The water rippled beneath the heavy chains as the slaves struggled to drag the colossal Dragon Corpse across the vast, shallow lake surface. Their feet splashed and stumbled through knee-deep water, so nearly losing balance as the sheer weight of the creature strained their backs and shoulders. The corpse itself was a grotesque wonder—majestic once, now lifeless and twisted. The dragon’s glimring scales reflected the eerie light from glowing abyssal lanterns, casting fragnted hues across the water’s surface.
"Careful! Each cell of a dragon is a precious material! Careful, careful!" roared a giant, his voice booming through the cavernous lake cavern.
Towering above everyone, the giant stomped toward the nearest slave. "You, idiot!" he snarled, delivering a brutal kick that sent the frail man flying backward, crashing into a floating wooden platform. The other slaves gasped and redoubled their efforts, terrified by the display.
"Move faster, or you’ll join the corpse pile!" the giant barked again, his eyes glinting with fury.
The atmosphere was suffocating—between the unnatural humidity and the oppressive presence of the dragon’s decaying body, even breathing felt like a chore. The shallow lake itself seed to groan under the weight of so much death and pressure, the water tinted dark from the oozing dragon blood.
From a narrow side passage, a figure appeared—a fox lady, her nine silver tails gliding across the water like silk. Her arrival was almost soundless, but the giant noticed her imdiately.
"Did you find anything?" he asked, turning to face her.
She shook her head, her expression cold. "No one. Nothing left. Perhaps it was just a lost traveler from the Abyss. Nothing more."
The giant grunted, unconcerned. "Hmph. Then it’s fine. Whoever it was... he got squashed under my foot like a bug."
He chuckled darkly, clearly pleased with himself.
The fox lady tilted her head slightly, watching the dragon’s body being hauled through the water. "Strange, though... I still feel traces of foreign energy lingering around."
"It’s gone now," the giant replied dismissively. "This corpse will fetch us more than enough resources. Forget the rest."
But just then, a gust of wind swept across the lake’s surface as a bird-like figure descended rapidly from above.
Water splashed and scattered as the feathered being landed gracefully. Clad in scaled leather and sharp-winged armor, the bird-man’s talons tapped lightly against the water as he bowed slightly.
"Master has issued an order," the bird-man said firmly. "He wants everyone to regroup imdiately."
The giant scowled but gave a nod of acknowledgnt.
The fox lady glanced at the bird-man with mild curiosity. "You again," she murmured.
If Tyler’s group had been present, they would have recognized the newcor instantly—Raptor, the sa formidable opponent they had faced not long ago. His sharp beak and amber eyes held the sa predatory gaze, though now there was a distinct tension in his posture.
"Why the sudden call?" the fox lady asked, eyes narrowing.
Raptor replied with two words, "Angel Hunt"
---
Elsewhere.
Tyler walked quietly through a strange forest, the eerie silence broken only by the occasional crunch beneath his boots. The trees around him stood tall, leafless and ghostly, their twisted branches reaching up like skeletal hands grasping for sothing unseen. Yet despite their bare branches, the ground beneath them was scattered with fresh, green leaves—vibrant and soft, as though they’d just fallen monts ago. A stark contrast to the lifeless trees.
He knelt for a mont, picking up one of the leaves and flipping it between his fingers. No veins, no wilting. It was as if the trees had shed their essence rather than their waste. Strange. This place didn’t follow the normal laws of nature—it carried a sense of forgotten magic, a lingering anomaly that piqued his curiosity.
A few hundred ters behind him, Mathilda and the rest of the group had ford a temporary camp. Ever the enthusiast, Mathilda was already imrsed in her work, surrounded by magical instrunts and analysis tools from her personal storage ring. What most would call a mobile high-end laboratory, she called her "basic field kit."
"Look at this, it’s emitting low-level mana radiation," she mumbled, scanning the green leaves with a mana-spectrum analyzer. "But the trees have no core... How is this happening?"
She scribbled furiously into a glowing notepad.
