Homecoming

At the heart of the mine.

Uerhan knelt on one knee, his slit pupils fixed on the entrance.

He could no longer feel his berserk state. With his blood and vitality burned away, only a tide of weakness remained in his body.

His muscles trembled uncontrollably, and waves of soreness rose from deep within his bones.

Bater leaned against a pile of rubble. His severed arm had been reattached, but the cracks in its bones remained.

His breathing was heavy and ragged. Every breath tugged at his broken ribs, making him grimace.

Neither of them spoke.

After sending the distress signal, they had waited for reinforcements.

At a Bearfolk king's speed, reaching the mine's heart from an outer node should have taken no more than fifteen minutes.

But fifteen minutes passed, then half an hour, and still nothing stirred at the entrance.

Unease flickered in Uerhan's slit pupils.

It shouldn't have taken this long. Unless someone intercepted the reinforcements. He remembered the two sword cries he had heard earlier.

They had pierced the energy barrier around the mine's heart and the thick rock walls, reaching his ears with perfect clarity.

One sword cry was like a spring breeze; the other was like thunder.

Lin Jianyi and Zhu Nanxing.

Suddenly, he understood.

This had been a trap from the start. The Federation and the Dawn Empire had joined forces. Their target was never the mine—it was us.

The mine was only bait. The Bearfolk Clan's kings were the real prey.

Uerhan looked up at Xu Wuyi, who stood before him.

The young man had kept the same rhythm throughout: steady breathing, steady heartbeat. Even his stance had not changed.

Clashing head-on with two berserk Bearfolk kings must have cost him dearly. Yet he stood there looking exactly as he had when