The air shook with sound, feathers and claws and wind colliding in a cacophony that drowned out

  thought. The mountain itself seemed alive, the stone vibrating beneath their boots as another wave of

  white-eyed creatures poured from the cave.

  Bash didn’t need S-C to tell him what he was seeing. Two summoners. In a single cycle. The odds were

  absurd. Impossible. And yet...

  “Focus,” he told himself. “Think later.”

  The team had barely regained formation when the first dive came. A winged creature, all glass and

  feathers, swept down the path. Rixor caught it mid-lunge, his hammer colliding with the beast’s skull

  and sending it tumbling over the edge in a burst of molten sparks.

  “Another on the right!” Liora shouted.

  “I see it!” Darik’s gauntlets flared, kinetic light surging as he struck upward, pulverizing a second

  attacker before it could dig its talons into Rixor’s exposed flank. The path beneath them was narrow,

  crumbling under the combined weight of movement and chaos, a death chute carved into the mountain.

  Nyra fired past Bash’s shoulder, her bolts leaving streaks of blue that seared through a cluster of

  smaller summons. “They’re endless!”

  “They re-summon,” Bash barked. “Keep moving!”

  S-C’s voice cut through the noise inside his head. “Reappearance interval estimated at thirty seconds.

  Essence density matches Tier-Two Sovereign-class, possibly higher.”

  “Define higher,” he growled.

  “Tier-Three-Common or Greater.”

  That was all he needed to hear. Bash’s stomach tightened. That wasn’t just rare, that was catastrophic.

  Ahead, Rixor took another blow, his shielding arm sliding as he blocked a taloned strike. The creature’s

  claws scraped across his pauldron, sparks flying. He shoved it back with a roar, the impact ringing

  through the narrow pass.

  Liora’s twin blades blazed with alternating lines of molten red and dull metallic gold as she pressed

  close behind him. Each swing sent sparks scattering, the air hissing where her strikes met stone and

  flesh. “I’ve got your flank!”

  “Appreciate it,” Rixor grunted, swinging again.

  The path was just wide enough for one at a time, a single-file retreat. Rixor was the point of the spear,

  absorbing everything. Behind him, Liora held the second line, Darik covering her rear. Bash and Taren

  occupied the middle, Nyra and Calen bringing up the back.

  “Back it down slow,” Bash ordered, firing his sidearm up the slope. “Stay close, keep eyes forward.”

  Taren’s gun whined softly between each shot. Healing rounds burst into small waves of light, washing

  over the group. “Everyone stay inside the field!” she shouted. Her necklace glowed bright in sync with

  her weapon, energy rings spreading with every pulse.

  Calen cursed from the rear. “I’m hit again, left arm!”

  Taren pivoted, firing a cluster of green orbs toward him. The light struck his armor and diffused,

  mending burns and cuts across his shoulder. But the moment she switched aim, Rixor took a hit to the

  chest.

  “Watch your healing bias!” Bash yelled. “Prioritize front!”

  “I’m trying!” she snapped. “Half of it keeps redirecting, necklace targets the lowest health

  automatically!”

  S-C flickered into Bash’s awareness. “Observation: Calen’s lack of healing-linked gear is diverting fifty

  percent of Taren’s restorative output. Efficiency compromised.”

  “Yeah, no kidding,” Bash muttered.

  The next rush came from above, winged summons diving like arrows. Nyra turned, firing upward in

  controlled bursts. Each impact detonated with sharp precision, dropping one after another, but there

  were too many. Calen spun beside her, his bowstring singing as arrow after arrow screamed into the air.

  Wind essence spiraled, scattering feathers. “Keep moving!” he shouted, the only one not retreating.

  “Calen!” Nyra snapped. “Back down, now!”

  “I’ve got the sky!”

  “You’re about to be in it!”

  A massive bird-beast slammed into the ledge beside him, stone exploding under its weight. Calen

  barely rolled aside, his cloak tearing as talons scraped his shoulder. Nyra swung her rifle up, firing

  twice in quick succession, both shots hammering the beast’s flank but not slowing it.

  Before it could strike again, Bash blink-stepped forward, a knife flashing from his hand. The blade

  buried itself deep into the creature’s throat, cutting its screech short as it staggered and toppled over the

  cliff in a plume of dust.

  Bash didn’t even look back. “Everyone down, now! Rixor, hold that choke!”

  Rixor grunted acknowledgement, hammer rising. Every strike he landed sent reverberations through the

  mountain, shaking loose bits of gravel. His belt glowed faintly, channeling each blocked hit into

  restorative feedback. But there were too many claws, too many wings.

  Liora stayed tight on his flank, twin blades slashing over his shoulder in controlled arcs. Each strike

  burst with molten sparks, cutting down the creatures that tried to slip past his guard. Her gauntlets

  crackled as she swung between ranged bursts and close strikes. “Front’s holding!”

  “For now,” Rixor said through gritted teeth.

