The fog never stopped moving.
It twisted through the trees in long, slow ribbons, pale as bone. The cold was heavier here — every breath left frost along Kael's mask.
He had been walking for almost half an hour since splitting from the others, tracing the faint blip on his scanner deeper east. The forest grew quieter with every step. The only sound was the crunch of snow under his boots and the soft hum of the weapon at his hip.
A faint rustle.
Kael stopped instantly, blade sliding half an inch from its sheath. His eyes scanned the treeline — nothing but black trunks and hanging mist.
Then, a shadow flickered low across the ground.
Fast. Crawling.
He moved before it did.
One swift step. Blade drawn. A clean arc.
The air hissed as the sword tore through fog — and then a shriek.
The creature that fell at his feet barely resembled a man anymore. Skin pale and stretched thin over bone, jaws broken wide with jagged teeth, eyes like pits of red light. Its hands — claws, really — scrabbled uselessly at the snow before Kael's next strike silenced it.
He exhaled once, steady.
"Minor class," he muttered. "Not even a purebred."
He crouched, wiping the blade clean, studying the body. The transformation was incomplete — muscles warped, veins blackened. It hadn't been like this long.
"Turned recently," he noted. "Meaning… someone's been feeding them."
The idea made his stomach twist.
He rose and kept moving.
---
Minutes passed.
He cut down two more — both weak, both erratic. They lunged from the fog like beasts driven by hunger, but Kael's movements were clinical, almost silent.
Each fight ended before it could begin.
He barely broke a sweat.
But the further he went, the thicker the air felt — like walking through the lungs of something still breathing.
At one point, the snow beneath him changed.
Soft turned to slick.
He looked down — dark stains spread beneath his boots.
Blood. Old and frozen into the ground.
Kael crouched, fingers brushing over it. It wasn't animal. Too much iron, too clean. He followed the stains with his eyes — they led off the path, through a wall of roots.
He pushed through — and froze.
Bodies.
Half-buried under frost, twisted in unnatural shapes. Hunters, by their uniforms. At least five of them. Torn apart. Some missing limbs. Some missing heads entirely.
Kael's jaw clenched.
He knelt beside one — a man he recognized from training years ago. His sword was still in his hand, blade snapped halfway through.
"They fought hard…" Kael whispered.
He closed the man's eyes with his gloved fingers, then stood again, gaze hardening.
Something in the distance cracked — wood snapping under pressure.
Kael turned, blade ready.
Another minor Wendigo stumbled from behind a tree, dragging a corpse by the leg. It was gnawing lazily at the flesh, oblivious to him. Blood glistened around its mouth.
Kael moved in silence. One breath, one step, one strike.
The creature's head hit the ground before its body realized it was dead.
He exhaled slowly.
"Seven down."
His comm crackled faintly.
"—el? Ka—el, do you copy?"
Lira's voice, distorted through static.
"I read," he whispered. "Minor threats neutralized. Found bodies — Alpha squad. They didn't make it."
"Understood," Lira replied softly. "Rin and Taro haven't reported yet. You're closest to the east cluster — proceed with caution. Signal drops beyond that ridge."
"Got it."
The line went silent again.
Kael sheathed his sword, stepped over the corpses, and continued east. The fog swallowed him whole.
---
The deeper he went, the worse it became.
Trees twisted into shapes that looked almost human. Branches like reaching arms.
He passed another clearing, smaller this time — a campsite turned graveyard.
Broken weapons. Torn gear. A hand sticking out from beneath the snow.
He paused, scanning the shadows.
Something moved in the mist — low, fast, circling him.
He steadied his breathing, blade sliding free once more.
"Come on then…"
A whisper of claws against bark. Then silence. Then another, closer.
He turned — nothing.
Turned again — still nothing.
And then one dropped from above.
The strike came from the treetops — claws slicing down in a blur. Kael spun, the blade flashing, intercepting the blow mid-air. The impact rang through his arms like metal on metal.
The creature hissed, jaws unhinging wider than its skull should allow. Its flesh was cracked with frost, bones sharp beneath the skin.
Kael slid back half a step, then lunged forward — sword low, pivoting upward.
The strike cleaved through its chest, sending it sprawling into the snow.
He didn't stop.
He stepped in, finishing with a clean, vertical cut. The body fell limp.
Steam rose from the corpse as Kael caught his breath.
He looked up. The fog above the trees seemed darker now, thicker.
And for just a moment, he swore he saw movement — silhouettes higher up in the branches, still and watching.
Too big to be the minors.
He blinked — and they were gone.
"They're gathering…" he muttered.
The cold bit deeper into his fingers as he tightened his grip on the sword.
He moved again, quieter this time, tracing the signs — claw marks, blood splatter, discarded bones. The ground dipped lower, forming a hollow that sank into shadow.
From down there, faint echoes rose — wet, rhythmic sounds. Feeding.
Kael's eyes hardened.
"So this is where you nest."
He didn't go down yet.
Instead, he crouched at the ridge, watching from above. The faint movement below — half-seen through the mist — looked wrong. Too organized.
They weren't fighting each other. They were working together.
Stacking bodies. Piling them.
Kael's heartbeat slowed to a steady rhythm.
"Rin, Taro, Lira…" he whispered into his comm. "I found something."
Static. Only static.
He looked down again, eyes narrowing.
The feeding noises stopped.
The fog below shifted — and all the heads turned upward, toward him.
Dozens of eyes, red and hungry, locked on Kael.
He exhaled once.
"Tch. Guess I got your attention."
He rose to his full height, blade drawn. The mist stirred like a living thing, shapes crawling out of it.
"Fine," he said quietly. "Let's dance."