The girl stumbled through the clearing, breathing hard. Behind her, five Hellborne Ravagers crashed through the trees, each one easily twenty times her mass.

Their bodies were thick with muscle and bone armor, claws blackened and dripping with that same tar-like ichor. Their guttural cries cut through the forest as they sprinted after her, leaving broken trunks and churned soil in their wake.

The girl's eyes widened the moment she spotted Kaiden's group. "Pale Ones?! Here?!"

But instead of abiding by the rules of her tribe, which said contact with outsiders was forbidden, survival overwhelmed the girl's decision-making. She shouted, "Please! Help me!"

Instead of veering away from the battle-ready team, she ran straight toward them with desperation outweighing fear of unknown men and women with white-colored skin.

Kaiden caught the trace of an accent in her voice, yet her English was good - too good for someone who looked like she'd never stepped foot in a city. The question of how that came to be flickered through his mind, but he pushed it aside. There were more pressing matters.

When she reached him, he stepped forward and caught her by the shoulder, steadying her before gently shoving her behind him. His eyes were fixed on the line of charging demons.

"Nyx," he said evenly. "Alert the others."

There was no panic in his voice. One might wonder how it happened when they sent higher-level teams ahead to clear the worst of the monsters, while they, the lower-level teams, followed in their tracks.

But despite their experience and higher levels, they were not omniscient monster hunters. It was more than plausible for hordes of monsters to slip through.

"On it," she replied without missing a beat. Her hand reached into her pouch, pulling out a small artifact etched with runes. The artifact hummed when she spoke into it. "This is Team Sinners. Multiple hostiles, five confirmed Hellborne Ravagers, levels below fifty-five. We are asking for reinforcement."

A few seconds passed before Geralt's voice came through the static. "Noted. Hold your position. Backup's on the way."

Kaiden knew what that meant: they were on their own for at least several seconds. As such, they had to fight this battle on their own, at least for a bit.

He lifted his weapon again, the blood-forged greatsword forming from his gauntlet in a hiss of red fluid.

Around him, the others fell into formation. Luna twirled her stormblade and took point beside him. Aria floated up slightly, staff pulsing with gathered energy. Nyx's daggers shimmered in the air around her, each aimed at a vital spot. Bastet's palms glowed as she gathered searing heat into her hands.

Kaiden glanced back at them. "We knew this was what we signed up for when we came for a C-tier dungeon. This is an uphill battle, but we can do this. Same as before. Focus. Protect each other."

No one argued.

The ground trembled as the Ravagers closed in, snarling.

Kaiden raised his blade and pointed it forward.

Five high-level demons against seven awakened.

The odds were ugly.

But that had never stopped them before.

…

Naira stood behind the tall man, still catching her breath. His back filled her sight; it was broad, solid, and unmoving even as the ground shook with the monsters' approach.

His armor was streaked with blood, yet it looked more like it belonged to the land than to a city-born warrior. The way he held himself, steady and grounded, made the world around him feel smaller.

Naira clutched her necklace tight in her hands, expecting him to reach behind and grab onto her. That way, he could use her as bait. After tossing her toward the monsters, they would lunge to satisfy their endless desire to snuff out human lives, and while they tore her body apart and feasted on her flesh, he could land at least one easy shot before the skin-walkers refocused.

This was the method that man used, the sight Naira was used to.

Instead, this Pale One didn't move.

His stance didn't waver as the monsters approached; he didn't reach for her.

The others shifted around him, forming a circle that seemed practiced.

The pink-haired woman to his right pointed her fingers, and blades floated into the air like hawks. Another woman, pale and sharp-eyed, hovered slightly above ground as light gathered around her staff. To the left, the one with similar hair and skin color to Naira pressed her palms together until the air shimmered with heat.

"!!!" Suddenly, Naira's breath caught as she fought incredibly hard to prevent a strong yelp from escaping her lips.

For a heartbeat, she thought she was looking at one of her own, another survivor of her people. But then she noticed.

Ears. Not on the side of her head…

These were short, furred, and twitching atop her head.

If that wasn't enough, a long tail swayed behind her hips that were clearly ready for childbearing.

But it wasn't the time for such thinking!!

The girl stumbled back a step before falling on her butt, trembling from head to toe with her eyes wide.

This was clearly a monster! Human-shaped, yes, but Naira was a smart girl; she realized that this being was no human at all! Every instinct screamed at her to run, to cry out before the creature turned on them all. But her throat closed tight.

The cat-eared woman didn't snarl or hiss. She only focused on the enemies ahead with her tail flicking once as the heat around her hands grew brighter.

Naira pressed a shaking hand to her mouth, forcing herself to stay quiet. She didn't understand what she was seeing; these strangers fought side by side with a beast from nightmares, yet none of them seemed afraid. Instead…

They were trusting their backs to her! To a monster who was visibly charging up a fire attack!

But when Naira's shock reached its peak, she somehow forced herself to move on.

That was when she noted that the felinid monster was not the only one capable of magic. She saw the humans could as well. She knew what these people were. The Marked, her tribe called them. Those chosen by the world itself, changed by it, gifted with strength that ordinary folk couldn't hope to match.

Her gaze returned to the man in front.

Something about the way he stood reminded her of someone else, someone she had no wish to remember. The man who ruled her tribe's lands had the same weight in his presence, that quiet kind of dominance that drew eyes whether one wished to look or not. But where that tyrant's gaze had always promised pain, this man's voice carried something else when he spoke.

Assurance.

Even the women who stood beside him watched him the way people looked at a mountain they trusted not to fall. The bond was unspoken but visible in every movement: they didn't follow him out of fear.

The girl's heartbeat slowed a little. She still didn't know what these outsiders wanted or why there was a monster among them, or even if they would spare her once the fight was done. But as the tall man lifted his sword and the others moved with him, she knew one thing for certain.

He was nothing like that man.

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