Beom Seok's heart pounded as he emerged from the cavern, gasping for air.
The desert night stretched endlessly before him, cool in contrast to the oppressive heat of the day, but the danger had not lessened.
He could see the faint outline of the hunters up ahead, and beyond them, the massive temple rising from the sands like a jagged tooth.
Something about the temple felt wrong. His instincts screamed at him, amplified by the visions and the cryptic warnings from the cavern. The inscription—the fallen snake. This is it. They're walking right into a trap.
He sprinted toward them, muscles burning, sand kicking up with each desperate step. But the desert wasn't empty. Shadows shifted and snarled from every dune.
Monsters—larger and more vicious than any he'd seen—emerged from the darkness, eyes glowing with a feral light. Beom Seok barely had time to adjust before they lunged at him.
His dagger flashed in the moonlight. He ducked under snapping jaws, sidestepped clawed strikes, and stabbed with unerring precision. Each monster he felled was immediately replaced by two more, their numbers seemingly endless.
His lungs burned, his arms ached, but he refused to yield. There was no time to think about survival—only action.
"Get through… get to them," he muttered between gritted teeth, parrying a vicious swipe from a wolf-like creature. Every step toward the temple doors was a struggle, but with relentless resolve, he carved a path through the horde.
Finally, he reached the massive doors of the temple. With a shove powered by exhaustion and desperation, they swung open.
Beom Seok plunged into the darkness beyond, swimming upward through the subterranean waterway to the surface. He gasped in relief, heart hammering. "I hope they haven't found the temple yet…"
Meanwhile, Cha Yeol and his squad approached the looming structure, unaware of the danger lurking beneath the sand. The temple rose before them, massive and foreboding, and after hours of trudging through the desert, fatigue weighed heavily on them.
"I think we should rest here for the night," Haneul said, voice tight with exhaustion. "We've been walking for hours."
Sun Hee, still recovering from her earlier collapse, leaned against a column. "A little rest won't hurt," she murmured weakly.
Cha Yeol hesitated, scanning the temple's surface. Something in his gut twisted uneasily. I don't like this. But the exhaustion clawed at him, and eventually, he nodded. "Okay… let's go in."
The moment their boots touched the temple floor, the ground shuddered violently. A deafening rumble filled the air as the massive structure trembled and cracked. Dust and stone rained down around them. The hunters scrambled backward, narrowly avoiding being crushed by falling debris.
Before they could recover, a new horror emerged. The sand around the temple floor rippled violently, and a monstrous figure burst forth—a divine snake, fallen and corrupted, its scales glinting in the dim moonlight. Behind it, stampeding monsters poured out of the dunes, snarling and snapping, encircling the hunters.
Cha Yeol drew his sword, eyes wide with shock and determination. "Everyone, stay close! Fight or die—we have no other choice!"
Haneul tightened his grip on Sun Hee, who began chanting a weak healing spell. The group formed a tight formation, weapons ready, hearts pounding. The fallen snake slithered closer, its immense body twisting with lethal grace, while the monsters advanced relentlessly, their numbers seemingly infinite.
Beom Seok, watching from a distance, tightened his grip on his dagger. His mind raced. I have to get there. I have to help them. No one dies tonight—not if I can stop it.
And with that resolve, he charged forward into the chaos, blades flashing in the desert moonlight, ready to face the fallen divine snake and the horde of monsters threatening his friends.