"All right, everyone!" Bree’s voice echoed through the air. "Keep your heads together. There’ll be time for grieving later. Right now, we need to focus on staying alive. Formation Delta. I need everyone ready to react at a moment’s notice."

  There was a brief hesitation, but the group quickly fell into the formation they’d discussed earlier.

  Nathan took his position next to Chad, forming a protective circle around Bree and a few others as they examined the body.

  "Did anyone get a chance to scan whatever took the girl out?" Nathan asked.

  "I didn’t."

  "It was too fast—we didn’t even see it coming."

  "I tried, but I missed."

  Nathan clicked his tongue. So, they’d be going in blind against this thing’s capabilities. Fantastic.

  "Did any of you at least catch what it looked like? Were there any signs before it attacked?" Nathan said.

  Absolute silence.

  Nathan’s left eye twitched. If he’d known they’d be this useless, he would’ve gone alone.

  "I saw."

  It was the old man.

  "It’s perfectly suited for this environment,” he said. “White, like snow. Every part of it is like that—except for the eyes. The eyes were yellow, but they’re hard to spot…"

  And more importantly, it had taken someone out in one go, in seconds. The girl hadn’t even had a chance to fight back.

  Nathan had a high Constitution, but even he didn’t like his odds against something like that.

  "It’s this mist,” Chad said. "We need to get rid of it.”

  Wait, mist?

  Mist was just water vapor. Nathan… was pretty good with water, last time he checked.

  Nathan held his hand out and began drawing water from the atmosphere, as he’d done a hundred times before. The water streamed in from the mist, coalescing into a spinning disc the size of a baseball bat. The disc grew larger, more spherical, as he added more water.

  Even so, it didn’t seem to make a dent. By the time the water sphere was the size of his entire body, he decided it probably wasn’t working.

  "No dice," Nathan said. "It just keeps regenerating or something."

  Chad clicked his tongue. "Worth a shot."

  Nathan’s eyes narrowed to pinpricks, and his head snapped to the side.

  "Nathan?" Chad said.

  "There’s something over there."

  He waited, slowing his breath to a crawl, every ounce of focus locked onto that single moment, that single slice of time.

  It struck faster than anything he’d ever seen. If he hadn’t been prepared, it would’ve taken his head off in an instant. All he saw was a flash of ivory teeth, each one as sharp as a saber. He ducked, pulled out his harpoon, and slashed.

  But he hit nothing. In an instant, it was as if nothing had happened at all.

  "Please don’t tell me I’m delusional and that something didn’t just try to take my head off," Nathan said.

  "I saw it. You’re not crazy yet, buddy," Chad muttered.

  Nathan stood back up, returning to his guard position.

  He glanced left and right, about to ask his allies about the encounter…

  But they were gone.

  Nathan’s heart sank.

  "Chad?" he called.

  No response.

  Nathan’s harpoon dipped slightly. "Chad!?"

  But there was no one. He was alone.

  Nathan stepped softly through the grass, his boots crunching against the decayed remnants of long-dead plants. His heart pounded in his chest, leaping at every whisper of the wind and every distant echo that reached the edges of his awareness. Given how heightened his senses were, there was no shortage of things to startle him.

  But gradually, the anxiety began to fade, replaced by a cooler, more deliberate voice in his mind.

  Can’t let myself panic. That’s what this thing feeds on—misdirection and fear. If I stay calm, I can react in time. I’ve already seen that.

  He ignored the occasional traces of bloodlust in the tone of his inner voice. That was just how the internal voice sounded—sharp, clinical, and unflinching. It didn’t mean he had to lose his grip.

  Nathan relaxed his shoulders, though his hands remained tightly clenched around his harpoon. It was, when he thought about it, the perfect weapon for a monster hunter. The largest creatures were too massive to sever or slice; any cuts would be superficial at best. No, the only way to deal real damage was to pierce something vital—a heart, a brain. Those were the targets that mattered when hunting giants.

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  A loud crack snapped him back to the present.

  He was being followed.

  Lure it in.

  Nathan kept moving forward, acutely aware of the presence trailing him. He would only have a split second to react.

  Thank God for my high dexterity.

  His boots continued to crunch against the dead leaves. The roots around him shifted ever so slightly. He waited. And waited.

  His left eye twitched. He hadn’t noticed it until now, but apparently, Hunter’s Instinct didn’t account for moisture in the air.

  If only this were the ocean…

  It was closer now. Just a few feet away.

  Nathan relaxed his shoulders further, working his way down his body, releasing tension from every muscle.

  The footsteps quickened. It was rushing him.

  He spun on a dime and thrust the harpoon forward. It struck hard skin and bounced off. His instincts screamed at him, and he dove to the left, narrowly avoiding…

  A pair of knuckle dusters?

  “Wait!” Nathan shouted.

  Choppy brown hair framed a pair of sharp yellow eyes. Bree stared at him, unflinching.

  “Bree,” Nathan said, lowering his weapon.

  “Nathaniel,” she replied, her voice steady.

  The two stared at each other, locked in place as if under some kind of spell. Neither moved, the tension thick between them. Finally, Nathan lowered his weapon and gave her a curt nod. She returned the gesture.

  "I've never actually seen you fight," Nathan said, his voice breaking the silence. "Knuckle dusters. They suit you."

  "The harpoon doesn't suit you. Why a harpoon?"

  "Because the alternative is way stupider."

  She raised an eyebrow at the statement but said nothing. Without another word, they continued to advance through the dense forest.

  “Tough skin,” Nathan said.”

