Most of the day went smoothly. We found single scorions, sometimes pairs. We then ganged up on them and took them down. The krigs in the sky left us alone, though would occasionally circle above our battles in hopes for some scraps. We weren’t planning on doing them the favour.

By afternoon, we had gone without a fight for an hour, and were no closer to finishing the collection. Marie put it to a vote, and with my side being the majority, we pushed further in, despite Matt and the twins protesting about it being a bad idea.

We waved the concerns off. It was impatient, and stupid, yet we did it anyway. We were getting swept away by the mood, the adrenaline of battle, the joy of fighting together again, and we made a poor decision.

Now, I stood to bear the consequences.

As the sun approached the horizon, the black sands grew darker. It wasn’t evening, not yet, and it would still be bright for a longer while, but deeper in the sands, there was a haze of black Qi choking the light out of the air.

It wasn’t quite like a fog, more like an illusory screen pulling the light from the air. It made everything look greyer, more dull, to the point where even Annabelle’s radiant hair lost its shine. A crime against nature, in my eyes, but I would bear with it for now.

Taking deep breaths and pacing myself, I refilled my core. My eyes were on our surroundings, always ready to engage, when a whisper reached our ears. “Enemies approaching,” Liam told us, “be ready.”

My grip tightened around the shaft of my spear. Some of my Qi already leaked into the weapon, the shine banishing the dark miasma. In the golden glow, I believed to see something in the distance, my enhanced sight easily piercing through my own Qi. It looked like… rubble. Ruins. Something still standing in the black sands.

Which was extremely strange. The decay in this place reduced almost anything to dust. Even humans would dry out and perish if they remained in here too long. We were able to stave off the effects due to our cores, but while our clock ticked much longer than that of most people, it was still ticking down.

A moment later, the distant impression vanished. Perhaps it was just my strained mind. I was worrying now. Liam usually gave us intel on the enemies, if there was none, he probably knew very little about them.

My worries lifted slightly when his frame reappeared besides me, giving me a small nod. I could see his Qi leaking from the gaps in his robes, a dark purple bordering on black. Shadow Qi.

Marie ducked out from the horizon a moment later, and my eyes narrowed. She’d… crashed through something? I thought I saw fractures around her form. Wisps of black creating an oily sheen. Then my eyes widened.

“Fuck,” I muttered. “Emilia, use your Qi, we’ve got a leyburn on our hands!”

In an instant, the woman’s eyes flared with recognition, and colourful auras began blazing all around me, pushing back against the ever encroaching silence of the black death Qi. This was unlucky. Really, really fucking unlucky.

Before I had the chance to finish the thought, the air in front of us shattered, the oily sheen torn apart by a humongous monstrosity. It was as though someone had crossed a rhino with a castle, its skin a dark grey with black wisps trailing from it. Yet somehow, its hooves, each as thick as I, impacted the ground soundlessly.

The thing’s eyes locked onto us, all six of them gazing down. Its tusks gleamed with malicious darkness, and its horns seemed ready to spear one of us. And despite its plain stupid size and weight, it barrelled toward us at top speed.

I could see Emilia’s grim face growing desolate first, then her expression turned steely. Her aura burst to life, brighter than I’d ever seen hers glow. She dropped the mace into her inventory, holding the thick tower shield with both arms and wrapping as much Qi as she could around it.

Her legs sunk into the floor for even more grip, her Qi latching onto thin air to hold her in place. Then, the monster collided with her.

The impact was deafening. There was an explosion of Qi strong enough to knock me off my feet, even after I’d reinforced myself. Liam was tossed aside like a leaf in the wind, trying to steady himself in the air with Qi.

Emilia looked bad. Her arms were mangled, the shield pressed up against her entire chest. The veins in her face bulged and her mouth stood open in a roar I couldn’t hear.

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My ears buzzed with the static of Qi. I knew they were bleeding, just like my eyes and nose. I spit out some blood, and attempted to draw breath, only inhaling a lung full of debris. Everything hurt as I impacted the floor. I saw Marie shoot an arrow at the thing, and Liam a dagger, and both harmlessly clattered against its hide.

Somehow, I could tell the beast snorted at us. The leyburn was so certain in its superiority, it simply redirected its attention at the small human in front of it. During the small distraction, the twins had knit some of Emilia’s bones back together, but it was nowhere near enough.

That one collision must have gotten close to emptying her core. With a flick of its head, the leyburn had ripped her off her feet and sent her sailing through the air. I’d hoped that perhaps Annabelle would have time to prepare a spell during the impact, but she was probably suffering the mana backlash from an interruption right now.

