A breath later, they were barreling through the cave entrance. Jodie skidded to a stop, spun, and raised her hands. A wall of fire erupted from the ground instantly—high enough to dwarf Hector and the others—and she smiled, though the expression shook with uncertainty.

Would it hold against the thing?

The indigo seemed nearly immune to their fire mana, which was odd to say the least, honestly bizarre if Hector was being truthful. Everything else [Blazing Arsenal] hit practically melted on contact, but this creature, with its flesh-like skin covering what had to be a hardened exoskeleton, possessed almost complete resistance. If something like that barged through the firewall, they'd be trapped. Cornered. At least it wouldn't be able to squeeze through the entrance, though. Probably.

Their answer came seconds later.

A smaller indigo leapt toward the flames, smashed into the fire, let out a shriek before rebounding and rolling around the floor while flapping its wings with desperate, jerky movements.

Hector's eyes widened. How had it not just barreled through? This fire Talent, [Inferno Bastion], wasn't any stronger than Blazing Arsenal. If anything, it burned a little weaker, being a common Talent rather than an Uncommon.

"What's going on?" Hector muttered, stepping next to Jodie, cave dirt crunching beneath his sandals.

Through the flames, the larger indigo hovered, its beady black eyes fixed on them. Patient. This thing seemed content to wait, a spider watching prey that had temporarily escaped but would eventually make a mistake.

After a tense moment, the smaller indigos, having become wary, turned and skittered back into the bushes, climbing trees and flapping into the air with that awful screeching. The larger indigo dropped to the ground with a thud, moved over to a nearby tree, settled its bulk down, folded its legs, and gently flapped those small wings. Seemingly content to just sit there and wait them out.

"So we have a patient one," Jodie said, clicking her tongue. She turned to Hector. "What do we do?"

What could they do? The thing was prepared to wait, and [Blazing Arsenal] accomplished nothing against it. Even when he'd attacked earlier, while his blades had bitten into its flesh, they hadn't cleaved through like they did for the smaller indigos. This beast was definitely a ranked mana beast. At least high rank two, maybe even higher.

"We wait, I guess," Hector said, shrugging his shoulders. Not ideal, but what choice did they have?

He turned to the main culprit in their current situation. Lincoln gripped his spear firmly and stared at the dirt as if it held secrets. His eyes flicked up, met Hector's, then shot back down.

They needed to talk. This was getting bad.

"Let's at least make sure this place is secure," Hector said, turning to Jodie.

He stepped away from her, moved past Lincoln, and walked further into the cave. After several minutes of searching under the illumination of the Blazing Arsenal magma pool, the cave proved safe enough. A few bones scattered here and there from creatures probably dragged in by smaller beasts, but nothing requiring immediate concern. Jodie could maintain the Inferno Wall talent for quite some time, so they'd at least get some rest. Regroup. Figure things out.

"Alright then, Lincoln," Hector said, adjusting himself down onto the cave floor's dirt. "I think we need to talk."

Lincoln, resting his spear across his lap, nodded. "You want to know what's going on?"

"Damn right he does," Jodie snapped.

Hector raised a hand to silence her. The two were at odds, and he didn't need her goading Lincoln while he was clearly vulnerable, clearly down. It could make him clam up more than necessary, and Hector needed answers, not defensive walls.

"I don't get it," Hector said, weighing his words carefully, trying to approach it from Lincoln's perspective because maybe that would help. "You're comfortable fighting humans. Even three days ago, in the crypt against the Zulen's hired mercenaries, you were confident. Wielding your spear with what I'd almost call disregard for your own safety. Yet when the situation involves mana beasts, you bottle up. Freeze. What happened? Because I remember during the Hilda festival, you fought those void beasts alongside me. You didn't show this kind of fear then. What gives?"

Lincoln bit his lower lip and nodded, the flames from the magma pool between them flickering in his eyes, making his face look younger somehow, more vulnerable. "You're right, Hector. Against those void beasts, I fought. Against humans, I fight. But it was exactly the void beasts that changed this. After I saw their capabilities and how easily they took someone's life, I don't know, I realised humans are reasonable, but beasts are not. I don't want to just die not knowing why and not knowing who, just being a random casualty."

