The fog was thinner that morning. Only slightly.
Enough that the trio could see up to forty meters beyond their mechas — a blessing on this forsaken planet. With calibrated scanners and reinforced boots locked into place, Unit 404 advanced westward, stepping through fields of iron grass and dense metallic flora.
Today's objective wasn't survival.
It was advancement.
"We find something dense, reactive, and usable," Oris said through the link. "If it sparks against our spectrometers or heats the ground unnaturally — we log it."
"Just don't forget we're still Kaiju bait," Tyren muttered, scanning the trees. "Can't build a new Ravager if your old one's inside a stomach."
Kael kept Ravager in the center of their formation, eyes sweeping the tree canopy above. "Let's keep it quiet, keep it sharp. We move together."
Their route led them past the last known survey point they had marked — a blackened clearing with residual radiation levels barely above safety thresholds. Oris had dubbed it "Scorch Hollow."
But beyond that…
They crossed into unmarked terrain.
---
Metal-rich rocks jutted from the earth at angles that made no geological sense. One formation resembled a jagged arch, curved like a ribcage poking out from the soil. Others hummed softly — not from wind, but from magnetic vibration.
"The ground's denser here," Oris noted. "My seismic pings are bouncing back harder. There's definitely ore beneath."
Tyren deployed a scanner drone that skimmed low, pinging energy bursts across the terrain. The moment it passed over a rust-red trench, the drone's readings spiked.
"Bingo. We've got a hotspot," he said.
Kael moved toward it, Ravager's feet clanking over the ridge. He peered down.
Veins of iridescent ore shimmered beneath thin crust layers. Purple-blue. Faintly glowing. And sharp like obsidian. It pulsed in sync with his scanner.
"High in actinides. Probably uranium-adjacent," Oris confirmed.
"Can we dig it?"
"With proper field extractors, sure. Right now, we mark it, come back with reinforced dig-arms."
Kael tapped a beacon into the ground. "One more step closer to upgrades."
---
They moved on, following an unusually structured path — roots grown in angles, walls of steel-vined trees forming something like a natural corridor.
"This place looks… built," Tyren said. "Or grown into something built."
"That's not a road," Oris muttered. "It's a migration trail."
The silence that followed said enough.
---
The first mistake came an hour later.
They passed through a rock cleft where the metallic ground rose in two walls, pushing them into single-file formation. Fog thickened again, then thinned.
Then Kael saw it — barely registered at first.
In the distance… shapes.
Rock formations? No.
Spines.
Dozens of them. Sharp. Sloping down like the ridges of a spine. Twisted, layered stone that rose into sharp peaks.
Only when they reached the base did Oris realize.
"We crossed the mountain range," he said.
Kael halted. "Wait… The mountain?"
Oris zoomed his sensor map. "From the other side."
"We're in the zone we swore not to enter," Tyren whispered. "Where the roar came from."
---
They were turning around when they heard it.
A sudden crack — like splintering bone.
Then silence again.
Then, movement.
From the side of the ridge, something darted between fog pillars — fast, low, with glimmering stripes across its sleek body.
Kael spun. "Something's flanking us!"
It appeared from the mist like a demon.
Ten meters tall at the shoulder, longer than any transport, covered in shimmering plates and dark fur lined with bioluminescent streaks — it was feline in form, but grotesque in scale.
Claws like black swords. A tail lined with spears. Fangs like siege weapons.
And worst of all — it smiled.
> "That's a predator," Oris said flatly. "We've been marked."
---
Then it pounced.
Faster than anything its size should be. A blur of muscle and fog.
Ravager barely activated its rear thrusters in time — Kael's mech sidestepped, boosters flaring. The Kaiju slammed into a rock wall, shattering it.
"RUN!" Kael shouted.
The forest behind them lit up with warning lights. Proximity alarms wailed. The tiger-Kaiju was already moving again, trailing fog in waves as it sprinted.
Pulse Fang veered left, firing suppressive rounds from its arm turrets. The creature dodged — weaving — not brute forcing, but hunting.
Tyren shouted. "This thing has tactics! It's reading our spacing!"
Specter deployed a plasma trap, which the Kaiju leapt over in a single bound — twisting in midair, fangs bared.
It almost crushed Kael.
Ravager hit the ground and rolled. One more second and that thing would've torn the cockpit off.
> "Too fast. Too smart," Oris said. "We're not gonna make it—"
Then the fog behind them moved.
Not wind.
Not mist.
Something darker — thicker — sliding through the fog.
Something serpentine.
---
It struck without warning.
From the left, a massive coil erupted, snapping through the trees like a titan's whip. The air exploded with sound as the coil wrapped around the tiger-Kaiju's body.
The feline shrieked — a roar of pure, wild panic.
Another coil rose — then another.
Each one thicker than a dropship, covered in jagged, moss-coated scales. The fog recoiled as the serpent emerged.
It didn't have eyes — not that they could see. Just a mouth. A horizontal maw that opened wider than any mech hangar — lined with thousands of glimmering hook-teeth.
The serpent Kaiju snapped down.
It bit through the tiger Kaiju's midsection. Bone cracked. Limbs flailed. Then, with a slow, grinding motion, the serpent began pulling the still-living tiger Kaiju into its mouth.
The scream — if it could be called that — echoed across the sky, then was swallowed.
Completely.
---
Unit 404 stood frozen.
No one moved. No one breathed.
The serpent uncoiled — body rising higher than the treetops — and slid back into the fog like a ghost.
Gone.
Not a roar. Not a rumble.
Just silence again.
---
Tyren's voice cracked first. "I… I vote we leave. Immediately."
"Seconded," Kael said, reversing Ravager with smooth, quiet steps.
"Mark this area," Oris whispered. "We just learned something important."
Kael glanced over. "Yeah?"
"There's a food chain," Oris replied. "And we're not on top."