Each beheflea was a light green blotch that zoomed about in the [Night Vision] of the visor. Their flight pattern became more spherical, as if swarming around a point in their horrendous, buzzing drone.

Then, at its center, a hulking creature manifested as if the shadows ripped away to reveal its presence. The behemoth's eyes bore into eX-0281 and eX-0704 like gaping black holes shrouded in a purple mist. The mouth fell open, displaying the glint of teeth as its breath huffed out in savage, ragged gasps.

"Ah!" eX-0281 and eX-0704 leaped up, hollered in unison, and dashed the other way.

Though he was expecting it to roar after them and give chase, nothing but the clamoring buzz of the behefleas could be heard. In contrast, the stalker behemoth was silent. If its name gave him any clues, eX-0281 figured that its paws were padded for stealth.

Over the racket of the insectoid wings, he could hardly hear his own panting breath.

Can I get a moment of peace? With his anxiety spiked, the noise did nothing to help him while he was trying to think. To further annoy him, the behefleas continually thumped off his helmet.

eX-0704 continued his sprint while eX-0281 had to slow down to scoop up Charlotte.

"Above!" she gasped.

When eX-0281 turned his head up, that same terrifying sight of the behemoth grinned down on him from above. His eyes dilated with fear, watching it manifest once again into existence.

Somehow, it had reappeared on the side of the building, attached to the wall upside down like a spider. Its mouth curved into a perfect crescent—truly a wicked smile.

A [Scan] was initiated so that he could learn more about this mutant; he needed to understand its abilities if he wanted to flee. Otherwise, eX-0281 did not see how he could evade a beast that was capable of teleportation.

First, he dove to the side with Charlotte clutched tightly to his chest.

The behemoth came crashing down in its pounce and caused a boom that shook the ground near him. The reaching claws managed to rake him—sadly not a part of him that had been clad in armor.

The claws tore up the scales on the side of his tail, causing eX-0281 to flick it out of harm's way. The sudden shift of his tail changed the orientation of his leap. When he landed, eX-0281 tumbled to the ground.

His health updated automatically in the side panel on his visor.

Name: eX-0281 [Sub-Dragon Shifter (Dragon Form)]

Vitality: 90%

Discrete Parts: Right Wing (90%), Left Wing (90%), Tail (80%)

"Ugh." Charlotte was bounced about like a ragdoll in his arms—nothing she could do about it but hold onto her air tank.

At the same time, the behemoth's motion carried it forward into a somersault. While it tumbled, it naturally put some distance between them till it crashed against the buildings on the other side of the street. Pebbles and rust spilled down in a few crumbles from the dilapidated architecture.

Now's my chance. eX-0281 jumped back up and ran in the direction that eX-0704 had gone, far up ahead by now.

A low growl could be heard from behind, joining the chorus of beheflea wings. The occasional bug collided eX-0281. Though it felt like a stoning, at least the swarm did not bite. The behefleas seemed largely more docile than the behemoth itself.

While he ran, he flipped open the information panel that the quick [Scan] had earned him.

Target: Stalker Behemoth

Vitality: 100%

Discrete Parts: None

Mana Reserves: 5,859 Mu

Element: Shadow

Crap! That looks scary. This mutant was definitely not anything that eX-0281 could take on right now, especially given Charlotte's limited air supply.

His wings beat harder, and his tail ached as it must move continually to stabilize his sprint. The blood could be felt oozing down his scales to the tip of his tail.

When he did a quick take over his shoulder, eX-0281 could not see the stalker behemoth yet felt an immense sense of dread. Nevertheless, a shred of hope remained.

Even though the behemoth had disappeared, the behefleas did not. The swarm ascended up the side of a second building, taking leaps and bounds ahead of them.

In fact, the stalker behemoth jumped onto the ground in front of eX-0704. The very fabric of the shadows were shredded apart to unveil the enemy: [Shadow Step]. While not truly teleportation, a shadow mage could cloak its presence within its element and travel stealthily through the physical realm.

"Ah!" eX-0704's shocked scream could be heard from here.

"Turn back west!" eX-0281 shouted ahead.

The behemoth flung itself for eX-0704. The burst of a sub-dragon's wings made him just quick enough to avoid the attack all together. Once again, the stalker behemoth ended up turning round and round with the momentum. The ball of fur and claws, ravaged by behefleas, hurtled for eX-0281.

He was long gone by the time the behemoth passed him by. Without looking back, he leveled himself into a breakneck sprint.

When they each turned, eX-0281 and eX-0704 found themselves on different streets. The buildings thereby concealed them from each other and gave the behemoth two distinct targets. Since they had no way to communicate with each other and no predetermined rendezvous point, eX-0281 could only hope that they would find each other again at a different intersection.

