As they went deeper into the hills, the green of the area was completely gone.

  What used to be moss became thin, crisp strands sticking to stone like old parchment.

  Heat collected under their boots, building in steady waves.

  Rami slowed, brushing her fingers across a patch of brittle moss.

  "it's dry..."

  Naro stepped beside her.

  The ground radiated warmth like buried embers, steady and unnatural.

  "We're getting closer to where Paro's located."

  Rami nodded as she continued walking with him.

  A gust swept across the ridge as Naro shielded his eyes from the dust.

  'Hot, heavy... it's the same metallic scent from back then...'

  Rami's staff hummed faintly and she frowned:

  "Casting feels wrong, it's like the air's resisting me."

  Naro checked the ridge ahead.

  The horizon shimmered from heat lifting out of the earth.

  A tremor followed as dust shook loose from the cliffside.

  Then a low distorted groan echoed across the hills, one of an animal that was forced through something it was never meant to become.

  Naro drew his blade without thinking.

  His eyes narrowed as shapes emerged over the ridge.

  'These things... they're not slimes, Dusk creatures ?? No...'

  These were twisted silhouettes of Kresha's wildlife.

  A stag, or what it used to be, stumbled forward first.

  Its antlers were molten at the tips, dripping slow rivulets of glowing red.

  The fur along its sides had fused into plates of darkened stone.

  Its eyes glowed with a dull, cracking light.

  Rami's breath hitched. "By the Stars..."

  Behind it came more, a cluster of them:

  Boars with molten tusks.

  Rock-hares whose bodies pulsed like cooling magma.

  Birds whose feathers had turned to sharp, glassy shards that clinked with each wingbeat.

  Those were the children of Paro who had become twisted and corroded due to his Authority tainted by the Devourer.

  Naro gripped his sword harder. He had seen stories and even saw some of those creatures back in Zyr but never could approach them on his own.

  He had wished to see them on his own one day.

  'But not like this !'

  He grit his teeth, then took a deep breath as he whispered:

  "Let's move around them quietly."

  Rami nodded.

  They stepped back, slowly.

  One.

  Two.

  Three.

  Three.

  Two.

  On-

  The stag lifted its head.

  Its ears twitched.

  One shard-feather bird shrieked with a sound akin to metal tearing and the whole cluster stirred.

  Then they charged.

  The first wave came fast, faster than animals half-molten should move.

  Naro pushed Rami aside as a boar barreled through the space they'd occupied a heartbeat before.

  Rami tried to cast a ward spell.

  It flickered, twisted, and dissolved into sparks.

  "Can't... focus. The corruption's thick here!"

  Naro gritted his teeth and struck at a lunging hare.

  The sword cut clean, but the creature shattered into hot, glassy fragments that scattered and crawled toward each other again, trying to reform.

  "Move!" he shouted.

  They sprinted.

  The cluster chased them with molten steps across the ridge, cracking the rock underfoot.

  Rami glanced back.

  The stag lowered its head, and the molten tips of its antlers sparked.

  "Naro—!"

  He saw it too.

  Heat gathering.

  A burst incoming.

  The stag released a spray of molten droplets.

  Naro raised his arm to shield himself, feeling the sting through the metal.

  Rami ducked, rolling behind a rock formation.

  Naro followed, panting.

  "We can't fight them," Rami said, breathing unsteady. "There's too many of them !"

  Naro's gaze fell to the blade in his hand.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  "I have a pla-"

  "Remove that thought from your head immediately !"

  Naro was shocked by Rami's yell and looked back at her, she looked distressed, Angry.

  But most of all.

  Scared.

  "You think that one skill's gonna get rid of all of them at once ? There's more than forty of those !"

  She breathed deeply then continued with a less panicked voice.

  "...Listen, there are other Rune-Pillars on the way and getting to them while going for Paro's location is our top priority so don't risk your life for something that's not worth it."

  "We'll deal with them next time after our goal's achieved so please..."

  Her voice became softer as she looked at him in the eyes

  "Don't do anything reckless."

  Naro fell silent.

  'Why such a strong reaction ? It's not like I was...'

  '...'

  'No... What the hell was I about to do ?'

  Throwing his life away for sure.

  "... Yeah, sorry about that."

  Naro looked toward the horizon, where the hills sloped into a deeper red shimmer.

  "Let's keep going then."

  Rami's expression seemed to relax at his words.

  They moved again,circling the ridge with slow, deliberate steps.

  The corrupted animals lingered in the distance, pacing, twitching, glowing at their seams.

  The heat grew harsher with every meter.

  Each breath felt like inhaling from a furnace.

  Rami leaned on her staff; the enchantments built into it pulsed, trying to cool the handle.

  One more tremor rolled through the hills, stronger this time.

  And beneath it a faint, distant groan was heard.

  Something vast hurting.

  'Paro...'

  Naro tightened his grip on the sword.

  The runes flickered as if reacting to the tremor.

  Rami's eyes darkened.

  "We're almost at the center. Paro's situation is getting worse..."

  They continued forward, the air warping around them, the hills quietly cracking open under a Guardian's failing restraint.

  _______________________________________________

  After walking away from the Magma-wildlife folks, they arrived at a desolate valley with Myriads of trees cut down, at it's entrance there was a rune-pillar.

  It was shorter than the others, half-buried in dried earth. Heat rose from the ground around it, the air faintly wavering.

  Naro stepped closer. The runes along his blade shifted in response, faintly.

  A slight pull settled in the metal, like the sword recognized something.

  He touched the runes on the pillar with the flat of the blade as they were absorbed into it.

  "What is the meaning of those this time ?" He asked.

