Oliver stood at the cavern entrance and hesitated for half a breath.
The air coming out of the cave was different.
It was heavy, thick with mana, and carried the echo of a roar that still seemed to tremble in his bones.
Then he clenched his jaw, tightened his grip on the branch, and sprinted inside.
"Oi, at least pretend you thought this through," Ethan said from the bag, but Oliver's footsteps were already echoing deeper into the darkness.
A moment later, the bushes at the valley edge rustled again.
Fiona stepped out, fox at her side.
She saw Oliver's back vanish into the cavern and her face paled.
"Oliver! That is a high level beast nest! Come back!" she shouted.
Her voice crashed against the cave mouth and rolled inside, but there was no reply.
"GROAARRRRRRRR!!!!"
Only another roar answered her, even deeper than before, making dust drift from the stone above.
"Idiot," Fiona muttered through her teeth.
The Silver Moon Fox jumped up onto her shoulder, and she rushed into the cavern as well.
Inside, the air was cool and damp.
Pale green moss grew along the walls, giving off a faint glow.
It was not bright, but enough for Oliver to see the path ahead without tripping over every rock.
His footsteps echoed off the stone, mixing with the distant sound of impacts.
Every few breaths, the ground vibrated slightly, as if someone far ahead was slamming a hammer into the earth.
"That is not good," Ethan said quietly.
Oliver slowed down as the tremors grew stronger.
The tunnel curved once, then opened wider.
He pressed his back against the wall and edged forward until a large boulder blocked most of his body.
He took a breath, leaned out just enough, and looked into the cavern beyond.
The space in front of him was huge, like a hollowed hall inside the mountain.
In the center, a white tiger stood on four powerful legs.
Its body was massive, lean muscles coiled under white fur stained with blood. Several deep wounds marked its flank and shoulder.
Each breath it took came out as white mist, and every exhale carried a low growl.
Golden eyes glared at the two figures in front of it.
A man and a woman.
The man held a sword in his hand, mana wrapped tightly around the blade. His face was lean and hard, with a scar crossing one cheek from ear to jaw.
On top of that scar, a black tattoo shaped like a twisted sigil crawled over his skin, making his expression look even more sinister.
He fought up close, constantly pressing the tiger with sharp, mana strengthened strikes.
Each time his sword slashed out, the air hissed.
The woman stood a short distance behind him.
Her arm was bare from shoulder to wrist, and the same twisted mark was tattooed along her skin, like a chain of black worms wrapped around her arm.
She moved her staff. "Earth Chain!"
The ground answered.
Rocks rose from the floor to form walls, spikes, and chains of hardened earth, trying to bind the tiger's legs or block its movements.
Each time the beast tried to break forward, the woman shifted the terrain to slow it.
The White Tiger roared again.
Its body twisted, claws slashing.
The closest earth wall shattered.
The man in front was forced back by the shockwave.
One of his defensive spells cracked visibly, light flickering around his body.
Even wounded, the tiger's strength was terrifying.
""Come back to your senses yet?If this tiger was in full condition, those two would already be dead," Ethan said in a low voice.
"I can see old wounds on its side. They ambushed her when she was already injured."
Near the tiger's front leg, Oliver's Rock Snout Boar was also present.
It squealed, head lowered, and rammed into the ground again and again, trying to disrupt the woman's earth control.
Once, it threw its fat body against a rising stone spike, breaking it at the base before it could stab into the tiger's belly.
It was completely outmatched, but it did not run.
Each time it was sent rolling by a stray slash or shockwave, it got back up, snorted hard, and charged again.
Oliver stared, eyes wide.
"So this pig was helping the tiger…" he muttered.
Behind the white tiger, further into the cavern, there was something else.
Oliver could not see clearly, but he caught a glimpse of a faint light. It might have been a crystal, an egg, or some kind of artifact.
More glowing moss grew around that area, and the tiger always kept its body between that place and the two sorcerers, never giving them a clear path.
The man clicked his tongue in frustration as another attempt to rush past the beast failed.
"Just die already!" he snarled. "You are already half dead, and you still block the way. Move!"
The woman's voice was cold.
"We must be quick," she said.
"The mark will not stay stable for long. If we cannot finish the ritual this time, that thing will sink deeper into the core.