  “Thanks. High constitution—fitting for an Earth cultivator.” She paused. “I’ve got to admit, I was hoping for an opportunity like this at some point."

  Nathan's grip on his harpoon loosened slightly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "I've watched your techniques. There's something off about them."

  Did she know? Nathan hoped not. If she did, he'd have to leave and find the other dungeons on his own.

  "You're a cultivator, aren't you?"

  Nathan almost sagged in relief.

  "I am.”

  A flicker of a grin laced her tone. "It's a rare thing, you know? I've only run across a handful of us, and usually, we don't have this kind of mastery over our abilities. It's harder than magic."

  Nathan shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I don't use magic."

  "True," she said. "So, who trained you?"

  Nathan's face scrunched in confusion. "Trained?"

  "Yeah, trained. There's no way you figured it out on your own."

  Nathan didn't respond, his eyes scanning the horizon for any potential attackers.

  "Are you seriously suggesting you managed to get a firm grasp on your cultivation abilities without the slightest hint of instruction?"

  “Well, this mage helped me out. Besides, I wouldn't call it a firm grasp. I still haven't figured out how to consistently use this new wind manipulation thing."

  "But what about the water?"

  "Let's move off this topic."

  "Oh, hell no. I want all the details. Now."

  Nathan shot her an irritated glare. "Is this really the time? We've got unknown monsters trying to eat our heads off. The rest of the team is scattered who-knows-where, and someone died. I don't think now's the time to talk shop."

  “…you're right. The time to discuss this is later."

  "Great."

  Suddenly, Bree stopped. "Wait. If it's water manipulation—and this is all mist—"

  "We tried that already. I kept drawing water out of the atmosphere, but nothing happened. It was like there was an infinite source of water."

  "You said you had access to wind, right? Maybe we don't need to suck all the water out. Maybe we can just move it around."

  "I also said the ability isn't working properly. I tried, but I'm having trouble."

  "Then let me help you."

  "How would you be able to help me?"

  "I'm a cultivator like you, but unlike you, I have training."

  "You're not gonna get me to use a new set of powers in a matter of minutes. That takes time. Time we don't have."

  "Look, do you have any better ideas? I could set up earth fortifications for us to hide out in, but I doubt they'd last long with these roots. At this point, your wind powers are the best shot we've got."

  Nathan raised his eyes toward the sky, though he couldn't see anything through the thick fog. Still, it was the principle of the matter.

  She was right, though. They didn't exactly have a plan.

  "Fine," he said. "Let's give it a shot."

  "I'm gonna take a guess and say you've never heard of ki."

  Nathan blinked. “Key? What the hell's that?"

  "It's the thing you've been manipulating. Life energy, ki, whatever you want to call it. The point is, it's inside of you, and it's what you use to fuel your cultivation abilities."

  "That's not what Emi told me. She said it was magic."

  "A mage?"

  "Yeah."

  Bree rolled her eyes. "She's got a mage's perspective on things. Not only that, but there's centuries of tradition and culture telling her what to think about cultivators. She doesn't actually know anything of importance."

  "And you do? How'd you learn all this anyway?"

  Bree's expression tightened for a moment before she let out a slow breath. "Back on Earth, I was really into meditation. Spent years practicing, even competed professionally in mindfulness tournaments—“

  That’s a thing?!

  “—When I landed in the tutorial circle, I got lucky—ran into this elf cultivator who saw something in me. Maybe it was my meditation background, I don't know. But he taught me the basics, gave me this old book on cultivation arts..."

  "What happened to him?”

  A shadow crossed her face. "We got separated during a monster wave. But hey, maybe we'll cross paths again someday. It's a big world, stranger things have happened." She shook her head. "Anyway, enough about me. Stop being curious and listen."

  Nathan's lips twitched.

  Bree shut her eyes. "Feel that energy at the core of your being?"

  "Of course I do. I can't get it to stop."

  Bree's teeth grinded together.

  "God damn prodigies," she muttered under her breath. Raising her voice, she said, "Good. I want you to grab it and push it out to your fingers."

  Nathan did so, and his fingers began to glow with a faint blue sheen. "Got it."

  "Already!?" She shook her head. "Okay, now concentrate on the idea of wind. What is wind?"

  "Well, I think it's what happens when there's a temperature difference between the upper and lower parts of the atmosphere—"

  "Not the scientific definition. I know you know this. You wouldn't have gotten as far as you have without figuring that out."

  Nathan couldn't help his lips from drawing upward again.

  When Bree saw this, she glared at him. "Weren't you the one complaining about how we don't have much time?"

  Nathan sighed.

  "Okay, okay. I'll quit it."

  It was funny, he'd been doing it unconsciously before. It was almost instinctual. Even the process of learning how to manipulate water and unlock his various abilities… He'd internalized it so fast that he never had time to examine what was actually happening.

  He thought about what wind was like. He remembered the early mornings back when he still lived with his parents, stepping out onto the balcony and feeling the cool breeze caress his face.

  Of course, that wasn't all there was to wind. Wind could also be fierce. He remembered watching thunderstorms outside his window, the rain beating against the glass like a wrecking ball.

  Something sparked at the edge of his consciousness. A soft breeze caressed his cheeks.

  His eyes snapped open. Instantly, the strongest gust of air Nathan had ever felt slammed into him from behind, nearly knocking him over. The mist surged forward through the trees, dissipating and vanishing before his very eyes.

  And revealing the fact that they'd been surrounded by about ten figures hiding in the trees.

  Nathan winced. "Well, that's not good."