Cold.

I could feel cold seep into my bones. Radiating from my transformed eyes, staring wide into the creature's very soul.

The beast dared terrorize my sister.

My sister.

Nobody scared my sister.

Nobody threatened my sister.

Nobody touched my sister.

Not even if the Sun itself descended from his throne and asked for her life, I would give it to her. I would slaughter him with these hands of mine.

I would bring this entire Dungeon to its knees.

I looked at Nova, leaning closer and kissing her forehead, "Don't get scared now, whatever you are going to see, okay? You'll be fine. Big bro would never allow anything to happen to you."

I turned toward the others with a smile, a fake smile that betrayed my killing intent, "Guys, take time, I'll free the passage to the Outer Ring first. Then I'll destroy the other too, okay? Try to land some hits for the contributions, kisses."

"Loke? Are you losing your mind?" Roana asked.

But there was no need to answer, my actions would suffice. I nocked a regular arrow and shot it up in the sky, then I turned once more toward Nova and winked.

I disappeared the very next moment, with a small explosion of frost around me.

I was in the sky, readying my next shot; everything would have to happen in a few seconds.

The first shot was a Shatter arrow.

It fragmented on the creature's head, drawing its attention.

The second one was a regular arrow; I aimed high in the sky, my escape point. The higher it traveled, the better.

By the time the Shatter arrow exploded, the monster had raised his head. For the rest, I would have to rely on luck.

It would be by my side this time, whether whatever beings reigning over it allowed it or not.

The creature had its mouth partially open.

Only thanks to that were I able to keep on with my plan.

With the short few moments that I had left before I hit the creature’s muzzle, I nocked a Stone Blow arrow and released it.

Boosted by the Shade Season, the double explosion that occurred as it hit the edge of the creature's muzzle was enough to create hard spikes of ice that blocked the monster's mouth wide open.

I fell right inside of it, like a bird going for its prey.

A world of metal as cold as my actual mental state surrounded me, but it would not even remotely be able to freeze me.

Nothing could.

I armed and dropped a Crystal grenade in the creature's metallic belly. Then I opened my legs wide to stop my fall, trying to find some foothold. I had no idea how, but I did indeed find it.

Those few seconds of time I could count on were growing short; I could feel the connection with Trick Shot flying high in the air, growing thinner and thinner.

I could not risk it, or I would have achieved nothing.

I nocked and released a Crystal Blow arrow deep in the monster's belly, then pulled the fuck away from it.

I appeared with a small explosion of snow around me; I was falling on the thick ice. It would kill me. I could not allow that, not yet.

I threw my knife somewhere anywhere.

When I transferred again, I ended up tumbling near the closest party of delvers that had been moving to our close right.

I rolled on the ice, soon recovering my balance and my knife.

I knew they had noticed me and were looking at me. I couldn't care less.

I was a little dazzled by the transfer, it rarely happened, but again, I rarely transferred so close to the end of Trick Shot’s transfer window.

As I recovered, I turned left and right; I could not find my direction, but the air conveyed me the sounds of the explosions, the whispers were carried to me at the same time.

To my left, that was where I had to go.

I saw the giant alligator crumble on itself while the remaining one was still about to attack the guys.

I needed to act. A regular arrow flew up again; it would reach right on top of the creature.

When, a few seconds later, I transferred, I could hear Nova scream in despair. She might have thought I had died inside of the monster's mouth.

I wanted to say to her that everything was fine. But I still had to deal with the second Technogator; she would have to wait.

Still flying in the sky. I nocked a Shatter arrow; it was enough to destroy those glass-like things they had instead of eyes.

The Piercing arrow doubled up by the Trick Shot's shadow did its job with the first; I had no time to shoot another arrow, so I readied my posture by throwing my knife to the ground.

Its pointy end dug a little fissure inside the metal trail.

I appeared between Alistar and Faruq, who acted as advanced infantry, then kneeled to recover my knife.

Nova's hysterical sobbing immediately disappeared.

"Loke…?"

"Just a second, little monkey, I’ll try to blind the other eye as well, then I’ll be back to you, okay?"

I knew that my wild fighting style was taking its toll on my Stone reserve, but it was something that had to be done.

I aimed my bow at the creature again, the regular arrow did not even penetrate half an inch-deep inside of the monster's thick head, but it did not need to.

As I stepped on it, I immediately threw my knife toward the creature, then prepared another Piercing arrow and jumped away.

I turned myself in mid-air, the monster barely realizing where I was and surely not what I intended to do.

The Piercing arrow did its job even then, destroying its second eye.

Before the Technogator lashed back, I was quietly recollecting my knife from the ground.

"What are you still waiting for? Attack now that you still can, or I'm going to get all the contributions." I ordered, "Get a move, it's blind; I want to destroy that Moon fucker from the inside out."