Silence settled between them. Heavy. Lincoln gulped.

Hector could sort of understand it—the logic made a certain sense on paper—though he didn't really see where Lincoln was going with this line of thinking. Would any fight really be pointless if you were protecting those you cared about? That seemed like the most important factor, not whether you understood your opponent's motivations.

Lincoln glanced back at him. "It's irrational, I know. But I want to fight things I can learn from and get better at dealing with. Beasts just seem too irrational for me, their actions untraceable. I could die simply because this creature has something I don't know about." His gaze moved toward the tunnel leading to the cave entrance. "Out there stands a flesh-covered spider with wings that could kill me, and no one would even know why it did, aside from hunger. It just doesn't sit right with me, you know?"

"No, I don't, Lincoln," Hector said, disappointment edging into his voice despite his best efforts to keep it out. "You see, the way you're acting right now, Lincoln?"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Hector shifted his weight on the stone, letting the words rest between them.

The fire pit crackled between them, embers spitting upward into the cave's darkness. His gaze locked onto the boy across from him—really locked on, a stare that demanded an answer even when no answer would suffice. "It's gonna get us killed. Me, you, Jodie. Hell, anyone unfortunate enough to be standing near you when you decide being a coward's the safer option."

Lincoln's head dropped.

Silence wedged itself between them, thick and uncomfortable. Hector sighed, and his eyes shifted toward Jodie. She shrugged, then raised one hand to tuck a strand of ginger hair behind her ear with practised nonchalance.

"I think what Hector's trying to say—" Jodie's voice carried that diplomatic edge she'd probably learned from her mother. The woman was quite the gentle soul when she wanted to be "—Is that… what you're doing, It's dangerous. We're a team, Lincoln. You're letting us down."

For a heartbeat, Hector couldn't quite reconcile the Jodie sitting across from him, her figure wavering through the flames, with the same Jodie who'd been ripping into Lincoln just moments ago.

Where'd this sudden compassion spring from? Their eyes met, and she mouthed something. He couldn't make it out. The fire blazed too high, flames licking at the air with greedy tongues. Perhaps she'd said, trust me. Hector couldn't tell.

That was the problem with [Blazing Arsenal], really. You couldn't exactly control it once the magma ball manifested—just summon the damn thing and point it in a direction, hope for the best.

"I think I understand." Lincoln's voice barely carried over the fire's snap and pop. His gaze stayed fixed on his lap, where his fingers fidgeted restlessly. Wetting his lips, he spoke. "It's just... I'm scared." The words cracked halfway through. "I want to stop being scared, you know? I want to fight, help protect you guys. It's not that I can't—I'm just..."

"We're all scared," Hector interrupted.

He studied Lincoln for a long moment, really studied him. Was this the same confident boy from months before? The same guy who'd swaggered around the Middlec dumps claiming he'd nearly perfected the Orion Fist, insisting he was probably better than Jodie? What happened? What the hell broke in him between then and now?

"We're all scared, Lincoln." Hector's voice softened despite himself. "But we push through it. Acknowledge that fear, sure—then we push through it, anyway. You have to as well."

Hector sighed, his attention drifting toward the cave's far edge. Somewhere beyond that crevice, past the narrow passage, Jodie's firewall probably still flickered in the entrance. She hadn't mentioned its failing, and when a Talent timed out, the user knew.

"I will," Lincoln said.

"You'll what?" Hector turned back.

Lincoln nodded, dragged one hand through his hair while the other drummed against his spear's shaft. Nervous energy radiated from him. "I'll be braver. Just... promise me you'll have my back."

Jodie laughed—a genuine sound that echoed off the cave walls. "That's what we've always been doing, Lincoln. If we hadn't, we wouldn't have made it this far. Not in a hundred years."

"We have your back." Hector nodded slowly. "We just need you to have ours. Now then—how are we dealing with that thing out there?"

