It was refreshing to sit down and talk with Cannoli again. It’d been a long time since we’d done that together. Guess that was one of the benefits of being stuck out in the middle of nowhere for a few days.

Despite how hot it was, it did have its perks. I could think and relax while the gigashank did most of the work. We didn’t have a ton to talk about, nights were mostly uneventful, and even though I was sure I’d have a hell of a tan by the time I got back to Ni Island, I have to admit I was enjoying the time afforded to me.

Images of Keke falling over and breaking a couple bones would pop into my mind whenever she fell asleep during the ride. I’d check to ensure she was secure, and then the silence would continue.

I had to wonder what things looked like before Magni arrived. Some food sources seemed easier to get than others, like sand fishing or picking the fruits away from oasis trees. However, that would hardly be enough for hundreds, potentially thousands of catgirls.

Maybe my memory was failing me, but I was sure that some of the geography textbooks I read in high school described some robust plants and animals living in environments like this. It’s not like there was only a single oasis on the entirety of Ichi Island. That is, unless Magni somehow messed that up, too.

As I continued thinking about how the island supplied its natives, Agni appeared to have noticed something in the distance and slowed the gigashanks to a walk with a single hand gesture.

“Agni—” Tristan started.

Agni silenced him with a finger to her lips. Zahra was also on high alert, her back straight and ears perked. Fearing something was about to happen, I nudged Keke awake.

“Matt, what—”

I gestured for her to remain quiet, then pointed to where Agni was.

“Something’s up,” I whispered.

Zahra, still riding with Lara, sped up some so that her gigashank was in the middle of our group. My grip tightened around the reins of the Encroacher, and my heart began to quicken. The looks on Agni and Zahra’s faces worried me.

When Agni made a second gesture and the gigashanks came to a complete stop, I knew something was wrong. I drew a deep breath and freed one of my hands to grab my axe. Then, a movement caught my eye—a neat row of black beads as large as my fist nestled in the sand to my right. The seven glossy orbs sent a chill down my spine.

Shit. Should I move or stay quiet?

‘Its vision is based on movement’ came to mind. Keke seemed to catch wind of the… thing as well. Her eyes glanced between me and the beads, and I gave her a quick micro-shake of my head. Agni asked us to stay quiet for a reason, and I wasn’t about to blow that apart. But shit, it felt like a bad idea to just sit here until Agni hopefully noticed it.

“I’m gonna lead it away!” Agni suddenly blared out. I turned my head toward her and watched as she snapped on the reins of her gigashank, eliciting a yelp from Ravyn.

“Hey! What the fuck!” yelled Ravyn.

“Trust me!”

I glanced back at where the beads were, suddenly realizing that they’d disappeared.

Oh no.

“Movement and sound is what attracts ‘em! Gotta get it above ground!” Agni’s voice was growing more distant as she rode away.

“Fucking insane, stop! Squawwk!”

Sweat was gathering around my palms. My mind raced at the thought of something happening to Ravyn. Every inch of my body was screaming at me to give chase and help them. Somehow, I held firm, even seeing how Ravyn was holding onto Agni for dear life.

When Agni came to a stop, my heart skipped a beat. The ground shook, and a large brown dorsal fin broke the sand’s surface. It snaked past us as if it swam through water instead of sand, growing in speed as it approached Agni’s location.

Damn it, man. Don’t say anything, don’t say anything. Trust her.

When the dorsal fin was getting closer, Agni pulled something out of her [Cat Pack] and chucked it into the air. The small black object landed between them and the fin. When nothing happened, I’d had enough.

“I can’t keep watching like this,” I said to Keke.

“Matt, wait—” Keke started.

Seconds later, a high-pitched ringing permeated the air. My hands snapped away from the reins to clap over my ears. A bloodcurdling roar emanated from beneath us, and as the ground shook, the Encroacher’s body came to light as it leaped out of the sand. Tens of feet of shark landed belly up on top of the earth. Or at least, the closest thing I’d seen to a shark thus far.

Rows of black orbs lined the sides of the shark from its head to halfway down its body. Its snout was pointed and serrated, like an upgraded swordfish. Flabby folds of skin and smaller tooth-like appendages stuck out from underneath the Encroacher, wriggling in place as the shark tried to comprehend what just happened.

“Attack!” Agni cried.

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Gripping the reins with my axe in hand, I hurried the gigashank into a running motion. The lizard obeyed my command, and the others soon ran alongside us.

