“Can you see the leaves moving behind your friend? A few feet away?” I spoke as calmly as possible into the female Arahaktar’s ear. She nodded with a gulp. “There’s a jaguar coming for her. I’ll help your friend as a show of good faith, and then you’ll listen to me.”

  I didn’t wait for a response. Elk couldn’t see me—no one could—so I said his name out loud, and a flaming snake crawled across the ground, wrapping itself around the invisible jaguar. After a few excruciating seconds, the jaguar finally appeared, dead on the ground.

  Sweat from the Arahaktar touched my invisible arm, but I didn’t flinch.

  “I assume you’re the one with a velocity skill, aren’t you?” I asked. She nodded, too afraid to speak with the metal on her skin.

  “You can carry more than one person with you?”

  “Only two people,” she started, her voice strangled, and I loosened my grip a little. “If I use it alone, there’s no cost, but if I take people with me, I get tired fast.”

  “All right. Here’s what’s going to happen. We’ll help your friend out of that hole, and then you’ll move in the opposite direction of where you were going. Whatever lies ahead on the map is ours,” I said as firmly as possible, my voice cold as ice. “Now, tell your friend to walk back.”

  The other Arahaktar seemed to hear it as well and got up, letting her rope fall to the ground as she moved back. When she was five feet away from the hole, she looked to her side and found Tress’s bow aimed right at her.

  With both Arahaktar under control, Elk and Mary stepped out of the woods, walking straight to the hole.

  “What’s the situation, Elk?” I asked. He spent a few seconds thinking.

  “We can do it, if she follows the instructions,” he showed a confident smile, grabbed the rope laying on the ground and handed it to Mary. “Wrap this rope around your shield, Mary.”

  Mary nodded in agreement, and Elk returned his attention to the human inside the hole.

  The woman was blonde, her clothes covered in mud. Quicksand reached her waist, but she’d been smart enough to stay still.

  “What’s your name?” Elk asked.

  “Emilia.” The woman’s voice had a hint of despair. “What should I do?”

  “You’ll move only one foot up, understand? Don’t try to get both at the same time, or you’ll sink further.”

  The woman nodded and started trying, but it was clear she wasn’t succeeding.

  “Stop!” Elk cried, and she obeyed. “You’re not doing it right. Shake your right foot and slowly pull it out, like you’re flexing your knee.”

  This time, it seemed to work. After a minute of grunting, we could all see her knee above the quicksand.

  “What now?” she asked.

  “Now, you’ll lie on the same side as your free foot.”

  As the words left Elk’s mouth, the woman’s eyes bulged.

  “I’ll sink completely like that! I can’t!”

  “Trust me, do it!” Elk said in a commanding voice, one I’d never heard him use before. She sighed and obeyed.

  The next second, she was lying with her back on the quicksand, both feet now free.

  “Now, roll to the edge. Your body’s surface is too large in this position for the sand to swallow you. Just keep rolling slowly.”

  Realizing Elk was more than right, the woman followed his command. When she reached the edge of the hole, Mary threw the shield wrapped in rope and pulled her up. She didn’t even struggle, thanks to the shield’s passive weightless skill.

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  After a minute, Emilia laid on the ground, breathing laboriously and relieved.

  “How did you know how to do it, Elk?” Mary asked.

  “You should ask them, not me.” Elk’s brow furrowed, and he couldn’t suppress the anger in his tone. He moved back and sat near a tree. “Any other jaguars around, Zach?” he asked.

  “None that I can see,” I told him and felt the Arahaktar in front of me trying to move her head.

  “Don’t even try,” I hissed.

  “Are you the one who won a duel against an Arahaktar? The one with the [Duel Champion] title?” she asked, a hint of admiration in her voice—but it could’ve been an act.

  The other Arahaktar, under Tress’s aim, had tears in her eyes.

  What the hell is going on here?

  “Yeah, it’s me, and this is my party. We saw you and decided to help,” I told her, softening the aggression in my voice.

