Reiboku walked forward with determination, straight into that funeral-like atmosphere. Each step brought him closer to Yūshin.

  The closer he got, the more the stench burned his nostrils.

  The ground was littered with beast corpses, a true charnel field stretching for meters. Some carcasses were still twisted in their final spasms, others had their heads blown apart. All of them had been taken down with a single shot, straight through the skull. Clean execution. Cold. Without hesitation.

  Farther ahead, other creatures lay mutilated, torn apart as if a ferocious beast had crushed their bones between its jaws. Some were slashed, others smashed. There were dozens of them.

  A faint, almost imperceptible smile formed on Reiboku’s lips. His shoulders relaxed.

  Yūshin was alive.

  His still-damp clothes clung to his skin.

  Reiboku kept moving. A few beasts tried to block his path, but he no longer fought the way he used to. His body had gained agility. Precision. His former fear had turned into a cutting calm.

  From now on, he no longer attacked groups. He struck fast, cleanly, and only at isolated targets.

  Like a patient predator.

  Reiboku followed the corpses for hours, advancing step by step along the path Yūshin had carved through the flesh of monsters. Every fallen body, every splash of blood, every shattered carcass formed a macabre trail… a trace, or a silent message.

  Will I really see him again?

  The question spun in his mind without letting go. It grew with every step. And with it… something else. A burning energy. Fatigue vanished, swept away by a surge of pure adrenaline.

  Reiboku started running. Straight toward the unknown. Straight toward danger. Straight toward Yūshin.

  Then he stopped abruptly.

  A cold sensation ran down his spine, like an invisible blade pressed against his neck. A presence. Lurking. Silent. Hostile. As if a creature had been following him for a long time.

  No sound.

  Not a breath of wind.

  And yet his whole body screamed that something was wrong. That he had just crossed an invisible boundary… the territory of a true predator.

  The air grew heavier. Darker. Even the light seemed to retreat.

  The world around him held its breath.

  I need to find shelter. Fast. If night falls here… I’ll end up in someone’s stomach.

  Reiboku finally spotted a rocky recess and slipped inside for the night.

  A shelter… deep enough to hide him, but too exposed to reassure him.

  He sat down, back against the wall, on a cold slab.

  Impossible to sleep.

  Every minute felt like an invisible ambush.

  A presence lingered. He was certain of it. It hadn’t left him.

  It was watching.

  Waiting.

  The hours passed, endless and suffocating.

  When the gray dawn finally broke, his eyes burned with exhaustion.

  He hadn’t slept a single second.

  Reiboku suddenly drew in a sharp breath.

  Nausea rose in his throat.

  It was the smell.

  The air now reeked of rotting flesh. A thick, nauseating stench, far too close to ignore. And yet he hadn’t sensed anything the day before.

  Something had died. Very close. And recently.

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  Damn… what’s big enough to stink from this far?

  Reiboku followed the odor reluctantly.

  The farther he went, the tighter his insides clenched.

  The air grew sticky, saturated with blood and decay.

  Then, rounding a rock, he saw it.

  A head.

  Massive.

  Cleanly severed.

  It belonged to a creature he had never seen before. Its size was monstrous: the circumference of its neck made a tree trunk look like a branch.

  The rest of the body lay a little farther away, gutted, its entrails spread across the ground.

  Vultures were already at work, plunging their beaks into the still-warm flesh, tearing off strips with a sickening clatter.

  Reiboku held his breath.

  Getting closer would be a mistake.

  But staying here would be another.

  As he watched the scene, a movement caught his attention.

  A human silhouette.

  Distant.

  Fleeting.

  His heart leapt.

  But his gaze froze on something else.

  A gigantic shadow had just emerged behind the rocks.

  A heavy breath swept the dust aside.

  Then the creature stepped fully out of the darkness.

  A monster.

  Huge.

  Covered in thick black fur, bristling as if it contained pure rage.

  Living muscles rolled beneath its dark skin.

  Each step made the ground tremble.

  Its yellow eyes…

  Two sparks of savagery.

  A gaze that decided who lived and who died.

  Its jaw opened slowly, revealing two rows of long, perfectly aligned teeth.

  Sharpened like daggers.

  Still dripping with blood.

  Then it roared.

  A roar that tore through the air like an explosion.

  Primal. Brutal.

  A cutting sound.