  Rami came beside him and traced the shapes with her finger.

  "Three arrowheads. Lines like flowing currents... Looks like a movement skill."

  Naro activated it and the ground suddenly slid under him.

  He caught himself a few meters ahead, boots scraping on warm stone. His breath came out sharper than he expected.

  Rami stared at where he had been standing.

  "...That was the sword?"

  Naro looked at the trail his boots left with widened eyes.

  "Yeah, seems like it! "

  She walked over, checking him quickly.

  "Hurt anywhere ?"

  He shook his head multiple times.

  "Good. Try not to trigger it while we're near unstable ground. It'll throw you straight into a sinkhole."

  Naro nodded once.

  He felt the blade settle again at his side, as if nothing had changed.

  They continued walking.

  'I can think of many ways to incorporate that new skill in my fighting style, but with our current situation I can't do it without risking something...'

  Naro grimaced as he glanced at the threes that were cut to their base

  Naro lingered then spoke:

  "You know... all those trees cut down worry me a lot, it couldn't have been Paro since he was already sealed by then."

  Rami glanced at him with a worried expression.

  "What then ?"

  A three branch snapped.

  Naro lowered his visor and raised his sword.

  An armored figure approached them, a shield at its left and a greatsword at its right.

  The Knight's height was similar to Naro's but its appearance was more robust and its movements rougher. a monster playing knight.

  Naro's eyes narrowed behind his visor.

  "Rami... get back. Right now."

  Rami's magic was being suppressed currently due to Paro's corrupted authority, it would be unsafe to keep her in the fight.

  Even more if it was against a humanoid-dusk creature.

  She knew this and took enough distance away from them.

  Naro approached the creature step by step and glanced at the cut trees.

  'Compared to the corrupted wildlife I can't escape that thing's sight, it made sure no one could.'

  The knight-creature stepped into view, molten plates pulsing at the seams.

  Its greatsword dragged across the ground, carving a line through the dried earth.

  Naro shifted his stance.

  Rami stayed far behind, moving quietly, not daring to speak. Her staff hovered close to the ground, but she didn't try casting.

  The air crushed her spells before they formed.

  The creature moved first and swung heavily, the greatsword cut through the air.

  Naro blocked.

  The hit pushed him back two steps, his boots scraping, dust lifting in small bursts around him. The creature pressed forward without pause, shield slamming toward his ribs.

  He dodged to the side and swung low, aiming for the knee.

  The blade struck, but the armor resisted enough to deflect the cut.

  The knight-creature shoved him again with the shield.

  Naro slid back, catching himself with one hand on the ground before rising.

  The creature advanced, each step leaving faint scorch marks on the stone.

  Naro exhaled quietly and shifted his weight.

  Another vertical strike came, fast for its size.

  He rolled aside and slashed across its arm.

  Cracks formed, molten orange leaked from them.

  The creature didn't flinch.

  It grabbed for him with its free hand, fingers rigid like stone.

  Naro dashed back using the movement rune.

  His body slid several meters instantly, appearing behind the creature.

  He raised his sword but the knight spun, unexpectedly fast, and slammed the shield into his chest.

  The impact knocked him off his feet.

  He hit the ground, rolled, and rose in the same motion.

  'Fast reaction time, good mastery of its shield despite his nature...'

  He took a deep breath.

  'Okay. Let's change it up a bit.'

  Rami stayed still at the edge of the clearing, eyes wide with her breath held.

  The creature charged again.

  Naro leaned forward and triggered the dash a second time, closing the distance at an angle.

  The sudden approach caught the knight off guard.

  He swung.

  'Storm strike !'

  The blade extended in a flash of runes.

  The impact fractured the shield, cracks crawling from the center to the edges.

  The knight recoiled, stumbling slightly.

  Naro didn't give it time.

  He dashed again with a shorter and sharper burst, reappearing at its flank where the shield offered no cover.

  He struck the damaged knee.

  This time it broke.

  The joint collapsed inward with a molten crack, and the knight dropped to one knee.

  It swung upward with its greatsword in a last attempt to cleave him.

  Naro stepped in and severed the arm cleanly.

  The limb hit the ground, still twitching with lingering heat.

  Naro gave the creature a cold look.

  'One last strike.'

  He stepped forward and drove the blade through the creature's chest.

  It froze for a moment, then collapsed backward, the magma melting out into the soil in thin streams.

  Naro pulled his blade free and let out a slow breath, feeling the runes dim against the cooling air as the metal grew sharper and sturdier.

  He lifted it a little.

  The tip subtly carried more weight, enough to favor breaking through defenses.

  'Adapted to armored enemies...'

  'Looks like this one counts as a Leader too, then.'

  Rami hurried to him, worried, still sharp in her expression.

  "You good?"

  Naro nodded.

  "Yeah-"

  He coughed up blood.

  Rami gave him a recovery spell immediately.

  'Ah of course that one works, huh ?'

  While his internal wounds were being mended he glanced at the broken shield and the scattered armor on the ground

  "That thing wasn't fighting like a normal dusk-creature... It felt like fighting my seniors back in Zyr."

  He then cast his gaze on the stump-filled valley.

  "...There might be more of those things."

  Rami's face fell.

  She had expected danger when she chose to travel with him. She knew what walking toward a corrupted Guardian meant.

  But standing there, her spells crushed by the air itself, unable to take a single step toward the fight...

  Her grip on her staff tightened.

  The heat around them pulsed like a heartbeat under the earth.

  Rami swallowed lightly.

  "Paro's influence is getting stronger."

  "Yeah."

  He sheathed the sword. They kept moving, the valley quiet behind them.