Among Tellus’ major geographical landmarks, the tropical rainforest of Athabasia probably ranked in every top ten list, if not every top five list. In nineteen-year-old Nicholas Smollett’s case, it was his absolute favorite.

  Larger than any individual country on the planet and with biodiversity exceeding any continent’s, to explore the Athabasian rainforest was like looking into a completely different world. One still untouched by the corrupting hand of unrestrained artifice, not primitive by any means, but evolved through a very different path to most of the world outside it. A beautiful mystery to some, and a terrifying force of nature to others.

  The jungle had yet to be conquered by civilization, but not through lack of trying. Attempts had been many and thorough, resources spent to dangerous degrees, which only made their failures even more crushing. The forest itself, the creatures within it, they all refused to be tamed no matter what it took.

  Eventually, it was simply not worth the losses to continue trying. Major efforts to colonize the rainforest had stopped around thirty years ago, and while some bold individuals and even the occasional company still attempted to exploit it, they never lasted long against the planet’s own heartbeat.

  Thus, it was undeniably strange that Knight General Anastacia Marinca had decided to venture several kilometers beyond the border, into a territory completely incompatible with humanity that even Nicholas himself feared, despite his love for it.

  A place that would mercilessly devour any and all invaders did not cause any changes in her normal behavior. She walked like she usually did, breathed as calmly as ever, and ignored the strange chirping and roars that had caused more than one brave researcher to panic entirely.

  But it was only natural for such a difference to exist. After all, the creatures in the Athabasian rainforest were dangerous not only for their power, but also their intellect. It was probably those smarts that let them know the pale woman treading through their territory was better left unbothered.

  This did not only mean she had yet to be attacked by any of the native flora and fauna, but they had refrained from doing much of anything in her general vicinity. A passive protection that allowed even the non-combatant Nicholas to tag along without issue, in what he considered a day worth an entire year’s fortune.

  In contrast to the general being the same as always, he had very clearly prepared for a truly special trek. His long, blonde hair was tied up simply, yet effectively in a bun, his khaki clothes were firm but light enough to prevent heatstroke, and his still-sunburnt skin from a different expedition still had visible traces of protective cream over it.

  But as many times as he saw or heard something that he wanted to investigate further, he did not speak up on the matter once. After all, research was unfortunately not the goal of their outing.

  “Are we there yet~?” Nicholas asked playfully, trying yet again to get a rise out of the focused general Marinca.

  “Yes, it’s the cavern up ahead. Stick closely, as things will be different now.”

  She remained as impassive as ever, however. Especially now that her target was within sight.

  Nicholas himself stopped smiling upon hearing such a response. If things would be different, there were a few possibilities that could specifically refer to, and one of them was by far the most likely, as well as the scariest.

  But he knew better than to go against Anastacia’s words, following closely as they stepped down a hill full of exposed roots, then saw a cave at the foot of a larger cliff on the opposite end.

  An enormous hollow, twenty meters wide and about twelve high with nothing but pitch-black within. A place even the adventurous Nicholas would have hesitated to enter without prior knowledge, but one that Anastacia walked toward with the same aggressive steps from before.

  Forty meters shrank to thirty, then to twenty. Fifteen, ten… but they did not need to actually step into the gaping maw of earth and rock for his worries to be answered.

  Still five meters away from the entrance, violent rumbling could be felt from deep within the seemingly bottomless dark. Echoes of cracking stone, winds strong enough to make fallen leaves dance, the tremoring of the ground…

  “—!”

  … they were all irrelevant when wingspans in excess of ten meters flew out of the cave, one after the other, and covered most of what could be seen. Dark organite scales like layered blades, even sharper claws, fangs and a tail fin that were thrice as thick, and mist-like breath that caused the airborne leaves to decay and crumble near-instantly.

  Within Tellus, one of the broadest, if very imperfect classifications for living creatures was the divide between ‘beings’ and ‘beasts’. Lifeforms of comparable cognition to humans, capable of complex language and civilization, and those of lower or at least very incompatible sapience.

  And among the latter group, it was wyverns that stood at the apex across land, sea and sky. Peerless dragon-like predators that produced prana with every heartbeat, their immense power was only matched by equally massive sustenance needs, leading to a manageably low population and largely solitary, territorial behavior.

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  Even so, there were three of them now attacking Anastacia. Not a flock of hatchlings or a coalition of juveniles, but three fully sized adults acting in near-perfect coordination.

  “…”

  It was not nearly enough. The general moved only one arm and the wyvern closest to her had its lower jaw and throat ripped off, causing the crippled remainder of its body to soar its way into the crimson-stained ground.

  The second wyvern attacked with the blade-like fin on its tail, the source of one of the most dangerous venoms known in the whole world. But Anastacia grasped at the bristling scales without the slightest discomfort and swung the entire creature down, deforming the structure of its body like one might a bag of crackers.

  Only the third one’s attack managed to land, complementing the two frontal attacks with a gust of venomous breath. This time not only the surrounding leaves, not only the roots sticking out of the ground, but even the earth itself darkened and cracked into a pitifully dry state.