  Reiboku took a step back despite himself.

  If it attacks… I’m done.

  He clenched his teeth. His heart pounded in his chest.

  He stood ready to die.

  But suddenly…

  A light tap on his back.

  Reflex. He turned to strike.

  But his arm stopped dead.

  It was him.

  Yūshin.

  His face was hollowed by fatigue, marked… but his eyes still shone.

  And in Reiboku’s, tears welled up all at once, uncontrollable. They rolled slowly down his cheeks.

  Yūshin was crying too. In silence.

  “I thought you were dead,” Yūshin said.

  “I tried to die. Didn’t work.”

  He inhaled.

  “I’m here.”

  The tension released… then his eyes returned to the creature.

  The monster didn’t move. It simply watched them.

  Reiboku cast a sideways glance, then shifted his stance.

  Yūshin, meanwhile, remained impassive. Almost serene.

  He gave him a small smile and said simply,

  “Lower your guard. He won’t harm you.”

  At that moment, the beast suddenly leapt — but it wasn’t an attack. It landed gently beside Yūshin, like a long-trained predator.

  A colossal lion.

  It stood over two meters at the shoulder. Its dark brown mane, slightly golden at the tips, moved with the wind. Its bright yellow eyes, sharp as blades, fixed Reiboku with an unsettling wisdom.

  It opened its jaws wide, revealing a row of teeth sharp as razors.

  Reiboku froze for a moment.

  “You’ve… evolved well,” he murmured. “With him, you’ll be able to survive in this world.”

  “You’re the one who did all this carnage. I followed the trail of blood to you.”

  Yūshin exhaled, almost embarrassed.

  “You saw right. I’ve got myself a bodyguard now.”

  The memory came rushing back.

  Yūshin’s gaze drifted into the distance as the images of that night resurfaced…

  When a new kind of monster had attacked him.

  Something that resembled a Cocatrix.

  He had been paralyzed, certain he was about to be devoured.

  Until he lowered his eyes…

  And saw his left wrist.

  At that moment… the summon struck.

  A crack.

  A hoarse breath. Almost wet.

  Then… a step. Heavy. Crushing.

  It emerged from the shadows like a living nightmare.

  A reptilian body, covered in black scales and dull feathers.

  A long neck. A bony crest. Yellow eyes… unblinking.

  A Cocatrix. Or what was left of it.

  “Activate it!!” Yūshin shouted.

  In a deafening crash.

  He didn’t have time to scream. No time to understand.

  Just…

  A pain straight through his chest.

  Eyes closed.

  He waited for the bite.

  The end.

  An impact.

  A shadow.

  Then a roar.

  A scream.

  The sound of a struggle.

  Stone breaking.

  And then… nothing.

  He didn’t understand what he was feeling.

  But it wasn’t fear.

  Yūshin lowered his gaze to his wrist.

  A word shone there, carved into his flesh like a revelation.

  [King of the Astral].

  His skill.

  He had survived.

  But not progressed.

  Nothing.

  No level gained.

  The fight hadn’t been enough.

  Back in the present, Yūshin answered with a simple nod, a faint, almost apologetic smile on his face.

  But suddenly… the atmosphere shifted.

  The silence grew heavier. The wind picked up.

  Yūshin’s gaze slid to his stump, the arm he no longer had.

  I abandoned it.

  He lowered his head. His lips barely trembled.

  He thought it was his fault. That his injury was a burden he would carry forever.

  Reiboku stepped forward.

  “You didn’t abandon anything.

  You kept me alive,” he said calmly. “Without you… I’d already be dead.”

  “I owe you my life. Twice.”

  Yūshin slowly raised his eyes. A spark passed through them — something between relief and silent gratitude.

  He doesn’t know.

  Reiboku placed a hand on his shoulder.

  “We don’t have time to dwell on it,” he said in a steady voice.

  “More trials are waiting. We head north.”

  Yūshin frowned.

  “Why north?”

  Reiboku shrugged.

  “To the south, there’s nothing but ruins.

  To the north… I feel something else.”

  Yūshin gave a tired smile.

  “Fine. Then we move. And we find survivors.”

  Without another word, they resumed their march.

  The giant lion walked beside them, a silent guardian.

  The wind had risen. The air once again carried the scent of dust and dried blood.

  But for the first time in a long while…

  They were no longer alone.