"Damn…" Roana said, if I didn't know better, that could have been a positive damn, almost an excited damn.

I gave them all exactly half a minute to hit the creature whatever way they could. Obviously, even Loki managed to; then I got as close as possible and beckoned for it.

"Hey!"

I released an arrow into the sky as the enraged creature turned its head toward me, then readied my knife.

The Technogator came down toward me with its open mouth, trying to eat me. I launched my knife inside of its throat as the mouth neared me before it came crashing down on the road.

I was inside of its gullet the following moment. From that position, I could see something I had not seen in the previous creature.

A weak shine inside of the monster's dark metal intestines.

But I could not stop to check.

I nocked two Crystal Blow arrows and prepared another one. The very moment I released the first two, I nocked the third and let go of the arrow with all the haste I was capable of, then finally pulled myself through the connection with the descending arrow.

After a tumble on the ground, I got up, dusted myself from the ice that had covered my clothes, and headed back toward my group.

I was welcomed with utter silence.

No one among them had ever witnessed the Night Hunter.

"What?" I asked as I reached them.

"Nothing…" said Alistar before muttering something even I couldn't hear.

"That was… incredible, captain. Just, incredible..."

"And… rather hot…" added Roana.

"Yeah…" Said Harlow before correcting herself, "I mean dangerous. Crazy dangerous."

"Loke… don't do that ever again, please," Nova simply said.

"Come on, little monkey. I'm here to protect you. I couldn't let something that scared you like that go unpunished. You are my little monkey, after all. Protecting you is my job."

The whispers we received were… let's say adequate was the right term.

You've earned 12241 + 12135 Soul fractions. Soul fractions for next TechnoHunter level: 320.503/360.000

You've earned 12135 Soul fractions. Soul fractions for next Red Tamer level: 161.651/330.000

Loki has earned 12135 Soul fractions. Soul fractions for next level: 214.642/260.000

I expected a bit more fractions, but since we had all hit both creatures. The Soul fractions had likely been divided among us all.

Nova shrilled, "I'm almost level 18!"

"Where are you placing those points?"

"Agility! Then Strength!" She answered.

"Well, just don't do like Harlow, and get that Perception to ten, at least."

"For your information, I was planning on raising exactly that," Harlow interjected. "I hope it makes me get rid of these glasses."

"Well, you are adorable, glasses or not. No, wait, maybe with glasses, you’re even cuter."

"Glasses definitely give her an edge," Alistar noticed.

"I concur," added Faruq, "but Lady Harlow is beautiful in every way. We have been blessed with beautiful companions of the gentle kind," he said with his charming smile.

"Why, thank you," Harlow answered.

Roana grunted, a thank you, while Nova was too intent on gauging her fast level-ups to answer or maybe even to notice what Faruq had said, weirdly.

I broke the mood with a question.

"So, I've seen something gleaming inside of the second creature's abdomen. What do you think it was?" I asked Harlow.

"Shiny? Are you sure it wasn't white-hot? Usually, their cores are incandescent, but they are not in their sto-" she stopped, pleasantly surprised, "Oh, there could actually be something. Water creatures like these Tehnogator seemed to drop one more frequently than usual. But it is very rare, especially out here," she said, arching her brow.

"Are you implying what I'm thinking?"

"Indeed, it is possible. We should dismantle it," she answered.

"I was waiting exactly for that," Alistar waved his glaive around.

"Alright then, follow my lead. Brute force is not needed," she said.

Once we placed Roana as the outlook for threats coming from the Median Ring and Faruq on the other side, we started dismantling the creature.

As much as Harlow said that brute force was not needed… maybe she meant her type of brute force. Ours was a little less… brusque.

She literally twisted and ripped off pieces of metal from the still-hot belly of the second Technogator I had killed.

The explosions had been enough to kill it. I might have even gone a little over the top. However, I had to make sure it died.

I had seven Crystal Blow arrows left after the little stunt; they were my strongest means of attack. Thus I had to really take care of not wasting them. As much as Stone Blow arrows were good, ice spikes could not do much against these metallic creatures.

"Are you going to leave me something to rip apart?" Alistar said jokingly.

"She's in a ripping spree; you better throw yourself in there."

Even Loki joined in on the ripping action.

"Alright, this one is the core," Harlow said after a while, holding the core up.

The spherical object was still hot, not as incandescent as it should have been, but still enough to burn meat to a crisp in a few seconds.

Her beautiful red armor was enough to contain the heat; also, she would have never lamented about it thanks to her clock-arms.

However, the position she had got the object from inside of the creature's body was wrong.

She had dug in between it from the chest, but the light came from further below.

"That's not it," I shook my head. "It was deeper."

"Alright, then, just a little bit more time," she said.

"I don't think we've got much more time," said Roana.

"Incoming?"

"Yeah, quite a few of them."

