Nothing more needed to be said. Dorian understood. Familiar gravity meant familiar movements. It meant they wouldn't have to retrain their bodies to fight. It meant an advantage.
The other three descended behind him.
Kael was second. His light boots touched the rock and he immediately began to move, testing the ground, feeling the texture beneath his feet. He took a couple of lateral steps, a small jump, an ankle rotation. His spear remained in his hand, ready, but his body needed to confirm what his eyes already knew: the ground was firm, the gravity was friendly, the planet would not betray him on the first move.
Hugo was third. His heavy boots resonated with authority against the stone. Clomp. Clomp. Two steps and he had already established his position. His quick eyes scanned the horizon in methodical sweeps: left, center, right. Sky, horizon, ground. Every detail was information. Every information was an advantage. His mind was already building a mental map of the terrain, even though he had only been on it for seconds.
Nayu was last. She descended with that silent fluidity that characterized her, her staff in her right hand, her body slightly leaned forward. Her light green eyes moved in calculated patterns, covering angles that the others didn't even consider. She left no dead spaces. She left nothing to chance. When her boots touched the rock, they made no sound. As if the ground had decided not to resist her presence.
And then, from afar, a yellow cloud of dust rose.
It wasn't wind. It was too directional. Too intentional. Too hungry.
Something was moving there.
Something big.
"Hostile creatures," Omega said, and its voice was no longer comforting. It was analytical. Cold. Military. The voice of a system switching from "travel" mode to "combat" mode. "Multiple biological signatures. Moving towards our position. Speed: high. Number: initial estimate suggests several hundred."
Dorian didn't move. His green eyes fixed on the dust cloud, piercing it, as if he could see through it and count every single creature individually.
"Recommendation," Omega continued. "Eliminate the threat."
Dorian smiled.
It wasn't a kind smile. It wasn't a nervous smile. It wasn't an "I hope this goes well" smile.
It was the smile of a predator who has just found prey.
He looked at his companions.
Kael had already adjusted his stance. His feet were shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent. The spear rested at a forty-five-degree angle, the tip pointing towards the dust cloud. His weight was balanced, ready to move in any direction.
Hugo was flexing his fingers inside his gloves. A faint red light was beginning to emanate from his hands, barely visible under Veridia's sunlight. It wasn't flashy. It wasn't a display of power. It was simply... the warm-up. The engine purring before accelerating.
Nayu had fully extended her staff. The metal, once compact, now measured a pure meter and a half in length. She held it with both hands, in the center, ready to become an offensive or defensive weapon as the situation required. The metal gleamed with a threatening reflection, trapping the light and returning it in blinding flashes.
They said nothing.
No words were needed.
Four warriors. Thousands of creatures.
Favorable numbers.
"Omega," Dorian said mentally, as his right hand slowly descended towards the short sword on his left hip. "Activate combat log. This could be interesting."
The dust cloud was approaching.
And on top of the rock, under the strange sky of Veridia, four silhouettes waited.
---
The distance between the group and the hostile animals was at least five hundred meters.
Enough to prepare. Enough to observe. Enough to analyze.
That's why no one had descended yet. They kept observing. They kept analyzing their prey. That's what a predator does. It doesn't charge in blindly. It studies. Evaluates. Finds the weak point.
"Great," Kael said, breaking the silence.
A smile spread across his face. It wasn't fake. It wasn't forced. It was genuine.
"We barely arrived..." he continued, turning his head slightly towards Hugo. "And they're already giving us this kind of welcome."
Hugo kept his eyes on the horizon, but one side of his mouth curled upwards.
"Simply adorable," Kael said, savoring the word. "This planet loves us."
"Looks like they noticed when the ship descended through the clouds," Hugo suggested, his voice as calculating as ever. "They probably have some kind of seismic sensor. Or they detect vibrations in the air."
Kael shrugged. He didn't care about the how. He cared about the what.
"It's better this way," Hugo continued, and now he did turn his head to look directly at Kael. "For them to come to us..."
Pause.
"...instead of us having to go looking for them."
His smile widened slightly. He had the same predator teeth as Kael.
A sound cut through the air.
It wasn't a shout. It wasn't an exclamation.
It was a sigh.
Nayu.
"I was already getting bored," she said, her voice as flat as the surface of a frozen lake.
Kael and Hugo looked at her at the same time.
"So many hours doing nothing," Nayu continued, without taking her eyes off the dust cloud. "Sitting... inside a ship... with three idiots."
There was a moment of silence.
Three idiots. She included Dorian in that count, even though he hadn't said a word.
Kael processed the words. Turned them over in his mind. Evaluated them.
And then he smiled.
It wasn't a forced smile. It wasn't a polite smile. It was a genuine smile, the kind that appears when you recognize an equal. When you understand that, underneath that cold facade, there is a warrior who thinks like you.
"Ha," Kael let out a small laugh.
He didn't say anything else. It wasn't necessary.
---
About four hundred meters of distance remained.
"Four hundred and twenty meters, sir," Omega corrected in Dorian's mind. "Approach speed: constant. They will arrive in approximately... two minutes."