The tunnel was tight.
Zareth pressed low to the ground, his body blending with the shadow-drenched stone as the rhythmic pulse of Vorrik's signal echoed faintly in his mind. Each clawstep was deliberate—silent, calculated. The scent of blood lingered in the stale air, old and thin, like something bled and moved on.
The deeper he went, the more the stone felt wrong. Slick. Warmer in places. Not from heat—but from breath. The air here was touched. Stirred. Something foreign had passed through recently.
And then—movement.
A ripple of motion against the stone—barely perceptible, but Vorrik saw it first. The skirmisher crouched high along the cavern wall, motionless, claws sunk deep into the rock. He gave no signal beyond a faint twitch of his antennae, but Zareth felt it.
There.
A lone figure.
It stood upright—taller than any creature Zareth had seen. Pale flesh, wrapped in layers of odd fabric. No fur. No chitin. Soft. Exposed. Yet it moved with focus. Controlled. Its breathing was uneven. One arm bled, but the other clutched a shard of worked metal—bent, notched, coated in dried gore.
Zareth did not lunge.
He watched.
>————<>————<
[SYSTEM NOTICE]
Unfamiliar bipedal entity detected.
Classification: Unknown | Local Term: Human
Caution advised.
Observation may unlock evolutionary traits.
Begin Observation?
[Y/N]
>————<>————<
Zareth's claws dug slightly deeper into the stone.
Yes.
>————<>————<
[Observation Initiated – Target: Human]
Monitoring biological composition, threat output, and anomaly potential.
Evolutionary adaptation: Pending
>————<>————<
The figure staggered slightly, breathing harshly. Then it stopped—head tilting, listening. Zareth held still, mandibles parted in faint anticipation.
A sound.
Behind the human, a low chittering. Cave-beasts. Small ones—spined crawlers. Four of them skittered from the crevices, drawn by blood, hungry for the weak.
The human turned too slow.
The first crawler lunged.
And then—
Flame.
It erupted from the figure's palm without warning. No friction. No tinder. Just a burst—raw and bright, orange and hot, flooding the tunnel with searing light. The nearest crawler shrieked as its body ignited, flailing before collapsing into molten bone and charred shell.
Zareth's limbs went still.
Magic.
There was no other word the system offered. No organ to match the effect. No gland. No fang. Just will—and destruction.
>————<>————<
[Anomaly Identified – Arcane Emission]
Elemental Manifestation: FIRE
Mana Signature Detected.
Potential Evolutionary Response: Heat Resistance | Mana Sensory Node
Continue Observation?
[Y/N]
>————<>————<
Zareth did not answer.
Because the human had already moved again.
The flame died.
Ash curled in the air like black snow, clinging to the walls in lazy spirals. The charred corpses of the cave-beasts smoldered near the human's feet. For a moment, all was still.
Then the human turned.
Not toward the bodies.
Toward them.
Zareth froze mid-step, still hidden, but the human's gaze cut across the cavern like a blade. His bleeding arm trembled slightly, but he raised his other hand—fingers curling as if to grasp something unseen.
And then he spoke.
Not a growl. Not a chitter or hiss. The sounds were alien—shaped by tongue and breath, rising like a chant and shivering in Zareth's mind like a cracked bone struck against stone.
"An'rith valar… en sorik'than."
The air shifted.
A low pulse radiated from the human's outstretched hand—not sound, but something deeper. Something Zareth recognized.
A ping.
A hunting cry.
Not unlike how Nyssal sensed the tunnels. Not unlike how Zareth's own mind reached through stone and silence.
But this was aimed at him.
>————<>————<
[SYSTEM ALERT – Lifeform Reaction Triggered]
Spell Type: Detection Pulse
Mana Signature: Directed | Function: Target Lock
Threat to Hostile Entity Confirmed
>————<>————<
Zareth's limbs twitched.
The human's head turned directly toward him—eyes narrowed, jaw clenched. There was no hesitation. Only motion.
His palm lit again.
But this time, no fire bloomed.
Only force.
A pulse of invisible energy exploded outward like a shockwave—cracking the stone beneath the human's feet and shattering a stalactite above Zareth's position.
>————<>————<
[SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT]
Immediate threat to host integrity detected.
Objective updated:
SURVIVE THE HUMAN
>————<>————<
Stone collapsed.
Zareth dropped from the wall, hitting the cavern floor in a blur of legs and motion. Vorrik shrieked above, claws scattering rock as he leapt clear. The human raised his weapon, fire flaring in one hand, steel glinting in the other.
Zareth didn't pause.
He lunged.
Zareth lunged from the shadows—no larger than a hunting hound, but faster than any surface beast.
The human whirled, steel flashing as he slashed downward. The blade nicked Zareth's carapace, scraping off one of the outer ridges with a spark—but not deep enough to matter.
Zareth retaliated instantly—his forelimbs striking low and hard, catching the man behind the knee.
The human grunted and dropped, slamming to one side, his bag spilling as he hit the ground.
Chitin clattered out.
Fragments of monster shells—jagged black plates, the curved claw of a tunneler, even a glinting beetle horn nearly the size of Zareth's head. Tools. Trophies. Proof he was no novice.
He rolled away, left hand igniting mid-motion.
"Vela'shan!" he barked.
