The Wasteland stretched endlessly before them, a grey expanse of cracked earth and twisted rock formations that seemed to shift in the corner of the eye, never quite staying where they should.

They had been walking for what felt like hours.

Ignis kicked a loose stone, sending it skittering across the barren ground. Her flames, usually bright and eager, had dimmed to a sullen flicker, as if even they were weighed down by the oppressive stillness of the place.

"This is boring," she announced, her voice too loud in the heavy silence. "There’s nothing here." She kicked another stone for emphasis. "We’ve been walking all day. My feet hurt."

Adam didn’t slow his pace. "We haven’t been walking all day. It just feels that way."

Ignis groaned, throwing her head back dramatically. "Same thing! Can’t I just fly? I’ll scout ahead, find something interesting, and come back. It’ll be faster."

Adam reached over and rapped his knuckles against the top of her head.

"Ow!" Ignis rubbed the spot, pouting. "What was that for?!"

"If we get separated, how are we supposed to find each other again?" Adam said flatly. "This place messes with directions. You fly off, and you might never find your way back."

Ignis’s pout deepened, but she didn’t argue. Her flames flickered sullenly.

"Then you can just ride on my back. All of you. I’ll carry everyone, and we’ll fly together."

Isolde, walking a few paces behind, shook her head. Her voice was quiet but firm.

"That’s still too risky. Even if we stay close, the Wasteland has a way of... separating people. Illusions, shifting paths, tricks of the mind." Her pale eyes swept the horizon. "It’s safer if we stay on foot. Close together. Within sight of each other at all times."

Ignis’s shoulders slumped. "Ugh. Fine."

Adam glanced back at Isolde, his expression softening with gratitude before he turned forward again.

"She’s right," Adam said, his voice firm. "We stay together, and we stay on foot."

Ignis muttered something under her breath that sounded like "stupid wasteland" but fell into step beside Adam, her shoulder brushing his.

Adam’s gaze drifted to the horizon, where the grey sky met the grey ground in an unbroken line.

’This place feels like a tomb,’ he thought, his internal voice quiet. ’Maybe it is.’

Isolde had fallen into step beside Adam, her hood pulled low, her pale eyes fixed on the path ahead. The silence between them was comfortable, or as comfortable as it could be in this dead, grey landscape.

Adam glanced at her, studying her profile.

"You know a lot about this place," he said. "More than I expected."

Isolde’s lips pressed into a thin line. She was quiet for a moment, and Adam thought she might not answer.

"I’ve studied it," she said finally. "The Wasteland. It’s... a subject of fascination for many scholars. And for demons like us." A pause. "A place where the laws of the world break down. Where ancient things sleep and forgotten things wait."

Adam nodded slowly. "And the Loom of Fate? You believe it’s real?"

Isolde’s pale eyes flickered toward him, then away.

"I don’t know what to believe anymore. But the Frost Dragon wouldn’t have mentioned it if it were mere myth." Her voice dropped, almost to a whisper. "Dragons don’t lie. They have no need to."

Adam’s internal voice was thoughtful. ’Dragons don’t lie. But they don’t always tell the whole truth, either.’

He filed that thought away for later.

Lilith, who had been walking silently beside Ignis, suddenly stopped. Her crimson eyes narrowed, her threads stirring around her fingers like restless serpents.

"Adam." Her voice was soft, but carried an edge of warning. "I sense something."

Adam immediately raised a hand, signaling the group to halt. His eyes closed, and his senses expanded outward.

[Hunter’s Tri-Sense Activated.]

The world sharpened. The pressure of the air, the faint vibration of the stone beneath his feet, the distant whisper of wind across the plain, all of it flowed into his awareness.

A large presence was moving deep underground.

Adam’s eyes snapped open.

"I feel it too." His voice was low, tense. "Something’s moving down there."

The ground trembled.

At first, it was barely perceptible, a faint vibration, like the stirring of a sleeping giant. Then it grew stronger, the cracked earth beneath their feet shifting, stones rattling against each other.

"Everyone, move!" Adam shouted.

They scattered, leaping away from the center of the trembling ground just as the earth erupted.

A massive creature burst from below, showering them with dirt and debris. It was a worm but not like any worm Adam had ever seen. Its body was pale, almost translucent, and segmented like an insect’s. Rings of chitin circled its length, each one lined with rows of needle-like spines that glistened with a viscous, milky fluid. Its maw was a circular void, ringed with concentric circles of razor-sharp teeth that spun in opposite directions, grinding against each other with a sound like breaking glass.

[Abyssal Devourer Worm – Lv. 74]

[A massive, burrowing predator that feeds on anything it can swallow. Its teeth can grind through stone and steel, and its acidic saliva can dissolve most organic matter within seconds. The spines along its body secrete a paralytic venom that numbs and immobilizes prey.]

Adam’s lips curved into a fierce grin.

"Ignis. Looks like this isn’t going to be boring anymore."

Ignis’s flames flared brighter, her golden eyes blazing with excitement. A wide, eager grin spread across her face.

"Haha! Let’s kill this worm!"

Dragon wings erupted from her back, the membranes glowing with solar fire. She launched herself into the air, flipping once before diving toward the worm’s segmented body. Her fist, wreathed in flames, slammed into one of the chitinous rings.

CRACK!

The ring shattered. The worm let out a high-pitched, keening shriek, its body convulsing as it thrashed against the rocky ground.

Lilith’s crimson eyes locked onto the creature.

"[Crimson Gaze]."

The worm’s thrashing slowed. Its movements became sluggish, disoriented, as Lilith’s psychic pressure pressed against its primitive mind.

Her threads shot forward, wrapping around the worm’s body, pinning it against the cracked earth. The silk pulled taut, squeezing between the chitinous rings, digging into the soft flesh beneath.

Ignis landed on the worm’s back, her claws digging into its flesh. Her mouth opened wide, and flames erupted from her throat, pouring into the wound she had created.

"[Solar Flare]!"

The fire blazed, searing the worm’s insides. The creature shrieked, its body convulsing violently as it tried to escape, tried to burrow back into the earth where it had been safe.

Adam’s voice rang out, sharp and commanding.

"It’s trying to escape underground! Don’t let it!"