She tinued looking forward as she spoke, “Mars.”

  “Ma-Mars!”

  When Oliver asked, he thought it was some distant p, only accessible through teleportation. He never imagi would be the most poputed p closest to Earth.

  “Wow!” the boy whistled softly, thinking about the red p. Although there were already pns to ize Mars before the first wave, it was just sce fi at the time. He had seen that some ps had small ies, but knowing that entire families and cities existed was on another level.

  “One day, I hope to visit Mars,” Oliver said, letting his inner child speak a little.

  “Sure. When you visit, just call me, and I'll give you a tour,” the girl responded cheerfully. It wasn’t every day that someone was excited about her p. Of course, Mars was an industrial powerhouse, but it wasn’t viewed with the same gmour as Earth or Luna. Katheri a twinge of pride for her family after seeing the excitement in the boy’s eyes.

  The sileween them no longer lingered. Possibly, having gohrough a near-death experience made people more open to each other, f bonds that would in different circumstances. As they tinued chatting about more muters than the Grand Houses, they finally reached the top of the hill.

  In the distahey saw what might be their way bae. The river split into two, with a piece of weereams.

  “Maybe we cross there?” the girl asked, not really expeg an answer.

  She approached one of the river’s branches, and wheepped into the water, she noticed the current wasn’t strong enough to sweep her away. Besides, the stream wasn’t as deep as it was at the bottom of the hill; it still reached above her knee, so each step had to be taken carefully.

  The two spent a few minutes crossing from one bank to the other. When they finally reached the piece of nd surrounded by rivers, they could see the sed part and the shore they o get to.

  Katherine smiled, excited to finally see their goal ahead. She g Oliver, who didn’t seem as enthusiastic as she was.

  There was a small detail Katherine hadn’t noticed, but Oliver, with his sharp eyes, had. Along the strip of nd were dozens of skeletons, likely of Crabits. If the army hadn’t caused this destru, then some monster had.

  He began signaling with one hand for the girl to e closer. Still unsure of what was happening, she took two steps to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the boy, and for the first time, she noticed he was a bit shorter than her.

  Oliver poio his own eyes and theured ahead, indig the Crabit carcasses in the distance. Finally, Katheri it.

  “Do you see something? A creature?” Katherine whispered, c her mouth with one hand.

  “Besides the carcasses, no. But there must be some monster around.” Oliver replied.

  Both crouched down and tinued moving toward the sed river split. But it didn’t take long to find the owner of those remains. Iher stream, a massive creature was drinking water. The beast resembled a lizard but with some differences. It was the size of a car, with eight legs on each side, and its back was covered in spikes. The creature was so massive that each step it took shook the ground.

  Katherine grabbed the boy’s shoulder and pulled him back.

  “It’s a Basilisk. They be either Pawns or Knights.” Katherine expined.

  Oliver nodded.

  [Observation] Oliver cast his boon, but no information appeared.

  [Observation] The boy cast again, but still nothing.

  ‘There’s only one reason.’ He thought.

  “The creature must be a Knight level; my boon didn’t work on him,” Oliver whispered close to the girl.

  She didn’t o ask further to uand. Many boons had the weakness of only w on oppos of the same level.

  “From the book I studied, they are very territorial. We won’t be able to advahout fronting it. It doesn’t have good smell or hearing, but it has sharp vision,” Katherine began, pointing out the creature's characteristics.

  “It’s strong, at least for our level. We especially o avoid the paralyzing venom in its bite. Besides the spikes on its back, its tail be used for long-distaacks. Its oints are its belly and is mouth, but they’re hard to reach.” Katherine tio expin.

  “How’s the skin? gunfire damage it?” Oliver’s main was being useless, as his boon wouldn’t work. He needed another option.

  “I ’t say for sure; I don’t remember. But it doesn’t seem impossible to damage.” For the first time, Katherine was so close to Oliver that he finally noticed she had gray eyes and that, beh the dirt from the past few days, she had a few freckles on her face.

  "The best way to start the fight would be to unch a surprise attack, at least while he hasn't noticed us in his territory," Oliver ented.

  “Yeah. Does your boon only depend on the oppo’s level?” Katherine decided to be direct. They o speed up the pnning if they wao take advantage of the Basilisk, which was still being focused on drinking.

  “Yes, it lets me analyze oppos’ movement patterns. But only for those at the same or lower level than mine.” Oliver expined while Katherine nodded. It wouldn’t be helpful now, but it was an iing bat boon.

  Oliver preferred to keep his Insight ability to himself. He had developed a bond and level of trust with her, but even he didn’t fully uand how this boon worked. It was better not to risk it.

  “I think you’ve seen mine already. It es part of my blood to create crystals. They spread over any surface I touch. But the stronger or further away the target is, the more blood it requires.” Katherine expined.

  ‘That’s why she avoids using it so much.’ Oliver finally uood how it worked, though he didn’t expect it to involve using blood.

  “We don’t o defeat it; we just o cross the river. Here’s the pn: I’ll distract it while you shoot at its legs. If we disable them, we get across.” Katherine expined.

  Oliver nodded. He wasn’t fident they could take down the massive monster. However, if he could hit its legs, it would be enough for both of them to escape safely.

  Both activated their armor and, ons in hand, began to approach the creature. Once again, Oliver noticed that Katherine’s armor seemed slightly different, lighter, and less plex.

  ‘I’ll have to remember to ask her about it.’ Oliver made a mental note.

  “SLUP! SLUP! SLUP!” They could hear the Basilisk still drinking water at the river’s edge.

  Oliver gripped his pistol with both hands, fog on shooting quickly but ensuring every shot ted. Oher side of the creature, Katherine crouched, sword in hand, ready to strike.

  “ SLUP! HUMPH!”

  The Basilisk quickly raised its head and looked around, log eyes with Oliver. There was no way he hadn’t been seen.

  “ROAR!”

  The monster let out a thunderous roar before starting to charge at the boy.

  Realizing their pn hadn’t worked, Katherine rushed toward the creature’s rear. Now that she was so close, they could fully grasp the monster’s size. Even standing on its 16 legs, it still reached Oliver’s abdomen.

  The girl jumped, thrusting her arm to stab one of the back legs. As her rapier struck, a trail of green blood gushed out. The mourned, spotting its sed target.

  Oliver didn’t wait for the creature to recover. With his pistol aimed, he began shooting at the Basilisk’s front legs.

  “PHEW! THUMP!”

  “PHEW! THUMP!”

  “PHEW! THUMP!”

  Each shot hit one of its legs, but the Basilisk’s skin seemed far more resistant than a Crabit’s. Even after three shots, there was no visible damage to the monster.

  ‘I’ll have to increase the energy input, even if it reduces my number of shots.’ Oliver thought.

  The Basilisk found itself surrounded by oppos on both sides. It could either charge at the boy, shooting at its legs, or the girl still stabbing its bad rear legs. The monster wasn’t intelligent, but that didn’t mean it cked instincts.

  Betweewo, the girl was the one currently causing more trouble. Without hesitation, the Basilisk decided to focus on her. Without moving, it raised its long tail, which had been still until now, and in a whip-like motion, shed out at Katherine.

  She was fident she could dodge, especially sihe tail wasn’t long. But before she could move, the tail zigzagged, appearing right where she was trying to escape. The Basilisk mao hit her in the ribs, throwing her against the ground.

  “Katherine!”

  GCLopes