Astel wanted to get as far away from the small cave as possible. Not wishing to test his luck, he looked toward the distant mountains and started walking.
He didn't even walk for two minutes before the ground beneath him began trembling.
'Oh no.'
In the blink of an eye, the sand under his feet started parting, twisting into a whirlpool that quickly grew in size. He was being pulled beneath the hot desert, dragged deep into the earth.
He couldn't move—the pull of the sand locked his body in place. The desert didn't just want him gone—it wanted to bury him, drag him beneath its surface like it had probably done to thousands before him.
The further he sank, the darker it became until eventually, he was deep underground. Above him was a giant hole through which light still reached the bottom.
He was in a cave—no, not a cave. A ruin.
He immediately inspected his surroundings, though his eyes had not yet adjusted to the sudden shift in brightness. He noticed pillars—man-made. It looked like he was inside an ancient building carved from the local sandstone.
Then he felt it again.
That terrible pressure.
The voices, louder now.
He hadn't escaped after all.
But for some reason, it wasn't attacking. He didn't see it, but he felt its presence. Astel already knew it was strong… stronger than him. But now that he had more than a moment to analyze it, he realized he probably stood no chance.
'This… this beast is strong. Maybe not as strong as the Scavenger, but it has to be of the same category.'
He thought back to his encounter with the Scavenger, which he had assumed was a fourth-category beast.
He didn't let himself get lost in thought—adrenaline was pumping through his tired body once again, his heart thudding faster with each beat.
'I don't feel as much terror from this one as I did from the other. Perhaps it really is much weaker.'
Even though he felt that way, he wasn't delusional enough to think he could actually kill it. He had been lucky to escape before, but would he be so lucky this time?
He wasn't sure.
But there was one thing he was sure of—he wouldn't be safe for much longer, and he had nowhere left to run.
He had to fight.
The beast seemed to fear light, and Astel was standing in the only pillar of it that remained. Though his position could be considered somewhat lucky, in truth, it wasn't. The circle of light was shrinking. The hole in the ceiling was closing, becoming buried by sand once more.
Once the light disappeared, Astel would be completely blind. His eyes wouldn't have time to adjust, and he would probably die before even realizing what had happened.
He was growing anxious—these could be the last seconds of his life.
But he had already decided to survive.
That little spark of desire grew, igniting—becoming a small flame, and from that flame, a raging fire.
He would survive. He would return home.
It didn't matter whether he found other survivors. He had no time to play hero while his sister was still out there somewhere, alone and probably scared.
In preparation for complete darkness, he closed his eyes, letting them slowly adjust to the dimming light. When he felt the warm rays on his extended fingers begin to fade, he pulled his hands closer to his body, summoned his dagger, and tried to sense where the beast was.
He could almost hear it. He could feel the occasional breath escaping the maws of the hungry beast.
As soon as he felt its presence behind him, he dashed forward—away from it.
The moment he left the warm circle of light, he opened his eyes. They had mostly adjusted to the darkness. He turned, dagger raised, expecting the lunging figure of the reptilian monster.
But there was nothing.
The monster wouldn't attack from the front. He remembered that from their last encounter.
He ducked—just in time.
The sharp claws of the beast's frontal limbs nearly took off his head.
Astel quickly turned back around. He saw them again—two amber eyes glowing in the barely lit cave.
Terror gripped Astel's wildly beating heart. But this time, he was prepared.
He adjusted his stance and stabbed his dagger toward one of the terrifyingly beautiful amber eyes.
His hand wasn't even halfway there before he had to pull it back—the beast had already turned its first swipe into another, slashing in the opposite direction.
Astel brought his weapon to his side, trying to block the incoming attack. The beast's claws struck the chitinous dagger with immense force, nearly shattering it.
Astel could feel it—the dagger wouldn't last this fight.
He'd have to dodge future attacks or block them with his body if he wanted a chance to survive.
The force of the strike sent him flying into a nearby wall. He slammed into the rough sandstone, his bones straining under the impact. His arms were sore from blocking, and his back felt like it might break with the slightest wrong movement.
But there was no time to breathe—no time to think.
The beast was already upon him.
Astel relied on instinct. Pushing himself to the side, he tumbled across the ground, narrowly evading another slash. His tumble turned into a roll, and he immediately got back on his feet.
He realized that staying on the defensive would only lead to death. So he launched himself toward the reptilian monster to attack it.
The moment he pushed off the ground, he sensed the beast's presence behind him.
He knew it was fast… but this was absurd.
He couldn't change direction mid-air—he didn't have time to react.
Another attack came.
The sharp claws struck his body. But instead of piercing flesh, they launched him across the cave like a ragdoll—as if he had been hit by blunt force, not a razor-sharp limb.
The beast was playing with him.
Playing with its food.
Astel flew through the darkness, hitting the ground several times before finally skidding to a halt. Miraculously, nothing was broken.
This time, he was ready. He didn't expect the monster to attack from the front again.
And he was right.
It was behind him once more, claws already swiping.
He had been on the receiving end of this attack enough times to guess the timing. He sidestepped the downward slash, feeling the displaced air rush past where his head had been just moments earlier.
The beast's limb slammed into the ground.
Astel lunged—not with his weapon, but with both arms. His dagger was already dismissed.
He grabbed onto the scaled limb and began climbing.
The monster was far larger than him. If he could get to its head, he might be able to blind it.
The beast reacted almost instantly. It didn't appreciate its prey crawling onto its back. It started thrashing, jumping—trying to shake the intruder off.
But Astel didn't let go.
He was already riding the monster like a raging bull… not that he knew what that felt like.
Slowly, he made his way toward its head and summoned his dagger.
For the first time since it appeared, the monster felt fear. It sensed danger.
Then it did something inexplicable.
It suddenly appeared on the other side of the dark cave.
But Astel never felt it move.
Instead, he felt reality shift.
The beast hadn't moved—the darkness had.
Seeing that its maneuver didn't work, the creature panicked. It lunged headfirst into a nearby wall, hoping to crush Astel.
But Astel had let go—accidentally, when space distorted around him. He fell from its back just moments before the impact.
The beast slammed its head into the wall, shook it off, and turned around.
Its prey was gone.
It wasn't smashed into the wall.
It wasn't on its back.
It wasn't anywhere.
Astel was under the beast.
In those few precious seconds, he noticed the soft, unarmored underside.
Without hesitation, he thrust his dagger upward. Reinforcing it with both hands, he drove the blade into the beast's underbelly.
Blood spilled instantly—but he wasn't done.
He pushed harder, dragging the blade along the monster's underside.
There was a problem—neither he nor the blade was strong enough to carve a deep wound. It was already a miracle he had managed to pierce the flesh at all.
The beast trembled—then vanished.
It was gone.
But the pressure remained.
The voices still screamed, tearing into his mind, gnawing at his crumbling sanity.
Astel was consumed by instinct.
Oddly enough, survival wasn't the only thing on his mind.
It was murder.
He truly wanted to kill the intruder that had ruined his peaceful life in the desert.