The roar from above faded slowly.
Kenji listened to the last of it disappear into the lower grounds, then looked back down into his trench.
His trench.
Still stupid.
Still satisfying.
The fresh blood from the plated pack creatures had already started sinking into the cracked stone, darkening it.
And as it sank, the mist changed.
Only slightly.
But enough for him to notice.
It thickened low to the ground in lazy red swirls, denser near the blood, thinner near the walls.
Kenji crouched and dragged one claw through it.
The haze followed for a breath before slipping away.
Better than before.
Not by much.
But better.
He smirked.
"Yeah. You're getting friendlier."
Naturally, the trench itself offered no response.
Still, the idea felt right.
This place was beginning to answer him.
Not obey.
Not yet.
But answer.
A sound below him interrupted the thought.
Not from the ridge.
From deeper inside the trench.
He stilled.
Then tilted his head slightly.
There.
A wet dragging noise.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Coming from the narrow end of the trench, where the stone split into a deeper crack half-hidden by the red mist.
Kenji had noticed that split before.
Had not gone all the way down it.
Mostly because prey kept coming to him, and that had been simpler.
Now his grin returned.
Something was moving in the deeper section.
Good.
He stood and rolled his shoulders once.
Then started walking toward the sound.
The farther in he went, the tighter the trench became.
The walls closed around him, jagged stone rising on both sides.
The mist pooled more heavily here.
Cold against his ankles.
Cold against his calves.
And the smell—
blood.
Old blood.
New blood.
Rotten flesh.
Living flesh.
A feeding place.
Kenji's eyes sharpened.
So this trench had layers inside it too.
Or at least deeper pockets where stronger things nested.
That was useful.
Very useful.
The dragging sound came again.
Closer now.
He reached the narrow split and peered down.
The crack opened into a lower basin carved into the earth, maybe twice the size of the trench's main center.
Bones littered the edges.
Not just small ones.
Some were thick enough to belong to things bigger than the plated hound.
Most had bite marks.
A few looked dissolved.
Kenji frowned.
"Dissolved?"
A bubble rose from somewhere below.
Then popped.
He looked further ahead.
In the center of the lower basin lay a mound of half-melted remains.
And crouched over it was a creature unlike the others he'd fought recently.
It was broad and low like a toad, but far larger, with skin that sagged in thick folds over a swollen body.
Its forelimbs were long and ended in hooked claws.
Its mouth stretched absurdly wide, split almost from one side of its head to the other.
And hanging from beneath that mouth were long strands of dark fluid that hissed whenever they touched the stone.
Kenji's grin widened immediately.
"Well. You're disgusting."
The creature froze.
Then turned.
Its tiny eyes locked onto him from above that huge mouth.
For a moment, neither moved.
Then the thing opened its jaws wider.
A thick stream of black saliva spilled out and hit the ground.
The stone smoked.
Kenji's grin vanished.
"...Okay. That's actually really annoying."
The creature lunged.
Fast.
Too fast for its shape.
Kenji jumped sideways as the thing slammed into the stone where he'd stood.
The impact cracked the edge of the basin.
Black saliva splashed against the wall and burned through part of it with a violent hiss.
Kenji landed, pushed off at once, and came in from the side.
He slashed at its face.
The creature jerked back.
His claws tore through one fold of flesh but did not go deep.
Too slippery.
Its skin shifted under the blow like rotten leather over wet fat.
The creature's forelimb swung toward him.
Kenji ducked under it and drove a punch into its side.
The impact made the whole body wobble.
Not soft.
Dense.
Too dense.
Then the thing snapped its head toward him.
He saw the black saliva gathering a split second before it spat.
Kenji threw himself back.
The stream passed in front of his chest and splashed onto the ground behind him.
Stone hissed.
Melted.
The smell was awful.
Kenji clicked his tongue.
"So getting hit by that is off the table."
The creature dragged itself sideways, circling.
Its tiny eyes never left him.
Then it spat again.
This time lower.
Kenji leaped onto the trench wall and kicked off before the acid could touch his feet.
He came down on the creature's back and drove both claws into its folds.
The flesh gave.
Not much.
But enough.
Dark fluid burst out.
The creature shrieked and slammed itself backward into the wall.
The impact crushed Kenji between them hard enough to drive the air from his lungs.
