The first light of dawn crept through the cracks in the hut's roof.
The sleeping boy stirred,then slowly opened his eyes. He sat up in Fur mat, yawning and rubbing his small fists over his eyes. His messy hair fell on both sides of his face; he'd let it loose last night.
Soli was sitting nearby, watching him silently.
A faint,gentle smile appeared on his face—a rare smile that he usually kept hidden from the world. For a brief moment, he looked completely at peace.
But—
Before either of them could utter a word,a sudden scream cut through the silence from outside.
A sharp,piercing cry… as if someone had been hurt or seen something terrifying.
The boy froze in place, and Soli's smile vanished in an instant.
Neither of them was given a moment to think. They both jumped out of bed with a strange, instinctual speed, as if their bodies moved before their minds did.
Soli moved first, since his bed was closest to the curtain. He didn't open it, nor did he dare get too close. Instead, he leaned in slightly and peered through the narrow gap at its edge.
Through that small slit, he saw the scene—
Lizard monsters… the same kind he had fought yesterday. But this time, it wasn't just one.
There were many of them—moving between the huts,breaking in and ransacking the insides, searching for their victims.
Soli's view wasn't perfect; their tent was situated a bit far away. But even so, he could see one massive lizard heading straight for them… with heavy, deliberate steps.
He quickly let the curtain fall back into place and retreated with cautious steps.
His eyes darted around the hut…
It was completely sealed on all sides.No windows, no back door.
The only way out was through the curtain opening—and right now,it was directly in the path of the approaching lizard.
His eyes scanned the room desperately, and his gaze landed on the fur pelt beside him.
It was a grayish-green fur… incredibly soft, so smooth it felt like it would slip right through his fingers.
In that moment…
An idea sparked in Soli's mind.
It was a gamble,but it might just give him the upper hand against the predator heading their way.
Soli signaled for the boy to stay on his Fur mat.
The boy's fur mat was away from the curtain,but it gave him a direct line of sight to it—exactly what Soli wanted.
Soli grabbed his dagger and then the fur pelt, moving quietly toward the curtain.
He lay flat on his stomach,pressed against the ground, and covered his entire body with the fur, leaving only a tiny gap to see through.
Seconds ticked by…
Long,drawn-out seconds where time itself seemed to refuse to move.
Nothing appeared beyond the curtain.
Soli was terrifyingly calm.
He slowed his breathing to an absolute minimum—breaths so shallow they were barely audible,until all he could hear was the pounding of his own heart inside his head.
He gripped his dagger tightly… his hand slick with sweat, burning.
He couldn't tell if the heat was from the killer tension or the heavy fur draped over him.
Thump… Thump… THUMP…
Heavy footsteps…growing louder… approaching the hut.
Each step hit the ground like a hammer.
The sound drew closer…and closer…
Until it stopped directly in front of the curtain.
Everything fell silent.
No movement.
No exhale.
No sound except for Soli and the boy trying not to even whisper a breath.
Another few seconds passed…
Seconds enough to shatter anyone's nerves.
Are you going to ignore us?
Will it just leave?
But suddenly—
The curtain burst inward.
The giant lizard's head smashed through the leaf curtain.
The hut filled with its hot,foul-smelling breath.
The boy shuddered violently when he saw it;
Fear had been eating at him from the start,but now it was closer to pure panic.
For a deadly moment,a thought crossed his mind: What if Soli snaps…
Or maybe he's thinking of running and leaving him behind.
But…
Despite everything,the boy chose to trust him.
A blind trust,with no second-guessing.
After all,Soli was the one who saved him the first time.
If it weren't for him…he wouldn't even be alive now.
As the lizard stared at the defenseless boy with its four yellow eyes—a boy sitting before it like prey that had surrendered to its fate—his whole body trembled. Its distorted, gurgling laughter echoed in his ears as it passed right by Soli without noticing him, heading toward the boy with slow, deliberate steps… steps menacing enough to tear his soul in two.
It didn't pounce on him right away.
Instead…it lowered its head and opened its double jaws right in front of his face, as if savoring his fear before swallowing him whole. Sweat poured down the boy's forehead, his trembling growing worse. His eyes darted desperately between Soli —hidden under the fur—and the dark abyss waiting for him.
