Audrey didn't wait for an answer.
She turned on her heel and moved toward the nest, Sira walking beside her like an enormous shadow.
Soren watched her disappear into the bushes, the green axe still heavy in his hands.
He looked up at the great twisted ash tree and began climbing it.
The branches were thick and rough. The trunk split in several directions, as if it had grown struggling to reach the light of the two suns. When he reached a sufficient height, he settled between two branches and looked ahead.
The battlefield opened before his eyes.
The enormous mud nest dominated the center of the clearing. From above it looked even larger: an irregular hill of clay earth riddled with pores, tunnels, and craters. Dozens of black openings breathed like open mouths.
Blade-Spine Rats moved constantly in and out.
Some dragged scraps of food. Others patrolled around the nest, moving nervously between roots, stones, and mounds of dirt.
The clearing was surrounded by tall trees and dense vegetation. Thick bushes covered much of the ground, and heavy roots twisted through the damp soil.
It was a perfect place for an ambush…
Or to get trapped.
Soren shivered slightly.
Something strange settled inside him: a feeling of intrigue that made his skin prickle. He was full of expectation.
Audrey's words had lodged in his chest like an arrow, awakening genuine curiosity.
"So this is what it means to be a Seeker…"
Right now, Audrey didn't need singularities. Her bags were full. She already had a massive haul.
And from everything he had seen of her, it was obvious that money didn't drive her.
There was something else.
And that was what disturbed him deep within his soul.
He watched Audrey enter the battlefield with Sira beside her…
But in the next instant, she was gone.
Sira walked alone.
Her steps began to look strange.
Soren blinked, confused.
"Where is she?"
How could she disappear like that?
A chill clawed its way down his spine.
He felt enormous eyes settling on his neck, a savage pressure that nearly stopped his breathing.
The hundreds of rats reacted at the same time, jumping toward the spot where Audrey had been.
Then they all turned toward Sira.
The tiger radiated such deep bloodlust that the Blade-Spine Rats trembled.
Soren kept his eyes open.
Barely fractions of a second passed before he noticed something strange.
One Blade-Spine Rat was violently dragged into the ground and vanished in the next instant.
Then another.
And another after that, in different positions.
Sira had positioned herself in front of them all and frozen them in place.
But after four… maybe five seconds, Sira's eyes suddenly closed.
The rats reacted in madness.
It was as if the tiger's level-two singularity had some kind of intimidation power.
Another rat was swallowed by the earth.
A brief squeal sounded… and vanished instantly.
The rats went wild.
They rushed toward Sira and began launching projectiles everywhere.
Sharp metal plates flew through the air like darts.
The tiger dodged one to the right, leaping over a crater in the ground.
A rain of metal plates passed beneath her.
She dodged another stream of projectiles and began zigzagging through them, leaving behind a trail of plates embedded in the soil.
Then, when she passed close to one Blade-Spine Rat, she opened her jaws and yanked it off the ground.
Her fangs closed.
The rat exploded between them.
A metallic chime rang against the earth as the level-one singularity fell to the ground.
But in the very next fraction of a second…
The sphere was swallowed by the earth.
And disappeared.
Sira kept running around the rats, weaving between flying metal plates. One grazed her shoulder, drawing blood, and she let out a pained growl—but she kept running.
She was faster than the rats…
But the rats were many.
Whenever one came close, she opened her eyes wide and the rat in front of her froze for a fraction of a second.
Just long enough for Sira to open her jaws and crush it between her fangs.
"It's the same intimidation as before…" Soren murmured.
Another rat was swallowed by the ground and vanished, but immediately metal plates shot upward from that same point, as if something had exploded beneath the earth.
At that moment Audrey burst out of the soil, covered in mud, blood, and viscera.
She was injured, struggling to pull one of the metal plates lodged in her leg.
She struck the nearby rats to force them back.
