Following Sophie's lead, the team moved away from the frantic rush of the other aspirants, heading into a forest of strange, pulsing plants.
They didn't run; they walked with a quiet, deliberate pace that spoke of steady determination rather than fear.
The air hung heavy with the scent of wet earth and a sweet, overpowering fragrance. Every rustle of leaves and snap of twigs seemed amplified in the strained silence.
Ragnar walked point, his massive body a comforting presence.
He held a scavenged piece of sharpened metal that looked like a toy in his huge hands, his grasp so fierce it seemed to press the blood from his skin.
Sophie moved with a dancer's grace, her steps light and soundless, her sharp eyes darting everywhere, cataloging every detail of their strange surroundings.
Bran, pale and still shaken, walked close to Ragnar, as if the big man's shadow offered some form of protection.
Rickon brought up the rear, his senses on high alert.
He was a god pretending to be an ant, and the performance was exhausting.
They moved for what felt like endless hours, the initial adrenaline of entering the Verge giving way to a growing unease.
The forest was beautiful, but it was a lethal beauty, like that of a venomous flower.
"Hold," Sophie's voice was a sharp whisper.
She had frozen, her body crouched low to the ground. She pointed a slender finger towards a small clearing ahead. "Target."
Rickon and the others dropped to a knee, peering through the pulsating plants.
In the middle of the clearing, a creature sprouted from a glowing root.
It was the size of a large dog, with six thin, spindly legs and a scaled, reptilian body.
Its head was narrow and threatening, with a mouth full of sharp fangs that dripped thin, green fluid onto the silver grass.
Rickon focused his gaze, and his Nexus Interface automatically scanned the creature.
[Glimmerfang Crawler - Level 1]
Stats: Moderate Strength, Moderate Vitality, High Agility.
Threat Assessment: Pack hunter, venomous bite. Solitary individual poses a manageable threat.
"One of them," Ragnar rumbled, his voice low. "Sophie, what do your eyes tell you?"
Sophie's eyes seemed to glow with a faint inner light as she activated her talent.
"Its hide is tough, but there's a soft spot. A cluster of nerve endings under its left foreleg.
A solid strike there should paralyze it. But it's fast. We'll only get one shot."
Rickon nodded, the plan forming instantly in his mind.
"Alright, here's how we do this. Ragnar, you're up. Go loud. Draw its attention."
A savage smile split Ragnar's face. "My specialty."
"Sophie," Rickon continued, "wait for Ragnar to engage. Once it's focused on him, you move in for the weak spot.
Bran, you stick with me. Watch Sophie. If she gets into trouble, use your fortification on her. Understood?"
Bran swallowed hard, his hand gripping a small rock. "Got it."
"Let's do this," Rickon said, his voice dropping to a low growl. "On my mark."
He waited a beat, watching the Crawler tear another chunk from the glowing root. "Now."
With a roar that ripped through the quiet forest, Ragnar burst from the trees. "Hey, ugly! Dinner's over!"
The Glimmerfang Crawler's head snapped up, its reptilian eyes locking onto the charging giant.
BOOM!
It released a sharp, piercing cry and lunged, a flash of shimmering scales and green poison.
"Stoneskin!" Ragnar bellowed. A wave of grey energy washed over him, his skin hardening into a coarse, granite-like texture.
SKREEECH!
The Crawler's fangs crashed into his forearm with a sharp clang, like metal grinding against stone.
The fangs slid off harmlessly, unable to penetrate his hardened hide.
The creature hissed in frustration, its venomous drool sizzling on Ragnar's stone skin.
With the Crawler completely focused on the unbreakable wall that was Ragnar, Sophie exploded from her hiding spot.
She was a whisper of motion, her feet barely seeming to touch the ground as she closed the distance.
Her eyes glowed faintly, locked on her target.
But the Crawler was faster than they anticipated.
As it recoiled from Ragnar, its powerful tail whipped around in a vicious arc, catching Sophie by surprise.
She tried to leap back, but the tail caught her leg, sending her sprawling into the dirt.
