They didn't allow rest.
Stone-Quiet City did not accommodate weakness.
Yoo-Jin was assigned to an external survey unit within hours of arrival. No explanations. No negotiations.
"Observe. Survive. Return," the Nyrathi overseer said.
Beyond the city walls, the land twisted.
Trees bent at unnatural angles. The ground felt uneven, as if pressure shifted constantly beneath the surface.
Yoo-Jin moved carefully, suppressing his instinct to sense too widely.
Then—
Everything went quiet.
Not silent.
Hollow.
[Warning: High-Risk Entity Approaching]
The pressure around him thinned—then vanished.
A massive shape emerged from the fog.
It wasn't fast.It didn't roar.
It simply advanced.
The Echo Devourer.
Space itself bent toward it. Awakened soldiers tried to activate abilities—
Nothing happened.
Their powers were swallowed whole.
Panic spread.
Yoo-Jin felt his chest tighten.
It eats effects, he realized. Not attacks. Not intent. Effects.
When it lunged, he didn't release pressure outward.
He compressed it inward.
Not at the beast—
At the ground beneath his own feet.
The earth hardened.
He pushed off.
The monster struck empty air.
Stone spears collapsed from above as the environment responded to imbalance.
The Echo Devourer recoiled—not injured, but disrupted.
That was enough.
The creature withdrew, dissolving into distortion.
[Iconic Threat: Repelled]
Yoo-Jin dropped to one knee, blood trickling from his nose.
He had survived again.
But this time—
The city noticed.