Nissa did most of the work. In Singularity, if someone’s position was not mentioned, it naturally meant that they would be in the center of the formation. In this case, it was the right choice to make. Her Arcane Archery had several techniques that helped control the battlefield. She could, for example, launch multiple guided arrows — like missiles almost — and sometimes on impact, these would explode. It was hard to tell if the explosions were separate techniques, or if the explosions were based on chance or magical output.

But the result was the same. Nissa’s arrows protected the flanks and funneled the Dark Howlers into the frontline. Fang’s naginata, in these tunnels, was not the best tool for the job, but his thrusting attacks had the desired effect. Whenever a Dark Howler avoided the bladed polearm and moved to flank Fang, Ame would cut off its head with a single motion.

The strategy was so effective that Aren felt foolish for almost dying in this place. This was not just the power of numbers, but information as well. Knowing how to kill the Dark Howlers was more than enough to win the battle. If Aren, back then, knew that he had to decapitate them or crush their cores, he would’ve probably fared better. For a while, at least.

The difference between Aren’s battle, and the group’s battle, was that the enemy was far fewer in number and this time the group had the benefits of Unity. In the very first battle, one of the beasts howled and summoned the entire pack. From that moment onwards, Aren’s fate was determined. Even if he had information on how to kill them, he would’ve been surrounded and slaughtered.

But the group did not let a single one of the shadow beasts howl. They faced only two or three at a time, and from the moment Nissa engaged them — with her superior night vision — the beasts mindlessly rushed the group and ran into the impenetrable phalanx that was the frontline.

Estella rarely had to act, and even then, she did little more than swing her sword at the beasts, forcing them to engage Fang instead, and from there, it was Ame’s guillotine-sword. Damien, Cassandra, and Aren did absolutely nothing.

Perhaps that was not quite correct. Cassandra maintained a barrier that gave off light. Whenever the beasts were in the presence of the barrier they acted in a way that made Aren think they were enraged — as if they hated that light. Perhaps that is why they did not howl. Damien, on the other hand, was navigating for the group. It was similar to that time in the Orc tunnels — somehow, Damien always knew which way to go.

The only one who really did nothing to contribute to the group, in any shape or form, was Aren himself.

Until the fifth intersection that is.

“One is coming your way, Damien!” Fang shouted, his polearm grazing the low ceiling as he attempted to bring it around and stab at the Dark Howler that came from the passageway on the right. Until then, the beasts only attacked from two directions. This time, the shortcomings of their hexagon formation were starting to show.

Damien smeared across Aren’s field of view, like an inky shadow trailing tendrils of gravity-defying oil. It was hard to tell exactly where in space Damien was, and this was one of the powers of assassins. They weren’t exactly overwhelming close-combat specialists, but they were tricky opponents.

The Dark Howler flanked to Estella’s right, while the crusader was busy fighting off another beast, and, as if guided by some intelligence, went to attack Nissa — the core of the group’s fighting power. Nissa was indeed the critical component of this strategy. Without her power to engage and funnel the beasts, they would be surrounded and slaughtered.

Skillfully, Damien intercepted the beast, and instead of attacking it, simply stood in its path. It was not his job to fight them, only hold them off, until their phalanx ground them to dust under Ame’s slaughtering sword.

But the howler kept trying to lunge past Damien, also not interested in fighting the assassin. It was as if it truly did possess intelligence, and not just that, but also tactical and strategic knowledge.

Aren even wondered why the beast was attacking them. Priscilla’s Blessing promised that intelligent monsters would not attack the group. But it also hinted that if some did attack them, that they would instead receive a powerful buff.

Aren did not have the ability to see active status effects on himself, but he knew that he was under the effects of Estella’s Unity. Could it be that Unity and Priscilla’s Blessing were somehow exclusive, or was there another explanation?

Aren also did not have the time to consider the intricacies of how Singularity might interpret two buffs that activated at the same time — when the group was attacked — and if that could cause one of them to be canceled.

One of the Dark Howlers emerged from the shadows, also trailing inky blackness much the same way Damien did, and this one was much larger than the other ones. It also had four, gleaming red eyes that appeared in the darkness like the sunset captured in multifaceted ruby gems. This Dark Howler barked and the beast engaging Damien suddenly became interested in fighting him after all and lunged at him.

Damien managed to fend it off, dodging and jabbing at the beast, and even though he tried to maintain his position, he was forced out of the formation and towards the frontline duo.

Then the larger Dark Howler, with an open path, dashed towards Nissa who was too busy trying to hold back several beasts from overwhelming the frontline. She didn’t even notice that she was out of position now. It was not that she, herself, moved out of position, but the fact that Damien’s movement exposed her.

The Dark Howler lunged from five meters away, its larger frame allowing it to cross such an unthinkable distance with ease. Not even Fang’s naginata would have been able to hold it back if its range was that great.

Its teeth sparkled in the light of Cassandra’s light magic, like diamonds or night sky stars. Nissa noticed the Dark Howler but it was already too late.

A hole the size of a dinner plate formed in the torso of the beast and rim of the hole caught fire and became cinders, as a shockwave rippled through the beast’s body, crushing organs and bones. The overpowering sound of Aren’s [Lightning Driver] echoed through the tunnels and Aren immediately regretted his action, before the howler even finished discorporating into tendrils and motes of shadow.

The sound was so powerful that Aren took damage — it was only minor damage, but it came with a Partial Deafness debuff. Blood dripped from his blown eardrum, oozing out of his right ear and dripping onto his neck and collar.

