The bickering slowly, as they walked, tapered off.
Nyxâs laughter slowly softened into breathy chuckles. Lunaâs indignant muttering lost its heat, sparks fading back into a disciplined hum beneath her skin. Even Calypsoâs idle humming grew quieter, her steps aligning unconsciously with the groupâs pace. Without anyone needing to say it out loud, the shift began the moment the terrain changed.
The campâs outer perimeter loomed ahead.
Rune decorated barricades gave way to scorched stone and fractured earth, the ground pitted with old impact craters and claw marks that no amount of cleanup ever quite erased. The ambient mana thickened, no longer playful or reactive, but heavy and directional, flowing in slow currents that only existed where monsters had passed through recently.
Aria was the first to straighten fully, her posture transitioning from relaxed to combat-ready with fluid grace. Bastetâs tail stilled, her earlier amusement vanishing as her senses spread outward like a sunlit net. Nyx stopped leaning on Luna, while the Storm Valkyrieâs shoulders rolled once with her earlier outrage getting sealed behind disciplined control.
Calypsoâs expression didnât change much, but the way her eyes sharpened did.
By the time they crossed the final marker stone, there was no trace of the earlier light banter left.
They were professional monster hunters again.
Kaiden slowed, lifting his left wrist as the artifact bound there hummed softly in response. A translucent hologram bloomed into the air above his arm, resolving into a three-dimensional terrain map layered with shifting mana signatures.
Everyone leaned in, reading the hologram together.
"Pack movement," Nyx said first, pointing to a cluster of red pulses that drifted slightly between updates. "Theyâre moving fast. I wonder if theyâre migrating to a new area."
"Hmm... Maybe theyâre linking up with their friends. Sometimes, monsters of different dungeons attack each other while monsters from some dungeons work together..." Aria added after a second of study.
Bastetâs golden eyes narrowed. "There." She tapped a deeper red node near a broken ravine. "That signature is from an apex-type monster thatâs nesting, not roaming. Itâs possible that the pack accidentally entered its territory and was scared off."
Luna traced the projected contours with a finger. "High ground here and here," she said, voice clipped, all humor gone. "If we engage from the ridge, I can lock down movement lanes before they scatter."
Calypso tilted her head, studying the map with unsettling calm. "If Kai, Luna, and I push from the east instead," she pondered, "they will run toward the ravine out of instinct. Maybe we can have Nyx with us too, to ensure we lead them properly. Then, Aria and the Choco Kitty can lay a devastating ambush on them from range."
Kaiden watched them for a moment longer with pride settling deep and steady in his chest. His girls became so amazing in such a short span of time. It didnât come from just natural talent; sometimes, they didnât spend the night tangled in a mess of sweaty limbs.
Sometimes they studied, they planned, they revised. Watching footage from the big guilds and the big players, rewatching their own footage to analyze how to do better, and doing their best to suck in all the information they could to make themselves better.
This was how such a rapid pace of growth as people, not just awakened fighters, could be achieved.
He adjusted the map with a flick of his wrist, highlighting Calypsoâs suggested route and overlaying Lunaâs control zones. "I like both ideas. How about this, girls? Cali and I bring up the front while Nyx and Luna ambush from the sides, however they see fit, with the goal to herd them into the area where Ariaâs and Bastetâs charged-up devastation awaits them. Then, we hit them from all sides. Sounds good?"
Everyone of them looked at him. Five proud, confident, and trusting expressions welcomed Kaidenâs words.
They nodded.
And with that, they were off.
...
The monsters sensed them long before the first strike landed.
However, even before the encounter began, the monsters were already shaken and wounded.
The pack moved unevenly through the mountain terrain, bodies marked with burns and torn hide, instincts screaming not to fight. They veered, hesitated, tried to melt back into the ravines and rocks.
They didnât get the chance.
Kaiden hit them like a descending guillotine.
Aliceâs bolstering presence surged through him, power flooding his limbs as the greatsword came around in a brutal, sweeping arc. The first creature split from shoulder to hip, momentum carrying Kaiden forward without slowing.
[Youâve slain Terramaw Prowler (Level 58).]
[Youâve gained 23,482 XP.]
[Youâve gained 2 DMP.]
He chuckled, low and feral, as he dove into the pack, blade rising and falling in a rhythm that left nothing standing in his wake.
[Youâve slain Terramaw Prowler (Level 60).]
[Youâve gained 26,917 XP.]
[Youâve gained 3 DMP.]
Beside him, Calypso moved with savage joy.
Her battle axe carved wide, hungry arcs, each strike accompanied by an unhinged grin as bodies flew and bones gave way. She relished it, every step forward a promise of more. Blood sprayed. Limbs fell. The two of them chased the pack like predators unleashed, cutting down the slow, the injured, the unlucky.
Of course, the monsters fought back.
They werenât mindless fodder, not the kind one hunted for easy numbers. These were hardened pack predators, survivors of previous clashes, muscles dense with mana and claws honed on stone and steel alike.
One lunged at Calypso from the side, its talons raking across her armored ribs hard enough to throw sparks from her defenses. Another barreled into Kaiden head-on, fangs scraping across his armor as its weight tried to drive him to the ground.
Kaiden felt the impact rattle his bones. A claw slipped past his guard and tore a line across his side, hot and sharp. He grinned anyway, twisting his blade up through the creatureâs jaw. But before he could reset, a second monster slammed into him from behind, forcing a grunt from his throat as momentum staggered him forward.
Calypso was already there.
Her axe came down in a vicious diagonal, splitting the creature attacking him before it could capitalize. At the same time, another beast leapt for her exposed flank, and Kaiden returned the favor without hesitation, greatsword flashing as he cleaved it out of the air mid-pounce. They didnât shout warnings; in fact, they werenât even conversing with one another at all.
Kaiden had only met this amazing warriorress a little more than a week ago, but heâd already formed a steady synergy with the woman, which stemmed from each otherâs great understanding of how the other preferred to fight. Which no doubt came at least in the large majority from the team building exercises they conducted in the bed.
What those two got up to was the real deal; it could even be said they understood each otherâs souls, let alone how they liked to conduct themselves on the battlefield.
Both of them moved the instant the other was pressured, closing gaps, breaking encirclements, refusing to let the pack isolate either of them for more than a heartbeat.
That said, heavy blows landed on both Kaiden and the demoness. More than a few.
Calypso took a heavy hit to the shoulder that wouldâve shattered a lesser fighterâs arm. Kaiden caught a glancing strike to the thigh that made his step hitch for half a second. Blood was drawn. Pain registered.
Then Aliceâs influence increased as the girl truly established her presence in the battle.