Coldmarsh Riftgill Beast Pack

The Blood Moon rose, yet no frontal Beast Tide appeared before the Third Broken Bridge position.

Thud.

A muffled impact came from beneath the frozen lake, as though something heavy had struck the ice.

Several dark shapes prowled along the outer edge, avoiding the trenches and Lamp Oil channels as they probed the position's perimeter.

Milo's breathing grew ragged. He raised his Repeating Crossbow several times, only to lower it again.

Todd reached out and pressed down on its trigger mechanism. "Keep your nerve."

His left hand hung in the air, withholding the signal to fire.

But as time dragged on, more dark shapes gathered beneath the lake ice, swimming slowly along the ruined bridge supports.

Milo whispered, his voice shaking, "Captain, they're under the bridge."

He was not alone. Several other recruits stood frozen, fingers tight on their Repeating Crossbows, afraid to let go.

Todd merely looked down through the thin ice and made out the monsters beneath the water.

Their misshapen bodies, half fish and half lizard, clung to the ruined supports. Huge gill sacs split open across their chests and bellies, opening and closing with the current as they spat blackened slime.

Barbed claws scraped across the ice with a teeth-aching screech.

Dense clusters of dead-white eyes pressed close beneath the dark water and turned upward as one.

Once the recruits saw what was coming, their fear deepened. A few even took an involuntary half step back, boot heels tapping against the frozen crust of mud.

Todd's expression did not change. "Note their features. Send word to headquarters."

The Auxiliary Soldier beside him jolted back to his senses and rushed to the Short-Range Echoing Platform, urgently relaying the underwater movements and the monsters' features to the rear.

Inside the half-buried command shelter, the Echoing Platform gave a