  Behind them, Taren continued pouring healing fire down the line, her sidearm glowing with a golden

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  pulse. Each burst created a small area of regeneration, but her energy drain was rapid, the necklace on

  her chest flickering as it redistributed output.

  “I can’t maintain this pace!” she called.

  “You’re doing fine!” Bash yelled back, swapping firing hands. His left hand sent knives in rapid arcs

  while the right unleashed resonance rounds from his sidearm. Each echo from the relic rang faintly

  through his armor, subtle but steady.

  SC’s calm voice threaded through the chaos. “Healing feedback from critical strikes is stabilizing your

  vitals. Sustained engagement possible for approximately five more minutes at current intensity.”

  “Noted,” he muttered, firing again.

  The descent turned into controlled chaos, the team backing step by step down the slope, holding

  position long enough for the next person to move. The air was filled with burning feathers and the acrid

  smell of scorched rock.

  Rixor caught another blow and staggered. His gauntlets flashed crimson, the internal conduits glowing.

  Darik reached past Liora to slam his gauntleted fist into the attacker’s head, forcing it back.

  “Keep your guard up!” Darik shouted.

  “Trying!” Rixor barked, hammer swinging in a broad arc. The impact shattered three smaller summons

  in one blow, their bodies bursting into white light that dissolved into the air.

  Then, silence, for a moment.

  The team froze. No movement. No shrieks.

  Bash’s ears rang from the echo of his own pulse. “Everyone still breathing?”

  “Mostly,” Rixor said, panting.

  “Good,” Bash said. “Don’t get comfortable.”

  And just as he spoke, the sound began again, faint at first, like whispering wind through reeds. Then

  louder.

  S-C’s voice cut in. “Re-summoning detected. Residual resonance signatures reforming. Estimated time

  to full re-manifestation: ten seconds.”

  “Positions!” Bash shouted.

  The creatures reappeared. Not as corpses, but as flickering light outlines that solidified back into flesh

  and feather, exactly where they’d fallen.

  Taren’s eyes widened. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

  “Move!” Bash yelled.

  Rixor slammed his hammer down, generating a shockwave that bought them three precious seconds.

  They used it. The team pushed lower, half-sliding down the slope as the next wave hit.

  There were hundreds now, the mountain alive with motion. Fire beasts streaked through the air, leaving

  burning trails. Wind beasts darted between them like arrows. Mineral summons crashed against the

  rock walls, dislodging fragments that cascaded like shrapnel.

  “Count’s up to three hundred,” Nyra shouted, ducking a barrage of quills.

  Darik laughed once, half-mad. “That’s comforting.”

  “Closer to four hundred,” S-C sounded in Bash’s head.

  Rixor’s hammer connected again and again, his arms moving like pistons. Each hit that landed built

  momentum, his gauntlets siphoning health back through the impact. But the drain was relentless.

  Taren’s necklace shone bright again, channeling orbs of golden light toward him. Half arced away midflight, veering toward Calen, who had taken another hit from a swooping beast.

  “Sorry!” Taren gasped. “Necklace still redirecting!”

  “Just keep him alive!” Rixor growled, blocking another blow.

  Calen fired into the swarm, arrows streaking like a storm of razor wind. Each one cut through two,

  sometimes three enemies, his gear amplifying his firing rate into a blur.

  But for every one he dropped, more appeared.

  Liora kept pace beside Rixor, covering his blind spots. “We’re almost at the base!”

  “Then move!” Bash barked, firing and throwing, alternating rhythm. His sidearm pulsed nonstop,

  resonance rounds cutting streaks through the darkening air. His knives flew from his off-hand,

  returning in arcs of light before he sent them out again.

  The slope widened finally, opening into a broader shelf near the base of the cliff. They reached it one

  by one, Calen first, then Nyra, followed by Bash and Taren.

  Rixor was still above, fighting two larger beasts that clawed their way down the rock.

  “Rixor, fall back!” Bash shouted.

  “Working on it!”

  He swung once more, hammer colliding with one beast’s shoulder, the recoil rattling through his arms.

  The other lunged low, striking him across the abdomen. His armor flared, absorbing most of it, but not

  enough.

  The impact lifted him off his feet, slamming him into the cliff wall.

  Taren screamed his name and fired a burst of healing rounds up the slope, the light reaching him just as

  he regained footing.

  Rixor coughed, spitting blood, and brought his hammer down in one last defiant swing that shattered

  both attackers. He staggered backward, light flashing from his gauntlets, crimson to white.

  The energy surged down his arms, flooding his core.

  “Vigor trigger!” he roared, voice echoing off the stone. “I would have just died!”

  The glow from his gauntlets expanded into a brief shock wave of power. His wounds sealed halfway,

  his armor thickened, his stance solidified again, but only for seconds.

  “Everyone move!” Bash yelled.

  The team surged forward, forming up around Rixor as the slope behind them came alive again with the

  pounding steps of hundreds of re-summoned beasts.

  The mountain roared with life.