Pain flashed through his ribs.
He snarled and tore his claws out, dropping low before the creature could smear that saliva over him.
Its massive body turned clumsily—
not slow, just worse at turning than charging.
That was something.
Kenji kept moving.
Never staying in front.
Never letting it line up that spit.
He slashed its side.
Kicked off a wall.
Ducked under one swipe.
Got clipped by another and rolled across the basin floor, just barely avoiding a puddle of sizzling black spit.
His grin came back.
This was messy.
Very messy.
He liked it.
The creature opened wide again.
Kenji saw its throat bulge.
He moved before it finished.
A burst of speed.
A low slide over blood-slick stone.
Then he drove one arm straight into its mouth.
The heat from its saliva hit instantly.
Pain seared across his fur and skin.
Kenji's eyes widened for half a heartbeat—
then narrowed.
"Found your weak spot."
The creature gagged, jerking violently.
With his free hand, Kenji forced energy into his shoulder and punched upward through the roof of its mouth.
The whole upper half of its head split with a wet crack.
Black fluid and blood splashed over him.
The creature convulsed and slammed him to the ground with its dying thrash.
He tore himself free and rolled away, panting hard.
His forearm smoked.
Part of the fur was gone.
The flesh beneath was raw and ugly.
"...That burns like hell."
Still alive though.
That was what mattered.
The creature twitched once more.
Then stopped.
Kenji stared at it for a second.
Then, naturally, he approached.
The body still shivered weakly.
Still alive enough.
He bit into the less-melted side first.
The taste hit like a punch.
Sharp.
Corrosive.
Almost painful in its own way.
Then rich.
Dense.
Strong.
He tore off another piece immediately.
Then another.
By the fourth bite, the body stopped moving.
Kenji spat once, grimacing.
"Your taste is almost as irritating as you were."
Still, the heat spread through him fast.
Not just heat.
Something hotter around the wounds in his arm.
He looked down.
The acid-burned flesh still looked awful.
But it was already tightening.
Closing slowly.
Not healed.
But faster than that kind of wound had any right to close.
Kenji flexed his hand.
It shook.
But it worked.
He grinned again.
"Good."
Then a thin sound reached him.
Not a growl.
Not a scrape.
A voice.
"You killed Boral."
Kenji turned sharply.
A figure stood at the top edge of the lower basin.
Tall.
Thin.
Wrapped in strips of skin or cloth too dark to tell apart in the red haze.
It had a narrow face and a jawline that seemed slightly too long, with short horns sweeping back from its temples.
Its arms were folded, and unlike most things down here, it was not crouched to spring.
It simply watched.
Kenji narrowed his eyes.
Another one.
Good.
He licked black blood from the corner of his mouth.
"Yeah."
The figure's gaze shifted briefly to the corpse behind him.
Then back.
"You keep killing useful things."
Kenji laughed.
"What is it with all of you saying that?"
The figure did not answer the question.
Instead it asked, "Was it worth the taste?"
Kenji's grin sharpened.
"...Maybe."
The figure tilted its head a fraction.
Then said, "Interesting."
That answer annoyed him.
So did the calm tone.
Kenji took one step forward.
"Got a name?"
A pause.
Then: "Sael."
Kenji rolled his neck once.
"Kenji."
Sael's eyes stayed on his burned arm.
Then on the blood-dark stone around him.
Then on the mist.
"You are settling into the trench quickly."
Kenji smirked.
"So I've been told."
Sael was silent for a second.
Then: "That may become inconvenient."
The grin on Kenji's face widened.
"Then come inconvenience me."
Sael looked at him for a moment longer.
Then, to Kenji's irritation, turned away.
"Not today."
In one light motion, Sael disappeared into the mist above.
Kenji stared at the spot for a second.
Then snorted.
"These talkers are all irritating."
Still—
Boral.
So the acid-spitting thing had a name too.
Or at least enough of a place here for something else to care.
That meant this deeper part of the trench mattered.
Another useful thing.
Kenji looked around the lower basin.
More bones.
More melted stone.
More blood-rich mist.
Then slowly smiled.
Maybe he'd been thinking too small.
Maybe the trench was not just one feeding ground.
Maybe it was a whole nested hunting place.
And if so—
then it could still make him much stronger before he ever had to climb.