  “Two humans, a hornless, and a myriad,” she said thoughtfully. “We came across a few parties. None were like that.”

  She seemed eager to ramble, and I sighed.

  “If I release you, are you going to try to attack us? Please, I can smell a lie,” I said.

  She shook her head. I released her, and she turned, surprised when she didn’t see me.

  The system didn’t consider us in combat, so as long as I wanted, I’d remain invisible. And I definitely didn’t want to reveal myself now.

  “Thank you for saving Emilia,” the Arahaktar said.

  “You should thank Elk. He’s the one who decided to come, and he knew how to handle your problem.”

  She looked at Elk, still sitting on the ground with his eyes down, and her face twisted. What was that? Disgust? Anger? Guilt?

  She didn’t thank Elk, though.

  Emilia, the human in their group, rushed toward my position, totally ignoring the fact that we outnumbered them and had weapons drawn. However, the eagerness on her face made me realize she didn’t want to attack.

  “Are you heading to the dungeon, right? I came to the same conclusion! I can’t believe this is actually happening!” she said with disproportionate enthusiasm. “That was my theory, but I wasn’t sure. Now, with another human considering it as well, it’ll probably be way easier to conquer them. Kara here is a really fast rogue, I can heal, and Vart is great with a bow. We can definitely take down any boss.”

  “No, we’re going alone,” Elk replied dryly.

  “Oh.” Emilia’s enthusiasm faded. Her eyebrows raised as she looked from Elk to me, trying to understand what was going on. “Why?” she finally asked, her voice barely a whisper.

  “I told you… ask them why I knew how to get you out of there.” He was looking at Kara now, his eyes burning with a mix of determination and anger.

  Kara, on the other hand, looked down. It was Vart who answered, her eyes brimming with tears.

  “When an Arahaktar doesn’t develop horns by the age of twenty-five, the priests command them to be thrown into Hell. The warrior caste holds a feast to celebrate it. Quicksand is the least of their problems in Hell, but it’s a constant one,” Vart’s voice was distant.

  “You understand what Zach said, right? Go the opposite direction, or we’ll come for you—and you’ll never see it coming,” Elk barked, getting up and moving toward the dungeon.

  Mary rushed to follow him, but he quickened his pace, not wanting to speak to anyone.

  The Arahaktar who commanded them looked in my direction and nodded in agreement. “Let’s go. You’ll have to come up with another plan,” she said to Emilia, who approached her.

  “We’ll conquer the closest city stone. You’ll be welcome to join us,” I told her.

  “You’ll have to face Arahaktar from the warrior caste to get that, you know?” the leader asked.

  “I don’t think they are the ones contesting this city stone, besides I did it once. You can do it too.” I tried to sound reassuring, but she looked down, a sad smile on her thin lips.

  “I can’t. They’re too strong.”

  I wanted to explain that that didn’t exist anymore, that anyone could defeat anyone with the system’s powers, but something told me she wouldn’t listen.

  “Besides, he won’t accept us,” the leader continued, looking towards Elk’s position.

  “Elk has a pure heart, but even the best people have sorrows. If you come to our aid when we need it, he’ll overcome it. In three and a half days, the city stone will be available. If I get it, I won’t let the warrior caste hurt any of you—but I’ll need help. I saved your friend’s life. You owe me one.”

  “You threatened me.” She hissed, seemly more out of instinct than real anger.

  “Still saved your friend. We could’ve killed all of you, but that’s not who we are.”

  She seemed to consider my words for a few seconds, then nodded without a reply.

  She grabbed both hands of a waving Emilia and the other Arahaktar, and they disappeared, leaving traces on the ground as they ran in the opposite direction of the dungeon.

  “Is everyone here fucked in the head?” I muttered, disabling my invisibility and rushing to catch up with my companions.

  “Good work,” Tress said as we moved through the woods. “We’ll do it.”

  “What? Conquer the dungeon or get the city stone?” I asked, smiling and looking up.

  “Both.”

  “The wind?”

  “No, I just believe in it.”