A burst of flame surged from his palm—not wild, but controlled—forcing Zareth back with a hiss. The heat licked at his side, scalding the thinner joints of his legs, but his Reactive Chitin Matrix absorbed the worst.
The human was already rising.
Fast.
Wounded—but trained. He snatched his sword, turned his stance, and prepared for a second strike.
Zareth circled slowly, limbs spread low, mandibles flexing.
The aura pulsed again—Predator's Dread crawling through the air like venom in the lungs.
The human's sword wavered.
"Var'thon al'tir!" he shouted again—another chant, another spell.
But Zareth moved.
A blur of black chitin slammed into the man's side—low, angled, deliberate. Not to kill. To break.
He tumbled, gasping, fire spell fizzled mid-air.
Zareth's mandibles lit with a faint violet glow—Void Pulse Mandibles charged—but he paused.
Not yet.
The human scrambled to his feet, grabbed nothing, and ran—one arm bleeding, bag abandoned.
Zareth didn't hesitate.
He gave chase—low, fast, silent.
Upward.
Outward.
Toward the snow.
The stone gave way.
Zareth burst from the tunnel mouth, claws scraping across frozen shale. Snow crunched under his limbs—cold, soft, and strange. But then—
Light.
The sun struck him like a weapon.
Blinding.
His vision, so attuned to shadow and flickering bioluminescence, went white with pain. His entire body recoiled, instincts screaming. The sky above was massive—open, endless, wrong. The cold bit deep, but the light seared.
Zareth reared back, limbs twitching.
He could see nothing.
But he could still feel.
A pulse—not his own—echoed faintly across the snow. The same signature from before. Detection magic. Weak now, bleeding into the air like steam.
Zareth clicked low, then released a counter-pulse of his own—sharper, more focused.
It struck something.
A ripple.
Movement.
To the left.
The human was limping through the snow, half-crumpled against a tree, breath coming in ragged clouds. His head snapped back toward the sound—but it was too late.
Zareth's legs surged forward, claws slicing through snowdrift, and the predator found his prey.
Zareth moved like shadow on ice—small, fast, certain.
The human barely turned before Zareth collided with his side. Claws raked down hard, not aiming to kill—aiming to cripple.
The man's leg gave out with a sickening crack as Zareth's forelimb tore through muscle and tendon. He collapsed sideways into the snow, sword flying from his grasp, a scream ripping from his throat—raw, sharp, and laced with terror.
He tried to crawl. One hand dragging, the other leaving red streaks behind.
But Zareth was already circling.
The light still burned in his eyes.
But he didn't need them anymore.
The scent of blood was enough.
Zareth surged forward.
Snow exploded beneath his limbs as he leapt—mandibles flaring wide, glowing faintly with the last traces of abyssal energy.
The human twisted, blood soaking through his coat, and raised both arms in a final, frantic defense.
He caught Zareth's mandibles mid-strike.
For a moment, they locked—man and monster frozen in the white glare of daylight. The human strained, arms trembling, blood dripping from his ruined leg. He gritted his teeth, pushing back with everything left in him.
Zareth hissed.
The pressure built.
Then—crack.
The human's left arm gave way first, folding at an unnatural angle. The right followed a heartbeat later.
Zareth drove forward with a snapping lunge—his mandibles clamped around the man's face, piercing skin, bone, and thought in one motion. There was no scream. Only the wet crunch of teeth through skull and the hiss of breath dying mid-gasp.
The snow turned dark beneath them.
Zareth held for a moment longer… then pulled back—flesh and shattered bone clinging to his jaws.
Zareth's mandibles clamped down with a sickening crack, piercing the soft bone beneath the man's eyes.
The human choked—a half-sound, twisted and wet. His arms fell limp, collapsing in the snow as Zareth released, tearing backward with a string of ruined flesh still caught between his fangs.
The man didn't scream.
He fell—backward, spine arching slightly as if trying to rise. But he didn't. His mouth opened once… twice… no words. Just breath.
Distorted.
Shallow.
Then came the gurgling.
A bubbling rasp spilled from his throat, thicker with each second, as blood flooded his mouth and leaked from the ragged hole where his cheek once was. His eyes—one of them gone, the other dim—stared blankly up at the grey sky.
Zareth crouched low.
Watched.
Then struck again—mandibles piercing the other side of the man's face, scraping across jaw and socket. Another twitch. Another breath—gurgled and small.
Then silence.
The snow soaked red beneath what was no longer a man.
As the last breath left the human's ruined lungs, a low pulse echoed through Zareth's mind—not from the body, but from the system.
>————<>————<
[SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT]
Objective Complete: Survive the Human – Status: EXCEEDED
You have successfully defeated an entity of advanced intelligence and arcane capability.
Bonus Reward Granted for lethal retaliation and prey execution.
+1 Evolution Key Acquired
625 XP Gained
Current Level: 5
Progress to Level 6: 82%
New Evolution Path Unlocked: Cerebral Hunter
Description: Specializes in high-intellect prey. Enhanced neural mapping, arcane resistance potential, and adaptive targeting.
Path Type: Rare – Intelligence-Focused Predatory Subclass
>————<>————<
The corpse twitched once more—then stilled.
Zareth rose above it, ichor still dripping from his mandibles, eyes adjusting to the frozen world beyond the cave.
A new path had opened.
And the hunt had only just begun.