I saw my friends get hurt and gritted my teeth. My ears buzzed, but I could hear my blood rushing through my body. Spitting it aside, I could see it turn grey as it impacted the sand.

I held myself upright using my spear, bracing it against the floor. The sand wanted to shift, but my Qi kept it in place. Slowly, I had my core spin out more of the golden substance, weaving it around me, inside my body, inside my weapon. A thin mist of gold covered me as I got ready.

It was my own technique, created without the assistance of the system. One for just myself. I tried muttering it to help me focus, but my breath caught dust and I only barely stopped myself from coughing. Instead, I sunk into mental focus.

[Golden Body], I told myself. [Golden Body]. My Qi suffused me, enhancing every bit of my body. I felt it flood into my bones, pulling the sinews taut around them, and holding together muscles which had torn. I felt it enter my lung, and push aside the detritus in there. Settle into my legs and let me stand.

Then, it flooded my armor and weapon. My simple wooden spear was replaced with one of golden radiance, my leather armor shining with blinding light. I stood upright, tall, and pointed my spear at the leyburn. Its six eyes focused on me, each one twitching with irritation at the ant that dared stand up to it.

“I’ll show you an ant,” I spat.

The thing rolled its eyes at me and my jaw almost dropped.

Gritting my teeth, I tried to roar, and my core screeched alongside me. Literally. The haze of Qi around me solidified into a radiance, every shred of power I had in my core drawn out. I caught Annabelle’s eyes, and mouthed to her. “Run.”

Her gaze was pleading, but she drew her eyes away and turned. The twins knelt at Emilia’s side, and Ann cast a spell to have the woman levitate. Marie, Liam and Matt appeared next to them, looking ragged and gazing at me with grimaces. I grinned back, then drew my eyes back to my foe.

I felt the world around me fade. The oily sheen in the air was gone, the bitter aftertaste of the death Qi disappeared. All that remained was me, the ground, and the leyburn.

The monster looked at me with intelligence. I was sure of it now, there seemed to be grudging respect in its eyes. I didn’t want any of that.

Gritting my teeth through the pain of having my body forcefully held together, I charged. My spear, my entire body, blazing with golden radiance. I met its charge, and without it having a proper chance to build up speed, we both stopped.

I felt my bones creak as I pushed, my feet dug themselves deep into the ground even as I reinforced it with my Qi. I created a central line. From my legs, to my arms, I stood at an angle, pushing with every muscle in my body against the leyburn. And it met me head on.

We stood, locked in a standstill for mere moments, then it shifted. My alignment was off, and I got tossed to the side, but with a scream I caught myself in the air and jumped right back at it.

I swung my spear at its eyes, a copy of it formed from Qi striking at another, but the thing simply shifted, and even infused with all my golden radiance, it simply slid off its skin. I halted my momentum by a shred, and jumped back before it could toss me aside.

My core was screaming louder now, Qi boiling in my veins. Gold wrapped around me, making strands of my hair levitate slightly. I screamed with it and charged again, unwilling to fall before my allies had gotten far enough away.

Almost begrudgingly, the leyburn met my charge. I was stronger than even the last time, drawing on every last shred of power in my body. I felt the Divinity the twins cast on me consume itself, the mana from Ann’s spell be devoured by me.

And my best efforts were not enough.

I was tossed aside, back onto the sand, the gold around me flickering as I pushed myself back up. My core was running on fumes, yet I kept up the technique through sheer will. I met the beast in another clash, striking at it a dozen times when it lashed out.

A tusk dug itself into my stomach. My vision went black for a moment, then blinding pain hit my mind and I screamed. My hands moved before I could think, grabbing the tusk and pushing myself off it. A wisp of golden sheen covered the wounds, keeping my insides on the inside, for now.

Holding my spear I stepped forward… and fell.

The creature gazed at me with pity. It felt as though I had ruined its hunt and made it worthwhile all the same. For a moment, silence reigned between us. My eyes, blazing with furious determination, met its, filled with dull apathy.

And it stepped away.

“We’re not… done!” I muttered through gritted teeth, as I fell forward onto the sand. I grasped it with a hand, and pulled myself after the creature. It looked back at me, then shook its head. For a moment it paused, and I felt Qi gather around it.

My face turned pale. It had been holding back the entire fight. A torrent of Qi, greater than all our team combined could have managed, gathered around it. Wisps of darkness so thick I could’ve sworn I was gazing into the void. Then, with an almost lazy motion, it stomped faster than I could see, its leg a blur.

And the ground crumbled beneath me.