''Stop!'' Leo's voice cut through the howling wind, sharp and commanding.
The party froze. Just ten meters ahead, the pristine white stones of the bridge began to ripple. The sound was not the wind; it was a rhythmic, chitinous clicking. Thousands of tiny, crystalline insects, each the size of a finger, were detaching themselves from the structure. These Stone-Eater Locusts didn't just inhabit the bridge—they were its camouflage.
''What the hell are those?'' Noel shouted, and his hands materialized two short swords.
''Dinner, if you are not careful,'' Leo replied, his eyes scanning the swarm. Through his Throne Perception, he could see the aetheric pulse of each insect. They were weak individually, but their mandibles were designed to vibrate at frequencies that could shatter stone and bone alike.
[Stone-Eater Locusts]
[Rank: F(Suppressed)]
Hye-na didn't wait for a plan. She stepped forward, the Solar Flare Spear igniting with a roar of orange flames. The heat was so intense it momentarily pushed back the freezing mountain air. With a blur of motion, she thrust the spear into the center of the gathering swarm.
''Solar Burst!'' she commanded.
An explosion of heat rippled outward, incinerating hundreds of the locusts in an instant. The smell of burnt ozone filled the air. But for every insect that turned to ash, a dozen more rose from the sides of the bridge, clicking their mandibles in a deafening chorus.
''They are eating the bridge!'' Ben yelled. Beneath the swarm, the stone was thinning, becoming translucent and dangerously brittle.
Leo took a deep breath, his lungs burning with the thin air. He unleashed a Berserker's Roar. The mental shockwave slammed into the swarm, freezing the locusts in mid-air.
"Do not hesitate! Kill them now!'' Leo shouted.
Elara released an ice arrow that shattered upon impact, freezing hundreds of the stunned insects. Ben followed with a sweeping arc from his blade, his double-damage talent turning the insects into a mist of green ichor. Support lords poured buffs into the frontline, and Leo himself blurred into the center of the carnage.
To the others, Leo was a ghost made of midnight silk. His weapon and combat mastery turned his dagger strikes into a clinical harvest. Every movement was a study in lethal efficiency.
''Damn, it is getting hot in here!'' Noel muttered, wiping sweat from his brow. Luna shot him a look of pure disdain.
Hye-na watched the insects recover, her eyes narrowing. To everyone's shock, she unleashed a Berserker's Roar of her own. The howl was deeper, more resonant, and even Leo found himself momentarily paralyzed by the pressure. 'She copied me,' he realized, his mind racing.
Before the team could process that, she followed up with a sweeping arc of solar fire that perfectly mirrored Ben's swordsmanship. Ben stared at his own hands, then at the girl. ''That... that was my skill!''
Luna chuckled, leaning back. ''Hehe, she is doing it again. Showoff".
The battle ended in a hollow silence. The bridge was a graveyard of greenish blood and crystalline shells. Leo checked his essence: 550. It was a decent haul, but his mind was elsewhere. He watched Hye-na clean her spear. 'Is her talent a form of mimicry? Or something more absolute?'
The team salvaged what they could, though the inventories were quickly reaching their limits. Suddenly, a sharp cry pierced the wind. Leo looked out into the void. Miles away, a tiny silhouette was plummeting through the clouds.
''Leader, what was that?'' Luna asked, her voice hushed.
Leo turned back to her. ''Nothing but another soul lost to the heights. Let us move.''
''Alliance Master, I realized I never asked for your real name,'' Noel said, his curiosity getting the better of him. Hye-na paused, her ears straining for the answer.
''Crimson,'' Leo replied flatly. He did not give an inch.
As they marched, the silence of the high-altitude bridge became oppressive. The chatty energy of the group faded as the clouds hemmed them in. Leo found his gaze drifting back to Hye-na. He watched the way her hair swayed, catching the dim light. His eyes traced the line of her neck, and suddenly, the world turned a dull, pulsating red.
His heart hammered like a war drum. His fangs began to ache, pressing against the inside of his lip. Behind the porcelain mask, his expression twisted into a predatory snarl. His legs moved without his consent, drawing him toward her.
He could smell the heat of her blood—the high-tier aether flowing through her veins was like a siren's song.
He was inches from her back, his hand reaching out to pull her close, when she sensed him.
Hye-na spun around, her eyes sharp and suspicious. ''What?'' she asked, her hand tightening on the spear.
The sharp tone snapped the trance. Leo froze, his mind reeling. He realized with a jolt of horror that he had been seconds away from lunging at her. He coughed, turning his head. ''Nothing. The path ahead is clear. Let us move.''
He hurried past her, his hands trembling in his pockets. 'That was too close. The more I evolve, the more the hunger tries to own me,' he thought. He pulled a bloodstone from his storage and absorbed it in a single, desperate breath, finally quieting the beast within.
The march continued along the narrow white stone. Every few hundred meters, small clusters of Stone-Eater Locusts would ripple out from the masonry, sensing the vibration of their footsteps. Each time, the party reacted with a practiced fluidity. Hye-na would lead with a flurry of solar fire, Noel would confuse the swarm with his illusions, and Leo would blur through the gaps, his dagger harvesting the stragglers.
They dealt with these small skirmishes easily, but the constant tension was starting to wear on Ben's team.
Suddenly, Luna stopped in her tracks, her fingers swiping frantically through the air in front of her. Her face went pale as she stared at her invisible interface.
''We have a problem,'' Luna said, her voice trembling slightly. ''The regional chat... it is grayed out. The trade function is gone, too.''
Leo pulled up his own window. Sure enough, the icons for the global and regional channels were dark, as if they had never existed. The Market interface was completely unresponsive.
''The system mentioned this was a pocket dimension,'' Leo muttered, though he felt a chill that had nothing to do with the mountain air. ''It seems the Origin decided to teach us survival here.
Noel let out a long, weary sigh, leaning on his knees. ''So if we run out of potions or food, we are basically done for? This place just keeps getting better and better.''
''It means the stakes are higher for everyone,'' Hye-na added, her eyes sharp as she looked at the empty clouds. ''The lords behind us will be even more desperate now. If they run out of supplies, they will start hunting other players for their inventories.''
Leo nodded, checking his own storage. He had enough blood stones for a few more days, but his SE was still low. He looked at his party, seeing the unease in their eyes. Ben and his team were already whispering among themselves.
"Let's move fast, we need to find land first; we don't know how long our resources last," Leo commanded.
Luna managed a small, weak smile at that, but she kept her crossbow held tight. They were truly alone now, ten thousand meters above the world.