Viola turned, her voice cutting through the rising wind. “Kharnek, Freyra—you two head east. Warn the villages and start evacuations. Focus on pulling civilians out first. Luna—take the northern stretch. Check for anyone left hiding in the docks or storage houses.”

Kharnek grinned grimly. “Good. Finally something simple.”

Freyra rolled her shoulders, already moving. “We’ll clear the path.”

Luna gave a curt nod and vanished into the dark, her presence swallowed by the shadows as if she’d never been there. “Harold, Selene, Aleia, and Cor, make sure those who run can keep moving without being chased by monsters.”

Gaius watched them go, then glanced at Viola. “And you?”

“I’ll coordinate from the ridge,” Viola said, already scanning the coastline. “If any of them get hurt, move them toward the bridge. Ludger’s the only one who can heal quickly enough.”

Elaine, who had stayed quiet until now, frowned. “You’re sending injured people toward the fight?”

Viola shook her head. “Toward the healer. Moving them out sooner without being treated will only delay the others..”

Arslan nodded, already checking the edge of the dunes. “We’ll clear a route for the evacuees. Make it fast and quiet—panic will kill more people than the sahuagins will.”

The group split, each moving with practiced efficiency. The storm had broken, and they were the thin line keeping the coast from collapsing into chaos.

As the others vanished into the night, Gaius turned back toward the ocean. The horizon flickered faintly with light—the same direction Ludger had run.

“Hold that line, kid,” he muttered under his breath, raising his hand. A fresh ripple of mana sank into the earth, forming a new wall of stone between the sea and the dunes. “We’ll keep the rest breathing until you’re done.”

The wind carried the sound of distant battle—the clash of steel, the roar of the tide, and the faint echo of Ludger’s geomancy answering the sea.

They came for the crates.

Even before he reached the bridge, Ludger could see it — the sahuagins swarming around the wagons and supply stacks where the Ironhand Syndicate had been keeping the mana cores. The monsters ignored the workers, even ignored the defensive line, focused only on the pulsing light leaking from inside the sealed boxes.

So that’s what drew them, he thought grimly. Doesn’t matter if it’s underwater or not — that much concentrated mana is like blood in the water.

He didn’t slow down.

The moment he hit the edge of the construction site, he slammed both hands to the ground. The sand rippled outward, rising into jagged stone spikes that ripped through the first line of sahuagins like spears. Steam hissed from their wounds as the mana inside them reacted violently to his earth-aspected surge.

Ironhand Syndicate guards cheered as they saw him. “Reinforcements!

“Focus on the crates!” Ludger barked. His voice carried through the night like a command spell. “Keep them sealed — if they break, more will come!”

The syndicate fighters tightened their formation, crossbows firing flaming bolts in a practiced rhythm. Each shot hit hard, bursting through scaled hides. The sahuagins shrieked, their black blood sizzling on the planks of the half-built bridge.

Ludger moved among them like a shadow of stone and sand, crushing and tearing with brutal precision. Every motion was purposeful: one punch to stagger, a knee strike to finish, then the ground itself erupted under the next target before it could lunge.

Even while fighting, his mind didn’t stop working. Why attack the cores? he thought as he pivoted and drove his heel into a sahuagin’s chest. Do they want to destroy them—or claim them?

Tthe sahuagins carried mana cores inside their own bodies.

That meant these things weren’t just reacting.

Ludger crushed another sahuagin’s skull into the sand and looked toward the crates again. The glow seeping from the cracks was stronger now, pulsing in sync with the rhythm of the tide. The monsters screeched in response, driven mad by the resonance.

He clenched his jaw. “If they’re planning to use the mana cores… then whoever’s behind this isn’t breeding monsters. They’re building weapons.”

He raised his arm, mana gathering around it like compressed air before releasing in a violent quake that shattered the ground between the sahuagins and the crates. A wall of jagged earth rose from the sand, blocking the advance completely.

“Hold the line!” he shouted over the chaos. “We don’t let them get a single one!”

The Ironhand fighters roared back in unison, their confidence reignited. The sahuagin swarm smashed into the barrier and met a wall of steel, stone, and fire.

And Ludger, breathing hard but steady, stared into the tide of monsters coming from the sea — his thoughts already running faster than the fight.

Because if the sahuagins were after mana cores… it meant someone, somewhere, had given them another purpose.

The clash at the bridge didn’t slow—it thickened.

Every minute brought more sahuagins crawling from the surf, their slick bodies glimmering in the torchlight as they swarmed up the bridge. The Ironhand Syndicate held their ground, crossbows snapping, blades cutting through the tide. But the bodies of the wounded were stacking too.

