The morning light slanted across Westvale's cobblestones, gilding the frost that clung stubbornly to the gutters. Ethan pulled his cloak tighter as the group stood outside the guild's front steps, waiting for their assigned client.
Their job was simple on paper: escort a merchant caravan to the village of Norhollow, two days northeast. A common trade run. No reports of trouble.
That, of course, was what worried him.
The merchant arrived late—a round man named Garrick whose smile was too wide for this early in the morning. His two wagons were loaded high with barrels and covered crates, each guarded by a single hired man who looked more interested in his breakfast roll than the road ahead.
Marcus exchanged a glance with Selene. "Two guards for a caravan? Risky."
Garrick waved them off. "We keep a low profile. I've been running this route twenty years without trouble."
"Without trouble yet," Selene muttered under her breath.
By midmorning, the city was behind them, replaced by frostbitten fields and skeletal trees reaching toward a pale sky. Ethan kept his eyes moving, scanning the ditches and hedgerows out of habit.
He'd been expecting conversation from the others, but the road was unusually quiet. Even the wagon wheels seemed to creak more softly than usual.
Halfway to their midday rest stop, Lily rode up beside him. "You feel it too, don't you?"
"Yeah," Ethan said. "Like the air's holding its breath."
It started as a tremor—so faint at first Ethan thought it was his imagination. Then the ground shook harder, rattling the iron hoops on the barrels.
"Stop the wagons!" Marcus barked.
They halted just as the far ditch exploded in a spray of dirt and stones. A creature he'd never seen before clawed its way onto the road—long and low, its black hide rippling like oil, its face a mess of too many eyes and jagged teeth. Its forelimbs ended in hooked talons, and its tail lashed with a sound like splitting wood.
One of Garrick's guards froze in place, eyes wide.
"Move!" Ethan shouted, pulling him back just as the thing lunged.
[System Notification]
EXP Amplification Triggered — Multiplier: 500x
The sudden rush of heat made him stagger.
"You pick your moments," he hissed under his breath.
Threat level justifies amplification.
"Threat level? We're not even in the middle of the mission yet!"
Survival prioritizes immediacy.
The thing roared and lunged again. Selene's arrow took it in the shoulder, but it barely slowed. Marcus slammed into it with his shield, only to be thrown back by a single swipe of its claws.
Ethan moved before he could think—his sword flashing as he drove it into the thing's side. The amplified strength sent the blade deeper than he'd ever managed before, black ichor spraying across the frozen dirt.
The creature shrieked, thrashing hard enough to snap one of the wagon yokes. Lily darted forward, her staff glowing faintly as she pulled Marcus back to his feet.
It took all of them—Selene peppering it with arrows, Marcus holding its focus, Lily patching wounds faster than they could be dealt—to bring the monster down. When it finally collapsed, its body melted into a tar-like pool that sank into the road and vanished.
They stood in silence, breathing hard. Even Garrick's talkative grin was gone.
"That's not… normal wildlife," he said finally.
"No," Marcus said, looking toward the distant treeline. "It's not."
They decided to press on, but the mood had changed. Every crow's call sounded sharper, every rustle in the undergrowth heavier.
Ethan stayed at the rear, still feeling the hum of the amplification in his bones. He didn't know what bothered him more—that the system had given him such a massive boost… or that it thought this was only the justified amount.