Chương 166: B3 - Chapter 2: Secret Weapon

Colossus didn't give the empire's troops time to regain their composure. He reared back and unleashed a loud screech. Chitinous Taunt rippled outward and forcibly seized the attention of every nearby Rogue—even snagged one of the Elementalists from the bait group. Jagged layers of rock materialized over Colossus' carapace, fusing with the shell, then Desert Aegis flared to life. The shimmering brown barrier expanded, enveloping the scorpion, Seth, Selena, and another nearby Rank-40 Rogue.

The empire assassins, eyes clouded by the compulsion, descended on the scorpion. Their darkness-clad blades sparked against the stone, chipping barely flecks of rock. It was futile. With the passive bonuses from the Mountainborn Shell and his new Seed, Colossus' Toughness had breached the two-hundred-point mark. Even with spells designed to pierce defenses, injuring him was now a nearly impossible task. One assassin seemed to realize it and decided to switch tactics.

Ethereal chains materialized around the body before snapping with a sharp crack, cleansing Chitinous Taunt's hold. Not wasting a second further on the scorpion, he dissolved into a liquid pool of shadow and slid across the battlefield to re-form instantly behind the squad's Priest in Kastal's backline. His twin daggers flashed. Pop. Pop. The youngster's Protecting Belt flared and dissipated under the two quick strikes. The third slash hissed through the air, seeking his neck.

Yet before the blade could bite flesh, Seth was there. The spectral plating of Armored Phantom Fists intercepted the blade with a dull thud. Before the assassin could recoil, Seth lunged and drove his aether-clad gauntlet into the man's chest. The defensive barrier protecting him vanished instantly, consumed by the voracious Undead spell. The Rogue staggered, gasping, only to be blindsided by a shoulder-charge from one of Kastal Guardians. Seizing that opening, Seth stepped in.

His fists became a rhythmic drumbeat of destruction: shattering ribs, crushing cheekbones, caving in the sternum. The flurry of blows was absurdly quick, ending the fight before the assassin had even hit the sand. Seth then pivoted and rushed back to help his squad members face one of the three remaining rogues who were still hopelessly trying to injure Colossus. Fifty yards away, Nightmare was dismantling the enemy backline.

The Priest there raised his staff, the tip glowing with the golden brilliance of a desperate area-healing spell, but Nightmare tore his claws into the earth and Mantle of Terror surged outward. The spectral visage of a snarling direwolf manifested in the air above him, and a pulse of artificial, suffocating dread hit the Priest like a physical blow. The man froze, his eyes rolling back in panic. The light on his staff sputtered and died.

Not wasting the opportunity, Nightmare pounced out of the Priest's shadows, jaws clamping onto his leg. Gloom Fangs' corrosive smoke melted through flesh and bone in seconds. Beside the screaming Priest, the Elementalist—finally free from Colossus' taunt—panicked and whipped his staff around, targeting the wolf. A lance of roaring fire erupted, streaking toward Nightmare. Before the spell could connect, Colossus surged forward to cast Sandstorm Dome.

The swirling barrier expanded just enough to protect the direwolf. The fire spell slammed into the wall of sand and vanished in a harmless hiss of heat and dust. The three remaining Empire Rogues, realizing their support was gone, turned their desperation on the Kastal members who had flickering Protecting Belt barriers. They lunged for the kill. To avenge their allies. But Seth was ready.

Activating Shadow Step, he moved across the battlefield, appearing instantly between his vulnerable allies and the incoming steel. His armored forearms caught two killing blows, then pushed the foe away so he could block the third. In the chaos, he and Selena struck back at one of the attackers. Seth shattered the man's guard with a heavy cross, and Selena finished him with a precise thrust through one of the gaps in his armor. The battlefield went quiet.

The two surviving Rogues backed away, their chests heaving, eyes darting nervously between Colossus, Nightmare, and Seth, who stood over fresh corpses. The two men clearly realized how hopeless the situation was. The sole member of their bait group still alive was the Elementalist, and he was currently being bludgeoned into the sand by a pair of Guardians. In contrast, Seth's team was entirely intact, aside from the Rogue injured at the start of the clash.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. The two assassins exchanged a desperate glance, then they broke apart and sprinted in opposite directions.

'Get the one on the right!' Seth bellowed to Nightmare through Link as he himself pivoted hard to the left, boots kicking up sand. The dark, forest-green energy of Armored Phantom Fists dissolved from his hands, instantly replaced by the curved blades of Dusk Scythes. Aether flooded the grooves of Huntbound Rush in his legs, and he blurred forward. An instant later, he cast Shadow Step to materialize right beside the fleeing Rogue. The Bridan soldier spun, raising his blade in a panic.

Metal met shadow with a screech. One strike, then two, then a third—each block further threw off the Rogue's stance. On the fourth strike, Dusk Scythes didn't meet metal and instead sheared through the man's leather armor and flesh alike. Blood sprayed across the parched earth. The Rogue screamed, his grip failing on his off-hand dagger and causing it to clatter to the ground. Desperation flared in his eyes; aether surged around his body as he lashed out in a frantic, suicidal counterattack with his other blade.

