Evantra briefly took stock of her equipment. She was carrying her sniper rifle, the Izanami Veilseeker, along with her Nagantra machine pistol – both of which were suppressed. Unfortunately, as silent as they were, they would still draw the ire of Veilcreatures if she relied on them. In the silence of the night, even suppressed gunfire would cause a racket.

  Her melee options included [razor claws] along with a small combat knife. Caliburn had also provided her with a compass, a datapad and three stims. All in all, she had to navigate through the dark, decrepit streets filled with rubble, armed with a glorified switchblade and combat knife. Using her guns would be suicide.

  Evantra did the next logical thing that came to mind.

  She called Noelle.

  “Evantra? I thought you were on the raid? Is everything alright?”

  Noelle’s voice came through on Evantra’s earpiece, and she grinned. Concealing it along with her other equipment made it difficult for Ghostslayers to easily pick them out, and she sure as hell wasn’t going on the raid with Caliburn without a contingency.

  She was concealed in the recesses of an abandoned shop, in a dark corner which gave her line of sight through the shelves into the street beyond. She whispered under her breath, taking care to ensure there were no Veilcreatures in her vicinity.

  “Noelle, I got separated from Caliburn. I need to make my own way to the checkpoint.”

  She heard the girl’s hushed intake of breath. She heard the sounds of clattering, presumably the girl rushing to grab her tablet. Then, Noelle’s voice hardened.

  “I’ve got historical satellite imagery of your location. Damn it, I wish I could see what was going down there in real time… Seraphim doesn’t make that accessible. Let me cross-reference it with your location,” Noelle whispered under her breath, before returning her attention to Evantra. “Proceed east, you’ve got a straight path to the checkpoint. It looks like you’re approximately a kilometre and a half away.”

  “I saw a creature roaming the streets up here that I haven’t recognised… it looked like a panther, but with a long, reptilian snout. It was the size of a bus and covered in black scales. Does that ring a bell?”

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck. It’s a Gadai Oiche. A ‘night thief’ in Irish. More colloquially known as a prowler. Another creature from Avalon. As with all Veilcreatures, it varies in strength, but its average strength is around the [banshee] range. It has heat vision, and it’s very sensitive to sound and smell – do you have [conceal] active? You shouldn’t be speaking to me if you’re close to it.”

  That creature was as strong as a wyvern? For all that I’ve whined about my catalysts, I’m starting to see just how useful they are in keeping me out of Veilcreatures’ notice.

  “It’s fine, it turned a corner and I’ve hidden away in a building. The streets are crawling with creatures. Is there a sewer, or maybe a subway system I could take advantage of?”

  Noelle paused, and Evantra heard a flurry of typing as the girl began to investigate her query. Letting off a round would draw all the Veilcreatures in the immediate vicinity to her, and even with the benefit of [object mimicry], she could only use it for a limited period before she lost steam. In the subway system, her mobility was limited, but theoretically, she would be free to use her weapons without drawing potentially hundreds of Veilcreatures down on her. Given the choice, she would prefer to have the ability to rely on her guns. That was, unless the Veilcreature presence in the subway was somehow greater than it was above ground.

  “Yes, there’s a subway entrance about two hundred metres away from you. You should be able to take the line running east. Exit after reaching the next station, and it should bring you right into the proximity of the checkpoint. Evantra…” Noelle’s voice trailed off. “Be careful?”

  “I will. Besides, you’re not going anywhere. Unless you have somewhere else you’d rather be?”

  Evantra smiled as Noelle grumbled, before carefully scanning her surroundings.

  Rather than exiting towards the street, Evantra crept out from the rear of the building, peeking out in search of Veilcreatures. There was a narrow path behind the shop – an alleyway that would have once allowed trash to be deposited without cluttering the sidewalk bordering the street. About five feet away from the back door was a tall, rusted fence that obscured her from view from the street bordering it.

  Evantra advanced at a steady pace, keeping her Nagantra trained ahead of her, as she made her way down the narrow alleyway. The sound of insects and crickets filled the air, a surprisingly familiar sound in a landscape that looked alien to her.

  Evantra froze. Her head snapped upwards as she heard the familiar buzzing of teethlings overhead.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  [Object mimicry]

  [Stonerooted]

  In her crouched state, Evantra took the visage of a cardboard box, her head tilted upwards to watch as a swarm of teethlings flew over her. Waiting until the sound of the teethlings had passed overhead, she pressed forward, working her way over the overgrown weeds and rubble beneath her. Eventually reaching the end of the alleyway, she gritted her teeth as she stared at the fenced-off area in front of her. Unfortunately, the passage of time hadn’t conveniently felled the fence, and she would need to find another way around with no easy means of climbing over it.

  Heading to the building to her immediate left, Evantra crept inside, keeping [conceal] active along with her [darkvision].

  She halted.

  Evantra heard the soft sounds of breathing coming from beyond her.

  Gnomes?

