Chapter 48 – Beyond the Edge
By the time Jack stepped past the outer edge of Sanguina again, it felt different.
Not the world.
That hadn’t improved.
But the way he approached it.
Before, leaving meant uncertainty. Now it felt more like stepping outside something defined. The boundary wasn’t visible, but he could feel it in the same way he felt the Citadel or the Cathedral—subtle, but present.
Behind him, the automatons continued their patrol without reacting.
Ahead, the terrain returned to what it had always been.
Uneven. Unclaimed.
Hanna walked a few steps behind him, not close enough to crowd his movement, but not far enough to be separate.
“You’re checking range?” she asked.
Jack nodded slightly.
“And surroundings.”
She looked past him, scanning the treeline.
“For what?”
Jack didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he let his perception expand outward.
Movement.
Not far.
Low-level.
“Those,” he said.
The first beast broke through the brush a moment later.
Lean. Fast. Same type they had seen on the way back. It wasn’t alone this time.
Three.
Jack stepped forward.
No hesitation.
Sanguine Surge activated.
The shift settled into place more cleanly than it had a few days ago. The strain was still there, but it no longer fought him. It followed.
The first beast lunged.
Jack stepped to the side, the scythe moving in a controlled arc that cut through it without forcing the motion. The blade didn’t slow.
[You have defeated: Forest Beast (Lv.7)]
[Experience Gained]
The second came in immediately.
Sanguine Grasp.
The tendril snapped forward, catching it mid-step and pulling it just far enough off balance that it lost its line completely.
Jack stepped in and finished it without breaking rhythm.
[You have defeated: Forest Beast (Lv.6)]
[Experience Gained]
The third hesitated.
That lasted about half a second.
Jack closed the distance.
The fight ended.
He let Sanguine Surge fade, exhaling slowly as the energy settled back into something stable. Blood Draw smoothed out the minor strain almost immediately.
Behind him, Hanna walked up beside him.
“You’re getting faster,” she said.
Jack shrugged slightly.
“Cleaner.”
She glanced at the bodies.
“Same thing.”
“Not really.”
She didn’t argue.
Jack looked down at one of the beasts briefly.
No drop.
That hadn’t changed.
“Still nothing?” Hanna asked.
Jack shook his head.
“Only bosses. Or cores, if they have them.”
She nodded once.
“Figures.”
They moved further out.
The terrain shifted slightly as they went, the density of the trees thinning just enough that visibility improved. Not open ground, but less restrictive.
Jack slowed.
Something else.
Further out.
Not moving like the others.
He narrowed his focus.
Tracks.
Not fresh.
But not old either.
Bigger.
Hanna noticed the shift.
“What is it?”
Jack pointed slightly toward the ground.
“Something heavier passed through here.”
She crouched slightly, looking at the disturbed earth.
“…That’s not one of the small ones.”
“No.”
A short pause.
“You want to follow it?” she asked.
Jack considered it.
The direction led away from Sanguina.
Not toward it.
Good.
“Not now,” he said.
She nodded.
That was the right call.
They moved a bit further, clearing the immediate area around Sanguina’s edge. A few more beasts appeared, all handled the same way—quick, controlled, no wasted movement.
Hanna stepped in for one of them, finishing it cleanly with a strike that was still rough compared to Jack’s, but effective.
She glanced at him afterward.
“Still counts,” she said.
Jack nodded.
“It does.”
They turned back after that.
The return felt shorter.
As they approached Sanguina again, the difference stood out more clearly than before.
Movement inside.
Structure.
People where they were supposed to be—even if no one had told them exactly where that was.
The automatons continued their patrol.
The paths were still being used.
The central area held.
Hanna looked at it, then back at him.
“They’ll hold it,” she said.
Jack followed her gaze.
Not perfectly.
But they would.
For now, that was enough to keep expanding carefully.