Mist rolled across the marshland in slow, shifting waves as the team pressed deeper into Aeterna Vex.

  The deeper they walked, the more the world changed around them. The open wetlands closed in, the

  fog thickened, and dense clusters of trees rose ahead, forming a crooked, sprawling forest that seemed

  to swallow light whole.

  Vanra motioned them forward. “Formation tight. We still need DoT, healing, and durability. The packs

  here will not stay separated for long.”

  Orran lifted his shield, eyes sweeping the dim path. “Feels like everything in this place is waiting for

  us.”

  Kayris muttered under her breath. “Let it wait. We will kill it anyway.”

  Bash stayed in the center line, weapon ready, scanning the shadows between the trees. SC hummed

  quietly in his mind, calm and balanced despite the strange heaviness of the air.

  They moved through the wooded section, the ground softening underfoot. Thick moss covered exposed

  roots. Strange white-flowered vines hung low between branches. Tiny flecks of drifting particulate

  shimmered in the air like dust caught in sunbeams, except no beams broke through the canopy.

  Korvex slowed. “Something is off.”

  Rhoen nodded. “Air tastes different.”

  Vanra slowed, her expression tightening. “Air here is wrong. Stay alert.”

  Rhoen inhaled lightly, then grimaced. “Poison trace. Low concentration… for now.”

  Bash felt the subtle sting in the back of his throat, faint, bitter, like the air itself was turning sour.

  They moved another fifty meters before the forest opened into a clearing.

  And that was when the poison hit fully.

  The clearing was filled with towering mushroom-like organisms. Spore Spreaders. Each one stood

  about waist-height, capped with wide, conical tops that pulsed faintly with internal light. Thick stems

  anchored them in place like roots. As the team stepped closer, the caps flexed, releasing thin trails of

  greenish vapor that floated upward like smoke.

  Vanra narrowed her eyes. “These are DoT beast. Highly potent poison. And worse…” She pointed to

  the clusters of small, jelly-like nodules forming around the bases. “Offspring spores. If they release

  those, the entire clearing will multiply in minutes.”

  Rhoen nodded and already had one hand glowing faint green, ready to flush toxins the second exposure

  became heavy.

  Tyrish grimaced. “So fire solves this.”

  “Exactly,” Vanra said. “Wind too, if controlled correctly. But look.”

  She pointed again.

  Rhoen’s posture stiffened. “A symbiotic pair.”

  Floating above many of the Spore Spreaders were small creatures shaped like translucent sacs. GustVents. Their bodies pulsed as they inhaled and exhaled air with rapid contractions, firing off controlled

  blasts that pushed the poisonous spores farther, spreading the vapor throughout the clearing.

  The poison fog immediately thickened and expanded outward in wide rolling sheets.

  Vanra’s tone hardened. “There’s our source. Prepare for immediate cleansing mid-fight. Rhoen,

  prioritize the front line.”

  “Understood,” Rhoen said, already moving.

  Orran planted his stance. “We handle the Gust-Vents. Fire team handles the Spreaders.”

  “Correct,” Vanra replied. “Hold nothing back.”

  A faint tremor passed through the clearing.

  The first Spore Spreaders reacted to their movement.

  The caps compressed.

  A heavy wave of poison vapor blasted outward.

  Gust-Vents shrieked and amplified the spread with a dozen coordinated wind gusts, sending the spores

  flying in every direction like a toxic storm.

  Vanra’s voice cut sharp. “Go.”

  The battle erupted instantly.

  Kayris darted into the front line, her blades igniting with flickers of fire as she sliced through the first

  cluster of Spore Spreaders. Toxic haze swirled around her, but her speed kept her ahead of the worst

  concentrations. Orran and Tyrish stepped forward to take impact angles, using shield and blades to

  break apart incoming Vents before they could spread more poison.

  Korvex swept his staff in a broad arc, summoning a controlled wind vortex that countered the GustVents’ dispersal. His swirling air pulled the spores back toward the ground instead of allowing them to

  travel further into the team’s formation.

  Rhoen unleashed concentrated fire bursts that roasted Spore Spreaders from a distance, their caps

  exploding into ash before they could release more clouds.

  But there were so many.

  Every time one died, two or three offspring spores burst outward, forming smaller, weaker organisms

  that spread more poison at a frantic, dangerous pace.

  “Offspring incoming,” Tyrish called. “A lot of them.”

  Vanra moved into position behind the team, directing controlled wind currents toward exposed pockets

  of incoming spores. She crushed smaller clusters with wind pressure alone, then snapped her staff into

  the ground, sending a controlled blast of mineral dust across the clearing to weigh down drifting toxins.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Bash moved through the center line, firing precision shots at the Gust-Vents and finishing off weakened

  Spreaders. Each kill or proximity strike sent a pulse slamming into his core.