  Carefully stepping over the debris underfoot, Evantra crept into the building, into what looked like another shopfront. She halted, spotting the body of one of the sleeping Veilcreatures. A pair of gnomes were asleep on the shop floor, and the bodies of a few teethlings littered the area. She spotted one of the small creatures in the maw of one of the sleeping gnomes – it seemed like they had been snacking on the smaller Veilcreature.

  Evantra grimaced, her eyes landing on a fallen shelf to her left. It blocked off her means of progressing through the store, forcing her to bypass the sleeping creatures. Evantra crept forwards on the balls of her feet in a crouch, directly towards the pair of sleeping gnomes.

  She froze.

  [Object mimicry]

  [Stonerooted]

  Taking the appearance of another cardboard box in her crouched state, Evantra watched as one of the creatures blearily yawned, blinking its fatigue away.

  The creature’s gaze latched onto her. It rose from its position, advancing towards her. From what she could see from the corner of her eye, it regarded her with curiosity, rather than suspicion.

  The gnome came to a halt right before her and crouched, peering at the cardboard box.

  Evantra released [stonerooted], rapidly activating [razor claws] the moment that her fingers came into contact with the side of the Veilcreature’s skull. Before it reacted to her sudden transformation, her claws had already pierced its skin, shooting outwards at a high enough velocity to penetrate skin and bone through its temple.

  Evantra gingerly caught the gnome’s body, laying it down on the ground, before stepping over the other gnome, that was deep in sleep. Evantra gritted her teeth, her thoughts resting on the strange, winged figure she had glimpsed at the construction site.

  Noelle told me that Veilcreatures haven’t shown any signs of sentience. They might hunt in packs with their same kind, but…

  Evantra’s eyes lingered over the body of the gnome she had slain, turning to its sleeping companion.

  It’s one thing slaying them when they’re after my life. When they’re like this… they look so… hu—

  The gnome’s eyes shot open.

  Evantra watched as time seemed to slow as the creature opened its mouth, readying to let out a screech. She lunged forward, clamping her hands around its throat, interrupting the passage of its breath before it could escape. Evantra angled the tips of her fingers inwards, such they were pressed up against the skin of its throat, before activating [razor claws]. The creature’s lifeless body slipped from her hands as her claws entered its throat.

  Evantra let out a shuddering breath.

  Evantra, focus.

  “Evantra, are you ok? I heard something.”

  Evantra tapped her earphones once – the signal they had arranged for an affirmative response. Laying the gnome on the floor, she quickly cleaned off the blood on her fingertips in case the scent alerted any other Veilcreatures to her presence. Ducking under another fallen shelf, she peered into the street beyond her. True to Noelle’s advice, she glimpsed a stairwell leading down into the subway, a short distance from where she was crouched.

  I’m going to need to make a break for—

  Evantra glimpsed a shadow cast by the moonlight out of the corner of her eye, to the immediate right of the shop. She watched as it grew, betraying the presence of—

  The Gadai Oiche. The prowler.

  Evantra rapidly retreated back into the shop, hiding right behind the counter, ensuring that [conceal] had been activated. As large as the creature was, its steps were deathly silent, the mark of an apex predator, and she barely even heard the debris within disturbed by its entrance. What she did hear was the sounds of the gnome bodies being ingested by the creature.

  Now’s my chance.

  Gingerly stepping out from behind the counter, Evantra crept out of the shop, keeping a careful eye on the prowler, whose back was turned towards her as it continued feasting. Evantra broke out into a run once she was clear of the shop, rushing down the stairs and into the depths of the subway system.

  ***

  Evantra panted from the exertion, casting a harried look towards the interior of the station. With the benefit of [darkvision], she was unable to make out the presence of any Veilcreatures in the lobby. Even though the use of [darkvision] and [razor claws] didn’t drain her to a significant degree, the cumulative, constant use of the skills had added up – along with the physical exertion of her path through the ruins.

  There.

  Evantra headed towards the station’s restroom, pushing open the door slightly, peeking into the room. After detecting no obvious traces of Veilcreatures, Evantra pushed the door wide open, wincing as the rusted hinges protested in a soft screech. Entering the room, she finally let out a sigh and released her skills. Deprived of the visual acuity that [darkvision] granted her, the room fell into darkness, and Evantra felt her heartbeat accelerate.

  She tried to collect herself as the claustrophobia and silence loomed around her, like suddenly being plunged into an abyss. She steadied her breathing and took the opportunity to hydrate herself before stowing the bottle.

  The situation was only just beginning to sink in. Despite the seemingly infinite power she had been granted, she was still relegated to creeping through shops and tunnels. The sheer power and quantity of creatures of the Veil was nothing to scoff at, and Evantra was beginning to understand just why humanity, with all its technological advance,s still struggled to clear the bastards from the planet.

  Apart from the innate challenge that they posed, there was also the small matter of Mythic Veilsurges replenishing whatever creatures had been killed with others. Ghosts, which prevented humanity from leveraging its greatest weapons.

  An infinite cycle.

  Shaking her head and freeing herself from her thoughts, Evantra let out a sigh.

  She heard the telltale creak of the toilet door opening.