I watched as Ball Gag took to the air. Agni was fast approaching the shark with her scimitars.

Great. If we can just buy Ravyn some time, maybe she can roast this thing.

“Matt, please be careful!” Keke screamed. “If they’re anything like the sharks around Ni Island, they have powerful muscles. Get hit by its fin the wrong way, and it’ll break bones!”

Jesus. “Okay, I’ll be careful!” I yelled back.

Keke nodded and nocked an arrow behind her bow. “I’m ready! [Pinpoint Weakness]!”

I nearly jumped off the gigashank by the time we arrived. As I ran toward the beast, arrows soared past me and into its hide. Cannoli, Ceres, as well as Tristan and his Party came right behind us. I kept Ravyn in my peripheral while I neared, my axe and shield at the ready.

The thing was unlike anything we’d faced so far. This guy could’ve given the megalodon a run for its money with its size. I stopped short of running into it when it started to flop around. The ground shook with every movement it made, bringing me to one knee.

“There’s no way I can get near this thing!” I said.

“The heart!” Agni bellowed as she stuck one of her scimitars into the beast’s belly. It let out a roar, whipping its bottom half and grazing Agni’s side. I watched in shock as Agni rolled across the sand, one of her scimitars flying out of her hand. “Damn it! I’m fine!”

“[Rockskin]!” Lara cried somewhere on my left. At her command, a thin layer of earth and rock covered Zahra’s features. It was a bit spooky, giving her the appearance of a statue given life.

Zahra streaked across the sand and delivered a stabbing blow between the dorsal fin and snout. As she extracted the blade, a strange sensation swept over me. Like someone had just shocked my brain. It lasted only for a second or two, but during that time, it felt as if the world had come to a halt.

Was that the perception that Zahra was talking about?

Zahra struck at the shark again, pouring coconut-white blood into the sand with the gash she had created. Ravyn, Tristan, and Destiny rained fire from the sky with all assortments of bombs and blazes. Ceres rushed to the frontline alongside Zahra and me.

“[Scorching Ring]!”

“[Fire Ball]!”

“[Enchant Bomb]!”

As we fought with the top half of the shark, we began to realize we weren’t getting very far. My axe could barely puncture the Encroacher’s thick hide. It didn’t help that I had to get closer than Ceres or Zahra to do any real damage. Zahra struggled to replicate the first cut she made. Each sequential attack that came was weaker than the last. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand. Zahra didn’t seem to tire easily. There was something more to this thing—even the fires weren’t doing as much damage as they initially produced.

“Damn it! Nothing’s getting through!” I turned to see Agni was back on the front lines. The shark whipped its head around, nearly ramming itself into me. Tiny orbs of white floated around inside the shark’s beady, black eyes. I hadn’t seen those before. What the hell were they?

“Sir Matt!” Ceres called from my left. “Its young have arrived!”

“Its young?” I turned on my heel to see hundreds of hand-sized dorsal fins swimming toward us. My eyes widened. “Shit.”

“Lara!” Destiny screamed as she extracted three more bottle grenades from her [Cat Pack]. “Little ones! Under the sand!”

“I could hear them coming! Come with me, Master Tristan!” Lara cried.

You could hear them? In what world?

Lara looped her elbow around Tristan’s arm and tugged him away from the mother shark and toward the horde of babies.

“Lara! Wait! Explain!” I heard Tristan plead as his voice became increasingly distant.

Zahra and Ceres rushed to my sides, flanking me and panting.

“Sir Matt, we must vanquish this Encroacher immediately. Its skin strengthens,” said Ceres.

“It’s going to keep calling them if we can’t kill the mother,” said Zahra.

I turned to see Keke and Cannoli some distance behind me. They were safe, but they seemed at a loss for what to do. Keke had stopped firing as her arrows were barely puncturing its leathery skin. I could barely break the skin myself, let alone draw blood from it. And although the shark had many eyes for Cannoli to blind, it wasn’t as if it would do much in this situation. Considering she kept glancing toward the baby sharks, I was willing to bet she was saving it for them—just in case.

“I’m open to ideas! Including running!” Securing our safety in the capital was priority number one for me. There was no reason to fight if we didn’t have to.

Zahra shook her head. “We cannot outrun a Great Blight Shark. It would only be a matter of time until it devoured one of us.”

“Then what do you suggest? We’re not getting anywhere like this. I can barely get near the damn thing without getting snapped in two.” I sighed, never taking my eye off the giant Encroacher. “How long until this thing ends up back in the sand, anyway? Can it even get back in?”

