What's it going to be?

  Masa Ed focused his senses on his surroundings—his hearing, sight, smell, and sixth sense, pushed to the limit.

  As the gathering reached them, taking positions close to the waterfall, Mara relocated to their side with a serious look on his face. He stood next to Abu Dinn with his back to Masa Ed, his eyes narrowed at the stretch of sandy ground before him.

  As for the gathering, Pastor Kanu and a few others separated from the group. They stood in fighting stances, scanning their surroundings, which were subtly changing—the stale air had been gradually growing colder while gaining spiral momentum with them at the center, gently ripping sand from the ground and lowering visibility. Most annoying of all were the numerous bone-creaking sounds coming from around them, steadily increasing in number and volume, some becoming unbearably grating.

  I don't like this.

  Masa Ed tensed his muscles, tightening his grip on his shepherd staff.

  Looking beside him at Plum, he followed her gaze toward his two o’clock direction. About five meters away, he saw the finger bones of a skeletal hand stuck in the sand, curling and uncurling sharply.

  The hell.

  He frowned.

  Unknown to him, Pastor Kanu had also noticed the scene. Adjusting his spectacles, he instructed,

  “Everyone, try getting a weapon nearby. Those who get one, position yourselves at our perimeter and focus on the bones.”

  Prompted—except for Masa Ed’s small group and a select few others—everyone turned to their surroundings, searching for weapons: sticks and machine parts scattered across the sandy ground.

  As those who obtained weapons took positions along the perimeter while the unarmed moved toward the center, a glint flashed in Masa Ed’s eye.

  Suddenly, he ran toward a skull rolling across the ground, seemingly carried by the spiraling wind forming around the gathering. With great force and near-crazed intensity, he pummeled the skull repeatedly with his shepherd staff, leaving dent marks before kicking it away in a random direction. He then turned to the lower half of another skeleton not far from him, also being dragged by the wind, and he repeated the assault.

  Sera, scythe in hand, joined him, attacking bones rolling across the ground.

  Pastor Kanu, who had been watching keenly, announced,

  “Half of those with weapons—target the moving skulls on the ground. Hit them as hard as you can. And anyone with knowledge of spiritual fortification, come close.”

  The gathering responded immediately to Pastor Kanu’s instructions as the wind picked up speed, further reducing visibility.

  At one side, Mara grinned, his eyes fixed on Sera and Masa Ed as they busied themselves smashing bones racing across the sand. Then, suddenly, he volleyed a ball that shot between them, tearing through the stale, chilling wind and catching the attention of several people, including Sera and Masa Ed, who halted simultaneously and turned toward the direction it traveled.

  Masa Ed paused.

  This guy is sick.

  He tapped Sera before withdrawing to his position beside Plum, where Abu Dinn stood behind her holding a carved chair leg.

  “Smart, Your Excellency?” Abu Dinn whispered with a smile, expecting a response.

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  Masa Ed ignored him.

  Instead, he watched as several armed fighters—including Sera—violently bashed bones attempting to reassemble before they kicked them away, while the cold wind intensified further.

  He narrowed his eyes, attempting to track the lightning-fast balls Mara who is to his right continued volleying randomly into the sandy storm. Unable to follow them, he turned toward the gathering’s center and singled out Pastor Kanu, who stood among a small group of four, moving a pen across the book in his hand with utmost concentration.

  Are they preparing magic?

  A tug from Plum drew his attention. Turning toward her, he followed her gesture toward Sera, who was advancing deeper into the sandstorm, swinging her scythe at bones now lifted into the air while kicking away those racing across the ground under the wind’s force.

  Masa Ed clicked his tongue in annoyance and looked away.

  Moments later, he frowned deeply as realization struck—the bones around them, in the calm zone outside the storm, had all been kicked into the wind, yet everything remained quiet except for the lightning-fast balls Mara continued launching.

  This is the worst-case scenario. How can we be so unlucky?

  With his shepherd staff in hand, he made his way toward Sera, who was barely visible within the storm. Reaching the boundary, he stopped, doing nothing.

  I thought he was intelligent.

  Then he heard Maya’s voice instruct,

  “Those with weapons—positions in front of the wind. Stay alert.”

  “Oh…”

  Masa Ed raised a brow.

  She is on that level too.

  At the same time, Sera returned and took position near him. Turning around, he surveyed the scene:

  Those with weapons positioned themselves before the encircling wind wall. Fear and worry covered the sweaty faces of the unarmed. Pastor Kanu had four others huddled around him, focused on what was being written in the book. The boy with bleeding eyes now had them wrapped in white cloth, leaning back against another boy seated behind him, while Maya and the pink-haired girl stood nearby. The waterfall still flowed, though weaker than before. Abu Dinn stood with discipline behind Plum, gripping the carved chair leg with both hands. Mara continued volleying shots into the wind, though less frequently.

  What a pity.

  Masa Ed sighed softly and faced the stabilized yet difficult to see through encircling wind.

  He glanced toward Sera. As he studied her side profile, she suddenly turned, their eyes meeting before she sharply looked away. Masa Ed pursed his lips and faced forward again.

  Noticing Mara had stopped attacking, Masa Ed squinted and raised his shepherd staff with both hands.

  Simultaneously, Sera swept her scythe through the wind.

  A scream erupted from behind.

  Masa Ed swung downward with all his strength at a skeleton emerging from the storm, crushing its ribcage. The scarlet flames in its eye sockets extinguished before it crumbled.

  Something is off with this staff.

  He briefly examined his shepherd staff—seemingly made of both wood and metal—before striking a short skeleton rushing forward, sending some of its bones flying back into the storm while others collapsed at his feet.

  Meanwhile—

  “Three at two o’clock!”

  Someone among the unarmed shouted.

  A fighter wielding a metal rod turned, rushed forward, and smashed a skeleton’s head clean off.

  “A big one to the left!”

  Before another fighter could react to a large skeleton walking out from the storm, its upper body exploded apart as a white ball fired by Mara struck its ribcage.

  This is not looking good.

  Masa Ed smashed a giant skeleton’s femur, dislodging the leg and sending it collapsing sideways into fragments.

  He scanned quickly.

  To his right, Sera controlled nearly a quarter of the wind wall alone, piling bones with every swing of her scythe. To his left, fighters gained brief relief whenever Mara’s volleyed shot shattered advancing skeletons. Behind him, Pastor Kanu and the four assisting him were now drawing diagrams on the ground—barriers the skeletons could not cross—placed along intervals behind half of the wind wall—the rear.

  These skeletons aren’t really attacking. Are they limited in what they can do?

  He resumed smashing skeletons.

  Then suddenly, a throbbing pain struck both his eyes, forcing them shut.

  The next instant, seriousness etched across his face, and one eye bleeding, he rushed toward Sera.

  “Sera!”

  As she turned, he grabbed her arm and dragged her hurriedly toward Abu Dinn and Plum despite her physical resistance—her attempt to twist her arm off his grip and her refusal to move her feet.

  After releasing his iron grip on her wrist, he turned—

  A high-pitched, spine-chilling scream of agony echoed, followed by multiple screams of terror.

  Two people collapsed instantly. Others fell to their knees, unable to move. Urine trickled down trembling legs.

  Everyone watched, hairs standing on end, eyes wide with horror, as a monstrosity chewed off the head of one of their companions held in its tentacled limb while simultaneously devouring the lower body of another whose upper half it had already cleanly eaten away.

  “WATCH OUT!!!” someone screamed.