When Sira saw her, she ran toward her. With a leap she dodged a storm of flying plates and, without slowing down, passed beside Audrey.
Audrey grabbed her fur to steady herself and vaulted onto her back.
Sira didn't lose speed.
She began escaping the rain of metal plates, weaving between them. Some only grazed her skin; others opened small bleeding cuts.
There were so many that even though they dodged most of them, some still struck their target.
Piercing the flesh of Sira and Audrey.
Just when it seemed they were about to escape…
A monstrous roar thundered from inside the nest.
The earth shook.
Soren nearly fell from the ash tree.
Sira and Audrey were getting closer to the forest, but the swarm of Blade-Spine Rats went completely mad, turning the clearing into a furious hive. Every second they suffered more wounds. Every second it became harder to dodge.
Time began to move slowly.
Very slowly.
From the explosion of mud, something enormous emerged.
An eight-legged spider.
Nearly four meters tall.
It was translucent, a deep purple color. Through its body all its internal organs could be seen, spectral light passing through them as if the creature were made of living crystal.
Small spikes protruded from its head, forming something like a crown.
Soren gripped the axe with both hands.
He was trembling.
"What the hell is that…?"
Audrey glanced back, confused.
Sira accelerated.
But the spider began running toward them, kicking rats aside and sending them flying through the air. It possessed tremendous strength. Every step left a translucent purple thread stuck to the ground.
It was absurdly fast.
Soren began striking the trunk of the ash tree.
He swung the axe with all his strength. The tree was thick and resilient, but the blade tore into the wood.
Still, time was running out.
And the weapon was becoming harder to hold.
He didn't think much.
He acted on instinct.
He used a logging technique he had learned long ago: the V-cut.
First angled strikes from above.
One after another.
Then horizontal cuts inward, creating a deep notch that weakened the trunk faster and faster.
The spider's legs stabbed into the ground as it ran.
It was so powerful it crushed some of the rats beneath its weight.
Audrey realized there was no escape now.
She turned around.
She drew her white blade—the same one that had split the vulture into three pieces with a single strike.
She waited for the impact.
Her eyes were sharp.
And strangely…
They seemed amused.
As if she enjoyed the danger.
But even so, her expression didn't hide the exhaustion.
The spider was about to leap onto Audrey and Sira, both ready to counterattack.
Then a thunderous crash split the sky.
Crack.
Something gigantic fell from above.
A massive trunk crashed directly onto the eight-legged spider, sending up a cloud of dust that forced Audrey and Sira backward. Both raised their arms to shield their faces.
A huge piece of the ash tree had fallen from the sky.
Right onto the spider.
But what made Audrey's eyes widen in shock…
Was not the trunk.
On top of the trunk—
Was Soren.
Striking.
Hammering axe blows onto the only part of the spider that remained exposed: its head.
The blows were not precise.
They were not elegant attacks.
It was pure brutality.
Soren was crushing the creature's skull.
Axe blow after axe blow.
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
But the spider was not dead yet.
Beneath the trunk, its body writhed with monstrous strength. Its legs pushed against the ground, trying to free itself.
Each movement lifted the massive trunk a few centimeters.
Soren felt it.
He felt the trunk trembling beneath his feet.
Felt it rising.
One more second and the creature might break free.
But he didn't stop.
He clenched his teeth.
And kept striking.
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
The axe rose and fell without rhythm, without technique.
Only fury.
A greenish liquid began pouring from the spider's head, splattering Soren's face and clothes.
But he kept going.
Blow after blow.
Until a final scream of agony tore across the battlefield.
The spider shuddered one last time.
And went still.
For a moment…
No one moved.
Then, as if something invisible had snapped in the swarm's will, every Blade-Spine Rat fled in panic in all directions.
Soren remained standing atop the trunk, breathing heavily, the axe dripping with that greenish fluid.
And in that moment he understood something.
Being a Seeker…
Meant surviving even when the whole world tried to kill you.