I quickly nocked another arrow, instinctively drawing the string back as my senses sharpened. The faint sound of distant steps rumbled through the ground, each thud heavy with the promise of something monstrous.

  “Cordelia? V? Status!” I called out, forcing my voice to stay steady despite the rising tension.

  “We have you back online? Thank the Dominus. What happened back there?” Cordelia’s voice crackled through, a rare note of concern creeping into her otherwise composed tone.

  “Nothing this direction. Should we rendezvous with you?” V’s voice was much quicker, barely a moment behind Cordelia’s.

  “I need you two to wake up Ten. Something MASSIVE is coming. I was ambushed by two 1-1 Others. No skillcubes, but they were overtly hostile. I’m also out of paper—bring a resupply from the mana cart.”

  I could feel the air vibrate as the sound of approaching footsteps grew louder. It was like a marching band of drums, but with each heavy beat, the tension built in my chest. Something was coming, something that had no intention of negotiating.

  Each footstep seemed to shake the ground beneath me, reverberating in the air. The beast was close, and I could already tell—it wasn’t just any Other. This one had a presence. Something that made the hairs on my neck stand on end.

  I didn’t wait for a response; I knew they were already on their way. But I didn’t know if they’d be fast enough. The ground shook again, and I had only one thought—whatever this was, it was coming for me.

  Running, I launched another arrow behind me, the string snapping taut as it sped toward the beast. The sound of it sinking into something—flesh or stone, I couldn’t tell—was drowned out by the sheer volume of the next howl. It ripped through the air, shattering the silence around me, sending a chill down my spine. The ground shook with every footfall of whatever creature was chasing me. The steps were large, and the howls grew louder. It was as if each one was a promise, getting closer, and closer, and closer.

  I didn’t dare look back. My mind raced, and my body obeyed instinct, pushing forward with each stride. West, I told myself. I wasn’t going to endanger the caravan. That was my first duty: to protect them. My second duty, though, was to survive this—to draw it away from the innocent.

  Every ten steps I fired another arrow, hoping to slow it down, but I didn’t hear the sickening crunch of impact again. The creature was too fast, too strong. My breath came in sharp gasps, my legs burning from the exertion, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t.

  Suddenly, Cordelia’s face appeared in the Gloss overlay. It wasn’t the usual calm expression I was used to seeing. No, this was different. Her eyes were wide with something I hadn’t seen in her before—genuine horror.

  “That scream is of a Howling Abbess. You need to REALLY get the moons away from there,” she said, her voice clipped, sharp with urgency. “If the Walker’s Association knew an Abbess had broken through, this would have been a C to B class expedition, Alex. Run.”

  The words hit me like a stone. The Howling Abbess. That was what had been chasing me. I didn’t need to know anything else to feel the weight of her words.

  I swallowed hard, my chest tightening as I forced myself to run even faster. I didn’t have time to process the implications of her words—only the sound of the beast growing ever louder behind me. If the Association had known an Abbess was nearby, this would have been classified as a high-priority, high-risk mission. That meant death for anyone unprepared.

  And I had only just begun to prepare.

  Panic surged inside me, but I buried it beneath the adrenaline, pushing my legs faster. Each footfall was a countdown, each breath a reminder of how close I was to the brink. The Howling Abbess was gaining ground, and no amount of arrows or hope would stop it.

  I needed to keep running.

  I kept pushing myself harder, each step a battle against the burning in my legs and the weight of the fear that was settling deep in my chest. "Cordelia, is there anything we can do?!" I panted, trying to keep my voice steady as I forced my legs to continue. Every breath felt like it was coming through a narrow pipe, but I couldn't stop now. Not when the Howling Abbess was on my heels.

  "Boss man, save your breath," V’s voice came through, calm as ever, even in the face of the impossible. "I have mines set up in the vicinity to your northeast. I’m currently moving them via my Arte to your direct north. End coordinates are Echo Delta 14."

  Echo Delta 14. That was... far off, but it was the only hope I had right now. The Abbess was coming too fast for me to outrun, but maybe I could use the terrain to my advantage. It wasn’t ideal, but it was my only shot at surviving this encounter.

  I pushed my body harder, feeling the strain building in my chest, my heart hammering in my ribcage as I glanced at the distant horizon, marking the direction. "Did someone wake up Ten?" I asked, my voice strained, but my mind was steeling itself for what I was about to do.

