The second Gale Scorpion lunged.
It hit the fleeing one with a crack of chitin on on the side, claws slamming into its body with power. Dust burst upward as the one the receiving end, tumbled across the ground, legs scraping against stone and the brittle forest floor.
It swung its tail desperately, stabbing and scraping, but the now cracked dent in its side slowed it. The attacker seized the opening — its claws clamped down hard on the other's head.
Crunch.
The skull‑plate collapsed with a sickening crack. The wounded scorpion spasmed once, then fell limp, legs curling inward.
Yue Lin moved the instant the victor began to reorient.
Her knife was already in the air, glinting silver‑gray as it spun.
Unlike Riven's needle attack back at the bandits, her knife didn't lose its qi before reaching its target.
Thnk—
It struck deep into the winner's thorax, right below the ridge of its back. The scorpion's body jerked violently, tail whipping upward as if trying to sting the air itself. It swayed once, twice—
Then toppled over onto its side and went still.
Silence reclaimed the clearing.
Only the faint ripple of disturbed dust and the eerie, unmoving pond reflected the aftermath.
Riven exhaled, stepping forward cautiously. The black water was undisturbed. There was no reflection. It didn't even ripple from the vibrations of their fight.
The scorpions twitched once more. Then finally stopped.
Yue Lin strode past him without hesitation, boots crunching softly over the gray soil. She planted her foot on the victor's back and yanked her knife free with a firm pull. Dark red blood oozed out from the wound.
"That was convenient."
Riven nodded, but his eyes stayed fixed on the pond.
The scorpion had been terrified of approaching it.
That alone made his skin prickle.
Something about it didn't seem right.
But Yue Lin seemed to have less inhibitions.
She crouched beside the corpse, already wiping her blade clean on a patch of moss that clung stubbornly to one of the nearby gnarled tree roots.
She was clearly about to start the dissection right then and there.
Riven took a step closer and frowned.
"Wait," he said. "Let's not do it here."
She paused, eyes flicking up. "Why?"
He glanced at the pond.
"I don't like this place," he said simply. "That thing was scared of it. Wouldn't go near it even when it was about to die."
He pointed at the twitching corpse of the first scorpion, half-crushed and laying just shy of the water's edge.
"Let's move them. Just a bit away."
Yue Lin studied him for a moment. Then gave a small nod.
"All right."
Together, they dragged the two corpses several dozen meters back into the forest — just far enough that the pond vanished behind the crooked trees. The air still felt strange, but not as stifling.
They laid the bodies out beside one another, their dull gray shells catching the dimming light in warped shadows.
Yue Lin crouched first by the one that had lost the fight.
Riven watched as she carved it open cleanly — quick, efficient. The membrane under the tail had already darkened slightly, the poison sac shriveled in on itself.
"Used already," she confirmed.
Riven exhaled. "Unlucky."
Then she moved to the second corpse. The victor.
This one was intact.
She removed it with care, slipping it into her small traveling pouch.
"At this rate," she muttered, tucking her knife away, "we might need to think up a better method of carrying these."
Riven nodded. They didn't exactly have a proper satchel for volatile beast parts. Just a small pouch each, already close to full with other stuff.
They had rearranged them a bit.
She was carrying the loot, while he had the rations.
"Did you check for cores too?" he asked.
Yue Lin gave a small nod.
"Nothing."
Riven sighed. Again, not unexpected.
But still unfortunate.
His gaze drifted once again in the direction of the hidden pond.
Even behind the trees, he could still feel it — like a dark presence sitting just out of sight.
"What do you think is up with that pond?" he asked quietly. "It feels dangerous just to be near it."
Yue Lin looked up, eyebrows slightly raised.
"Dangerous?" she repeated. "It's just… black water? Otherwise it felt normal."
Riven stared at her. "Seriously?"
Apparently black water wasn't out of the ordinary for her.
She tilted her head. "Why?"
He didn't answer right away. Just shook his head slightly.
How could they have such completely different reactions to the same thing?
"…Never mind," he muttered. "Either way, let's move. I don't like this place. The forest feels wrong."
This time, she didn't argue.
"Yeah," she said. "This forest doesn't seem normal."
They turned and began walking — further away from the clearing, the pond, and toward the outside of the forest.
It would be night soon.
And neither of them fancied spending it in this place.
The trees began to thin as they climbed. Eventually the brittle, bone-like trunks gave way to more normal pines and crooked ridgebrush — sparse but less unsettling. Shadows stretched long across the rocky ground, and the wind carried a faint chill as it funneled between the slopes.
A bit later, they reached a ledge overlooking a narrow basin below — a natural depression carved into the mountain, ringed by broken boulders and dry trees.
Then — a faint sound.
Skittering. From the left.
Riven held up a hand, eyes narrowing.
A Gale Scorpion crept out from the trees a short distance away, its gray shell catching the fading light as it moved quickly but deliberately across the rocks. Heading in the same direction they were.
Yue Lin's hand went to her knife immediately. "I'll take it."
"Wait," Riven said quickly, voice low.
She looked at him, eyebrows raised.
"Let's follow it," he said. "It should be returning to the nest."
A pause. Then Yue Lin let out a soft breath and nodded once. "Alright."
They kept their distance — careful not to make noise, ducking behind ridges and boulders whenever the scorpion paused. It never looked back. Just kept moving, its clawed feet clicking quietly over stone.
They trailed it for ten, maybe fifteen minutes, weaving deeper into the folds of the mountain range.
Then, finally — it stopped.
Riven and Yue Lin dropped low behind a jagged outcrop, peering over the edge of a shelf in the rock.
Below them was a narrow crevice opening in the base of a cliff — half-covered by loose stone and patches of dried moss. From here, they could see faint movement inside.
Riven's eyes narrowed. "Yeah. That's the lair."
Yue Lin gave a small nod, her voice low. "Let's find a place to spend the night first. Then figure out how to deal with this."
They began to back away from the ridge, careful not to dislodge any loose gravel.
But just as they were about to turn—
A second scorpion returned to the crevice opening from another side.
This one was taller.
Heavier.
Its shell was darker — not just grey, but streaked with obsidian markings. Every step it took seemed to press deep grooves into the stone beneath it.
Riven froze, heart suddenly pounding a little harder.
Yue Lin whispered, "Greater feral?"
If Lesser Ferals were comparable to mid- to late-stage Inner Essence Realm cultivators — then Greater Ferals reached into the realm of Inner Condensation. Some barely scraping the entry point. Others far more dangerous.
And somehow, just from the feeling in his gut…
Riven didn't think this one was on the weaker end.
At least it shouldn't just be comparable to the early Inner Condensation realm.
He turned to Yue Lin. "Let's get out of here first."
"No argument here."
They retreated quickly and quietly — melting back into the shadows, putting as much distance between themselves and the lair as they could without drawing attention.
Neither of them spoke.
Not until the sounds of the scorpion nest had completely vanished behind layers of stone and wind.
Then Yue Lin exhaled softly. "We need to be careful with that thing around."
He didn't argue.
They continued on, making their way across a narrow ridge path until they found a sloped area tucked slightly out of view — flanked on one side by a curved rise of rock. There, half-hidden behind a curtain of vines and a ridge of broken shale, they spotted it.
A cave.
Small, shallow, but enough to block the wind and give them shelter from both the elements and anything wandering nearby.
Yue Lin ducked in first, crouching low, blade in hand. She took a few moments to sweep the area, checking for signs of beasts or nests — then gave a small nod. "Empty."
"Good enough," Riven muttered.
But just as they were about to enter, the strange, heavy quiet of the Galecrag Hills shifted.
Like something, somewhere, had woken up.