[00:00:00]
A sharp ping echoed from all their mana bands at once.
Kyle's screen lit up.
——
[Team 7]
Objective: Kill the Vorthal (Grade 1 Silver-Rank Monster)
[Image Attached]
[Location Marked]
——
He tapped the image.
His breath stopped.
The creature staring back at him was wrong in ways that made his skin crawl.
It had the head of a crow.
Black feathers, a cruel, pointed beak. And small, glittering eyes that looked almost intelligent.
But its body was humanoid.
Stretched and warped like a corpse left to rot.
Pale, sinewy muscle gleamed under patches of ragged skin.
Its arms were too long. Ending in clawed fingers that curved like butcher's hooks.
And the wings.
Short, feathered, and useless for flight.
They jutted from its back like something nature had given up on halfway through making.
Sylvie made a tiny.
Choked noise.
Roland's grip tightened on his bow.
Isolde was the first to speak.
"Well," she said, voice flat.
"That's terrifying."