But Seth's inner beast took over and he dropped low, ducking under the wild slash. In the next movement, he brought his arms together in a scissor motion. The shadow scythes crossed through the Rogue's chest and carved deep, sizzling wounds. The man collapsed, eyes wide, though they went dull before he'd even hit the ground. To the right, the second Rogue was already struggling, entangled in the vines of Chains of Darkness.

The chilling howl of Nightmare's Predator's Hunt rippled through the air and plunged into the assassin just as the direwolf pounced. Yet the empire soldier wasn't done. With a roar of effort, the Rogue twisted and sidestepped the incoming maw, then slashed out, his blade scoring a deep red line across Nightmare's flank. The direwolf didn't flinch and pressed his attack, trying to snap at the man's arm.

But the Rogue activated two spells in quick succession, one that cleansed Chains of Darkness and the other that turned him into a trail of afterimages as he outmaneuvered the direwolf. Almost simultaneously, the man swung down his blade in a killing blow aimed at the direwolf's neck.

"Nightmare!" Seth shouted, sprinting forward. Colossus thundered behind him, but they were both too far away. The air shimmered next to the direwolf. Selena then materialized, dropping her invisibility to intercept the blade. She crossed her daggers above her head to catch the heavy strike with a bone-jarring clang. The impact was brutal. She winced, one knee hitting the dirt under the superior Strength of the Rank-60 foe. But she held. And that interference bought the fraction of a second Nightmare needed.

The direwolf triggered Shadow Step, vanishing from the kill zone to reappear behind the assassin. Before the man could retract his blade, Nightmare's jaws clamped shut around his thigh. Seth felt the sputter in his partner's Well—it was running dry. Drawing aether from his Fine Storing Ring, Seth pushed aether through Link. He briefly considered using his new, unnamed spell of the Null affinity to absorb the surrounding aether but decided against it. No need to reveal his trump card just yet.

Refueled in aether, Nightmare roared. Before Seth or Colossus could finish closing the distance, the direwolf and Selena launched a coordinated assault. Daggers and fangs flashed in a gory rhythm, carving through the Rogue's body. Nightmare lunged high, jaws clamping onto the man's throat, snapping the vertebrae with a wet crunch. The body hit the sand and went still, then silence descended on the desert. The sole survivor from the empire was the Elementalist from the bait group.

The young man was on his knees in the center of a tightening circle, surrounded by the other seven Rogues of Seth's squad and the battered survivors of the team Henry had sent. Staff laying in the dust a few feet away, the Elementalist unattached his Endless Pouch and tossed it aside.

'We should kill him,' Nightmare growled through the Link as he paced closer.' I agree,'Seth answered.' But that's not how human wars work.' One of the Kastal Guardians stepped forward while retrieving a pair of rune-etched shackles from his own pouch. He clamped them around the Elementalist's wrists and ankles with a harsh clack. The young man slumped forward as the aether-dampeners kicked in, snuffing out his aura instantly. Nearby, the Priest from the bait group raised his staff.

White, soothing light flowed over the Rogue, who had been slashed open earlier. The bleeding wound began to knit together, and the man's pained grimace softened.

"I can't believe it," one of the Rogues breathed, adrenaline still shaking in his voice.

"We wiped them out. That was... insane."

"It wouldn't have been possible without him," Selena said. Her gaze wasn't on Seth, but on the mountain of chitin towering behind him. Colossus.

"A Gold-potential beast..." She looked at Seth, her eyes wide.

"You contracted him in the Desert of Misery, didn't you?"

"Yes," Seth answered.

"Professor Reat asked me to keep him a secret until the war began."

"Makes sense," another Rogue chimed in, eyeing the scorpion with a mix of fear and reverence.

"He ate every spell those bastards threw at him as if it was nothing. His Toughness must be ridiculous." Seth suppressed a smirk.

"Yeah. It is." Selena stepped closer to inspect the massive creature. As she approached, the terrifying Colossus shifted, lowering his heavy, plated head in a gesture that looked disconcertingly nervous.

"Th-thank you... for pr-protecting Big Brother Nightmare," he stammered out, his mental voice vibrating with unstable aether.' Don't call me that aloud!' the direwolf immediately growled through Link. Selena blinked, startled. Then, a genuine smile broke through her exhaustion. She reached out to rest a hand against the warm stone of his shell.

"Anytime, big guy." Suddenly, the hair on the back of Seth's neck raised. He looked up. High in the sky, the Spirit supervising the battle hovered right beneath the sun. It wasn't looking directly at them—that would betray their position to the enemy—yet Seth felt the weight of its gaze. It was a heavy, suffocating pressure, as if the entity were dissecting him layer by layer to assess his worth.

'Don't worry about it,' Nightmare said, sensing Seth's tension.

'That's why the old prick made you get that citizenship paper. Even if it realizes you're from Draeria, it can't touch you. You're playing by the rules.'

'Yeah,' Seth answered, forcing himself to relax.

'I suppose I am.' He turned back to the group and pointed at the corpses around them.

"Take everything of value. We move in five." A deep breath filled his lungs as he walked over to one of the bodies. The battle was no longer fifty against fifty. It was fifty against forty-one. The scales had tipped.