Hector wouldn't claim to be a brilliant tactician. His plans? Simple. Straightforward. Go here, lure a creature there. Even the plan to deal with the Shadow Wyrm in the Shade Forest had been nothing more than angering something massive and luring it into a pit where they bombarded it with [Blazing Arsenal]. Sure, there'd been hiccups—plans never survived contact with reality intact—but simple worked. Simple adapted.

This situation? Not so simple.

—- —- —- —-

After several minutes of discussion, Hector shifted on the stone. The Blazing Arsenal Magma Pool bubbled away in the cave's centre, its heat washing over them in waves. His mind churned through the ideas Jodie and Lincoln had thrown out, turning each one over, examining it from different angles.

The Blazing Arsenal Fireball wouldn't work on the large Indigo. They'd tried that already—the flames washed across its flesh, and it beat them out like they were nothing more than annoying bugs. Maybe if the fire could stick longer, penetrate deeper. But the Indigo didn't exactly give them time for extended experiments.

So what else?

Jodie had suggested clipping its wings. Simple enough in theory—strike them with a sword, ground the beast. After all, those wings didn't look that sturdy. Actually, the fact that they carried something that massive defied logic entirely. But Hector had pointed out the obvious problems. One: they'd have to get close. Two: grounding it didn't kill it, just prevented flight. Probably.

Then there was Lincoln's idea.

Laughable, honestly, but at least it was something. Use the [Runic Apprentice] Talent to establish several rune circles, then blast the creature with fog. Once disoriented, they could hack away at it until... what? It dropped dead from a thousand cuts?

Two glaring problems. One: How would they see inside the fog? Lincoln had conveniently ignored that detail. Two: hacking away meant nothing if they couldn't actually damage the thing.

"Well, I don't know what to tell you, Hector." Lincoln rested his elbow on one end of his spear, tapping the other end with a stone, rhythmic and irritating. "We can either do that or hope the thing gets bored and moves away."

"And how long do you think that'll take?" Hector gave him a sidelong look.

"I don't know." He continued to tap the stone against the spear. "It didn't exactly look like something that has to hunt often. Day or two, maybe?"

Jodie scoffed, her blue eyes going wide. "You want us to sit in here for two days?" Her hands splayed out dramatically. "And do what? Pick each other's nails? Discuss how life could've been different if we weren't trapped in this lovely cave?" Her voice bounced around their prison, echoing back at them. "Because that sounds delightful."

The cave wasn't exactly small, sure. But there was nothing to do, nowhere comfortable to sleep. The food they'd brought might last a day, two at most. And the only place they could use their bracelets to resupply in the entire Trial Realm was the sanctuary. Outside that, their bracelets were glorified maps with built-in clocks.

Hector glanced at the metal band on his wrist, at the single bead resting against his skin.

"We can't do that, Lincoln. We're not staying in here for two days." He dragged his hand across his forehead and through his hair, damp with sweat. "That leaves us with only one option."

His eyes flickered to Jodie. She caught his meaning immediately.

"You want to face it head-on?" Her eyebrows rose. "Hector, you did no damage to it last time with your sword."

"That was because I didn't get a proper feel for it." He leaned forward. "I think if we attack different parts of the body, we might find softer spots. Even with the smaller Indigos, their legs were surprisingly durable when we fought them. Probably something they've adapted over time. But strike the abdomen? The face? Those areas might be softer, more vulnerable. Our weapons might actually penetrate."

"All right." Jodie nodded slowly. "Better than rotting in here."

Lincoln blinked between them. "So you're saying—"

"Going out there and risking our lives beats sitting here waiting to starve?" Jodie finished for him. "Yes. That's exactly what we're saying. Because once that firewall runs out? We'll be swamped by the smaller Indigos. Tired, hungry, weak. Easy pickings."

Lincoln fell silent.

His eyes found Hector, searching for... what?

Reassurance? A better plan? Hector just shrugged. Jodie had laid it out plain as day. Lincoln's idea was just a slower death.

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