There were at least fifteen between bipeds, dogs, and a couple of rhinos coming our way. However, there was something new as well.

Technoperegrine of the Fallen Kingdom, Level 48 (421.369/480.000)

Durability: 100%

Agility: 95

Constitution: 95

Strength: 35

Focus: 85

Perception: 87

Willpower: 0

Strengths: Beak, Dive, Flight, Metal body, Mobility, Talons

Weaknesses: None

Ability: Piercing Feathers

Techonperegrines are extremely mobile; their Agility is such that they can easily evade arrows and such projectiles. They are best fought with Flow-guns.

They usually send scouts, which are then followed by an entire storm.

Those things spelled trouble.

Harlow echoed my thoughts, "Those birds are troublesome, try not to let it escape. Also, I need them."

The more I looked at it, the more I wondered, how was it able to fly with the weight of metal weighing it down? But the answer had likely to do with Flow or Shade.

"Nova," Harlow continued, "can you do something for me?"

"Like, right now? If I can…" She answered flippantly.

"They need my hand fighting these creatures, please go in there," she pointed at the exposed stomach of the Techonogator, "it's already cold. You just might fit in. Find whatever was shining and get it out, please."

Nova nodded; although a little hesitant at first, she got on all four and delved inside the metallic body.

My first instinct was to ask if it was safe. But it was Harlow we talked about; she wouldn't have asked her to do it if it had been dangerous.

"Yeah, but aren't those a tad too many?" Roana asked, pointing me back at the situation at hand. "I don't see other teams having to fight all those creatures?"

"It seems getting rid of those two Technogators has drawn the Dungeon's attention," Faruq said. "However, I'm positive we can take them on, or at least, I could get rid of a few of those bipeds before they start creating too much trouble; you'll have to pick me up from the ground, though."

"Then, Alistar, try to taunt them all; Roana, focus on the bird and the birds only. Bring them to the ground, Harlow-"

"I know," Harlow answered, "I'm going to use a few of the armor's tricks; just watch."

As the creatures got closer, I could see their focus starting to shift toward Alistar. His taunt was slow but really potent.

No matter how many enemies he had in front of him, he could get their attention by merely passively staring at them.

The creatures started drawing closer to each other in an attempt to attack Alistar first.

It was what I was waiting for. The moment the horde was close enough, I started pelting it with Shatter arrows.

The projectiles exploded as they hit their metal frames, then the following Trick Shot did the same; I could say the same the arrow's fragments.

When they exploded like that, they both looked and felt like fireworks.

I shot arrow after arrow, relentless. Although the damage was small, it was starting to accumulate, and when the droids were finally upon us, Harlow surprised us all.

She had been standing in a scout position, then placed her arms forward. Immediately, her armor's arms seemed to bloom; six small gun barrels appeared around both her arms, folding-out of the forearms, and they started shooting all at the same time.

Those were not Flow-guns though.

Those were small cannons; they roughly reminded me of a much scaled-down version of the Avian repeating-cannon.

The twelve shots hit the monsters with a cacophony of small explosions. They looked like my Shatter arrow tempest, but much more deadly.

The impact was enough to send most of the creatures that were hit flying in all directions.

Alistar took that moment to attack a Technorhino. He literally threw himself at it.

Then Faruq joined the fray at maximum speed, and Roana started throwing knife after knife at the monsters.

I did not doubt that Roana and I would have to restock our Stones collection after this adventure.

But I didn't waste my time; I started targeting the hounds with my Piercing arrows.

Meanwhile, whispers started manifesting; it was likely Faruq giving it his all.

Bipeds dropped one after the other, then I felt an explosion; it wasn't mine, nor was it Harlow’s.

I could barely turn around in time to see a missile flying our way; it was aimed at Harlow which was still intent on sealing her weapons back into her armor.

The Horn Missile was powerful; if she didn't move, she would have been run through.

I was not close enough to react. I could barely shout, but she wouldn't move away in time.

"Harlow!"

At that moment, a shield of Flow manifested in front of her; it shattered just as the horn touched it. But it was enough to buy Harlow time to notice it.

Harlow reacted to what had just happened, moving away just that much to evade the horn.

I took that chance to shoot a Crystal Blow arrow at the Rhino's legs, sealing its movements.

Nova was already back; there was a smile on her face even though she would be having a little headache now. The shield always physically hurt her when it shattered.

"Don't waste time," I said as she massaged her temples, "throw your knives. Summon your shields."

She grunted a yes.

I was harsh, but she needed to learn when she could lament and when she couldn't. Yet she had been good.

"Nice timing, by the way," I added as I got back into shooting.

I knew she would grin at that.

The battle raged on, and we were not doing enough damage. Had they been normal monsters, my initial Shatter arrow storm would have been enough to get them with one foot into their grave, but it had done barely any damage. And now I was running short on both Shatter arrows and Piercing arrows.