As for Soli, he was still as a stone.
Counting his breaths…watching… waiting for a moment that felt millennia away.
Now.
In the blink of an eye, Soli sprang up. He threw the fur over the lizard's head to blind it, then launched himself onto its back, raising his dagger to target its eye just like he had done yesterday. But—
Suddenly, the lizard's entire body dropped, as if all its strength had been ripped away in an instant. Soli lost his balance, landing firmly on the ground as the lizard… just stopped.
It didn't move.
It didn't growl.
It didn't try to remove the fur from its head.
It remained flattened on the ground without any resistance, as if life had evaporated from it the moment its sight was blocked.
Soli regained his balance and stared at it in silence, his mind reeling.
After a few seconds,he felt its body temperature begin to drop rapidly… a clear, deathly coldness.
Had…
Had it really died just from having its eyes covered?
Soli had no sure way to confirm its death.
Its massive body and strange anatomy made it impossible to tell if the lizard had truly passed away or was just waiting for the right moment to strike.So… he had no choice but to lift the fur and see the truth for himself.
He slowly reached out his hand and lifted the fur from its head.
He froze.
Its four eyes were wide open.
And the moment the light hit them,they moved—snapping toward him with lightning speed. Its massive body shuddered and it let out a distorted sound as it tried to get up—
But Soli immediately dropped the fur back down.
And the lizard returned to its absolute stillness.
As if someone had hit an internal"off" switch.
He tried again.
Lift the fur…it moves.
Drop it…it freezes.
Nothing changed. The same automated response, the same complete paralysis when its vision was blocked.
Soli stared at it, a faint, cunning smile spreading across his face as he said in a calm voice:
"So… this is your weakness."
Soli wasn't one to let an opportunity like this slip away.
Uncovering his enemies'weaknesses was his hobby… one of the core instincts he'd honed back on Earth. But he knew one piece of intel wasn't enough.
He had to be sure.
He had to test if all the lizards shared this same flaw.
And luckily for him—or unluckily for the village—the screams outside told him the attack was still raging.
He moved closer to the lizard's head, placed his hand above its eye socket, and drove the dagger in. He pushed hard and fast, before the creature could regain its movement. In the silence that filled the tent, the sound of tearing tissue and metal scraping against bone was unnervingly clear.
But the strange thing was…
The dagger went in much more easily than it had yesterday.
The lizard shuddered, letting out a low sound as if it had exhaled its last breath.
Then—something unexpected happened to Soli.
A spark… no, a mild jolt passed through his body.
It wasn't painful.On the contrary—it was a warm, gentle sensation that spread from his arm to his chest, then throughout his entire body. It eased his heavy breathing and lifted a fraction of his fatigue.
For the briefest moment…it was like floating in a warm sea. His tense muscles relaxed, and his ever-present anxiety took half a step back.
But it only lasted a few seconds—then the weight and pressure returned to his body.
[Shards Acquired]
"Shards?"
What kind of shards?
The voice rang clearly in his ear, direct and unmistakable, yet he couldn't pinpoint its source. But a familiar feeling, almost like intuition, crept over him. Open the status screen.
The black screen materialized before him, its text glowing like golden scars in the air:
[Core: 2/500]
Soli's features tightened with a flicker of shock.
The suspicion he'd felt from the very beginning…had been right.
The voice came from the Black System—that thing of unknown origin and purpose that had been his companion in this world.
He had acquired shards.
But… what were they?
Energy?Souls? Fragments of something inside these monsters?
He didn't know,and he had no time to dwell on the questions.
A sharp scream cut through the air outside, much closer this time.
Soli crouched and peered through a narrow gap in the curtain, now streaked with green and blue.
What he saw made his eyes narrow slightly.
Another lizard had one of the village women by her leg.
But the strange thing was…
It wasn't eating her. Or even tearing into her flesh like predators usually do.
It was… dragging her.
It pulled her across the ground like a ragdoll, while the woman screamed and beat the earth with her hands, desperately trying to grab onto anything.
The scene didn't look like predation.
It looked like an abduction.
Why?
To where?
And why wasn't it eating her right away,like every other predator he'd ever seen?