The early morning mist clung to the ground as Uther reviewed the rune sketches Mara had drawn from memory. They were unlike any cult symbols he'd seen—jagged, fractured, unstable. Dangerous.
"They're using unstable runes to bypass our detection wards," Uther muttered. "They're desperate to send a message. We need to shut that beacon down before it activates."
He gathered his team: Mara for tracking, Garrick for demolition, Reyna for magical containment, and two of the newly recruited hunters for support.
"Target is a buried beacon in the eastern forest," Uther explained. "We disrupt the rune, collapse the stone marker, and lay suppression glyphs. In and out before nightfall."
---
The Forest Mission
They moved quickly under cover of dense trees. Mara led the way, guiding them to the hidden location. As they neared the marker, the forest grew unnaturally quiet—no birdsong, no movement, only the low hum of latent magic.
They found the rune stone pulsing faintly, buried in ivy and carved with twisted sigils.
"Feels like it's waiting," Reyna whispered, setting down her warding scrolls. "I'll need a few minutes to block its magical flow."
Suddenly, a sharp cry split the silence. One of the hunters fell, an arrow protruding from his chest.
"Ambush!" Garrick roared, pulling his waraxe free.
From the shadows, cloaked figures emerged—three cultists in red-and-black robes, eyes glowing faintly with mana.
"You won't silence the signal," one hissed. "The Hollow Heart was only the first."
Uther drew his sword, its blade flaring with the system's energy.
"You talk too much," he said, and charged.
---
Battle at the Beacon
The clash was fast and brutal. Mara dropped one cultist with a pinpoint arrow to the neck. Garrick held another at bay, buying Reyna time to seal the rune.
Uther faced the last—a female mage radiating unstable mana. She hurled a bolt of voidfire at him, but Uther activated his Combat System Upgrade.
> [Skill Triggered: Mana Counter – Redirect Spell]
Spell redirected: Voidfire explodes behind target.
Critical hit dealt.
The explosion rocked the forest, tearing the stone beacon in half. The cultist fell, her body disintegrating into ash.
Reyna completed the warding circle, collapsing the beacon's remaining power.
> [System Notification: Cult Beacon Destroyed]
[Scrying Attempts Blocked for 7 Days]
[Cult Reinforcements Delayed]
---
Back at the Village
By nightfall, the strike team returned. One hunter wounded, one lost. But the mission was a success.
Uther stared out over the village walls, the stars cold above.
"We've bought time," he said quietly. "But they'll come. We need to be ready."
The Baited Web
Selis sat in the reinforced interrogation cell beneath the village's central hall, bound by enchanted chains pulsing with faint blue runes. Her expression was calm—too calm.
Uther watched her through the one-way viewing pane. Mara stood beside him, arms folded.
"She's not breaking," Mara said. "Too trained. Too patient."
"She doesn't need to talk," Uther said quietly. "She just needs to run."
Mara raised an eyebrow.
"We're going to let her escape."
---
The Plan
Uther gathered his inner circle—Mara, Reyna, Kael, and Garrick.
"We fake a lapse in security," Uther explained. "She runs. We tail her. The moment she contacts her handler, we strike. No more chasing shadows."
Reyna frowned. "She'll know we're watching."
"Not if we make it real," Uther said. "We make the escape believable. Use misdirection. Weak patrol rotation. A single drunk guard. Make her think we slipped up."
Garrick grunted. "And what if she doesn't take the bait?"
"She will," Uther said grimly. "She's too desperate not to."
---
Nightfall: The Bait is Loosed
The false guard—Kael, in disguise—faked a drunken stumble near Selis' cell. As planned, a magical surge cut the lights and dropped a section of the cell's barrier.
Selis moved like lightning.
Within seconds, she was gone—out of the village, into the wild.
But she wasn't alone.
High above, Mara tracked her from the trees. Two hunters shadowed from a distance. Reyna stayed back to monitor with a scrying crystal linked to a tethered mana stone.
---
The Lair Revealed
After nearly two hours of pursuit, Selis reached an ancient ruin half-buried in vines. A sunken shrine carved with symbols of the Hollow Heart cult.
Waiting in the dark was a tall, cloaked figure with a jagged staff.
"She escaped?" the figure asked.
"No," Selis said. "They let me."
The figure barely had time to react.
> [Skill Triggered: Combat Sync – Ambush Tactic: Spearfall]
Three hunters leapt from the trees, arrows flying.
Uther himself stepped from the shadows and plunged his blade into the cloaked man's chest.
The figure screamed—then shattered into dust, revealing a doppelganger construct.
Too late, Uther realized.
"It was a decoy."
The shrine pulsed with dark energy.
> [System Alert: Magical Beacon Triggered – Cult Reinforcements En Route in 72 Hours]
---
Return and Fallout
They returned to the village with Selis recaptured, furious and silent. The cult's deception cost them the element of surprise—but gave them a critical piece: the location of one of the cult's oldest hideouts.
As the village scrambled to prepare, Uther stood atop the watchtower.
"We'll have to meet them head-on," he muttered. "This time, we'll be ready."
---