The group decided to continue east along the jagged mountain range, eyes scanning the ridges and valleys for any sign of movement. Tarni had been the first to say it aloud, but they all knew the truth—he just needed a few more XP to push him to the next level. And with the last of their twenty-four hours ticking away, every encounter mattered.

They trudged along the faint goat track for nearly an hour, boots crunching on loose stone, nerves stretched thinner with every passing minute of silence.

"Bloody hell," Tarni muttered, smacking the flat of his sword against his thigh. "A world full of monsters, and somehow we find the one empty stretch of wilderness. Typical."

Kai gave a half-hearted laugh. "Maybe they heard us coming and decided they didn't want to be XP fodder."

"Or maybe," Zane added, scanning the horizon with narrowed eyes, "the baby wyvern's mother is around."

That thought didn't sit well with anyone.

The air was sharp and thin this high up, each breath feeling like it didn't quite fill their lungs. The pine trees stood still and silent, like a forest holding its breath. Even the usual bird calls had faded away, and the silence pressed heavier with each step.

Bell finally stopped walking, planting the butt of her spear gun into the dirt. "This is ridiculous. We're wasting time. We need action, not a bushwalk."

Lily kicked at a stone, sending it skittering down the slope. "Yeah, but action requires enemies, and I'm not seeing any."

The frustration was thick enough to cut with a knife. Every shadow between the trees felt like a tease, every rustle of wind a false alarm. The longer they went without finding anything, the more the anxiety clawed at their patience.

Tarni finally threw his hands up. "Fine. If I don't get XP soon, I'll just punch the next rabbit we see and hope the System counts it."

That broke the tension with a laugh, though even Zane's grin was tight and strained. They all knew the situation wasn't a joke.

Still, Bell shook her head and managed a small smirk. "Well, if it comes to that, Tarn, I'll cook the rabbit after you kill it. At least then it won't be a total waste of time."

They started walking again, slower this time, everyone hyperaware. The quiet dragged on, and every step without a fight felt like sand slipping through an hourglass they couldn't afford to lose.

Something had to give soon.

And if the silence of the mountain was any hint… it wasn't about to.

They pushed through the trees for another hour and a half, boots sucking at black mud, Zane's light a jittering halo in the night. The forest felt hollowed out: no birdsong, only the wet rasp of breath and the steady swish of branches slapping armour and leather. Every few minutes, someone would stop, crouch, and peer at the ground. Nothing. No tracks, no eyeshine. No convenient pack of low-level pests offering themselves up for Tarni to farm.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Heather reminded them she could always wake the guild's assistant manager—the poor sod had promised to keep the comm crystal by his bed—so he could whip up a quest the moment they pinned down what they were dealing with. Monsters didn't hand out XP unless they were tied to an active quest, a little rule to keep every glory-hound and their dog from strip-mining the forest.

She finally called a halt beneath a crooked ironbark, checking the edge on her knife for the third time in ten minutes. "We're burning energy and not getting a return," she said, matter-of-fact. "If your goal is quick kills, this isn't the hour for it. Things that come out now either run fast, or have already been eaten."

"Yeah?" Tarni said, scrubbing mud off his palms onto his trousers. "Then maybe the math says you lot take the exit, and I keep grinding."

Silence pressed in. Zane's light bobbed once in his hand.

Bell's head snapped around. "No."

"Bell—"

"No," she repeated, voice low and flint-edged. "We don't split."

Tarni gave a crooked smile that didn't reach his eyes. "You read the prompt. Four of five can go. I don't need a babysitter to swat frogs or rats. I'll find something. Eventually."

Kai stepped between them, bat resting over his shoulder. "Mate, you nearly bled out not too long ago — and I was there to heal you."

"That was before I got… y'know." Tarni waggled his fingers, as if the system were a stain he couldn't wash off. "I'm tougher now. Faster. I've got that potion thing."

"Some messed-up health potion you brewed with unknown side effects is not a lifeline," Lily muttered, arms crossed. "And if you think we're going to leave you to die in a ditch over a progress bar, you're actually dumber than your 2 in Wisdom suggested."

Heather watched the circle tighten, measuring them like she measured wind over fletching. The big man with the frost shield hadn't spoken much yet, but he stood slightly forward of Tarni without seeming to — a wall that could move. The archer, Bell, kept scanning their perimeter even while arguing, eyes never still. The siblings exchanged glances like hand signals. A unit, whether they meant to be or not.

Tarni blew out a breath. "Listen to yourselves. You've all family. You can end your part of this and sleep in your own beds. I can't be the anchor keeping you here."

"You're not an anchor," Zane said, calm at first. "You're our mate."

"And if I say it's my choice?" Tarni's voice rose. "If I say I want you to go?"

Zane's calm cracked. "Then I say your choice is shit."

Bell stepped closer to Tarni. "We didn't come this far to blink when it gets hard. We fight together, or we sit together till dawn and find out what happens when we fail. Those are the only options on the table."

Tarni's jaw flexed. "You can't make that call for everyone."

"Yes," Bell said. "Yes I can."

Tarni barked a laugh that turned bitter too quickly. "Because you're the boss now?"

"Because I'm the one who's been counting our arrows, our stamina, our healing, our time." Bell's voice softened. "Because I can see what this is doing to you. You just offered to walk into the dark to make our lives easier. That's not bravery. That's despair wearing a hero mask."

The air of the mountainside held still. Even the leaves seemed to listen.

Tarni's reply came quieter than usual, but steadier. "I promised I would do the right thing for you all, a long time ago."

Zane answered in an even voice. "And at that time, I said you were family. And you didn't have to put us first."

Tarni looked away, throat working. In the light from Zane's spell, the lines around his eyes deepened. "I don't want to be the reason you miss your chance."

Heather cleared her throat, slicing through the tension. "You're not hearing each other. You—" she nodded at Tarni, "want them safe. They—" a tilt toward the rest, "won't be safe anywhere if they go home knowing they abandoned you. People break in quieter ways than claws and teeth."

Lily let out a breath she'd been holding. Looking at Heather, "Thank you."

Tarni rubbed his face with both hands, then dropped them, surrender creeping in around the edges. "So what? We just wander until morning, hoping a pack of ankle-biter gnashers trips over us?"

There were quiet nods of confirmation as Tarni looked at each of them in turn. His posture shifted, aggression draining into weary acceptance. For the first time all night, he remembered they had his back, no matter what.

That's when the world stuttered.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.