The southern gate was quieter than usual. The air carried the scent of dust and iron, and the guards gave wary looks as Shadow, Rena, and the trio passed through. Their mission was simple on paper—investigate missing caravans—but something about the tension in the city made it feel heavier.
"Why do I feel like this isn't just about missing traders?" Sera muttered, tightening her grip on her staff.
Ryn gave a half-smile. "Because nothing is ever simple when he's involved," he said, jerking his chin toward Shadow.
Shadow ignored the remark, eyes locked on the road ahead. His senses told him something was wrong—tracks in the dirt that led nowhere, wheel ruts that simply ended.
Rena crouched low, her sharp gaze following the broken trail. "No blood. No signs of a fight." Her voice was calm but edged with unease. "They didn't die here. They were taken."
The words made the air grow colder. Even the trio went silent.
---
The group pressed further into the woods, following faint disturbances that only someone like Shadow or Rena could notice. At last, they stumbled upon it: a clearing marked with half-buried stones and mossy ruins, like the remnants of an old fortress.
Then came the sound—low, guttural breathing.
From the shadows of the ruin, a creature lurched forward. Its body was stitched with glowing veins of unstable mana, a mockery of flesh fused with crystal shards. Its eyes burned with madness.
"What… what is that?" Lena whispered, stepping back.
Rena's jaw tightened. "An abomination. A weaponized experiment… infused with a mana core."
The beast roared, charging with impossible speed.
"Scatter!" Shadow barked.
The trio obeyed, flanking it while Shadow and Rena moved as one. Rena's sword flashed, intercepting the monster's claw swipe. Sparks erupted as she slid her blade along its hardened arm, pushing it aside.
"Go for the core!" she shouted.
Shadow's eyes narrowed. "Already on it."
He darted low, his gauntlets glowing faintly as he delivered a crushing strike to its leg. The abomination staggered, howling. Ryn's arrow thudded into its shoulder, Sera cast a barrier to block its counterattack, and Lena launched twin daggers into the gaps of its armor.
For a moment, it looked like teamwork might overwhelm it—until the beast bellowed and unleashed a wave of raw mana, scattering the trio like dolls.
Rena caught herself mid-air, her blade flashing as she drove it into the monster's chest, holding it just long enough. "Now, Shadow!"
Shadow's eyes gleamed. His gauntlets thrummed with power as he slammed both fists into the exposed core. The crystal cracked, shattered, and with a deafening scream, the creature collapsed.
The clearing fell silent, save for the harsh breaths of the group.
Sera staggered up, wiping her face. "That… that wasn't human anymore."
"No," Rena said grimly, withdrawing her sword. She gazed at the smoking corpse, her expression hard. "It was made. Someone did this deliberately."
Shadow's gaze flicked toward a half-buried entrance in the ruin—metal doors hidden beneath vines and dirt, faintly glowing with mana seals. He froze. For the briefest moment, words shimmered across his vision, half-appraisal, half-illusion:
[Ego Weapon Research — Restricted]
The text flickered and vanished before he could read more.
Shadow's fists clenched. Whatever this place was, it wasn't just a ruin.
Rena followed his line of sight. Her voice dropped low. "We shouldn't be seeing this. If the government is hiding things like this here…"
Her words trailed off, the weight of unspoken truth heavy in the air.
Shadow turned back to the trio, who were still shaken. "Stay close. We're going inside."
The metal doors groaned as they pushed them open, revealing a dark passage leading underground. The faint hum of machines echoed from below.
And so, step by step, they descended into the unknown.