Aren pressed his hand against his ear, eyes squeezed almost entirely shut. The frontline did not have such a luxury. They were stunned and disoriented by the blast of sound, but they had to fend off the beasts that were still alive. Luckily, the beasts were also affected by the sound.

“The core,” Fang shouted, bewildered, and even though Aren saw the intensity with which he delivered those words, they still sounded like quiet waves receding from the shore — drowned out by static.

Aren understood Fang’s spiritual trauma. The vestige core of that Dark Howler would’ve probably been something unthinkable. Aren saw only two cores when he was here, by himself. One was a pure, azure color, and the other one he ripped out from a howler, and although it was covered in blood, it was also of some color. He did not manage to retrieve either one of those cores, unfortunately.

However, the cores the group found have all been grey and lusterless. Only a few — maybe one or two — were of a dirty, brownish color. Suffice to say, they looked like worthless and Fang had been tossing them into his satchel with an expression of disgust and disappointment.

The idea of obtaining something really valuable, and then blowing it away with a railgun-like projectile burned in the depths of the soul. Even Nissa felt that pain, even though she was likely to die in order to obtain such a valuable object. It was written all over her face.

She would come back from death, but that core was now irretrievable.

The group quickly dispatched the remaining beasts, and Damien had to kill the howler that was suicidally still throwing itself at the assassin as if still obeying the commands of what may have been the alpha.

With everyone partially deaf, Fang gave the order to retreat on the group channel. He was worried that the sound of the [Lightning Driver] may have attracted more howlers, and there was a possibility that they would get behind them, cutting off their escape route.

It was a quiet, uneventful trip back to the church.

By then, their hearing had largely returned, and Cassandra put up a healing barrier that slowly, but surely, reduced their healing times from days to less than an hour. Wounds in Singularity were punishing things. Only high-ranked priests could quickly eradicate damage sustained in battle, and Cassandra was just a step above an Acolyte. She did not have access to such abilities.

“It is farther than I thought,” Fang said, as the group rested near the altar where Cassandra’s Divine magic was the strongest.

“The Labyrinth?” Nissa asked.

Fang nodded. “There are too many intersections,” he said. “And our formation is not good enough.”

“We don’t have enough people,” Estella said. “Two in the frontline is not enough. We either need a wedge or a diamond.”

“It is not just the frontline,” Fang said. “He doesn’t show it, but I know him better than anyone. Ame is dead on his feet.”

Ame smiled apologetically. And he truly did not allow his fatigue to show through. He looked as stoic and distant as Fang did, but now that Aren looked closer, he could see it in the blademaster’s eyes. Chopping off heads sounds like an easy job, but in reality, it was extremely difficult. First of all, it required extreme concentration. Ame was not allowed to miss or to deliver a blow that was not fatal — if that happened, the whole formation could crumble. Second of all, it was not easy on his spiritual and physical energy reserves, especially if it was made to look easy and graceful.

“What about an arrowhead formation?” Cassandra offered.

“Arrowhead?” Fang pondered. “That could work.”

“I could take point,” Ame said. “It would be easier on me as well.”

“What about the cores?” Nissa asked.

Fang grumbled. “To hell with them. They’re garbage anyway. We need to go deeper. There is a chance that creatures there will leave corpses behind, and then we can extract cores normally.”

“Monsters can leave behind corpses?” Aren asked, the question drawing a glance from Ame.

Fang nodded. “They generally do. But corrupted places — like those that were affected by the demonic invasions — generally have monsters that are half demon-spawn. When they die, their physical form discorporates. They don’t die from blood loss or fatal blows. This is why this place was so unpopular. It is swarming with what are essentially Elite monsters, and yet the rewards are pitiful.”

Aren nodded, but something didn’t match up. The two cores he obtained were definitely not pitiful rewards. But why could they, as a group, not find any such cores now? It didn’t seem right, but Aren didn’t want to bring it up. His opportunity to do so had passed. For all he knew, it might have been related to his Calamity status, and that was something he could not share now when Ame was present. Besides, it did not matter anyway. Bringing it up would not offer a solution, most likely.

“Then, there is another issue,” Fang said.

Everyone glanced at Fang, torn from their own internal ponderings.

“Don’t you think that it all seems a bit odd?” Fang asked.

Ame nodded. The others seemed thoughtful but eventually came to agree with Fang.

“That howler was more intelligent than the others,” Nissa said.

Fang nodded vehemently. “Yes,” he said. “It is strange that we weren’t surrounded immediately. The howlers didn’t howl either.”

“What are you saying?” Ame asked.

“I am saying that if you forget the fact that we are fighting monsters,” Fang began, “And if you assume we are fighting adventurers or denizens, then it makes more sense.”

“How so?” Nissa asked.

“We are being lured in.” Ame was the one say it first.

Fang nodded to Ame. “If they have a commander, they are letting us win so that we become complacent. If it exists, and if it is that intelligent, it is not just hunting us.” Fang paused, looking at each person, and then his gaze lingered on Aren. “It is trying to completely and utterly annihilate us.”

Aren’s gaze slid off Fang’s face and towards the entrance of the catacombs. He wasn’t just looking towards the entrance, but his gaze was attracted towards a certain point, deep beneath the earth. He did not sense anything there — it wasn’t like that. But somewhere, in his mind, he knew something was there.

And a deep need and a desire to consume burned in his heart.

[ Arcane Predator: Prey trait discovered: Legendary Monster. ]