Tony retreated through the twisted undergrowth, each step deliberate, each breath measured. He didn't stop until the echo of the devil-kin's voices faded into the forest's distant hum. The further he moved, the lighter the crushing sense of danger became, though it never vanished completely. His instincts were sharp enough to know that in Ancient Myth, distance wasn't safety—it was merely a temporary reprieve.
He leaned against the broad trunk of an ancient tree, the bark cool beneath his palm, and exhaled. NPCs aren't monsters, he reminded himself. They think. They feel. They hunt. Monsters, especially low-ranked ones, followed basic behavioral patterns—territorial aggression, sound-based triggers, line-of-sight attacks. Easy to predict. But NPCs? They operated on a far broader spectrum. A high-level one could sense killing intent, mana disturbances, or even shifts in environmental flow. A single misstep near beings like those devil-kin would've exposed him instantly.