Even the four Grandmasters, veterans of nurous mystical realms, couldn’t hide their awe. Despite their years of experience, they had never seen soone casually pull out a full research lab in the middle of a forest.
"Just how much wealth do they have..." one of the Grandmasters muttered under his breath.
The other three nodded silently, exchanging glances. They had co along for a mission, but now they had sothing else in mind. After witnessing the convenience, power, and resources Tyler’s group wielded, they had already decided—once this mission was over, they would ask for permanent positions under him. Becoming hired experts for a powerful faction like this could give them access to things they never dared dream of.
anwhile, Tyler had already constructed a concealnt array across the area with Astrid’s help. This ti, unlike their previous rushed attempts, they had ti to refine it. The array was now near-perfect, laced with complex scripts and illusion layers interwoven with spiritual masking patterns.
Even if the fox lady returned, Tyler was confident—unless she had so high-grade tracking artifact, she wouldn’t find them.
He stepped toward the edge of a small cliff overlooking a slope that descended into a shimring ravine. There, near a strange curvature in space, a small spatial crack flickered, like a thin tear in the fabric of reality. It was hard to spot unless one paid close attention, and yet... Tyler’s eyes were drawn to it like a moth to fla.
"Lily..." he whispered.
He couldn’t explain why, but sothing in his soul pulsed whenever he looked at that crack. A deep instinct told him—she was on the other side. Just intuition. But he’d learned to trust that instinct. It had saved him too many tis to ignore.
Just then, he noticed movent near the passage that led toward the spatial crack.
Figures.
Tyler instinctively held his breath. He gestured subtly, and in monts, the others joined him silently, eyes scanning the path ahead.
From the shadows erged three figures. One was an eight-foot tall Giant, muscles bulging and aura oppressive even from a distance. The second was unmistakably the fox lady, her silver tails swaying gently as she walked gracefully over the terrain. But the third caught everyone’s attention.
"...Raptor," Tyler muttered under his breath.
The bird-man warrior, who had clashed with them before, looked visibly worn. There were still bandages and magical seals across his body—residual injuries from their last encounter. His wing moved stiffly, and the way he landed confird it—he hadn’t fully recovered.
Unlike them.
Tyler’s group was fully healed, thanks to his wealth of high-grade elixirs and recovery talismans. Not a single scratch remained from their previous fight.
"He is still injured..." Mathilda noted, watching carefully.
The three enemies stood near the spatial passage but didn’t enter it imdiately. Instead, they engaged in what seed like a quiet but tense conversation. Tyler couldn’t hear their voices from this distance, but their body language told a story.
After a few minutes, the Giant and the Fox Lady stepped through the passage, leaving only Raptor, who spread his wings and flew off in the opposite direction, disappearing toward the northeastern sector of the forest.
"Hmm..." Tyler narrowed his eyes. "They split up?"
"Looks like it," Astrid whispered, peering from behind a tree.
Tyler’s gaze didn’t leave the horizon as he analyzed the situation. "Probably to keep an eye on sothing... maybe that dragon treasure tmi felt earlier."
That thought sparked a realization. He turned toward the Grandmasters, who instantly straightened under his gaze.
"There’s a 70% chance Raptor is now alone," Tyler said calmly, tapping his chin. "Maybe he has so slaves or a couple guards, but his injuries and lack of backup give us an opportunity."
The Grandmasters shared uneasy looks.
"You’re thinking ambush?" one of them asked.
"Exactly." Tyler’s eyes glead with sharp calculation. "If we can capture or kill him, we can get whatever treasures he’s guarding—most likely the dragon heart, or other materials from that corpse."
"Still risky," another Grandmaster said. "That bird is dangerous even at half strength."
"But it’s also worth the risk," Tyler countered. "I’ll make it fair. I’ll give you 50% of the loot, or equal compensation in wealth if the treasure is sothing we can’t divide."
The Grandmasters looked at one another.
"Fifty percent... split between us?" one asked, voice hesitant but hopeful.
"Exactly," Tyler nodded. "A direct split. Or equivalent value. Your pick."
A beat of silence passed.
"Deal," all four said in unison.
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