ahead.
The region beyond the broken stone sloped downward into a shallow marsh partially concealed beneath enormous roots and dense foliage.
More signs of activity became visible the longer he observed.
Sharpened stakes formed crude defensive barriers between sections of swampy terrain.
Elevated wooden walkways connected clusters of rough structures built from mud, bone, and scavenged stone.
Several huts leaned directly against the ruins themselves as though the forest and settlement had slowly fused together over time instead of being built separately.
The Mirefangs moved throughout the settlement in coordinated patterns rather than random wandering.
Some carried hunting spears while others dragged carcasses toward central fire pits surrounded by cracked stone and hanging bones.
Traise spotted another group reinforcing portions of a collapsed barrier wall using stripped logs and sharpened stakes while several others patrolled the outer perimeter with steady focus.
None of them behaved like monsters.
Patrols rotated.
Hunters returned with food.
Workers reinforced damaged barriers.
The longer he watched, the harder it became to place them beside the predators he normally hunted.
Even the stronger predators throughout the forest still followed instinct above everything else.
Territorial behavior.
Hunting patterns.
Pack coordination.
Dangerous, but understandable.
This felt closer to civilization.
Primitive.
Brutal.
But organized.
Traise lowered himself farther behind the broken wall while Luna silently repositioned through the shadows overhead.
Through the bond, he felt the same cautious tension spreading through her instincts now as well.
Nysera remained motionless beneath the cloak around his shoulders, though curiosity continued pulsing faintly through the connection while she watched the movement below.
Then Traise noticed something strange.
There were no children anywhere.
The Mirefangs varied slightly in size and build, but every single one appeared physically mature.
Some carried heavier armor plating across their scales while others looked leaner and faster, though none resembled juveniles at all. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
Traise frowned slightly while continuing to scan the settlement.
The answer appeared several minutes later near the far side of the marsh.
A cluster of massive eggs rested partially buried beneath heated mud and layers of vegetation beside one of the larger structures.
Several Mirefangs guarded the area while another crouched nearby, occasionally adjusting portions of the nest with careful movements.
Then one of the eggs cracked.
Traise instinctively focused harder.
More fractures spread across the shell moments later before the top portion finally split apart completely.
A scaled arm pushed outward through the opening first, followed shortly afterward by the rest of the creature beneath layers of steam and broken shell.
Traise froze.
What emerged was not a hatchling.
It was a fully formed Mirefang.
Smaller than the adults nearby, obviously weaker, and completely unsteady on its feet, but physically mature in shape and proportions.
Mud and fragments of shell slid across its scales while it slowly pulled itself free from the nest with clumsy movements, breathing heavily as the surrounding Mirefangs watched silently nearby.
No infant cries echoed through the nesting area.
No child existed beneath the shell.
The newly born Mirefang looked more like an exhausted adult emerging from hibernation than something that had only existed for seconds.
Watching a fully grown Mirefang crawl from its shell made every assumption he carried about the forest feel less reliable.
The newly hatched Mirefang struggled awkwardly beside the steaming nest while several larger reptilian figures watched from nearby without moving to help it.
Mud slid across its scales as it tried repeatedly to stabilize itself on uneven legs, and after several failed attempts to stand properly, one of the nearby guards stepped forward and shoved a crude spear into its hands with complete indifference.
The newborn nearly dropped it immediately.
None of the surrounding Mirefangs reacted.
The guard simply stared until the hatchling tightened its grip around the weapon properly before motioning sharply toward the center of the settlement.
A moment later, activity throughout the marsh resumed exactly as before while the newly born Mirefang staggered uncertainly after the others with the spear still clutched awkwardly in its hands.
Traise remained crouched behind the collapsed ruins overlooking the encampment while his eyes moved carefully between the structures below.
Every new detail pushed the Mirefangs farther from the predators he was used to hunting.
Even pack creatures like the Moonfang Wolves or Roc Pythons still behaved according to instinct first and foremost.
Territory, hunger, aggression, survival.
Dangerous, but predictable.
Everyone of them seemed to serve a purpose.
Patrols rotated through the outer swamp trails at consistent intervals while others hauled carcasses toward central fire pits surrounded by hanging bones and strips of drying hide.
Several reinforced portions of a damaged barricade wall using sharpened stakes and scavenged stone while another group sorted supplies beneath elevated platforms woven between the roots of enormous trees.
Nothing about the settlement looked advanced.
It still looked organized.
The structures themselves blended strangely into the environment surrounding them.
Some appeared built directly against ancient stone ruins buried beneath the swamp while others leaned into the massive roots spreading through the marsh floor.
Mud walls reinforced with bone and stripped timber formed rough shelters beneath hanging moss while narrow wooden walkways connected portions of the settlement above the stagnant pools scattered throughout the lowlands.
Signs of long-term habitation appeared everywhere once he started looking for them.
Crude carvings marked several support pillars near the larger structures while bundles of dried herbs and animal remains hung beneath the overhanging roofs.
He spotted sharpened stone tools stacked near one fire pit alongside piles of cracked shells and butchered carcasses while several Mirefangs worked together stripping scales from a serpent nearly the size of a Roc Python juvenile.