Ludger moved between them like a surgeon under fire, kneeling beside each fallen guard. His palms glowed with faint green light as Healing Touch mended torn flesh and shattered bone, sweat running down his jaw.

“Next!” he barked.

A soldier staggered forward, arm limp and bleeding. Ludger pressed his hand against the wound—heat, pain, and mana flared through his veins. He gritted his teeth as the man’s flesh knit back together.

Then the ground shook.

Not from magic. From impact.

The bridge’s planks rattled beneath his boots, and a few loose beams toppled into the water below. All noise—the screams, the crossbows, the clash of steel—fell silent for a heartbeat.

Something was climbing onto the bridge.

Ludger rose slowly, eyes narrowing toward the direction of the tremor.

From the spray of the surf, a shadow loomed larger than the rest. It emerged with a guttural hiss, hauling itself over the edge of the wooden platform. The sahuagin that landed was unlike the others—taller by half a meter, its muscles corded thick with scales like dark armor.

In its hands, it carried a trident of coral and bone, glimmering faintly with mana lines that pulsed in rhythm with its heartbeat.

The creature straightened, shoulders rolling. Water dripped off its body in steady streams, its gills flaring. Around it, the lesser sahuagins drew back, bowing slightly, their throaty growls fading into uneasy silence.

A commander.

Ludger could feel it immediately—the weight of its presence. Its aura pressed down on the air, cold and heavy, making even seasoned fighters flinch back.

One of the Ironhand guards shouted, “Take it down!”

Crossbows snapped. Bolts streaked across the air in a dozen lines of fire—

The sahuagin moved.

Its trident spun once, a blur of motion that deflected every bolt mid-flight. The air cracked with the force of each impact, the monster barely stepping as it twisted and brought the weapon back into guard.

Then, with a deep, resonant hiss, it lunged.

The trident swept horizontally—one clean arc of motion. The guards nearest the front line barely had time to react before the weapon flashed through them.

Three heads hit the bridge before their bodies collapsed.

Blood sprayed across the wooden planks, sizzling faintly where it touched mana residue. The creature planted its trident against the floor, growling—a low, guttural sound that echoed across the span of the unfinished bridge.

The Ironhand line wavered. Even the air seemed to hold its breath.

Ludger stood still for a moment, mana already tightening under his skin. His jaw flexed as he turned away from the half-healed soldier behind him.

“Stay still,” he said, voice low but steady. “I’ll finish this one.”

He stepped forward, rolling his shoulders, blood and sand caking his boots.

The sahuagin commander locked eyes with him, nostrils flaring. Both of them could feel it—the shift. The noise of the battle faded again, leaving only the surf and the heartbeat of mana pulsing through the planks beneath their feet.

The bridge trembled once more as Ludger started walking toward it, each step slow, deliberate, mana building with every pace.

The monster hissed and lowered its trident.

Neither of them needed words. The next exchange would decide who ruled the tide tonight.

The sahuagin commander lunged first.

Its trident came down in a blur, the air snapping with the pressure of the swing. Ludger sidestepped, boots sliding against the soaked planks, the weapon striking where his chest had been a heartbeat earlier. The impact split the wood, scattering splinters across the bridge.

Fast. Faster than he expected from something that size.

Ludger’s body moved before his mind finished the thought. He caught the haft of the trident with his forearm, letting it scrape across his metal bracer instead of bone. The vibration rattled his whole arm to the shoulder.

He twisted, grabbed the shaft—and shoved. The sahuagin snarled, gills flaring, and kicked off the ground, spinning with unnatural agility for its bulk.

The coral weapon hissed through the air again, a horizontal sweep meant to take his legs. Ludger jumped, tucking his knees, the tip grazing his shin guard as he landed in a crouch.

The monster pressed the attack. Every swing was a test of force and reach, the trident blurring in wide arcs that threatened to cleave the air itself. Each strike landed with enough power to make the bridge groan, water spraying upward with every missed blow.

Ludger stayed inside its rhythm—close enough to feel the heat of its breath, never where the weapon aimed. His world shrank to angles and timing, to the pulse of motion and recoil.

Another thrust—he stepped aside, palm catching the wooden haft and redirecting it past him. The creature twisted and drove a claw toward his throat.

He ducked under the strike, feeling it cut a few hairs from his head, and slammed his shoulder into the sahuagin’s chest. It staggered, but didn’t fall. Its skin was like wet stone—dense, slick, unyielding.

Ludger exhaled slowly, rolling his neck. “Tough bastard.”