  However, it meant about as much to Anastacia as whatever had come before. Nicholas felt no need to move from his place behind her, whether it be in mind or instinct, as the breeze he felt was no different from before.

  That mighty breath, like a localized tornado meant only to kill, got lost in Anastacia’s shadows as easily as those fragile leaves. Not the shadow projected at her feet, but something darker, heavier, clinging to the front of her body like another layer of skin.

  Or was it seeping from her? Even Nicholas did not fully understand which was the case. Either way, all that mattered was that regardless of how mighty an attack she faced, it would not reach Anastacia through that darkness. How could it, if the enemy could not even ‘find’ her within that lightless void?

  Maybe a genuine monster with truly extraordinary perception would be able to track and touch her within the boundless darkness. But was far from the case here, and the third wyvern merely found the same fate as the other two from an arm through its chest.

  Venturing further into the cave, a pit where no light could reach still paled in comparison to Anastacia’s shadows. The wyverns numbered not three or five or even ten, instead resembling a veritable colony of bats attacking through any spot they might find.

  It made no difference. No harm reached either Anastacia or Nicholas who tagged closely behind, while any wyvern that came within her range was instantly butchered.

  Even so, as brutal as such a mass execution was, he saw no emotion in it. Anger, bloodlust, duty, they were all absent from the massacre splattered across the cave. An almost machine-like approach to violence from Anastacia, and he did not think one needed to know her as well as he did to notice that.

  For sooner rather than later, something that did rouse such emotions from within her made its appearance. More wings flapped through the darkness of the cave, virtually indistinguishable from the still numerous wyverns doing the same.

  But Anastacia did not miss it. Her arm reached out faster than ever before, more deliberately, and grasped at something with controlled, yet obvious disdain. A horrible screech echoed throughout the cave for a brief instant and was choked out without delay.

  Only the dim glow of its red eyes allowed Nicholas to see it somewhat properly. It was very small compared to the wyverns, but still exceeded normal human dimensions at almost three meters of height. It resembled a massive bat with skin so tight it looked almost shrink-wrapped, though its longer, muscular limbs ending in claws and digitigrade feet made for a very different body plane.

  The abnormal behavior of the wyverns, as well as their even higher than usual strength and agility made sense now. While this kind of bloodline was rather extraordinary, powerful vampires were known to force infected victims to act in ways beneficial to them.

  A bloodline of several dozen wyverns, strengthened by vampirism and coordination they would never employ naturally. How many years had it taken for this vampire to bring such a fearsome concept into reality?

  All for it to collapse within days of Anastacia Marinca finding them, in an operation that had taken twenty minutes at most.

  It clawed and bit at her in a desperate struggle, the wyverns resuming their assault more aggressively than ever before, but it all changed nothing. Anastacia gripped the vampire’s neck so tightly Nicholas thought its head might come loose and fall, but she did not allow things to get to that.

  She brought the vampire closer… and sank her fangs into its chest without hesitation, causing the excess blood she did not consume to jet out like a fountain.

  “After all that, you’re still not feeling better?”

  Nicholas asked in frustration even he considered somewhat childish. As they stepped out of the cave alongside maybe two wyverns, lucky survivors now flying away in the most pitiful panic, he could not help but say that as he noticed no hints of joy or even amusement in Anastacia.

  “This is not nearly enough.” She replied coldly, eyes of the same pale yellow as the wyverns’ glaring in annoyance at him.

  He merely sighed, still feeling no danger or fear regardless of what he had witnessed today.

  “Then why not feed on the wyverns too? They’re not being controlled anymore, but they’re still infected, and hasn’t it been like two months since you last fed? It won’t hurt to make an exception this one time, especially since you already killed most of them…”

  “It’s not about blood, imbecile.”

  Nicholas’ eyes opened in surprise. If it was not her vendetta or her hunger, then what was it that had her in such a bad mood for these last few days?

  … It could only be…

  “Still hung up about Seyfelt?”

  Anastacia’s glare intensified, as if deeming the question absolutely stupid.

  “I did not say it outright, but the message was there. If my power can reach all the way to them, it means I could have dealt with the problem myself. And yet… they still pulled it off. They outmaneuvered me.”

  “And I keep telling you, you’re being stupid. Should every facility roughly in your range just rely on your protection? That’s nonsense!”

  “… Protection…?”

  Over several seconds, Anastacia’s expression changed. Her face relaxed, then began to twist, revealing her first smile in days, giving way to her first laugh in weeks.

  In contrast, Nicholas lost his usually jovial, casual airs. As he unconsciously frowned, he realized how silly he had been.

  “This is about pride, Nicholas. They insulted me, made a fool out of me. And I won’t ‘feel better’ until that score is settled…”

  Taking her glare away from Nicholas, Anastacia turned forward, then up. Toward a sky that someday, may just give way to a fateful rift.

  “… when I slaughter Hildegard Tirpitz’ group myself.”