Dune stood quietly, sword tilted down as the blood trickled from its tip. The scent of iron clung to the blade, mixing with the thick stench of sweat, dirt, and the bitter tang of victory.
With a torn piece of the golden bull's fur, he wiped the weapon clean, his movements deliberate and unhurried.
Around him, the others were still catching their breath.
"That doesn't count," Ralt muttered behind him, bitterness buried beneath their breath.
"He didn't even fight."
Dune glanced over his shoulder, his eyes calm and unreadable, giving nothing in return. Rudy, still brushing dust from his torn sleeves, raised a hand to hush the others.
"No, he won it," Rudy said with a grin, not looking at Dune but clearly thinking about him.
"Deservingly."
Dune didn't wait for praise or protests. He crouched beside the bull's fallen body and drove his blade into its thick hide. The flesh gave way with a wet, reluctant tear, and after a moment of precision, his fingers found the Neba core. It was small, surprisingly so for a beast that had shattered trees with its charge, but it pulsed with a dim, almost melancholic green glow, like a dying ember clinging to life.
He studied it for a moment and let out a quiet, almost amused breath. "So small…"
With that, he rose, slipping the core into his satchel before turning to the group. "Let's go," he said plainly, voice flat. "Time to collect what's mine."
The silence that followed wasn't loud, but it was heavy.
Dune didn't look at them. He walked straight through, boots crunching over leaves, unbothered by the quiet resentment trailing behind him.
Rudy watched him go with something between a smirk and a calculation, curious, maybe even impressed. Then, with a low chuckle, he followed.
Behind them, voices whispered again.
"You really gonna let him take all the coin?"
"He barely lifted a damn finger."
"We risked our necks, too…"
Rudy didn't answer. His gaze had shifted, flicking through the trees, until he stopped cold.
A figure stumbled out of the brush, legs barely supporting her. Leaves clung to her tangled hair, and her arms were streaked with blood and dirt. Her breath came in short, ragged gasps as she collapsed to one knee, clutching her side.
It was Mindya.
Dune's eyes flicked to the direction Mindya had come from. Something was wrong. She was running. From something. But what?
His instincts buzzed.
But Rudy moved first, stepping forward with a grin that curved too wide.
"Well, well," he drawled, voice dripping like thick syrup. "Look who wandered back. I could smell you from a mile off."
Mindya flinched as he approached, her body shrinking instinctively.
"You were hunting, weren't you?" His tone turned quieter, darker. "After I told you not to."
"I wasn't," she breathed, already shaking. "I swear, I didn't find anything, I just—"
His hand snapped out. Fingers clamped around her throat, lifting her like she weighed nothing.
"You're lying," he said, voice low and almost… amused. Like he was scolding a child. "I can smell the blood on you. You hunted. You broke our deal."
"I didn't… please… you said if I listened, if I stayed quiet, you wouldn't—"
"That promise?" His smile died. "It's been revoked."
He dropped her, only to slam his boot into her face before she hit the ground. Her body crumpled with a gasp, blood spilling from her nose, soaking into the dirt. Laughter rippled through the group like a sickness.
Mark stepped forward and kicked her ribs, Ralt meanwhile yanked her back by the hair. She cried out, trying to crawl away, but they closed in like jackals.
"You know how it works, snake girl," Rudy sneered. "You disobey, you pay."
Bollo snorted. "Take off her clothes Rudy."
Ralt voice joined in, ugly and gleeful. "Bet she's warm underneath all that attitude."
Mark glanced at Dune, "Hey, you! Wanna join in, or you just gonna watch? But not for free, give each one of us 30 gold first."
Dune froze. The sword at his side twitched as his fingers curled tighter around the hilt. His knuckles turned white. His chest rose slowly, breath controlled, but every inhale tasted of rage. His heart pounded, not in panic, but fury. A cold, focused fury.
He took a step forward.
No warning. No words.
But just as he moved to act—The world cracked open.
A deafening crack split the air, followed by a horrible, wet explosion. Billo, mid-laugh, was torn in half as the side of his head simply ceased to exist. Blood and fragments of bone sprayed across the clearing, and his body collapsed like dead weight.
Then came the sound. A slow, growing thud, heavy and deep, shaking the earth beneath their feet. The trees parted with the force of something ancient and massive.
And then they saw it.
The black bull.
It emerged from the gloom like a phantom, larger than the golden one by far. Its fur shimmered like polished obsidian, and steam hissed from its flaring nostrils. Its horns pulsed with deep, crimson light, throbbing like veins carrying fire. Each step it took split the ground, raw muscle rippling beneath its hide.
And its eyes, if they were eyes, were voids. Empty, swirling darkness.
Dune stood frozen, blood boiling beneath his skin, his heart still pounding.
The black bull charged, faster than anything its size should've been. Its hooves cracked the ground like thunder, bearing down on them with terrifying momentum.
"Shit, Run!" Mark shouted.