The sahuagin roared and came again, trident stabbing in a furious flurry. Ludger’s reflexes took over. He parried with forearms, ducked beneath the follow-ups, and twisted his body just enough that each thrust cut through the space where he’d been. Sparks flew as coral met metal, each clash sharp and brutal.

The last strike came down vertical—raw power over speed. Ludger caught the trident shaft between both palms. His boots slid backward a full meter, the wood beneath his heels cracking under the strain.

For a second, they locked eyes—human and monster, strength against strength.

The sahuagin hissed, pushing harder. Its muscles bulged, veins glowing faintly with blue mana. The weapon pressed closer, inch by inch.

Ludger gritted his teeth, blood trickling down his wrists where the coral bit through his skin. He could feel the tremor of its power, the raw force behind each movement.

Then he let go.

The sudden lack of resistance threw the creature forward, off balance. Ludger stepped inside its guard, turning his body sideways and driving a knee into its gut. The impact made a wet, heavy sound, and the sahuagin doubled slightly—but not enough. It slammed its elbow into Ludger’s shoulder, sending him stumbling back.

He rolled with the hit, boots grinding against the soaked bridge, then straightened again. The trident’s tip passed inches from his cheek as he tilted his head aside.

Not just strong. Controlled. That thing’s trained to fight. This couldn’t just be a fish a few days ago…

The sahuagin grinned—a flash of serrated teeth—and spun the trident in a spiral, spraying saltwater and blood.

Ludger clenched his fists, stance lowering. He didn’t activate Overdrive yet. Not until he had read its rhythm.

The next series came harder. The trident stabbed down, left, right, then swept in a full-circle slash. Ludger ducked, blocked with a forearm, caught the haft mid-swing, and redirected it into the railing. The trident carved a line through the wood instead of his ribs.

He took advantage of the pause, slamming a hook into the creature’s ribs. The impact sent a ripple through its torso but only earned a grunt. It countered instantly, a backhanded swing that caught Ludger across the jaw and sent him sliding several meters.

His teeth rattled, copper filling his mouth.

Ludger spat blood onto the planks and wiped his chin with his wrist. His eyes narrowed. “Alright, fish-face… now I know what you can do.”

He tightened his stance again, weight dropping low. The bridge creaked beneath both of them.

No more testing. Time to turn it around.

He started forward—each step deliberate, calm, and steady—as the sahuagin commander raised its trident again, bellowing its challenge.

The duel wasn’t over. It was just beginning.

The sahuagin commander leveled its trident again, gills flaring like open wounds.

Ludger exhaled once, slow and measured, and dropped into stance.

Then his pulse spiked.

Rage Flow — Activated.

Energy surged through him like molten iron. His veins burned. His muscles swelled, fibers tightening under his skin as heat rolled off him in visible waves. A deep crimson spread across his body, tinting his skin darker by the heartbeat.

Steam hissed from his shoulders and neck.

The sahuagin’s slit-pupiled eyes widened—its instinct screamed before its mind could catch up.

Ludger moved.

He blurred across the bridge in a single step, closing the distance before the trident finished its swing. His first strike—a low, heavy jab—landed square on the sahuagin’s abdomen. The impact boomed like thunder, lifting the creature half off its feet.

Ludger didn’t let it recover.

His second punch came from the side, a wide hook that smashed into the sahuagin’s ribs. The scales cracked. The third followed immediately—a backfist that slammed across the creature’s jaw, spraying a mist of blood and teeth into the night air.

The commander stumbled back, trident spinning defensively.

Ludger chased.

Each motion was fluid, violent, and precise. His fists tore the air apart, every swing leaving behind a haze of heat. The bridge trembled with each hit, splinters flying with every footstep.

The sahuagin slashed with its trident in desperation—three quick cuts, each one enough to gut a normal fighter. Ludger ducked the first, swayed around the second, then caught the third between his bracers and twisted, forcing the weapon’s shaft sideways.

The coral snapped with a sharp crack.

Ludger drove his knee up into the monster’s stomach again, folding it in half, then grabbed it by the throat with both hands and slammed it into the bridge so hard the planks cratered.

The creature roared, blood mixing with seawater, and kicked out violently. Its clawed foot raked across Ludger’s arm, leaving deep gashes—but Ludger didn’t flinch. He slammed his elbow into its face once, twice, three times until the creature’s skull hit the wood with a wet thud.

Steam poured from his shoulders now, every breath sharp as a blade.

“Get up,” Ludger growled, voice low and distorted from the strain. “You wanted the mana cores, right? Come take them.”

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