They only waited.
Kaelen moved through the broken forest at a measured pace, boots crunching softly over frost-hardened soil. His Veil Lord attire remained folded and secured across his back—too conspicuous, too symbolic. For now, he wore simple black travel leathers.
His weapons, however, never left him.
The obsidian katana rode low at his left hip.
The whip coiled at his belt like a living thing.
The twin daggers rested against his lower back, balanced, ready.
He breathed slowly.
In.
Out.
Ni flowed beneath his skin again—properly now. Not wild surges like before. Not the roaring storm of his childhood.
This was quieter.
Sharper.
Lightning hummed faintly along his nerves, restrained but eager. Blood Ni pulsed warm and controlled through his veins. Shadow Ni clung to him like a second silhouette, responding to thought rather than emotion.
For the first time in months—
He wasn’t empty.
He was hungry.
The beast struck without warning.
The ground ruptured ahead of him as something massive exploded upward, stone and ice thrown into the air. Kaelen twisted instinctively, lightning snapping across his calves as he vaulted backward.
The creature landed where he had been standing.
A Gravehorn Ravager.
Four meters tall. Slate-gray hide. Bone plating along its spine like jagged tombstones. Its head was a warped skull crowned with two spiraling horns etched with glowing Ni-runes.
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A territorial apex.
Kaelen exhaled.
“Good,” he murmured. “You’ll do.”
The Ravager charged.
Fast.
Too fast for its size.
Kaelen sidestepped, drawing his katana in one smooth motion. The blade slid free without a sound—no sparks, no glow. Just black steel drinking the light.
The horn missed him by inches.
Kaelen slashed.
The blade bit into the Ravager’s flank—then stopped.
Not deflected.
Resisted.
Ni reinforcement.
Kaelen’s eyes narrowed.
“Fine.”
He pivoted, snapped his wrist, and the whip uncoiled mid-motion. Shadow Ni bled into its length as it wrapped around the creature’s foreleg. Kaelen yanked hard, blood Ni reinforcing his muscles.
The Ravager stumbled.
It roared, slamming a horn into the ground, sending a shockwave ripping outward.
Kaelen was already moving.
Lightning Ni surged—controlled, precise—launching him upward. He twisted midair, daggers flashing as he plunged down.
One dagger sank into the Ravager’s eye.
Black blood erupted.
The beast screamed and bucked violently, smashing Kaelen into a tree trunk. Pain exploded through his shoulder. He barely rolled aside as a horn carved through the space where his head had been.
Kaelen coughed, blood in his mouth.
Focus.
Shadow Ni flared—not outward, but inward. The world dimmed. Sounds sharpened.
The Ravager charged again.
Kaelen didn’t dodge.
He stepped into the attack.
Blood Ni reinforced his bones. Lightning surged through his spine. Shadow Ni cloaked his presence just enough to blur his outline.
He drove the obsidian katana straight up under the creature’s jaw.
The blade pierced brain and core alike.
The Ravager convulsed once—
Then collapsed.
Silence returned to the forest.
Kaelen stood there, chest heaving, blade buried to the hilt. He wrenched it free and stepped back as the massive corpse finally stilled.
His vision flickered.
Pain surged through his limbs.
Then—
A cold, familiar sensation washed over him.
[SYSTEM: VOLKOV CONDUCTOR]
[XP GAINED: +180]
[LEVEL UP IMMINENT]
Kaelen sucked in a breath as warmth spread through his chest—not explosive, not violent.
Stable.
His Ni flowed more smoothly. Stronger. Denser.
He wiped blood from his chin and straightened.
“…Good,” he whispered.
He didn’t notice the figure watching him.
Not at first.
High above, balanced on a jagged stone outcrop, a tall man stood with his arms folded inside a long, dark cloak. His presence didn’t disturb the air. Didn’t ripple Ni.
It simply was.
Sharp eyes tracked Kaelen’s movements with calm interest.
The man smiled faintly.
“So,” Kaze murmured to no one, “the boy finally stopped breaking.”
Kaelen sheathed his blade and began dragging the Ravager’s horn free, already thinking about the next hunt.
Unaware—
That his solitude had ended.