As soon as the preparations were over, we began our arduous climb toward the top of the caldera.

To be clear, the climb itself wasn't arduous. It was our condition that made it so.

For the past couple of weeks, we hadn't had a single speck of food to eat. Training in that state only deteriorated our strength further, but we pushed on anyway.

Hunger gnawed at our insides like a relentless animal. Even Michael and I had begun to feel its effects now. Ray, Alexia, and Juliana weren't any better off either despite being new B-rankers.

I mean, Essence was great and all, but it couldn't replace actual calories. Sooner or later, we were bound to feel the consequences of punishing our bodies this hard.

Oh, and Vince, Kang, and Lily looked even worse than us.

Still, none of us dared slow our pace.

Stopping would've only worsened our already dwindling energy levels.

Each step we took felt heavier than the last, muscles screaming at even the tiniest movement and lungs burning as if the thin air itself wanted to torture us.

Basically, the climb was hard as hell.

But you know what else was hell?

Waiting for my Divine Sword Aurieth, and seeing no sign of its arrival!

No, seriously!

"Where the fuck is my sword?!" I muttered to myself, gripping my hair in worry.

Vince, who was clinging to my arm because he was afraid he'd faint and fall, looked at me with sunken eyes and hollow cheeks. Somehow, he looked even worse than when we'd started this stretch. "Your… what?"

I recoiled at the sight of him. "Holy shit! Vince, you look like a zombie!"

That immediately triggered his irrational fear of zombies.

His eyes went wide, and he let out a strangled squeal that could've easily been mistaken for a dying animal. "Z-Zombies?! Here!? Now!?"

"No, Vince. Calm down. There aren't any zombies here," I rolled my eyes so hard it nearly hurt. "It's just your face. I meant that you look like a walking corpse."

"Wh-what?!" he stammered, backing up a step and reaching for his face with a trembling hand. "I—I'm… a zombie?! It's all over! We're all doomed! It's the end of civilization as we know it!"

Kang scoffed as he trudged beside us, his expression one part boredom and one part amusement. "He has lost his mind. We can discard him here and finally take his boots."

Oh lord, what was his and Juliana's obsession with Vince's boots?

I glanced down to take a look myself… and arched my brows in surprise. He really did have a nice pair of boots.

But before I could start formulating a convoluted plan to steal them, I felt someone lightly smack the back of my head.

It was Michael.

"Focus, dummies!" he said. "And Sam, seriously. Where is your sword?"

I groaned. "I have no idea! I have no idea! I could feel it getting closer, but it hasn't moved for the past couple of days. My only theory is that some kind of beast ate it in the Dark Region… again. It should get to me sooner or later, but—"

"But we don't have time," Michael sighed, briefly closing his eyes before opening them with renewed resolve. "Forget it. We're almost at the top. We'll cross the caldera tomorrow."

I didn't know if I liked that idea very much, but his reasoning was sound. We really couldn't afford to wait any longer.

Every second we wasted without sustenance was another second closer to our collapse.

So I didn't raise any objection.

…I should have.

•••

That night — or night-adjacent — we gathered around what little fire we could manage to spark to life under a rocky outcropping on a crag.

The crest of the caldera's rim was barely a thirty-minute climb from there. Even so, we could already feel the wave of terror radiating from above.

It still wasn't a tangible wave, but something primal and raw that made the hair on my arms stand on end.

It wasn't simply fear anymore. It was anticipation, dread, and the subtle whisper of something ancient, something that told us we were walking toward our deaths.

And we all felt it, even with Kevin nearby — who, by the way, had grown taller than me by now and had begun to resemble an actual monster instead of a cute little bird.

His body was still covered in black feathers, but he no longer looked fluffy. He'd grown lean and his beak had darkened into a coal-like sheen.

If you looked into his eyes, which were black as pitch, you could see a strange glint of predatory intelligence there that was enough to unsettle your soul.

And yet, for some reason, he remained docile… especially around Juliana. Probably because her emotions were the main source of his diet.

Well, at least one of us was eating well.

Kevin hopped closer to the fire, landing softly on his sharp talons, and tilted his head at us like he understood the tension in the air.

His presence was oddly calming, I'd admit.

If he wasn't with us, I doubted we could've camped so comfortably this close to a sealed Demonic-rank entity. Not without losing our minds, at least.

The fire sputtered weakly at the center of our circle, struggling against the thin, frigid air.

We huddled close, both for warmth and because being close offered some illusion of safety.

Vince shivered against my side, pulling one of the shirts I'd given him tighter around himself. I didn't say anything. The boy was half-catatonic from hunger anyway.

Lily had her knees tucked under her chin, face pale under the flickering light as she stared at the flames. She seemed deep in thoughts.

Alexia, predictably, was quiet and calm. But even she wasn't immune to the sense of foreboding that clawed at us all.

Her eyes were closed, and I could sense her circulating Essence to reinforce her body against fatigue.

It wouldn't do much, but it would keep her upright.

Kang sat beside her, as usual. And while he seemed like he wanted to look dismissive and unfazed, even he couldn't maintain the act and shivered quietly at her side.

Juliana, on the other hand… looked completely unbothered.

Or at least, she did until Ray suddenly jumped toward her and shouted far too loudly in the dreadful silence, "Happy birthday, Julia!"

Juliana flinched back, startled eyes wide and one hand definitely reaching for one of the many kunai hidden somewhere on her.

Thankfully, before she could take any drastic steps, everyone else joined in.

"Yes, our resident ice queen, happy birthday!"

"Hell yeah! Happy birthday!"

"Happy birthday, girl! And don't think I forgot when you threw me at the Mist Monster! Consider that unwilling sacrifice my gift to you!"

"If you say that, she'll do it again next year."

"I don't think that'll stop her anyway."

"Well, regardless! Congrats on almost surviving this journey! Happy birthday!"

Everyone's words came out uneven, half-overlapping, and half-exhausted, but sincere enough. Genuine and happy enough.

Yeah, the clock had struck midnight and it was officially August fourteenth for us. I say for us because time flowed differently across different regions of the Spirit Realm.

For example, one day in the Noctveil Wilds was roughly two to two and a half days in the real world.

But anyway, Juliana froze under the sudden barrage of wishes, then snapped her head toward me so fast it was almost as cute as it was comical.

I gave her an apologetic chuckle. "Happy birthday, Juli. It came up when I was talking to Ray yesterday. I told them you don't like celebrating it, but…"

Vince immediately raised a finger beside me. "Well, technically we're not celebrating. There's no cake. Or food. We're in the middle of a Death Zone, about to face what could very well be our deaths tomorrow, while shivering in cold and starving. Oh, and I'm also a zombie now! Wow… this might be the worst birthday ever…"

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