“As long as we can keep its attention, we have a chance to stop it from going back under.” Zahra clicked her tongue, eyeing Ceres' polearm. “This is too much for our two Parties. Lara and Tristan are going to get overwhelmed. What we need are spears.” Zahra paused and then snapped her fingers, her eyes suddenly brighter. “I have an idea.”

The shark snapped its head around to face us, and again the perception triggered. Now that I knew what it felt like, I was ready for it this time. As the shark’s mouth came around, I lurched backward and watched as Ceres dodged with me. We fell to the ground and watched in horror as Zahra was swallowed whole by the Encroacher.

Ceres and I stumbled to our feet, panting.

“Shit!” I continued to back up while Ceres stood before me with her polearm held outward. “We have to get her out of there! Now!”

“I know! But we must focus on the task before us!” cried Ceres. “Rushing headlong will grant us no favors!”

Meanwhile, baby sharks were littering the sky. Somehow, Lara had launched them into the air while Tristan and Destiny shot them down like clay pigeons. I was grateful they hadn’t seen what happened to Zahra. I was not going to break this news to him. Not this early. Not when we still had a chance to save her.

“I’ll draw its attention so you can open it up! [Invoke Frost]!” A frosty mist wrapped around the head of her polearm before she charged back in.

“Alright!”

The battle maid moved with impeccable speed, thrusting her weapon into one of its many black eyes. Blood spurted out of its orifice, freezing in midair from Ceres’ spell. Afterward, she tried to extract the blade for another strike. It was to no avail. Three baby sharks leaped out of the sand on Ceres’ right.

“Ceres, look out!” I cried.

“[Titan of Ice]!” Ceres held one gauntleted arm up, and as the sharks collided with the crystal barrier around her skin, they fell to the ground in small blocks of ice.

I couldn’t keep watching this. I darted back to Ceres, coughing as bits of sand lodged themselves between my eyes and teeth. Reaching from behind Ceres, I took hold of her arm and pulled. “Come on, Ceres! Pull!”

“No, you must free Zahra!”

“And leave you defenseless like this? I don’t think so!”

With our combined strength, the polearm came free. Moments later, a flash of light and a volley of arrows followed. The shark roared in frustration as Ceres and I fell backward on top of each other. The Great Blight turned and snapped its meaty jaws at us, nearing inch by inch. We continuously clamored over each other until the beast just… stopped. Nothing else had changed. It was still relatively unharmed save for a few of its eyes. But I could no longer hear it breathing.

Ceres sat behind me, wearing a confused expression. “Has it perished? I do not understand.” It sounded more rhetoric than pointed.

“Uhhh.” I tilted my head and squinted my eyes. “The hell?”

And then a disturbing sound reached my ears. It sounded like bone or flesh tearing apart. That sort of sound you’d get when you ripped a piece of raw pork off the bone. The memory of the Defiled twins resurfaced, and I rose to my feet, the sweat around my body suddenly colder. As the shark’s body shook more violently, the grip around my axe tightened, and my teeth clenched.

A gasp escaped my lips when I saw the point of a katana protrude from the Encroacher’s skin. The blade slowly moved to one side, widening the cut and making the most disturbing, gut-wrenching sound I’d heard in a while. After a sizeable wound was made, Zahra’s head poked through, along with her sword arm.

“Zahra!” I slipped my axe between my belt and rushed to her, Ceres close behind. When I got there, the smell was indescribable. I clapped a hand over my mouth and slowed my breathing as I felt bile rising and burning my throat. Zahra reached out with her spare hand. I held my breath and took hold. She barely moved when I pulled. “Holy shit, I can’t move you for anything. Ceres?”

Ceres flinched when she approached but didn’t complain. “Yes, Sir Matt.”

“Let’s leverage our weight. One leg against the shark, and we’ll pull on three. Sound good?”

“Of course.” Ceres set her polearm on the ground and took the opposite side of Zahra’s arm.

“Alright. One, two, three!”

The Encroacher squelched as we worked Zahra out of the shark’s body. White, sticky gunk covered her from head to toe. It looked as if she’d fallen into a vat of white frosting.

Too bad it smells nothing like it.

“Well, then,” Zahra said with a half-laugh. “That was something.”

Matt has gained: 48 XP!

Keke has gained: 54 XP!

Cannoli has gained: 19 XP!

Ravyn has gained: 57 XP!

Ceres has gained: 63 XP!

Ravyn is now: Base Level 13!