  “The scream alone did. She’s waiting for you at Echo Delta 15. Keep the Abbess chasing you and reach the rendezvous point.” Cordelia’s voice had softened, but I could hear the undercurrent of concern in her tone. She was worried, and I couldn’t blame her. The Abbess wasn’t something to take lightly, and neither was the risk of me getting caught in this madness.

  I took another deep breath, trying to steady myself as I fought to push forward, as my steps became more erratic. "Cordelia. Let me ask you this. How likely is my death from this?"

  The silence stretched for a heartbeat, then her voice came back, cold and factual, though I could hear the faintest hesitation in it. "Greater than half."

  I nodded grimly, my lips curving into a twisted, dark smile. There it was—the bitter humor of the situation sinking in. The odds were not in my favor, but I was used to that. I had to be.

  Everything has a price, damn it. And this... this was the price I was going to have to pay.

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  I steeled myself, feeling the weight of the decision wash over me, knowing that the only way I’d make it out alive was to keep running, keep fighting, and keep trusting the team behind me. My death was a high price to pay for success, but sometimes, you had no choice but to keep moving forward.

  I wasn’t going to let it end here.

  With every step, I moved closer to that rendezvous point. To Ten. To survive this fight. And, for better or worse, to whatever else was coming my way.

  My body screamed in protest. My legs felt like they were being driven by raw desperation, each step more erratic than the last. Every ten paces, I had to turn and fire an arrow, my hands trembling as I drew, released, and heard that unholy howl chasing me. The sound reverberated in my chest, gnawing at my resolve. Every inch of me begged for it to stop. I wanted to wake up—just once more. I wanted to open my eyes and find myself back in the safety of the camp, back to where everything made sense.

  But that wasn’t going to happen. This wasn’t a nightmare.

  The crushing weight of reality hit me when I heard the thunderous sound of the Abbess’s massive footfalls. Before I could react, the beast hurled an entire tree at me. I didn’t even have time to fully brace myself. The tree collided with the earth with a bone-shaking crash, and debris flew everywhere.

  I managed to dodge the initial onslaught, but a shard of rock or splintered bark found its way to my left ankle, embedding itself deep into the joint. I cried out, the pain shooting up my leg like fire. The force of the impact sent me sprawling, my body crumpling to the ground.

  “Damn it. It hit me with that!” I forced the words out between gritted teeth. It wasn’t the first time I’d been hurt, but the pain was unbearable.

  With my breathing ragged, I scrambled to push myself up, struggling against the overwhelming pain. I needed to keep going, but I knew that this wasn’t sustainable. I wasn’t going to last much longer on my own.

  “Echo Delta 9. Repeat. Emergency distress. Echo. Delta. 9.” I forced the words through the comms, desperation flooding my voice.

  I gritted my teeth and tried to push myself up, but the agony in my ankle made every movement feel like a punishment. I attempted to put weight on it, but the joint buckled under the strain. A wave of frustration crashed over me, but I couldn’t stop. I needed to move. My body betrayed me as I tried hopping, each attempt more desperate than the last, but I faltered again. The pain flared up like wildfire, and I collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.

  I looked up.

  The Abbess loomed above me like a nightmare made flesh. Its enormous, hairy form was a grotesque parody of a humanoid creature, towering at least ten feet tall and stretching nearly fourteen feet across. Its fur, matted and dark, seemed almost like a rough gown, giving it the appearance of a grotesque, living dress—a fitting name, Howling Abbess. The creature exuded an overpowering presence, an aura of deadly strength and ferocity. Every movement was deliberate, brutal, and unrelenting.

  It slammed its massive fist down, sending a shockwave through the earth that nearly knocked the breath out of me. I rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the crushing blow. My body screamed in protest, and each roll felt like it was taking everything out of me. I could barely hold on, my ankle pulsing with pain as I tried to weave around its next strike.

  I wanted to run. I needed to run. But every instinct that screamed for me to flee was met with the stark reality of my injury. My ankle wouldn’t let me. I was trapped.

  The Abbess roared above me, its voice shaking the air, and it raised one of its enormous feet. I scrambled, my mind shouting at me to dodge, to avoid the crushing force that was about to come down. The ground trembled as its foot descended with impossible speed.

