The Edax at our feet begins to convulse.
Cage and I stagger back, eyes locked on the twitching corpse. From the bloody stump of its neck, a new jaw sprouts, followed by a gleaming, wet spine.
With a spray of blood, its new head snaps forward, fully formed and uninjured.
“They shouldn’t be able to resurrect like this.”
My grip tightens around the swords. My legs shift, bracing for the lengthy battle to come. This is no longer a fight. This is survival.
“No,” Cage agrees. “This has to be some sort of mutation. If they all resurrect, this is pointless.”
His blade erupts into silver and black flames.
The Edaxes charge. Dozens of them, converge on us.
The air fills with a chorus of suffering human and animal cries alike and pounding feet as all hell breaks loose.
I dodge jaws and talons, spinning and ducking beneath snapping fangs. Oliver casts shield after shield over me, each one breaking under the claws’ weight. The monsters crash into each other in their bloodlust, earning snarls and swipes from their own.
Cage is a whirlwind beside me. The style of blade work I saw him use against the Manipulators returns, this time with a more refined savagery.
He doesn’t just slash. He rips through them with wave after wave of black magic, cleaving their bodies into pieces.
Still, they rise. No matter if ran through, gutted, or burned, they rise again.
My arms ache, my hands tremble and shake. Without magic fueling my movements, fatigue creeps in fast.
And still they come.
How are there so many?
“Cage there are more!” I scream, sliding under an Edax as it leaps over me.
Cage slams his fist into the earth.
A second later, a powerful pulse surges from the impact, rippling across the ground. The nearest Edaxes—eight of them—are blasted backward.
Then I notice something strange.
Even those farther away, untouched by the shockwave, freeze. They react as if struck too.
Then in unison, their attention shifts. Every single head, even the ones still flooding from the woods, turns toward Cage.
And then I see it. The way they move. The timing. They don’t fight like beasts. They’re coordinating, reacting in tandem, and their attacks are seamless. The only reason they keep crashing into each other is because we’re outmaneuvering them.
They’re learning—fast.
“It's a hive mind!” I shout, a grin tugging at my lips. That’s why they won’t die. Not until we find the source.
“Keep it up!” I call to Cage.
While he holds their attention, I sprint toward the woods.
Oliver flutters beside me, his tone tight with nervousness, “Me missus, where going?”
“We need to find the main one, the alpha. Can you help me? Look for something different—bigger, smaller, strange markings. They may be protecting it.”
I push harder, my legs burning as I race across the field and into the forest’s shadow. My blades stay drawn. Roots twistbeneath my boots and branches snap past my shoulders. I focus ahead, the high from my adrenaline finally kicking in.