The creature saw its opening and spun, its jaws gaping as it lunged for the fallen Sophie.
"Bran, now!" Rickon yelled.
Fear warred with duty on Bran's face. For a terrifying second, he froze. Then, seeing Sophie in mortal danger, something snapped.
"Get away from her!" he screamed, and a faint shimmer of light enveloped Sophie's body just as the Crawler's fangs lunged for her throat.
The fangs hit the magical shield, the force of the blow throwing Sophie backward but saving her from the venomous bite.
The Crawler shrieked in fury, enraged by the resistance.
It ignored the fallen girl and turned its attention back to Ragnar, preparing for another charge.
This was the moment. The chaos Rickon had been waiting for.
"My turn," he muttered under his breath. He let out a loud grunt, a piece of acting for his team. "Enhance!"
He didn't activate his fake D-Grade talent. Instead, he drew upon a tiny, almost microscopic fraction of the immense power sleeping in his soul.
It was like taking a single drop from a bottomless ocean.
A surge of raw, untamed energy, hot and electric, flooded his muscles.
With a burst of speed that felt impossibly fast, Rickon launched himself forward.
He wasn't just running, he was a blur of motion, a phantom streaking across the clearing.
As the Crawler readied to lunge at Ragnar, Rickon pushed off the trunk of a glowing blue tree, using it like a springboard.
He launched himself into the air, twisting his body in a furious, gravity-defying corkscrew.
BOOM!
His heel connected with the side of the Glimmerfang Crawler's skull in a brutal, perfectly executed aerial kick.
The impact was sickening, a wet, explosive crunch that resonated through the clearing.
The creature's head snapped to the side at an unnatural angle.
It didn't even have time to cry out. Its body crumpled to the ground, its legs twitching for a moment before going still.
A profound silence descended, broken only by the panting of his teammates.
[You have slain: Glimmerfang Crawler (Level 1)]
[EXP Gained: 12 EXP]
[Level 0: 12/50]
The notification flashed on his interface, a secret victory only he could see.
Ragnar stared, his jaw slack, the Stoneskin effect fading from his skin. Sophie pushed herself up, her eyes wide with disbelief. Bran just gaped, his mouth hanging open.
"Holy…" Ragnar finally breathed. "That 'Attribute Enhancement' of yours… it packs one hell of a punch."
Rickon landed softly, forcing himself to stumble slightly as if recovering from the exertion.
"Told you," he gasped, putting on a show of being out of breath. "It's just a short burst. But it gets the job done."
He walked over to the corpse, his heart hammering in his chest.
The lie was working, but the need to know the true extent of his power was a burning hunger.
He knelt beside the dead Crawler, pretending to inspect its fangs.
"Careful," Sophie warned, her voice still a little shaky. "The venom might still be active."
"Just want to see what we're dealing with," Rickon said, his back to them.
Under the cover of his body, he focused his mind, his will screaming a single, silent command.
A cold, exhilarating rush of energy flowed from the dead creature into him.
It was a phantom sensation, invisible to the world, but to him, it felt like drinking from a cool spring on a scorching day.
It was the creature's life force, its strength, its very essence, becoming a part of him.
A new set of notifications, brighter and more significant than the last, glowed on his Nexus Interface.
[Soul Assimilation successful on Creature: Glimmerfang Crawler (Level 1)]
[Gain: Strength +10]
[Gain: Vitality +10]
[Gain: Agility +10]
[Assimilation Charges Consumed (9/10 Remaining).]
He felt a tangible, immediate difference. His muscles felt denser, his body more solid, a newfound energy coursing through his veins.
Ragnar clapped him hard on the back, nearly sending him face-first onto the corpse. "Nice one, Rickon! You saved Sophie's skin back there!"
Rickon forced a weak smile, pushing himself to his feet. "We all did. That was good teamwork."
He looked at his friends, at their relieved, trusting faces.
The lie felt sharper and more suffocating than ever before. He had tasted true power for the first time, a power far beyond what they could ever comprehend.
And he knew, with a chilling certainty, that this was only the beginning.