  DoT essence.

  Painful. Sharp. A burning in the chest that radiated outward in waves.

  SC spoke calmly through every hit.

  “T2A DoT absorption increasing. Thirty nine. Forty six. Fifty two.”

  Another wave hit him.

  “T2C minor DoT from offspring. Eight. Twelve. Fifteen.”

  Bash gritted his teeth and kept shooting. He found clusters where Kayris and Orran had weakened the

  Spreaders and finished them with pinpoint hits. He pivoted when Korvex pulled a gust of spores out of

  the air and shot down the two Vents that tried to ride the current.

  He did not flinch.

  He did not draw attention.

  He stayed in rhythm with the team.

  The clearing grew hotter as Rhoen and Korvex intensified the fire output. Controlled bursts burned

  through kilometers of spores before they could replicate. Charred Spore Spreaders collapsed in piles of

  glowing ash, leaving only the hardened cores behind.

  “Back right quadrant,” Orran barked. “More offspring forming.”

  Rhoen blasted the area with a sweeping jet of flame. Bash cut down stragglers that broke free from the

  heat wave.

  For nearly twenty minutes the fight continued, wave after wave of spores and wind blasts and fire

  counterattacks. The combination was dangerous enough to overwhelm weaker teams. But not this one.

  They tore the clearing apart.

  When the final Spore Spreader collapsed into ash and the last Gust-Vent popped like a burst membrane

  under Kayris’s blade, the world went quiet.

  Mist settled.

  Charred remains crackled softly.

  Rhoen moved through the team immediately, hands glowing faint green. “Poison extraction. Line up.”

  Tyrish was breathing harder than usual. Kayris had a greenish tint along her cheeks. Orran’s armor had

  patches of corrosion. Korvex’s arms were flecked with dried spores.

  Bash felt the familiar tug inside his chest as SC finished her report.

  “Final tally. T2A DoT absorption at thirty-one. T2C offspring absorption at sixty five. T2A Wind

  absorption at one hundred thirty six.”

  Bash’s body burned, but he kept his posture steady.

  Vanra finished her last cleansing burst on Rhoen and stepped back. “All right. Keep spacing until the

  air clears.”

  The team moved through the clearing, stepping around charred stalks and collapsed spores as they

  collected the Beast Fragments by hand. Shimmering shards and hardened toxin cores were swept into

  shared pouches, the entire harvest gathered as a group just like every other mission.

  Once the last fragments were secured, Vanra gave a single nod. “That is everything. We move.”

  The forest thinned as they walked. The mist lightened. The moss gave way to cracked, open soil.

  Minutes later they reached the edge of the woods and stepped into a vast plain.

  Wind rippled through tall grasses. The horizon stretched endlessly, marked only by a shimmering river

  about one or two kilometers away.

  And the beasts.

  Massive shapes dotted the river, their broad backs and enormous heads rising above the waterline.

  Their hides were thick and stone-like, mottled in gray-blue plates. Their jaws were wide and armored.

  Even from this distance, Bash felt the weight of their presence.

  SC’s voice entered his thoughts quietly.

  “T3C durability classification. Likely multiple dominant bulls of T3G rank among them. Approach

  with caution.”

  Vanra raised a hand. “Slow. Do not provoke them.”

  Kayris stared. “They are huge.”

  Orran grunted. “And if they are durability types… they might even make the battle interesting.”

  Tyrish cracked his neck. “Good. I needed some excitement.”

  Vanra shot him a look, firm and direct. “Do not get careless. Even though we are used to Black portals,

  this world fights in combinations. The other day should have reminded all of you that low tier does not

  mean low risk. Stay disciplined.”

  The team’s posture shifted instantly. Jokes faded. Weapons lifted.

  They advanced across the plains in controlled formation, boots whispering through the tall grass. Even

  moving carefully, the river beasts noticed them almost immediately.

  One of the dominant bulls lifted its massive head above the surface. Its eyes locked onto the team. A

  deep, echoing bellow rolled across the plains.

  The river erupted.

  Dozens of heads surfaced.

  Then hundreds.

  A wall of armored bodies surged from the water, each step pounding into the earth with heavy,

  thunderous weight. Their pace quickened as the herd unified into a single advancing front.

  Vanra raised her staff, voice cutting through the rumbling ground. “Hold steady. No confidence lapses.

  We take them like any high-tier cluster. Controlled and coordinated.”

  The herd charged.