Frantic, he tried to keep his eyes ahead of him in case the behemoth would [Shadow Walk] again. All the while, eX-0281 skimmed the scrolling information about their pursuer.

Entry: Stalker Behemoth

The stalker behemoth is the smallest of the four behemoth variants. What it lacks in strength, it makes up for in stealth. Particularly active when night falls, the stalker behemoth uses shadow magic to better hunt its prey.

…

It is rumored that the behemoth has [Death Premonition] and knows when it will make a successful kill or when the best choice is to bide its time. Therefore, the best way to not die to a stalker behemoth in the present is to not die to it in the future. The stalker behemoth will then give up the chase.

…

What in oblivion does that even mean?

"Charlotte," he cried, hugging her tighter, "how do you not die in the future?"

"You don't die in the present!"

The wise words of Lottie had spoken, and eX-0281 had no idea what to do in the face of a paradox. "Ha…." He kept running until he realized that the buzz of the behefleas had fallen silent.

"Did it… give up?" Braver than he was smart, eX-0281 slowed to a walk. Spinning all around, he used his visor to [Scan] for any traces of a single beheflea. His visor picked up nary a sign of life, save for a very welcome one at that.

Member: eX-0704 [Sub-Dragon Shifter (Dragon Form)]

Vitality: 75%

The other sub-dragon was still in the midst of his sprint.

"Yes," he cheered. "704, it's gone, I think!" eX-0281 dashed down the street to have their reunion.

In contrast, eX-0704 buckled over onto his hands and knees. His wings lifted and fell with his shoulders, breathing hard. "Do you really think so?"

"Yeah." The solitude over the desolate, abandoned city became his confirmation.

Just as quickly as it had appeared, the stalker behemoth had vanished.

The sub-dragon duo did not waste any time, but rather made all the more haste to get out of the city limits.

One thing bothered eX-0281. The words near the end of the stalker behemoth's description floated on his screen.

However, let it be known that the stalker behemoth is a persistent hunter and will never forget the scent of its target once it has begun a hunt.

If those words rang true, then their first encounter with the stalker behemoth was unlikely to be their last. Swallowing back his fear in a hard gulp, eX-0281 figured that he would simply never go back to Grandesia again. It was not like he had a reason to return under any circumstance.

***

As the buildings ebbed away, so too did the smog of mana in the air. He found that his muscles moved more easily with ample oxygen to supply them.

"The air's getting better," he remarked, evident satisfaction in his voice.

In addition to that, his talons now bit into dirt instead of scraping over rugged concrete. The long grasses slowed his run, but eX-0281 enjoyed the presence of plants less altered by mana. Up ahead, a treeline came into sight.

"The pollution lessens the further away you get from Grandesia," Charlotte mused. "Supposedly there's places with natural, crisp air. The air quality indexes tell me so, but I've never been there!" An awkward laugh lilted past her lips. Meanwhile, her head lolled to the side and leaned against the crook of his arm.

Not knowing what to say, eX-0281 kept up with his run. The girl was really not doing so well.

Even so, Charlotte continued to explain, "My mom's sanctuary is the only place I can breathe without this on, aside from Grandesia." A weak finger tapped the front of her mask. "It's this way." Her finger pointed to a gap through the trees.

A yellowish light was cast like a film between the trunks and leaves. The thin barrier gave way as eX-0281 and eX-0704 passed through it. In the middle of the night, his scales felt like they had been awash with sunshine sans armor. He might as well have been basking under a heat lamp for the moment that he crossed the threshold.

"Ah," he sighed in unison with eX-0704 who had much the same reaction.

Actually, eX-0704 reacted more strongly, stopping so that he could walk back through it a few times over. "Mm. What is this thing? It feels so good." The barrier had turned him into more of a cat than a dragon, rubbing his cheeks up against it on either side.

"It's a [Purifier Net] that my mom made. It's actually environmentally friendly, unlike Grandesia's purification system that just funnels more mana into the atmosphere for everybody else to deal with. Plus, you can just tell it's made with love!"

eX-0704 cleared his throat and straightened his stance. Since he ended up stopping on the other side of the filter, he walked back through it. Though he tried to stay stoic, the tip of his tail still wriggled from clear enjoyment.

At that, Charlotte managed a genuine laugh. "It's okay. I know how good that must feel on your mana burns. I only wish I could have felt it on my leg...."

Throughout their journey, they had been replenishing the ice bandage over her leg. Her skin had turned a ghastly white intermixed with the two bullet holes deeper in the flesh.

"Now," she continued, "we just walk up this path, and then we're as good as home!"

His eyes widened as large as they would go, awed by the tiny town shrouded in the woods with the golden [Purifier Net] of a nature mage overhead. At long last, his shoulders relaxed because they had made it to safety.