"ARVENNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!NNN!N!N!!!N!N!N!!!!!"
Si Hon's shout tore through the cave.
Boreas and Nivalis snapped their heads up at once, ears pricked. Sixxy lifted her head with a confused bark, while Hana— somehow… remained fast asleep, curled comfortably against Nivalis's broad back.
The tent flap flew open.
Arven stepped out, hair messy, eyes sharp, clearly annoyed.
"What?!" she snapped. "Why are you shouting?!"
Instead of answering, Si Hon grabbed her wrist and pointed at the floating window beside him.
「Distance to Target: 9,521M」
Arven stared at it.
"…You're kidding me," she muttered.
She spun around instantly, went back into the tent, then reappeared seconds later with her adventurer bag and Si Hon's spatial bag clutched in her arms.
"Move," she said sharply. "We're getting out of here. Now."
She sprinted toward the three Ursa Canis.
Nivalis and Boreas immediately lowered themselves, massive bodies lying flat. Arven scooped Sixxy up as she barked loudly, tail thrashing, then glanced back at Si Hon.
"What are you standing there for?" she snapped. "Come help me get Sixxy onto Boreas!"
Si Hon rushed over and helped push Sixxy's huge body up onto Boreas's thick, furry back.
"Why are we putting Sixxy on Boreas?" Si Hon asked while straining.
Arven answered without looking at him.
"Sixxy would get left behind. She's fast— but Nivalis and Boreas are faster."
Si Hon glanced at the two massive beasts.
…Yeah. That made sense. Compared to them, Sixxy really was small.
After a lot of struggling, they finally managed to get Sixxy settled. She shuffled forward, climbed onto the saddle, and sat down with a proud huff.
Arven looked down at the two bags in her arms, her expression sour.
She turned and threw Si Hon's spatial bag straight into his chest.
"I've been carrying this. Take yours."
Then she shoved her adventurer bag at him too. "…And mine. My bad."
She immediately turned and ran back toward the pond area, while Si Hon headed for Nivalis and climbed onto her back.
When Si Hon looked up again, Arven was checking the scroll she'd placed there the day before. After a brief moment, she cursed under her breath, then sprinted back and climbed up behind him.
"Good. It's intact," she said quickly. Then her eyes widened. "Why are you just sitting there?! Wake Hana up!"
Si Hon sighed.
Instead of waking her, he carefully lifted Hana from where she slept, her arms instinctively wrapping around him as she clung like a koala. She didn't even stir.
He carried her over and settled her gently onto the saddle beside Arven.
The moment they were seated, Nivalis flexed.
Muscles bulged beneath her furless body as she rose to her feet, letting out a deep, powerful bark. Si Hon grabbed the saddle handles instinctively to steady himself.
The system window flickered again.
「Distance to Target: 8,526M」
"The fuck?! Why is it so fast." Si Hon muttered.
Arven noticed immediately.
"Faster!" she urged. "Go, go!"
Nivalis and Boreas let out low whines instead of moving.
Arven froze.
"…Why aren't you running?" she demanded— then stopped herself.
She inhaled sharply.
"I— I'm sorry," she said, lowering her voice. "Nivalis. Boreas."
She swallowed.
"Our destination is the center of the White Graves," she said. "The tower."
Her gaze flicked to Si Hon.
"We're trusting you," she said quietly. "That the safe zone exists."
With that, Nivalis and Boreas moved toward the cave entrance and stepped outside.
The world beyond was pitch black.
Si Hon turned to look behind them— Instead of an open cave it was dark.
He quickly reached back, pulled out the torch wrapped in mole-rat skin, and lit it with his lighter.
Flames burst to life.
The cave entrance was gone.
So… the illusion really was real. He thought.
「Distance to Target: 8,037M」
「Distance to Target: 7,896M」
「Distance to Target: 7,648M」
「Distance to Target: 7,212M」
「Distance to Target: 6,961M」
「Distance to Target: 6,824M」
「Distance to Target: 6,756M」
「Distance to Target: 6,434M」
「Distance to Target: 7,191M」
Arven spotted the number dropping fast and immediately patted Nivalis's head.
That was enough.
Boreas and Nivalis lunged forward and ran.
***
(The mysterious woman.)
She was running.
Snow crunched beneath her feet as she cut across the slope, breath steady, controlled. The night swallowed sound quickly out here, but that didn't matter— darkness had never slowed her.
Her vision sliced clean through the pathway.
Cold blues. Pale whites. The faint heat-signatures of living things stretched across the mountain like veins.
She slowed near the summit and came to a stop.
Below her lay a weird and familiar formation of rock and shadow.
…That cave.
Her jaw tightened.
She turned.
Far behind her, cutting through the forest, something massive moved.
The Frosthowl.
It was still distant, its shape blurred by trees and terrain, but she could feel it—its attention fixed, unblinking. It wasn't charging blindly.
It was tracking.
"Tch."
She exhaled softly and turned back— Then paused.
Something was moving near the mountain's base.
Multiple heat signatures. Large ones. Beasts. And— smaller shapes riding them.
Her brow furrowed.
They stopped suddenly.
A moment later—
Fire bloomed.
A sharp burst of orange tore through the dark, scattering shadows as a torch flared to life.
Her eyes narrowed.
"…Huh."
She glanced back again.
The Frosthowl was closer now.
Trees cracked and splintered in its wake, entire trunks snapping aside as something even larger began forcing its way through the forest behind it.
Her pulse ticked up.
"…Fuck," she muttered..
"It's not— it's not taking its eyes off me. What the Fuck."
She focused, sharpening her vision further.
And that's when she saw it.
The group below wasn't fleeing away from the tower.
They were running toward it.
Two massive beasts— one furless, muscle coiling beneath bare skin, the other thick and powerful— were sprinting side by side. Another large figure clung to one of their backs, while smaller forms held on tightly.
And one of them—
The guy.
He was riding near the front.
Her breath caught.
"…Oh," she whispered.
"Wow, is he looking at me?"
Thunder cracked.
The sky split open in white.
For a single second, the entire mountainside lit up.
She saw them clearly then.
The beasts form. The desperate speed. The way the guy squinted his eyes— And looked straight at her.
Her blood went cold.
"…It's—"
The light vanished.
Darkness swallowed the mountain again beside the torchlight the guy was holding.
"…It's the thief."
The Frosthowl roared behind her.
The ground trembled.
Below, the group surged forward, vanishing into the trees as the firelight bounced wildly with their movement.
She didn't look away.
Not until they were gone.
Her fingers curled slowly at her side.
"Well... Thief… don't die yet."