We might not get another chance."
The White Tiger roared in response, forcing them both back with a swipe that cracked the ground.
Oliver squinted at the white tiger, then at the boar, then back again.
"So that white tiger is a female?" he whispered.
"Damn. That boar is lucky. A Tier 1 beast with high tier partner? Crazy."
Ethan paused.
He looked at the huge, wounded, majestic tiger.
Then he looked at the short, round Rock Snout Boar throwing its fat body around with devotion.
A strange feeling of de ja vu rose inside him.
'Why does this look like my old boss and his young wife,' he thought. 'Except in their case I am pretty sure she was just a gold digger.'
He clapped his nonexistent hands together in his mind.
'No, this looks exactly the same.'
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Footsteps approached from behind.
Oliver felt someone come close and almost jumped. He turned his head and saw Fiona crouching beside him, back pressed to the same boulder.
Her face was pale in the moss light, but her eyes were clear.
"Just what are you doing, Oliver?" she hissed in a whisper. "Are you courting death in here?"
"Shh," Oliver whispered back. "Fiona, why are you even here? It is dangerous."
She ignored his question. Her gaze was fixed on the two sorcerers in front.
"Those two look like rogue sorcerers," she muttered. "Did they come to hunt a Tier 5 beast?"
The Silver Moon Fox peered over the rock as well, fur puffed up, tail low. It let out a low growl when it saw the white tiger's wounds.
Oliver swallowed.
"Fiona," he said quietly, "this is a bad place to stay. If they notice us…"
"Quiet," Fiona cut him off.
Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the black tattoos.
"These marks…" she whispered. "They look familiar."
The man swung his sword again, but this time he took a brief step back, breathing hard.
His position shifted slightly, light from the moss catching the tattoo on his face more clearly.
At that angle, both Oliver and Fiona could see it.
A distorted sigil, like a twisted sharp horn wrapped around an eye, inked deep into his skin.
Oliver's gaze sharpened.
Fiona's pupils shrank.
For a heartbeat, her breathing stopped.
"That mark…" she said through clenched teeth. "It is the same. Those bastards are related to them."
Killing intent poured out of her like cold water.
Before Oliver could react, Fiona's body moved.
She pushed off from behind the boulder and stepped into the open, mana surging.
"Fiona!" Oliver shouted, face draining of color. "Those two are full fledged sorcerers!"
He had no choice but to rush out after her, branch still in his hand, heart pounding.
Inside the cavern, the white tiger roared, the boar squealed, the two sorcerers turned their heads toward the new disturbance.
The Silver Moon Fox on Fiona's shoulder let out a sharp roar.
The bracelet on Fiona's wrist flashed in answer. Lines of light crawled across its surface.
In front of her, a glowing magic circle spun into existence, runes lighting up one by one.
Mana churned around the fox. Its fur stood on end as white mist poured out of its body, spilling into the air like cold breath on winter morning.
The mist gathered, thickened, and condensed in front of the magic circle.
In a few heartbeats, more than a dozen ice spears hung in the air, cold light glinting along their edges, every tip pointed at the tattooed woman.
"Die, you evil cultist bastard!" Fiona shouted.
The ice spears shot forward with a howl, slicing through the cavern air, leaving trails of frost behind.
The woman's eyes narrowed. She snapped her fingers.
The ground in front of her bulged up at once, forming a thick wall of earth.
Ice spears buried themselves into it with a series of heavy cracks, sending shards flying.
Oliver did not let her stand there alone.
He jumped in front of Fiona, planting his feet on the stone floor.
He raised the long branch like a spear in his left hand and pulled Ethan out with his right.
A black sandal and a makeshift spear.
"Senior," he muttered under his breath, "today I will use your full power."
In front of them, the white tiger also felt the opening.
It roared, a sound that shook the cavern ceiling.
Mana around its body surged like a storm. It raised its front paw high.
Above it, in the air, another enormous paw took shape.
It was made of condensed mana, solid and golden, each claw outlined in sharp light.
The air around that phantom paw twisted from the pressure.
The tiger swung its own paw down.
The golden construct in the air fell with it, aiming straight at the scar faced man.
The man's eyes widened. He lifted his sword with both hands, mana exploding around him as he tried to block.
BOOOM!!!
The cavern shook.