Rudy reacted just in time, flinging himself aside with a curse. Two remaining hunters Mark and Ralt followed, barely dodging death.
But Mindya was left behind, still curled on the forest floor, dazed and broken.
Dune saw her, and before thought could catch up, his body moved, Nebastep.
A pulse of green neba shimmered beneath his feet, and a platform of Neba flared to life, just long enough to launch him forward and shove the charging bull to the side.
The force threw both of them in opposite directions, the ground screaming under the weight of the collision.
Rudy gritted his teeth. "We will use Mindya, leave her here bull can focus on her, and we can escape… there's no other way."
Dune landed hard but didn't stop. He slid across the dirt, reaching out.
His hand closed around Mindya's wrist.
"Run!" he barked, dragging her up in one motion. "Go now!"
She staggered, eyes wide, limbs trembling, but she moved. She turned and bolted into the trees, vanishing into the underbrush like a shadow escaping flame.
Behind them, Rudy shouted, rage sharpening his voice into a snarl. "What the hell are you doing, Dune?! How dare you—"
Dune glanced over his shoulder. His expression was cold, unreadable. He said nothing. Just turned, and ran.
Rudy's scream followed him. "I'm gonna kill you, Dune! You just wait!"
But Dune was already gone, his form vanishing between the trees, his breath ragged, heart burning.
Damn it. bastards.
He leapt over roots, branches clawing at his clothes as he weaved through the forest. I should've acted earlier. I should've killed them the moment they laid hands on her…no… even before, i should've killed them back in the inn.
Sometimes being hesitant isn't mercy. Sometimes, it's just weakness.
He bit down hard, jaw clenched.
Then he stopped. His eyes widened.
Before him, the trees thinned, and in the clearing beyond, dozens of bulls stood. Each one black as midnight, their eyes glowing red like embers in a dying world. Most towered over seven meters tall, hulking creatures of muscle and malice.
Dune froze.
What the hell...? Am I in their territory?
His instinct screamed at him to run, but even the slightest sound could trigger them. His breath hitched. His feet backed away, slow and quiet.
Nebastep? No… it's too loud. One pulse and they'll all charge. I'll be trampled before I take two steps.
He shifted back carefully, inching into the trees.
Suddenly he heard a sound from above, something sliced the air, a sharp whistle followed by a violent thunk.
An axe hurtled past Dune's face, grazing the edge of his vision. He dropped low, sliding across the dirt as the weapon buried itself in a tree behind him. The trunk cracked, split clean through.
Then came the thud.
Rudy hit the ground hard, his boots digging into the earth. He stood, swaying slightly, blood trickling down the side of his face, his cloak half-torn, one eye nearly swollen shut.
He looked like a man barely held together by hate, and yet that smirk was still there. That same crooked, self-satisfied grin.
"Dune," Rudy croaked, voice hoarse with effort, "I'll be real with you. Give me the core… and I'll let you live."
Dune said nothing. He watched him. Watched the madness leaking from his smile. Watched the twitch of his fingers, the hungry gleam in his eye.
"I was gonna kill you anyway," Rudy went on.
"But now? Now I'll probably be the only one left alive here. I get all the reward. That's not so bad, is it?"
Dune's grip on his sword tightened slightly.
His teammates are probably still out there. Screaming. Bleeding. Trying to survive. And he doesn't even look back. No guilt. Just a shrug, and a smirk, and a plan to walk over their corpses.
I thought I was cold. But this? This is something else.
And the others? Ralt, Mark, Billo? I'm not sad they're dying. They earned that end the moment they laid hands on innocent. Every scream they will let out is just another debt being paid.
Still, Rudy's brand of selfishness, it impressed Dune in the worst way.
Even monsters eat their own when they're hungry enough.
"You know…" Dune spoke calmly.
"I've thought about killing you," he said quietly, eyes locked on Rudy. "More times than I can count. But now? Now I have too many reasons to not let you live."
His voice darkened. "I want to see you die, no… A painful death would be even better."
Rudy blinked, stunned for a split second before narrowing his eyes, that crooked smile curling on his lips. "What's wrong, Dune? Gonna cry over a stray girl? Did you fall in love with her?"
Rudy stepped closer, hands twitching with anticipation. "Come on then, hero. You've been staring at me like that since we met. You want blood? Come and try."
Dune exhaled through his nose. Not in anger. Not even disgust. Just... amazement.
He let out a quiet, bitter chuckle.
Rudy blinked at the sound of Dune's laugh. "What the hell are you smiling at?"
Dune finally stood upright, the forest wind brushing across his face. His fingers slid across the hilt of his sword, slow, deliberate. He unleashed it.
"All this, even sacrificing your own loyal dogs…" he said, voice flat, "for three hundred golden Neba?"
Rudy sneered. "You think I care? They died for nothing, and soon you'll die too."
Dune just smiled. "Then let me be the one to welcome you to nothing."