The sergeant’s performance, along with Walter’s, did wonders in keeping our morale high for the next hour. Sergeant Fenward led from the front, and the squad followed effortlessly, confidence spreading with every clean kill. The same thing was happening on my right. Sergeant Patrick was leading his squad from the front as well.

  After watching the formations and the way the sergeants led from a distance, it became clear that the sergeants taking charge in such a performative way wasn’t a coincidence.

  It was coordination.

  On both sides, I saw the same pattern. A sergeant would step into the front line for roughly thirty minutes, showing strength and control, before rotating back. Shortly after, the lieutenant would speak, just a few words, but each time I could feel that familiar wash of mana spread through the ranks, steadying nerves and keeping motivation high. No soldier fought for more than an hour, and both squads had only minor injuries, none serious enough to take anyone out of commission.

  By the fifth hour, the corpses of beasts had begun to pile up near and even on the platforms. They had been built with this in mind; bodies could be shoved aside and sent tumbling down the slope with only a small effort. Even so, the incline gradually became less effective as the dead accumulated below. Before long, carcasses began to stack against the platforms themselves, and then on them.

  During drills, we had been instructed on what to do once that started happening. The bodies were to be arranged deliberately, stacked into a rough wall while leaving a six- to seven-foot gap open at the front. The idea was to force incoming beasts into a narrow funnel and reduce pressure on the flanks.

  It would help against smaller, fast-moving carnivorous beasts.

  Large beasts would tear through a wall of corpses without slowing.

  Which meant the wall needed the right kind of bodies.

  As I scanned the horizon, I realized the perfect material for such a wall was already coming our way. Five massive shapes were charging straight toward our position.

  Stonebacks.

  Even at a distance, their size was unmistakable. Thick bodies plated with stone-like hide, heads lowered as they ran. Against a single squad of ten soldiers, this would have been a brutal fight.

  Sergeant Fenward proved me both right and wrong at the same time.

  “Earth-element counter formation,” he ordered. “Full squad on the platform.”

  Then his gaze snapped toward me.

  “Edward, you have one minute. Take the rear.”

  My heartbeat spiked. That formation meant we were facing heavy beasts as well as burrowing ones. Without thinking, I shoved the mana crystal and a few high-potency herbs into my bag. This was one of the formations we had never used in real combat during patrol duties, which also meant that one small mistake could leave us with beasts pouring out behind our backs and attacking from the rear.

  The only good thing was that burrowing beasts were not as high tier as the heavy ones. Their combined attacks happened only because they operated alongside heavy beasts, forming a kind of symbiotic relationship for protection. That also meant they were typically lower tier than the heavy beasts themselves.

  “We’re adjusting formation,” the sergeant said.

  “Garran. Varric. Walter. Colin. Owen. Front. You’ll take the Stonebacks head-on. Be ready to handle a beast on your own. Hold the line and do not give ground.”

  He turned his head slightly.

  “Barry, Kael. Outer ring. Right and Left.”

  His gaze snapped to us next.

  “Edward, Jack. Inner ring. Right and Left.”

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  “Protect the Tier Ones.”

  He planted the butt of his spear into the ground.

  “Tier One squads, center. Same spacing as usual. Watch the front line and the ground beneath it. Under no circumstances allow burrowing beasts to break through. If you get distracted, you’ll be the first to die.”

  “I’ll hold the center rear.”

  “No matter what happens, do not break position until I order it. If you do, I will behead you once these beasts are dealt with.”

  We moved into position. My nervousness increased, especially after the sergeant’s last statement. It wasn’t the threat itself that unsettled me, but his tone, it signaled that something was wrong. There was also the fact that the lieutenant’s initial orders had said that for the first six hours we wouldn’t face many Tier Twos, yet within the first two hours we had already fought more than four. Now, at the five-hour mark, we were dealing with a herd of Stonebacks, and we still had no idea how many burrowing beasts might appear.

  I wasn’t sure whether encountering so many Tier Two beasts this early was a good sign or a bad one. I hoped it meant our defenses had reduced the Tier Ones so effectively that we were reaching the higher tiers sooner.

