Night on the Black Iron Peak was a different kind of monster. The temperature dropped so low that the moisture in the air froze into jagged needles of frost, but Kai didn't seek shelter. He couldn't.
> [Abyss Level: 3.4%]
> [Current Shadows: 2/5]
> [Stamina: 14% - Warning]
Kai leaned against the frozen carcass of a Mountain Ogre, his breathing shallow. Around him lay the wreckage of a three-hour skirmish. He had just taken down four more Ogres, but he hadn't extracted them. He couldn't afford the mental tax.
"One more," Kai whispered, his voice cracking. "Just... one more for the perimeter."
He looked at the shadow of the Mountain Ogre he had named Titan. The shadow-beast stood guard, its ethereal club resting on its shoulder. Beside it, the Iron-Hide Weaver—Skitter—clung to the underside of a rocky overhang, its many eyes scanning the darkness.
Titan and Skitter. They were becoming more than skills; they were becoming extensions of his own nervous system. When the Weaver felt the vibration of a distant footstep, Kai felt a phantom twitch in his own leg.
Suddenly, a sound tore through the mountain air. It wasn't a roar. It was a rhythmic, metallic thumping.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The Ogres below him froze. Even the shadows of his soldiers flickered in unease.
Kai stood up, his hand flying to his dagger. "Predator Instinct."
His vision shifted to the thermal grey. Usually, he saw small pockets of heat. Now, the entire peak of the mountain was glowing a deep, angry crimson. The Ogre Warlord had noticed the silence in the lower valleys. It was beating its shield, calling its kin to the slaughter.
"He's not just a boss," Kai realized, his heart hammering against his ribs. "He's a Commander, too."
> [Sudden Quest: The Trial of the Pack]
> [Objective: Survive the Warlord's Vanguard]
> [Reward: Level +3, Shadow Slot Expansion]
> [Penalty: Death]
From the darkness above, boulders the size of cars began to rain down. The Warlord's scouts were perched on the higher ridges, using the high ground to crush the intruder.
"Titan! Shield!" Kai barked.
The Shadow Ogre stepped in front of Kai, raising its massive smoky arms. A boulder slammed into Titan, causing the shadow to hiss and compress, but it held. Kai used the distraction to sprint toward the treeline.
"Skitter, find the throwers!"
The Weaver vanished into the canopy. A moment later, the boulder-fire slowed as the Weaver began picking off the scouts one by one. But the thumping on the peak grew louder.
A massive figure emerged from the blizzard at the top of the ridge. The Ogre Warlord. It was five meters tall, draped in the rusted armor of fallen human knights, and carrying a spiked mace that bled dark mana.
The Warlord pointed the mace at Kai.
"You," the Warlord grunted, the word a vibration of pure malice. "Small... shadow."
Kai wiped the frost from his eyebrows. He was exhausted, his mana was low, and he was outnumbered ten to one as the Warlord's personal guard surrounded the clearing.
He looked at the system screen. He needed Level 15 to survive the Desert Canyons. He was currently Level 11.
"Small?" Kai's eyes flared with a violet light that cut through the snow. He didn't retreat. He stepped forward, his shadow expanding until it touched the feet of the Warlord's guard. "I'm the one who's going to eat your mountain."
Kai reached into his inventory and crushed a High-Grade Mana Stone—the last of his spoils from the Weaver's gate. The energy burned through him like liquid fire.
"Titan. Skitter. Full engagement."
The battle for the peak had begun.