A few seconds after his reckless leap, Won was violently slammed by the jet-black ocean. He fought his way to the surface, immediately swimming, his eyes locked onto the new, forbidding shoreline—a coastline that looked black and sickly from his current position.The sharp, salty water stung his eyes and filled his mouth. “Lucky the bag is waterproof!” he thought, his meager planning paying off.He maintained a frantic, powerful pace toward the shore. He was almost there when the water before him violently erupted. Something huge and monstrous arose, its giant maw lined with hundreds of razor-sharp teeth, spraying the corrosive black ocean water everywhere.“FUCK!” he spat out the water, throwing every ounce of remaining energy into his sprint toward the dry land.Just as the beast's immense jaws were about to close on him, he scrambled onto the shore and began sprinting up the incline.The colossal creature—part reptilian, part horror—attempted to crawl onto the land, fussing and thra

They needed water. The supply Won had scavenged was critically low, portioned at a meager 240 milliliters each—barely enough to last a single day and far below the minimum requirement.To escape this desolate island, they had to move smart. Crossing the ocean on a simple boat was a death wish, a fate their companions had narrowly escaped. They required a plan, and power, that transcended simple transport.“We can’t touch anything growing in this forest,” Blossom stated, her voice sharp with caution. “We don’t know what kind of poison runs through them.”“The food I grabbed won’t last us even a few days here,” Won countered, his patience thin. “We have to find another food source.”“So what's yo

After their quick, grim meal, Won left the camp. He told them he needed to follow the Demon to secure a water source, but in truth, he needed to get away. He needed to think.Though his teammates offered to join, he refused. He needed silence because the confusion swirling in his head was a bigger threat than the Demon itself.The words Wynn had spoken after Aviva’s murder were hammering against his skull: “Someone who knew how to bypass the wards, how to break an ancient binding spell, and how to summon an instant Veyne.”Every terrifying detail pointed to Leo.It didn't matter how desperately Won wanted to deny it. What if Leo, driven by the savage trauma of his family’s murder, was trying to gain

After shaping the trunks for the boat, Noah turned to Won. “Won, can you take me to that cave?”“Why?” Won asked, gulping down water. “Can you read a monster’s mind too? That would be crazy.”Noah nodded. “Yeah. If Blossom’s right, they could be planning an attack. But since they haven’t hit us during the day, I need to know if they’re sensitive to the sun. You know demons tend to be sensitive to sunlight. If they weren’t, we’d already be dead, wouldn't we?”Won agreed. “Alright, let’s go before the sun drops. We still have some time.”Blossom headed off to shower, covered in the slime and blood of their earlier hunt.“

“That was the last knight guarding the King,” Noah said, his voice flat with certainty, as they sat by the meager fire, picking at cooked terrapuses’ meat.“What was its rank? My Codex Map was silent,” Won said, chewing slowly.“Same here. It might be because the knight was bound directly to its King. I don’t really know the mechanics,” Blossom muttered, inspecting her piece of meat.“And we got three cores in total. The Demon—or Knight, whatever—was a hybrid of three creatures: gorilla, octopus, and crab. That could be why. Maybe the King deliberately forged it that way,” Won theorized.“The King has now lost all its protectors. That was the most trusted one. I think the King will simply withe