A harsh hiss echoed through the marsh as the Mirefang guard tightened its grip around Nysera’s body.
The stealth operation ended instantly.
The sound spread from one reptilian throat to another until the entire nesting ground seemed to wake at once.
Mirefangs near the fire pits reached for spears, others on the elevated walkways turned toward the commotion, and several patrols along the outer swamp trails immediately began converging toward the heated pits.
Within seconds, every advantage Traise had gained through careful observation began collapsing around him.
Traise did not waste time thinking about whether to fight or retreat.
Queen’s Fury left its sheath as Quickstep surged through his legs, carrying him down the broken slope in a blur of motion while Viper Fang came free in his other hand.
Luna moved almost at the same instant.
Her body vanished through a pocket of shadow near the upper ruins before reappearing along the side of the nesting grounds, low to the ground and already angling toward the Mirefang holding Nysera.
The first Mirefang reached Traise before he could close the distance.
Its spear thrust came fast and low, aimed directly for his stomach rather than his chest, forcing him to twist sideways instead of blocking outright.
Viper Fang scraped along the weapon’s shaft as he redirected the point away from his body, and Queen’s Fury followed immediately afterward, carving across the reptilian hunter’s exposed thigh before Traise slipped past it without stopping.
He could not afford a duel here.
Every second pulled more Mirefangs toward the nesting grounds.
The guard holding Nysera lifted her higher while backing away from the heated pit, its jaws opening in another sharp hiss as several nearby warriors moved to shield it.
Nysera thrashed violently in its grip, panic surging through the Companion Bond in uneven pulses while her small body twisted against scaled fingers too strong for her to break through directly.
Venom glistened along her tiny fangs, but fear kept her movements frantic rather than focused.
Luna struck first.
A patch of shadow beneath one of the defending Mirefangs rippled before Luna burst from it and slammed into the creature’s side with enough force to knock its spear wide.
Her claws tore across the softer scales beneath its jaw before she vanished again, leaving the wounded Mirefang staggering as another nearby warrior instinctively turned toward her movement.
That moment of confusion opened the path Traise needed.
The opening lasted only a moment, but it was all Traise needed.
He drove forward through the gap before the surrounding Mirefangs could react.
A second Mirefang swung a hooked bone blade toward his neck, but Traise ducked beneath it and stepped inside the creature’s reach.
The rhythm between both daggers responded cleanly this time.
Viper Fang slashed across the wrist holding the weapon while Queen’s Fury stabbed upward beneath the ribs, not deep enough to kill instantly, but enough to fold the creature backward with a wet hiss of pain.
[You have dealt 18 damage]
Traise yanked the dagger free and kept moving.
The system notification barely registered before another spear came toward him from the side.
He shifted his weight, let the thrust pass across his chest by inches, and cut along the attacker’s forearm as he moved past.
The blow was shallow, but Viper Fang’s venom darkened the wound almost immediately.
Luna appeared again near the guard holding Nysera, this time striking from behind.
Her claws raked across the back of the Mirefang’s neck, forcing it to lurch forward and loosen its grip for less than a moment.
Nysera nearly slipped free, but the guard recovered faster than Traise hoped and clamped down harder around her body.
Nysera cried out through the bond, sending a spike of panic straight through his mind.
His next Quickstep carried him directly through the muddy edge of the nesting pit.
Steam burst around his legs as he crossed the heated ground, and the Mirefang guard turned toward him with its spear already lowering.
Traise raised Queen’s Fury to intercept the weapon, but the angle was bad, and the force behind the reptilian creature’s thrust nearly knocked his arm aside.
Luna slammed into the guard’s knee from the opposite side at the same moment.
The impact disrupted its stance just enough for Traise to shove the spear away and close the remaining distance.
Queen’s Fury cut across the guard’s chest while Viper Fang stabbed into the exposed gap beneath one armored shoulder.
The wounds were not clean kills, but the pressure forced the Mirefang to stumble backward.
Nysera stopped thrashing all at once.
The panic surging through the bond narrowed into something far sharper as instinct finally took over.
Her small head snapped downward, and her fangs sank deep into the scaled wrist holding her captive.
Its grip spasmed, tightened once, then failed completely as the poison burned through muscle control faster than the creature could resist.
Nysera dropped from its hand and hit the muddy ground hard.
Traise was already moving.
He caught her before the guard could recover, sweeping one arm beneath her body while Queen’s Fury remained raised between them and the surrounding Mirefangs.
Nysera immediately coiled against his forearm and chest, trembling violently as fear, pain, and confusion rushed through the bond in overlapping waves.
She was alive.
That was all he needed to know.
The guard staggered forward one more step before Luna struck at its throat.
Her claws flashed once.
The Mirefang collapsed into the mud beside the steaming pit.
[You have killed a Mirefang Lizardman]
The notification sounded in his mind, but Traise was too preoccupied to care.
More Mirefangs were already closing from three directions now, and several carried spears coated in the same dark poison he had seen earlier.
The outer patrols had not fully reached them yet, but they were close enough that staying even a few more seconds would turn the skirmish into a slaughter.
Traise tightened his hold around Nysera while backing toward the broken ruins behind him.
Luna landed beside him with blood staining the fur beneath her claws, her ears flattened as multiple Mirefangs spread outward to cut off their escape route.
The creatures did not rush blindly.
Two moved left to block the swamp path while another group advanced through the center with spears lowered, forcing Traise toward the ruins instead of open ground.
That was exactly where he needed to go.
“Luna,” Traise said under his breath.
“Back.”
She moved before the word fully left his mouth.
Traise activated Shadows the instant Nysera pressed against his chest.
Darkness wrapped around both of them, sinking into the folds of his cloak and smoothing over Nysera’s pale scales until her white body disappeared beneath the concealment effect.
