Chapter Thirty-Four — Dusk over the Corpses
Now the three beasts took up a tight defensive formation, as if they understood how grave the danger around them had become. The creature Azrian had wounded earlier — the one whose left legs he had severed with a precise strike — now stood in the center, trembling with pain and fighting to remain upright, while the other two positioned themselves to its right and left in a compact, practiced guard. They made no attempt to press an all-out attack; instead they reacted, driving their poisonous needles at anyone who dared come near, as if protecting some vital point they would not yield.
In that moment Daniel, Lucas and Niral moved forward with careful, measured steps, gauging distance and watching for any sudden movement. Niral had already used Wind Steps earlier and had spent part of his mana, so he did not rush to reuse it; instead he prepared to activate Wind Blade. He held wind mana stones in his hand ready for the casting.
Daniel, too, had been polishing his mana since he climbed out from under the beast before, though by nature he was slower than Niral. Still he did not hesitate. He advanced and said in a low but clear voice, "Just three minutes."
Those words were not idle — Azrian, Malik and Risha heard and understood him without explanation. They took their positions and began to distract the three beasts, not striking but drawing and confusing them.
Of course, from the start of the assignment Azrian could have taken on all seven beasts alone without help; Malik, though not as strong, could also have finished the job with a few extra measures. Yet the law governing the drop rate of fake Orn Hearts — which awards the killer with the heart — forced a different plan: Daniel, Lucas and Niral needed to be the ones who landed the kills, so they could claim as many Orn Hearts as possible. It was not vanity that drove them but money — the real profit that would pay off after the fight.
The three minutes passed with heavy apprehension and everyone watched cautiously. It is worth noting that what Azrian had done earlier — initiating the fight and severing the first beast's legs — had paved the way for this moment, although he had not expected that strike to have such decisive effect.
At last Daniel finished preparing and slipped into his "absolute focus," the mental state that turned him into a machine of combat. When he felt mind and body balanced, he eased the intensity and looked to Niral and Lucas with calm resolve:
"Lucas — you and I go front, we hit the one on the right. Niral — you take the wounded one in the middle. Then we'll use their bodies as shields against the third."
The three nodded, particularly Niral, who looked more eager than Daniel had expected.
They moved immediately. At Lucas's brief signal, Malik, Risha and Azrian — who had been distracting the beasts — withdrew behind the carcass Risha had felled, taking positions as a shield to confuse the monsters.
The three beasts launched themselves by instinct. The three who had agreed with Daniel advanced from the rear as planned and closed on the rightmost creature. When they were close enough, Lucas ducked beneath it and struck exactly as Daniel had before, but this time he left his sword stuck within the beast and pulled back quickly to avoid the spear-like legs. Daniel drew his blade at once, took the shield from Lucas and they moved together toward the next beast.
The wounded beast screamed in agony, twisting right and left trying to find the source of the sudden damage. At the same time Niral charged the center wounded creature and, with his Wind Blade, cut through the remaining legs at the joints — the weak points — and brought it crashing down. Niral retreated swiftly afterward; Lucas stood between him and the first beast, his shield taking the poisoned needles without flinching.
Just as Niral finished severing the legs of the middle beast, Daniel had already run toward the third creature — the one whose attention had been fixed dangerously on the older fighters. Suddenly that beast felt a strange paralysis course through its body, followed by a stabbing pain in the belly, as if something had pierced it from inside. The comrades fell back; Lucas stood like a rock before them, his shield intercepting the needle barrages.
They waited for the right moment, and when the two beasts Daniel and Lucas had attacked began to bleed and pour out dark ichor, they let out their last breaths. As each died, a brief light emerged from one corpse and vanished almost instantly.
Niral stepped forward then to finish what he and Azrian had begun. The legless creature still clung to life but could not resist. Niral struck it hard and ended it quickly. Unfortunately, this one also gave no light upon death.
After that battle — seven massive carcasses left where the beasts had fallen — everyone inspected the bodies carefully, hunting for anything valuable. There were thick bones suitable for weapon crafting, sharp fangs that glinted in the dying sun, and tough hides to be sold or turned into raw armor. Each man picked selectively; they knew their wagons could not carry every corpse and had to choose the rarest, most valuable parts.
The greatest prize was a fake Orn Heart — a second-level one usable by those with two mana circles. It had dropped from the beast Lucas killed. The others had yielded no hearts.
When the long salvage took its course, the sun's golden threads slowly slid below the horizon. The team of six moved away from the kill site — it was unwise to camp where the scent of blood might draw more predators. They walked a short distance to a slightly safer place, set up small tents in a hurry, and organised watches and sleep with automatic cooperation. Some slept first; the rest sat in silence, watching the darkness gradually swallow the desert.