  Before the engagement, I checked my mana.

  1240 / 1464

  In the last five hours, I had used more than two hundred units. I took a deep breath and activated [Perceptive Instinct (UC)], but only in intervals—thirty seconds on, thirty seconds off—to conserve mana. In active combat, I would keep it active unless I started running low on mana.

  I hoped [Perceptive Instinct (UC)] would allow me to sense underground movement as well, though I wasn’t sure. I had never faced burrowing beasts before. During training, when I tried using the skill on the ground itself, I sensed nothing. I hoped that wouldn’t be the case once a beast was actually beneath us.

  I was at my highest level of alertness.

  Within five minutes of me taking my position, I could hear the sound of shields taking impacts on the front line. That was my cue to stop deactivating the skill. I didn’t look to the front. My gaze stayed fixed on Michael’s back as he stood with the other Tier Ones inside the ring.

  The front line had its job.

  I trusted them to do it.

  My job was to protect the Tier Ones in the center.

  Thirty seconds after I heard the clash at the front, I sensed something bursting out of the ground from my blind spot, lunging for my leg through the gap between shield and earth. Thankfully, I didn’t need sight to perceive it. My skill identified the threat instantly, and I dropped to one knee, slamming my shield down to block the strike.

  At the same time, I sensed movement inside the ring, another presence, this one on my left.

  So instead of finishing the beast pressing against my shield on the right, I twisted and struck left first. In one swift motion, I drove my spear through the emerging creature, skewering it cleanly. Without stopping, I carried the momentum through in a tight arc, ripping the spear free and thrusting it back across my body into the beast on my right.

  Both bodies ended up impaled on the shaft.

  I snapped the spear back into guard position, scraping it along my shield to shove the corpses free and clear my weapon.

  Only then did I really look at them.

  They were a twisted mix of rat and mole, razor-sharp teeth set into hard, snout-like faces. Thankfully, their bodies were made of normal flesh, which allowed me to pierce them with ease. I also realized that my skill [Perceptive Instinct (UC)] couldn’t sense anything underground. I could only detect them once their heads broke through the surface, which made fighting them far more difficult, especially with the number of beasts that kept pouring up from the ground.

  I sensed them appearing everywhere within the range of my skill, from the center of the ring to behind the front line. Three more presences flared on my right just as I prepared to strike again.

  Then the sergeant’s voice cut across the field.

  “Their bodies are weaker than normal. Tier Twos, use your boots or shields to bash them. It’s more effective. Keep your spears free to guard the Tier Ones inside the ring.”

  I followed the order immediately.

  I used a mana-reinforced shield bash to crush the skulls of two beasts, then stomped down on another, feeling bone give beneath my boot. By then, I had already killed five. Their corpses littered the ground inside and outside the formation, yet their numbers weren’t decreasing. They were increasing.

  Two more burst up from my left inside the ring. Three more pressed in from outside.

  I used my spear once more on the left, then switched tactics. I struck with quick, consecutive thrusts, the short, efficient technique Walter had drilled into me, each strike needing only inches of movement. After that, I turned fully toward the three outside the ring, smashing their heads with my shield.

  Then I heard a scream from inside the formation.

  I turned and saw Richard on the ground, two beasts tearing at him. Kael was trying to reach him, but he was already engaged with five more coming in from his left.

  “NO ONE MOVE EXCEPT KAEL!” the sergeant shouted, locking the formation in place.

  “Kael, prioritize front-line safety!”

  We held our positions.

  Five minutes later, the front line finally brought down the last of the Stonebacks.

  And just like that, the underground attacks stopped.

  “Edward, check on Richard. Rest of you, hold your positions,” the sergeant said.

  I made my way to Richard with a heavy heart. As I approached, he was lying on the ground, motionless. His uniform was soaked through with blood, and the torn, chewed remains of his throat told me almost everything I needed to know.

  Still, I knelt beside him.

  I sent a thin thread of mana into his body, checking for any sign of life, heart, brain, anything. I already knew what I would find.

  A few seconds later, the truth settled in.

  There was nothing left to do.

  I looked up at the sergeant and slowly shook my head.

  Thank you for reading!