  I barely managed to roll out of the way, my body lifted slightly off the ground as the force of the strike pushed me up a few inches. The world spun in a blur as I tumbled, trying desperately to regain my footing, but I couldn’t. I felt the brush of its foot just above me, and then, with a sickening thud, the Abbess’s foot collided with the earth.

  If I had been a fraction of a second slower, I would’ve been crushed, flattened beneath the sheer weight of the beast. Instead, I found myself sprawled on the ground, gasping for air, my body still aching and trembling with the strain of barely avoiding death.

  I couldn’t keep this up. I needed to get back on my feet, but I wasn’t sure how much longer I could last. My mind raced, Gloss notifications were flooding in, asking me to confirm the status of my situation, the team, the mission, everything. But I couldn’t focus on that. Not right now. I had to survive. I had to trust my team.

  I didn’t want to die here. Not like this. Not alone. So, I prayed. To any Dominus who might be watching, to any god or higher power that could hear the plea of a desperate soul—let this end. Let the nightmare cease.

  But prayer alone wasn’t going to save me. I couldn’t just lie there and hope for a miracle. I bit down on the cloth of my sleeve, feeling the rough fabric against my teeth as I tumbled and rolled, trying to get further away from the Abbess. Every jolt sent pain shooting through my body, but I couldn’t stop. I had to keep moving, keep running–rolling. The Abbess’s footfalls shook the earth behind me, its fury relentless and unforgiving. I needed a way out, a place to hide.

  I didn’t know where I was going. My body just reacted, tumbling down a hill as quickly as it could. The rough terrain ripped at my arms and legs, scraping them raw as I collided with branches, rocks, and anything else in my path. Every collision felt like it would knock the air out of me. But it was a price I was willing to pay to escape that crushing weight, that monstrous force.

  And then, I found it.

  A small hill with a hole in the earth. It wasn’t much, but it was enough. I scrambled into the hole, my body desperate for cover, and huddled in the space, trying to regulate my breathing. The hole was narrow, just enough to hide me from view. I tried not to make a sound, hoping that the Abbess would pass by without noticing me.

  It was a temporary reprieve, a flicker of hope in the middle of chaos. It wasn’t salvation, not yet, but it was a chance—a chance to survive, regroup, to escape long enough for my team to find me. My mind raced, thinking of the distress signal I had sent out, hoping against hope that my team would pick it up, that they’d track me down and get here before the Abbess found me again.

  I didn’t count on it. I couldn’t count on anything right now. But as I lay there in the dirt, hiding in that small hole, I allowed myself one fragile, fleeting hope. That maybe, just maybe, my prayer had been heard.

  I opened my Gloss with trembling hands, the weight of my desperation pressing down on me. Every second I spent in that hole, waiting for the Abbess to move on, felt like an eternity. I had to act. I couldn’t just lie there, helpless, hoping for a miracle.

  With shaking fingers, I composed the message. Each word was a struggle, my vision blurred by pain and tears that I couldn’t hold back. I quickly detailed my injury—how my ankle was swollen, useless, unable to support my weight—and my current location, hoping the coordinates would be clear enough for them to track. My heart pounded in my chest, and I could feel the sweat soaking my skin as I forced the words out.

  "Status: Injured. Unable to walk. Location: Echo Delta 9. Under attack by Abbess. Request immediate assistance. Please… please help."

  As the message sent, I felt the tears fall freely, hot against my cheeks. I wiped them away furiously, feeling weak, vulnerable. My pulse thudded in my ears, and the constant tremor in my limbs only made everything worse.

  The fear gnawed at me. The fear of what would happen if they didn’t arrive in time. The fear of being caught, being torn apart by that thing, consumed in a moment of pure, unrelenting violence. Would I end up as another one of its victims? Another nameless corpse left to rot?

  I swallowed hard, pushing the panic back down into the pit of my stomach. I had to believe they would come. They had to come.

  I leaned back against the cold earth, hoping beyond reason that my message would reach them, that they would be able to decipher the location and find me before it was too late. I was counting on them. I had no other choice.

  I closed my eyes for a moment, focusing on the sound of my breath, the only thing I could control. Every minute felt like an hour, but I had to believe that help was on the way. I had to hold on.

  Because if I lost hope that they couldn’t save me, then I’d lose the hope that I could save myself.