Max checked his Node Menu and was more than satisfied with the results.

*Mana Shards: 2141*

He turned towards his friends, right into their questioning looks. Before he could say something, Sam spoke up.

“Listen, before I even ask about what you just did, and what Bixby means by alarm system, tell me, did it work?” He asked eagerly.

“Yep.” As an answer Max pulled out his Node Menu, letting the Mana Shard count float over his outstretched palm like a diagram.

“Well fuck me,” Sam said. “Looks like we finally made it.”

Sarah turned her eyes away from Max’s hologram to face him. “Good job,” she smiled and offered him a fist bump.

“Uhh thanks,” Max returned her fist bump. “But I think we should probably run, right Bixby?”

“We can celebrate when we’re safe,” the Nodefox said. “That wave of energy that just went around? It’s like a signal flare, telling the Nodefoxes that something happened to their spawner. I was hoping they wouldn’t have a contingency system, but as I told you, it was a plain hope from the beginning.”

The others turned towards Bixby in shock.

“Are you saying the Nodefoxes know we’re here now?” Sarah asked, eyes wide in fear.

Bixby nodded solemnly. “Yes.”

Dave sighed. “I guess that means we should run.”

With that they took off back towards their camp. Trying to go as fast as possible, the group soon fell into a sort of half jog. They were still too tired directly after the fight to make a good pace, but fear kept driving them.

Because they knew all too well what kind of trouble the Nodefoxes could bring.

The group were almost at the outer edge of their camp when Bixby stopped them. Dave was a little out of breath from their run, but looking around at his friends, he saw that he was holding up rather well.

“Why are we stopping?” Dave asked.

Bixby held out a hand and stepped in front of the group. “We should probably split up and approach the camp from different directions. It may very well be possible that the enemy is already waiting for us.”

“How could they already be here?” Ryland asked, looking worriedly over his shoulder.

Bixby raised an eyebrow and gave a weak chuckle. “Because of Rank two, that’s how. These monsters could literally be anywhere if they wanted to.”

A little debate ensued about the question of splitting up. Mainly consisting of a heated argument between Max, Sam and Sarah.

“I’m just saying that splitting up is always the worst thing you could do in a movie. Have you never seen a horror movie?” Sam asked, his voice raised only a little about his normal speaking volume. But for him that was akin to shouting.

“Listen Sam. This is no horror movie, this is real life. We’re smarter than some movie characters, if one of our group sees signs of Nodefoxes, simply turn around. Just playing it safe,” Max said, and after seeing Sam calming down, he continued. “If we split into three groups, we can come at them from three angles, and still be enough people to defend a sudden ambush.”

“Yeah that sounds reasonable,”Bixby said.

“Did you just say ambush?” Sam asked.

Most of the floor around their clearing was pretty worn down by now, either through their expeditions, or through the waves of monsters roaming around outside their portective Grace Period.

However, now Dave tried to stick to the paths where the growth was still thick, hoping it would provide cover for him and Mira. With his Hidden Blades he silently cut through bushes and other oversized plants, clearing a path for them..

He stepped carefully, his inhuman dexterity and highered perception gave him a distinct advantage when it came to sneaking. Together with his months of experience in this terrain, he moved like a ghost.

Unfortunately Mira was a little bit more clumsy. A snapping sound rang out from behind him, making Dave turn around in an instant. His eyes quickly scanned the scene, and his legs tensed, ready for a fight.

But he quickly saw the small twig on the ground and Mira’s sorry face.

“I’m sorry, I must’ve missed it,” she said, looking embarrassed.

“It’s okay,” Dave reassured her. “It only scared me a little.”

Dave turned to continue again, when he realized Mira was still standing there, shocked. Looking closer, he noticed the way her hands were shaking. “Are you alright?”

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“I don’t know,” Mira said, sitting down and leaning against a tree. “It’s just… it’s just all been too much lately. Always being on edge. I don’t think I can take it anymore. How many more times do we have to fight? How many more times do I have to fear about survival?”

“This will be the last time,” Dave said and held his hand out towards her, helping her up. “We will get back to the camp, buy that teleport token and then we’ll be far away from here. Somewhere peaceful.”

“You promise?” Mira looked up at Dave.

Reacting out of instinct, Dave answered. “I promise.”

He took her hand and helped her up.

Only a little later did they reach the edge of their clearing. As Dave stepped out between two trees, they found themselves in the exact spot where Mira had shown Dave her life-draining abilities for the first time.

The giant, completely dead tree was long gone, used up for firewood and other necessities. But there was still the tree stump of said tree, almost two meters across and slightly darkened around the edges.

Mira had used her life drain skill on the tree before they even felled it, only through this was it even possible for Ryland to take it down. However, the tree stump seemed to have regenerated a little, there was a world of a difference between it and the tree Dave had seen drained.

“Wow I remember sitting here, preparing the firewood,” Mira said, humor in her voice. “Then you came along and stared at me like a creep.”

“I… uhh… what?”

Mira chuckled. “Just teasing you.”

