They say every strategy falls apart once you’re face to face with the enemy.
But even knowing that, the trio had stepped forward.
Their target was still nowhere in sight, hidden sowhere behind the mist — thicker here than in almost any other part of the cetery, except maybe the zone guarded by the Warden himself.
The creature they were tracking was said to resemble a giant buffalo. They had only caught a glimpse of it once, briefly, when it had left its den to graze near a stagnant little pond, not far from where they stood now.
The area was crawling with bamboo.
Each ti the beast moved, nothing could be seen.
But they could hear.
The stalks brushing against its bulk, the muffled scrapes, and then, occasionally, the sharp snap of a bamboo stalk crushed under imnse pressure. Dylan could distinguish the unique sound of horns splitting trunks on their way through.
The whole scene felt quiet.
On the surface, at least.
But that wasn’t enough to fool their instincts.
All three of them were Awakened — incomplete, maybe, but still bound to the essence.
Their connection made them more receptive to disturbances, to the ripples of energy that ordinary beings couldn’t feel. And here, in this fog-drowned zone, the essence in the air was... unsettled.
Warped and heavy.
As if sothing — or soone — had imprinted themselves into the atmosphere. Too large, too wild, to blend into the environnt.
They didn’t need to see it to know it was there.
The Awakened creature was sowhere in the maze of bamboo, its breath hidden beneath the thickness of the mist, but its aura... impossible to mask.
It pulsed through the ground. It whispered in the moist air.
And then, a deep sound rang out — low, almost animal.
Maggie frowned. She said nothing, but her hand was already tightening around the handle of her axe.
Dylan slid his hand along the leather-wrapped grip of his machete. A flicker of excitent flared in his gray eyes. He bit his lower lip.
Élisa blinked, pupils wide, attuned to every twitch in the air.
Maybe the creature had sensed them. They weren’t sure.
But one thing was.
Sothing was coming.
And it was massive.
The ground was vibrating.
Not like footsteps. Not a regular charge. It was subtler, more insidious. A low hum that crawled into their bones and climbed their spines — awakening an instinct that had no words.
Dylan swallowed hard.
It wasn’t exactly fear. It was that stillness just before lightning strikes — that mont when everything in the world holds its breath.
He glanced at Maggie.
She’d taken a single step forward.
Just one.
But it said everything: she was ready.
Élisa hadn’t moved an inch. A dagger in each hand, her muscles relaxed, her heart slowed.
Then ca another snap. Closer this ti. Sharper. Deeper.
A bamboo stalk had been broken by sothing.
And that sothing was moving.
But they still saw nothing.
Only fog.
Then—
A breath. A titanic exhale.
It wasn’t a roar. It wasn’t even a growl.
Just breath. Long. Deep. Like the sigh of an ancient world being woken.
The bamboo parted slowly, bent aside by so invisible weight.
A shape erged from the pale veil.
Gigantic.
Narrow at the front, wide at the back, supported by four thick legs. A low-slung head with four horns curved forward. A neck plated with dark armor, slick with humidity.
It didn’t exactly look like a buffalo. It was... sothing else. As if an ancient beast spirit had fused with sothing mineral. Its back bristled with bony spikes, and glowing veins pulsed along its sides, throbbing with a dim red light.
"That’s not a buffalo," Dylan muttered, louder than he ant to.
"I know a buffalo when I see one," he whispered under his breath.
"No," Maggie answered.
And she smiled. A slow, near-feral grin.
"It’s much worse."
The creature stopped, its massive jaws half-open, releasing a breath of hot steam.
Its eyes... lit up.
Two bulbous orbs, burning red, stared straight at them with a wicked, inhuman glare.
It saw them. It had found them.
And it waited.
Nature hadn’t given it the look of a predator — but compared to them, this monstrous buffalo was anything but prey.
The silence stretched out. Dense. Saturated. Almost touchable.
The beast didn’t move.
It watched them.
Or maybe it was judging them — like a sleeping king barely acknowledging the insects beneath him.
Dylan’s throat tightened. His instincts scread to run, to lt into the fog. But his legs didn’t move. Locked in place, as if by a will not entirely his own.
Maggie stepped forward.
Then again.
Axe in hand, her entire body tilted toward the beast. She walked in silence, carefully avoiding sudden movents. Every step was anchored, steady, and said without words: I’m coming for you.
The buffalo tilted its head slightly.
Its horns scraped against a bamboo stalk. Slowly. As if it was preparing. Or maybe... responding.
Behind her, Élisa hadn’t moved. Her eyes were locked on a line in the moss — where the ground had been trampled. Where the beast had already passed.
She watched. Her golden eyes still carried their usual warmth, but colder now. Sharper. Analytical.
And then, as if it had waited for everyone to find their place—
The monster charged.
It was intelligent. It didn’t roar or cry out. It simply lunged.
Just a low thunderous sound. Bamboo exploded in its wake. The earth trembled. And the fog tore apart, ripped open by its speed.
Maggie shouted an order, already moving:
"Scatter! Split!"
Dylan dove to the side, rolling behind a split rock. The beast swept past him in a blur. The air displaced by its bulk could have shredded soone weaker.
Élisa darted in the opposite direction, her silhouette cutting between stone markers — swift as a shard of shadow.
Maggie, though — she stood in its path until the last second.
Not to run.
But to strike.
Her axe ca down with the force of a falling tree.
It slamd into the creature’s side, just above the joint. The blow was sharp, brutal — but not enough. The axe bounced, skidding over bone and armored scales.
Maggie staggered, caught herself, rolled in the dirt. She wasn’t thrown — but nearly.
The monster hadn’t flinched.
It stopped instantly, several ters away, like its mass carried no montum at all. It turned slowly, its hooves scraping the soil, kicking up clouds of dust and moss.
And there, in the center of the broken circle it had carved—
The hunt had truly begun.
Dylan rose from behind his cover, breathing hard, machete drawn, eyes fixed on the beast.
There was no more doubt. No more guessing.
This wasn’t a creature.
It was a trial.
And they would either pass through it —
Or leave behind everything inside them still clinging to life.
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