Chapter 394: A Step Back, a Way Through

Chapter 394: A Step Back, a Way Through

By Tuesday evening, both avatars were ready. Jin checked their movement as well as the full condition readings, then brought them up the spiral. This time he sent Flicker to watch the eastern shelf before Glitch entered the chamber.

The two lower ibex came down together. The third took the high path toward the ramp.

Glitch moved northwest, toward the quarry blocks. That put him beyond the shelf’s drop and gave him a route around the blocks’ southern end to the ramp. Jin kept that strip empty. He wasn’t going to fight his way home again.

The nearest ibex lunged at Glitch’s left shoulder. He braced with Harden, then backed diagonally instead of turning after it. The second attacker crossed the space he’d just left. Glitch caught its shoulder with a short claw strike before it sprang away.

It had a broken tip on its left horn. Jin fixed on that mark as blood darkened its coat.

The third ibex abandoned the high route and came across the floor. Flicker struck its flank with Ember Shot, then climbed before it could rear into her path. It checked its stride. Glitch used the moment to move nearer the blocks.

For a while, it worked. He gave ground after each exchange, taking small openings without following anyone back to the ledges. Chipped began landing carefully on its wounded foreleg.

Then the sound pair changed places.

One stayed beneath Flicker, turning to face each approach. The other rushed Glitch while Chipped moved toward his rear. Flicker started down, saw the waiting horns and climbed without firing.

Jin had Glitch turn through the open side. A horn scraped his flank before he cleared it.

[Avatar Condition — Glitch: 78%]

He’d lost ground toward the centre. The passage back behind the blocks was still open, but only because he hadn’t chased the wounded animal.

Keep it open.

He brought Glitch south, then around the nearer block into the sheltered strip. Flicker crossed above the gap between the stones. The sound pair followed her movement from the main floor; Chipped ignored her and pushed through the gap after Glitch.

Jin backed him another pace. Chipped stepped fully into the strip, lowered its horns and hesitated on the injured leg.

One sound ibex tried to follow through the gap, but Flicker’s shot struck the stone beside its head. It recoiled into the other. They separated at once, one going north around the blocks, the other preparing to enter the gap again.

There would be no second chance to arrange them this neatly.

[Temporary Combination: Imitation Draconic Heart]

[Draconic Dread + Draconic Will]

[Physical combat output: +100%]

[Warning: escalating internal strain]

Glitch surged forward. Chipped tried to pivot, its foreleg gave, and his horns struck beneath its shoulder. He drove it against the block and brought Rending Dragon Claw across the exposed neck.

The ibex fell. Jin ended the combination before Glitch turned toward the gap.

"Back. South."

The first step dragged. Glitch recovered his balance, but the force had gone out of his movement, leaving an uneven, heavy walk.

[Avatar Condition — Glitch: 49%]

[Fatigue high. Movement impaired.]

Jin kept him moving down the clear strip. The blocks stood between him and both survivors. Flicker made one pass over the gap, then withdrew before the nearer ibex could jump at her.

It came through and found the carcass across its line. By the time it stepped around, Glitch had reached the southern end. The other ibex had taken the longer northern route and was still behind it.

Flicker crossed their approach from above. Jin didn’t ask her to hold them. He sent Glitch down the ramp, then turned him at its first bend, where the inside wall protected one flank.

The leading ibex rounded the corner with its horns down. A brief Gravity Press caught its committed forestep. Glitch met the checked lunge with Harden and a snap of his jaws, then backed another pace.

The second ibex could not pass the first on the bend. They stood close together, facing his armoured front. One tried to find room along the outer wall, failed, and drew back.

Jin held his breath until both retreated up the slope. Flicker watched them return to the fallen animal. Only then did he move Glitch farther down the spiral.

[Cliffhoof Ibex defeated: 1]

[Reward: 25,000 Coins]

Five Lives remained. He hadn’t lost one, but he had come closer than he liked to spending it on the way out.

The avatar’s condition began improving during the protected pause. Jin had kept his own routine steady all week; there was no sudden meal or extra dose to take now. He watched the numbers beside Glitch’s movement, waiting for the dragging step to ease.

Forty minutes later, the reading had reached sixty-eight. Some cuts remained visible. The fatigue was lifting faster than the wounds were closing.

He could use that. He couldn’t pretend it meant Glitch was ready for two healthy opponents.

Jin withdrew both avatars and saved the record. The combo had given him the opening he’d wanted. Next time he would allow more room for what followed it.

On Thursday, he returned with Glitch recovered. The two surviving ibex moved freely too. He planned around what he could see, without counting on Tuesday’s injuries.

They no longer split around him immediately. One stayed near the lowest ledge while the other approached, leaving its partner close enough to punish a chase.

Jin spent several exchanges refusing that invitation. Flicker harassed the waiting animal from above; it kept turning beneath her, so she varied her route instead of repeating the same low pass.

At last it followed her toward the eastern wall. Glitch struck at the nearer ibex, missed deliberately short and backed toward the western blocks. The animal followed, expecting another withdrawal.

He stopped before the gap. Jin placed a brief pressure patch beneath the ibex’s landing as it lunged. Its forelegs buckled; Glitch struck the exposed shoulder and withdrew before the second animal reached him.

The next exchanges were uglier. A horn opened the skin above his forefoot. Flicker had to abandon an attack when the sound ibex reared earlier than expected. Jin gave up the centre and returned through the sheltered strip, keeping his exits clear.

The wounded defender tried the gap alone. Glitch waited beyond it, then met its emerging shoulder with a short, straight Faultline Rush. The block prevented it turning away. His jaws caught beneath its throat before it could reverse.

The last ibex retreated to the ledge. Jin let it. He rested Glitch below, with Flicker watching, and waited until it came down to drive them off again.

This time there was no partner covering its withdrawal. Flicker drew its head aside; Glitch caught the landing, held it off the ledge and finished the fight.

[Cliffhoof Ibex defeated: 2]

[Reward: 50,000 Coins]

[Mineral Ledges — secured]

[Reward: 25,000 Coins]

Jin loosened his grip on the phone. His hands ached. He’d barely noticed how tightly he’d been holding it.

They gathered five loose nodules from a low seam that night. He left the deeper pieces rather than have a tired Glitch dig at the wall. On Friday, after checking the broad base of the lowest ledge, he brought the avatar along it and collected three more.

[Mineral nodules stored: 8]

The higher shelves remained an ibex’s route, not Glitch’s. He marked the unworked veins and left them alone.

The first compatibility check identified the nodules as usable support for Glitch’s avatar development. Jin consumed one on Friday, then watched the results over the following sessions before using the second on Sunday. Neither produced a sudden new Star. Together with the encounters and the reserve already earned, they brought the available transfer within reach.

Six nodules remained stored.

He opened real Glitch’s Sync panel beside Monday’s course report and noted the current checks he wanted before proceeding. Behind him, the drake shoved his feed bowl across the straw until it touched Jin’s boot.

"I know," Jin said, reaching for the scoop. "You first."