Chapter 83 - 27 Abyssal-Tainted Beasts Defeated!
"This way."
Holden led the team at a sprint through the forest. The foul smell grew stronger with every step. Behind them, the ground trembled faintly, a rhythmic shaking that matched the approach of something huge.
Maeve’s voice crackled through the radio. "Holden, are you there?"
"Loud and clear."
"I’ve been analyzing the regional geography from the camp’s survey data. Four hundred meters northeast of your position, there’s a narrow canyon with high walls. If you can force the horde into that space, you might be able to control the battle."
Emric was already running beside him, breathing hard. "A natural choke point. The space would neutralize their numerical advantage. That’s good."
"Head for the canyon," Holden ordered.
They found it three minutes later.
The canyon was perfect. Stone walls rose thirty feet on both sides, narrowing to a gap barely twenty feet wide. The floor was relatively flat, scattered with loose rocks. A dead end curved at the far side, meaning anything that entered had to come back out the same way.
"Maeve, we’re in position. What do we need?"
"Listen up, I don’t have much time. The trees in your area have explosive sap. It’s incredibly unstable once it’s mixed with mineral dust. Find the trees with the amber-colored bark, cut them open, and gather the sap. Then, find some crystals, crush them into powder, and mix them with the sap at a two-to-one ratio. That’s two parts sap to one part dust. If you get it wrong, it’ll explode and blow your hands off before you can even use it."
"Got it." Holden turned to the team. "Lyra, Renna, collect the sap. Emric, find crystals and start grinding. We have maybe ten minutes."
They moved fast.
Lyra and Renna found the amber-barked trees along the canyon walls. The sap oozed thick and golden when Lyra scored the bark, pooling into containers they’d made from large leaves. Renna ran between the trees, collecting as much as she could carry.
Emric found a quartz outcropping near the canyon entrance. He pulled out a small hammer and started crushing the crystals with methodical precision, reducing them to fine glittering dust.
"Mix it," Holden said.
Emric poured the crystal dust into the sap containers. The mixture immediately started glowing faintly, reacting to the combination. The air around it shimmered with unstable energy.
"Now wire it to the walls," Holden continued. "Space the charges evenly. We want the whole canyon to go up at once, not in pieces."
Working together, they smeared the explosive mixture along the canyon walls at multiple heights. Renna used spare bowstrings to connect the charges in a rough network, running the lines to a central trigger point near the entrance.
The ground shook harder now.
"That’s them," Renna said, her voice tight.
Holden pressed his back against the canyon wall near the entrance. The rest of the team took cover behind a cluster of boulders at the far end.
"Everyone in position?"
"Ready," Lyra confirmed.
"Ready," Emric said.
"So ready, let’s do this, I’ve never blown up a canyon before" Renna blurted.
The first beast appeared at the canyon entrance.
A mutated wolf with purple veins pulsing across its flanks. Its eyes were black and empty. It charged into the gap without hesitation.
Then came the second. A deer-like creature with twisted antlers. Then a massive wildcat. Then more wolves. Then boars. Then things Holden couldn’t even identify.
They poured into the canyon like a flood.
Holden spoke into the radio. "Let them all in before we blow it."
The canyon filled with bodies. Purple-veined beasts trampled over each other, driven by mindless panic.
Emric stared at the chaos from behind the boulders. His face went pale.
"Holden. Their movement patterns are completely erratic. They’re not hunting us. The gait analysis suggests they’re fleeing. Something is chasing them."
Holden watched the horde squeeze through the canyon. Forty beasts. Maybe more. All terrified.
"Doesn’t matter what’s behind them. They’re still between us and safety."
The last of the horde entered the canyon.
"Now, Renna!"
Renna drew her bow, preparing a special flash-arrow that she modified with a fire rune. She aimed carefully at the network of sap they had laid out along the eastern wall.
Thwip!
The arrow flew true.
The moment it hit the explosive mixture, everything turned bright orange.
BOOM!
The canyon walls blew up simultaneously. The sap and crystal dust ignited in a chain reaction that turned both sides of the canyon into solid walls of flame. Stones shattered into tiny pieces, and massive boulders were blasted right off the cliffside. The entire area became an avalanche of fire and falling rock.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
Boulders tumbled down from the walls, crushing everything beneath them. Fire swept through the gaps, igniting the purple veins on the creatures’ bodies. The horde was obliterated in seconds.
Holden moved.
He activated Gale-Step and blurred into the dust cloud.
Whoosh!
The Shadow-Weave boots made him completely silent as he moved through the chaos. Falling rocks missed him by inches. Flames parted around him. His blade flashed in the smoke, finding the few beasts that had survived the initial blast.
Swish. Swish. Swish.
[Ding!]
[27 Abyssal-Tainted Beasts Defeated!]
[Base Reward: 2,700 KP]
[2x KP Booster Applied!]
[Total: +5,400 KP]
[Current Balance: 48,190 KP]
The dust began to settle.
Holden found a spot behind a fallen boulder and stood there, breathing normally. The fire was dying down. The smoke was clearing.
"Did we get them?" Renna’s voice called out.
"I think so!" Emric yelled back.
The team emerged from behind the boulders, staring at the devastation. The canyon was unrecognizable. Piles of rubble. Scorch marks. The remains of dozens of beasts scattered across the floor.
Renna whooped. "That was incredible! The whole canyon just exploded! It was like a movie!"
"That trap worked even better than I calculated," Emric said, looking very impressed.
Lyra smiled at Holden. "Good call."
Holden opened his mouth to respond.
Bzzt!
The radio crackled with sudden, violent static. The temperature plummeted. Frost began forming on the canyon walls despite the residual heat from the explosion.
"What’s happening?" Renna asked, her voice dropping.
Through the settling smoke at the far end of the canyon, something moved.
It was a bear.
A Dire-Bear, easily fifteen feet tall, with claws like curved swords. Rank 2, 4-Star by the size alone. It should have been an apex predator, the kind of beast that made other monsters run.
But something was wrong with it.
Purple veins covered its entire body, darker and thicker than anything they’d seen before. Its jaw hung open at a broken angle, connected by only a few strands of muscle. Its eyes were completely black, like holes punched through a curtain.
It was dead.
And yet it was walking.
The bear stepped out of the smoke, moving with a stiff, unnatural rhythm. Its dead eyes scanned the canyon and locked onto Team Soup.
"What is that thing?" Emric whispered.
The dead bear opened its broken jaw.
Click. Click. Click.