Luna vanished separately into the nearest pool of shade, her outline dissolving into the broken patterns cast by the ruins overhead.
The nearest Mirefang lunged toward where Traise had been standing a second earlier.
Its spear struck empty air.
Traise moved through the gap while keeping Nysera secured tightly against him.
Shadows did not make him intangible, and it did not silence every movement, but the sudden loss of visual certainty bought him enough confusion to slip between the first two hunters before they adjusted.
Mud dragged at his boots as he crossed the edge of the nesting grounds, and a spear carved through the air behind him close enough that he felt the wind of it pass along his shoulder.
Luna struck from the side to keep the pursuit from forming cleanly.
She did not stay long enough to kill.
A slash across one ankle, a sudden impact against a knee, a flash of claws near a face—each attack disrupted movement just long enough for Traise to keep retreating through the ruins.
The Mirefangs hissed and clicked to each other in rapid bursts, their confusion fading quickly as they began spreading outward instead of chasing in a single line.
They were adapting.
Traise forced himself up a broken stone incline half-swallowed by roots while Nysera remained pressed against him beneath the cloak.
The shadows around them flickered whenever sunlight slipped through the canopy, but the ruins provided enough broken shade to keep the skill useful as long as he moved carefully.
Behind him, several Mirefangs climbed after him with alarming speed, their claws scraping against stone and bark as they pursued through the collapsed structures.
A spear flew past his head and shattered against the wall ahead.
Traise ducked lower, pushed off a slanted slab of stone, and activated Quickstep again.
The burst carried him through a narrow gap between two cracked pillars where swamp water pooled beneath exposed roots.
His shoulder clipped the stone on the way through, sending pain down his arm, but he kept Nysera protected against his chest and stumbled into the heavy foliage beyond.
Luna emerged beside him a moment later, breathing hard but unharmed.
More clicking calls rose behind them.
The settlement had not fully surrounded them yet, but the sound of pursuit spread through the marsh in multiple directions now. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
Mirefangs moved through the swamp trails, across elevated walkways, and between the ruined foundations with the coordination of hunters that knew every inch of their territory.
Traise could hear them shifting positions behind the foliage, trying to predict where the intruders would emerge.
He could not outrun them in open ground.
So he stopped thinking like prey.
Traise cut sharply toward the densest section of collapsed ruins instead of the clearer path leading uphill.
The terrain there was worse, filled with broken stone, hanging vines, and tangled roots thick enough to trip anything moving too quickly.
For him, Advanced Climbing and Quickstep made the path difficult but possible.
For the larger Mirefangs, the same terrain forced slower movement and tighter angles.
Luna understood immediately and broke away through the shadows to draw attention along the opposite side.
Several Mirefangs reacted at once, turning toward the brief glimpse of movement before giving chase.
Traise used the opening to slip through a narrow passage beneath a fallen stone arch, then dropped into a shallow trench hidden beneath layers of moss.
Swamp water soaked through his boots while Nysera tightened around his arm, still trembling, but the Shadows skill held steady around both of them as long as he kept her pressed close.
A patrol passed above the trench moments later.
Traise held his breath.
Mud dripped from the roots overhead while scaled feet stopped less than a few feet away.
One Mirefang sniffed the air, its yellow eyes scanning the broken foliage below while another clicked sharply from farther behind.
Nysera’s fear pulsed through the bond, but she did not move.
Traise kept one hand over her body, not restraining her, only grounding her against him.
The patrol moved on after several agonizing seconds.
Traise waited until their footsteps faded before easing forward through the trench.
Luna reappeared farther ahead beneath a leaning slab of stone, her blue eyes glowing faintly from the shadows as she watched the patrol routes shift behind them.
She flicked her tail once toward a narrow gap between hanging roots.
Traise followed.
The next several minutes became a blur of controlled retreat.
They moved through broken stone, heavy foliage, swamp pockets, and shadowed gaps beneath ancient roots while the Mirefangs searched behind them in widening patterns.
Twice, Traise had to stop completely as patrols passed nearby.
Once, Luna deliberately created noise in the opposite direction to pull a group away before vanishing again through Shadow Blend.
By the time the marsh finally disappeared behind layers of trees and ruined stone, Traise’s mana had dropped lower than he liked, and his breathing had grown uneven from carrying Nysera while moving under stealth for so long.
The upgraded Shadows skill made escape possible, but maintaining concealment through constant movement still drained focus far more than standing still ever would.
The pursuit sounds gradually weakened behind them.
Then faded.
Traise did not stop until the air changed again and the swamp-heavy scent of the Mirefang settlement no longer clung as strongly to the forest around them.
Only then did he lower himself behind the base of a massive tree surrounded by broken roots and release Shadows.
Darkness peeled away from his cloak and Nysera’s scales at the same time, revealing the small white serpent still coiled tightly against him.
Nysera lifted her head slowly.
Her golden eyes looked shaken.
Traise stared at her for a moment, then exhaled through clenched teeth while carefully checking her body for injuries.
“Don’t ever do that again,” he whispered.
Nysera lowered her head against his arm without resistance.
Luna stepped from the shadows nearby, blood still darkening portions of her claws as she stared down at Nysera with an expression so flat that even Traise understood the message without needing the bond.
Nysera sank lower against his arm and refused to look toward Luna.
Traise looked back through the trees toward the direction of the marsh.
The Mirefang settlement remained hidden beyond the forest, but the memory of those patrols, the poisoned weapons, the nesting pits, and the sheer number of Dangerous-ranked enemies pressed against the back of his mind with uncomfortable clarity.
They had escaped.
Barely.
And now the Mirefangs knew something had been watching them.