The moment I saw Faruq interrupt his flashing movements, I knew he would fall.

I had just released an arrow. There was no time to aim another arrow. Also, he was in the middle of too much chaos.

So I threw my knife at him.

I appeared just in time to tackle the last of the bipeds. It answered with a crushing kick to my side.

I could feel something crack in my chest despite the armor. Likely a rib, but then, with a pirouette, my knife found its neck, ripping through it. Spectre's Dignity was that good.

I grabbed the exhausted Faruq that had done his fair share of damage by felling six bipeds by himself while taking their attention; those that remained were mostly dogs, the Rhino, and the damn bird.

I literally launched Faruq to Nova. She summoned a Flow shield to protect his fall, then another around both of them, summoned her Shade knife, and got on the defensive. Loki was guarding her; it would be alright.

Harlow was dealing with one of the Rhinos just as Alistar; she was about to finish hers, though.

That left four dogs, one still under Alistar's taunt; Loki engaged the other, trying to keep away from Nova; one more was following me, and the last one was trying to rip Roana apart. But she was doing her best to keep it away with the Form of the Lifeline, continually stopping it from dashing at her while, at the same time, having the last bird occupied and taking its attention away from the others.

She was becoming good with her manipulation. So much so that the small feathers the birds could launch at her would evade her body without her direct intervention.

Still, we were running short on energies and resources. We would have to end it now and return.

However… damn, I could spare a couple of Stone Blow arrows.

I nocked one, then opened enough space for the dog trying to maul me, to jump at me.

The moment he did, I released the Blow arrow at its mouth. The ice spikes literally tore it apart. Pieces of it blew into the, now even colder, air.

With the tail of my eye, I could see Loki and Nova teaming up, the pair-up allowed her to nip at the creature with her Shade blade. That thing was incredibly efficient.

She would be able to take it down by herself, given time.

I threw my knife in the sky in the bird's direction.

The creature perfectly evaded it, yet the bird couldn't evade my hands grasping its wing when I appeared in mid-air; the added weight caused us both to come crashing down on the ground.

I jumped away at the last moment, throwing my knife in Alistar's direction. I felt the whispers; it was likely the bird just dying to Ro's knives missiles.

I appeared right on top of the Technodog's back, taking my knife from the air and slipping it between the creature's shoulder blades, probably severing something important from the fact that the dog fell heavily down as if it had just died.

My eyes hadn't shown any weak points there, but they could not see under the skin; maybe there was something important there.

Good to know.

"Just- let me- kill this thing on my own!" Alistar said as I kept digging into the dogs with my knife until I could hear its whispers; he was talking about the Technorhino.

"Have it your way."

We were almost done with those creatures. When Harlow finally got rid of her Rhino, and both Roana, Nova, and Loki's team-up were about to deal the finishing blow to the remaining dogs, I started feeling the buzzing anew.

My gaze wandered off into the distance, toward the far Median Ring.

Dozens upon dozens of creatures were running toward us.

Were they coming at us?

My eyes went to the party of delvers at our right. They were retiring, running back.

"Alistar…" I called.

"What!"

"Alistar!" I readied the last Piercing arrow I had.

"Just let- me- kill- this- fucker-" He said as he waved his Glaive blow after blow on the Technorhino's neck."

"Star! We need to run! Now!"

"What!" He asked as the already barely standing Rhino finally fell to the floor, its neck giving out under the consecutive assault. "Can't you wait for just a little? I'm fucking done. What's your problem, hummie?"

"That," I pointed my knife in front, "that's my problem! We have to get the Abyss away from this place, now."

"Oh, I see, yes, I guess we do," he concurred with an entirely different tone.

"Harlow, grab the bird; we need to fly!"

We started running.

Alistar took the still fainted Faruq on his shoulder, Nova mounted on Loki, and we turned tail; something was disturbing me, though. Would we be able to reach the Flow-cart before these creatures reached us?

Why did I think we would not be fast enough? Oh right, it was the buzzing.

No matter how fast we ran, the buzzing only got stronger and stronger.

We would not make it like that; they were too fast.

I was trying to calculate our chances; maybe I would have to stay behind as they escaped; I was the only one capable of unleashing enough confusion and damage and still get out of the fray alive, then when Nova called for me.

"Loke, you know I've made it to level 20," she said with a grin.

"Good job, little monkey."

"Also, I've got a gift for you," she said.

"Is that so?"

"Yup," she said, showing me a Shiny Stone."

I almost staggered.

That's it!

With that nice little addition, we might even make it.

I took it from her hand. "You might just have saved all our lives, Nova."

"What?" she asked.

I smiled at her with all the love I could show. Then I brought the Shiny Stone to my head, and the world became utter darkness.

"No! Not now…" I said to the massive light waiting in front of me.

"Long time no see, Loke. Did you miss me?"