Before Dave could say something else, another snapping sound rang out behind them. This time, instead of turning around instantly, Dave let his eyes slowly wander first. He looked up to Mira, who was standing in front of him, her eyes wide in fear and directed above his shoulder.

He sprung around in an instant, Dave’s worst fear became reality. Just behind them stood a Nodefox, and it felt powerful.

He swept his aura senses across the little clearing, and they went wild when registering the Nodefox. It was definitely second rank. Visually Dave had difficulty telling Nodefox apart, the dark Nodefox back at the river having been the only one to really look different than the rest of the Nodefoxes.

While Dave had trouble telling Nodefoxes apart with his eyes, that didn’t apply for his aura senses.

“It’s you, isn’t it?” Dave stepped in front of Mira and summoned his spear, he knew it would be more useful than his Hidden Blades against this foe.

The Nodefox cocked its head looking directly at Dave. A savage smile spread across his face. Then he did something that was surprising.

“You don’t know how long I have waited for this, human.” Its voice was deep, undeniably male, and full of hatred.

“Oh wow, you’ve gotten yourself a language skill,” Dave gave a dry chuckle to hide his nerves. “You must’ve really wanted to talk to me.”

“There are many uses for one these days, but I’m not going to lie to you human, I’ve been looking forward to hearing and understanding your last words.” The Nodefox smiled savagely.

“Well, you must’ve been really scared of this rematch, if you took the time to rank up before confronting me.”

The smirk on the Nodefoxes face vanished, replaced with a deep frown. “My uncle was insistent indeed that I should get stronger. He was a little disappointed from me after our last match. Painingly so.” The Nodefox turned around, showing Dave the scars running along it’s back.

Half a dozen scars ran across bis back, like angry red snakes. Having collected quite a few scars himself, Dave knew better than most what kind of wound it had taken for him to gather these scars. Especially considering how many there were.

Only now did Dave also realize that the air around the Nodefox seemed different somewhat. It was undeniably the same aura from the young Nodefox he had fought at the river one night, so many weeks ago. But it was darker, less childish.

“Don’t overestimate yourself human. There are other reasons to get stronger. You know, I won’t get the shame back of losing to a newly initiated like you, human. But if I beat you, at least I can sleep peacefully today.”

“Hah. So I did give you nightmares eh buddy?” Still trying to play it cool to not let fear take hold in him. Dave took out the little object he always carried in his hidden belt pouch. He palmed it, so as not to let the Nodefox see it.

The Nodefoxe’s brow was twitching at his comment, the true rage finally showing in its face. Without the extensive experiences Dave had with Bixby, he wouldn’t have caught the signs quite so clearly.

Fortunately, he had learned something else from his time with the Nodefox, and now he was hoping it was a general trait of Nodefoxes, and not just a specific mannerism of his friend.

Dave decided to pull the oldest trick in the book. He looked past the Nodefox, just over his shoulder, opening his mouth slightly and making his eyes go wide in fear.

“Hey look over there!” Dave exclaimed, pointing behind the Nodefox.

Luckily all Nodefoxes seemed to have a weakness towards sarcasm and obvious distraction. Because the Nodefox turned around, looking surprised.

Dave used the brief time window to quickly take the Replenishing Acorn from Bixby, which he always carried around. It was a skill of Bixby’s which combined a strong energy drink and an even stronger painkiller into a single little acorn. It was no magic pill, but it restored Dave to almost his full fighting potential.

Having realized he had been tricked, the Nodefox turned angrily back towards Dave. “You think those tricks will save you?”

“Save me?” Dave said, taking another step towards the Nodefox, electricity crackling in his hands. “What makes you think I need to be saved?”

With that they rushed at each other.

Dave was a blur, moving faster than ever before. He knew he needed to make it count right from the beginning, since unlike the last times, this second rank Nodefox really wanted to kill him.

He feinted high and went low with his spear, hoping to compromise the Nodefoxes movement. But differently than last time, the Nodefox didn’t simply jump back into safety with its Skills, instead it simply sidestepped Dave’s real attack. Supernaturally fast, as if he had known where Dave had wanted to strike all along.

The process kept repeating itself for a few exchanges, Dave working hard to catch the Nodefox offguard, but it was just too evasive, too fast. Without even using its skills, it was superior to Dave through its sheer attributes.

Finally, Dave decided to one up the Nodefox. From the way the Nodefox had been moving before, Dave tried making a read, targeting the spot where the Nodefox would likely appear with his Spark Skill.

But even this was too slow for the Nodefox. A barrier out of thin blue light appeared, catching Dave’s Spark, making it simply fizzle out of existence.

The Nodefox gave Dave a sly smirk, but Dave was already upon him. With the boost from his additional effect on Spark, his movement speed was increased after Skill usage. It was slight, but in a fight like this, even small advantages mattered.

And indeed it did. Dave managed to land a thin little slash across the Nodefoxes torso. Dave thought it would enrage or provoke the Nodefox, but it simply made it grin even wider.

“Finally. Just as I was beginning to think the tiger has no claws,” the Nodefox said. “Maybe its time to play for real now, no?”