Daelan's POV
I feel it before I see it.
The sensation crawls up my spine, an instinct honed from years of surviving in Sector Z—the knowledge that something is coming.
I shift slightly, adjusting my stance.
And then—
The projectile whizzes through the air, cutting through the thick dungeon mist. My hand moves before I think, snatching it mid-flight.
A ragged, crude stone arrow.
Shit.
My eyes dart forward, my breath already controlled, steady.
I know what this means.
"Take cover!" I bark.
The air erupts with movement.
From the shadows of the frozen trees, they emerge. Dozens. No, hundreds.
Ice Goblins.
Their blue-skinned bodies blend seamlessly with the snow, their eyes glowing with that feral, hungry intelligence. They move fast, too fast for regular goblins. Their crude weapons—jagged bone knives, ice-tipped spears, and stone arrows—gleam under the pale light of the dungeon.
They scream, voices sharp and chittering, like the howling winds of a storm.
