The atmospheric pressure of the coastal zone had fundamentally broken.
The oppressive, magnetic weight that had been dragging every lethal entity toward the center of the map since their arrival was simply gone. The ridge intersection was a bloody graveyard, and the remaining threat population had fractured back into isolated, manageable pockets. The coastal zone was finally winding down, settling into the quiet rhythm of an ordinary evening.
The natural contraction of their cleared territories forced the grid boundaries to overlap. Vane's northern patrol route and Ashe's eastern sector now shared a two-kilometer stretch of jagged ridge, putting their defensive hold rotations in the exact same physical space.
Ashe materialized out of the late afternoon shadows without making a single sound.