Luna shifted silently through the ruins several dozen yards away, her outline occasionally disappearing completely whenever deeper shadows swallowed her silver-black fur.
Even through the Companion Bond, Traise could feel the caution radiating from her instincts now.
She no longer moved like she was scouting prey.
Every repositioning through the marsh carried deliberate restraint, careful not to disturb even loose debris beneath her paws.
Nysera reacted very differently.
Curiosity drifted steadily through the bond while she watched the heated nesting pits below from beneath the folds of Traise’s cloak.
Her attention repeatedly returned toward the eggs and the warm steam surrounding them, and every now and then her tongue flicked against the air as though she could still smell lingering traces of the Roc Python nests where she herself had hatched.
Traise rested one hand lightly against her scales in quiet warning before redirecting his attention back toward the settlement.
Another patrol had entered the marsh.
Four Mirefangs emerged from the swamp trails dragging the corpse of a massive boar-like creature suspended between wooden supports.
The beast itself looked enormous even after death, easily large enough that Traise doubted a normal human could have moved it through terrain like this at all.
Mud splashed beneath the hunters’ feet while several others moved aside instinctively to clear a path toward the center structures.
No verbal commands passed between them.
The coordination happened automatically.
One of the returning hunters stopped near a nearby fire pit afterward and began coating the tip of its spear with a dark substance taken from a sealed container hanging near its waist.
The poison looked far thicker than ordinary venom.
Black residue clung heavily to the sharpened bone tip before slowly dripping downward while the Mirefang handled the substance with noticeable care.
Traise narrowed his eyes slightly while watching the hunter carefully apply the dark toxin to the spearhead.
The Mirefangs were not simply enduring the dangers of the forest around them.
They studied those dangers, harvested them, and turned them into tools.
His attention drifted back toward the patrol routes winding through the marsh as he began reevaluating the settlement’s defenses.
His attention shifted again toward the outer perimeter surrounding the marsh.
The settlement itself had been positioned intelligently within the terrain.
Narrow swamp trails forced movement through predictable choke points while sharpened stakes and concealed trenches blocked the cleaner approaches beneath the ruins.
Fallen stone from older structures created natural barriers throughout the marsh while elevated walkways allowed the Mirefangs to move between sections of the settlement without slowing through the swamp water below.
Even escaping after entering the marsh would become difficult once enough Mirefangs reacted simultaneously.
The forest had steadily grown more hostile the farther west he traveled, but this was the first territory that genuinely felt defended instead of merely occupied.
Traise slowly shifted farther behind the collapsed wall while continuing to study the patrol patterns below.
He counted at least three separate perimeter groups rotating between the outer swamp trails while several larger Mirefangs remained stationed near the central structures almost constantly.
Observation still struggled to fully assess some of them properly from this distance, especially the larger individuals carrying heavier armor plating and reinforced bone weapons.
Dangerous-ranked creatures alone were manageable now under the right conditions, especially with Luna and Nysera fighting beside him.
A fortified village filled with creatures of that caliber was something else entirely.
Even from this distance, he could already see how quickly numbers would turn a difficult fight into a fatal one.
A subtle disturbance nearby drew his attention away from the patrol routes below.
His gaze swept across the broken stone surrounding his position.
Nysera was gone.
His eyes swept across the nearby ruins before finally catching a faint glimpse of white scales slipping between hanging roots farther down the slope beneath them.
The young serpent moved carefully rather than recklessly, weaving through broken stone and moss-covered debris while remaining partially concealed beneath the dim canopy overhead.
Unfortunately, she was moving directly toward the nesting grounds.
“Nysera,” Traise whispered sharply.
The warning barely registered through the bond.
Curiosity continued pulsing from her while she descended farther through the ruins, completely focused on the heated pits and massive eggs resting near the center of the marsh.
Traise immediately lowered himself farther against the broken wall while tracking her movement carefully below.
Luna reacted almost instantly once she realized Nysera had slipped away.
A pulse of sharp irritation surged through the bond before her presence vanished deeper into the surrounding shadows.
Traise barely caught fragments of movement afterward as Luna repositioned rapidly through the upper ruins, clearly attempting to intercept Nysera before she reached the settlement proper.
She was too late.
Nysera reached the edge of the nesting grounds moments afterward and stopped beside one of the larger heated pits while steam drifted upward around her small body.
Massive eggs rested partially buried beneath mud and vegetation nearby while several Mirefang guards remained stationed around the perimeter with their attention focused toward the center of the settlement instead.
Nysera tilted her head slightly while studying the nests.
One of the guards eventually turned.
The Mirefang froze the instant its yellow eyes landed on the small white serpent near the eggs.
Traise moved immediately.
Quickstep surged through his legs while his hand dropped toward Queen’s Fury, but the Mirefang reacted faster than expected and slammed the base of its spear violently against the stone beside Nysera before she could retreat back toward the ruins.
The sharp impact startled her badly enough that she recoiled instinctively, and thick scaled fingers closed around the middle of her body almost immediately afterward.
Nysera had been captured.