I Evolve 10,000 Times Faster

The Base Camp appeared through the trees. It was supposed to be a safe zone. A fortified position with energy shields, heavy barricades, and enough senior students to hold off anything.

Right now, it looked like hell.

The energy shield flickered wildly, casting strobing blue light across the chaos. Thousands of monsters pressed against it. Wolf-beasts with tusks, six-legged panthers, flying things that swooped down from the sky. They had lost their hive-mind coordination, but panic had made them feral. They were fleeing the collapsing hive and running straight into the camp.

High above, a figure in black fought through a swarm of flying leeches. Instructor Vespera moved like a dark star, her Rank 4 power obliterating anything that got close. But even she couldn’t be everywhere at once.

On the ground walls, students fought desperately.

Holden spotted Team Soup immediately. Emric stood behind his heavy shield, blocking a wave of spitting insects while Renna fired arrows over his head. Their movements were exhausted but coordinated.

And then he heard her voice.

"Henry, shift left! The armored beetle is about to break through your section!"

Maeve’s voice blasted from the camp’s loudspeaker system.

"Renna! Target the flying leeches on the east flank! They’re diving for the medical tent! Emric, hold position! The next wave is coming in fifteen seconds!"

Holden stopped at the tree line, watching.

On the walls, Henry moved the instant Maeve spoke. The former arrogant noble didn’t hesitate. He just shifted left and brought his sword down on the beetle’s exposed joint exactly where Maeve had told him.

The creature collapsed.

"Good! Now push forward and clear the rubble!!"

Henry’s squad moved with her, following her orders like she was a seasoned commander.

Because she was.

Holden felt a swell of pride. His little sister, the slum girl who used to hide behind him, was directing a battlefield like she was born for it.

Crack!

The sound cut through the chaos.

The energy shield shuddered. A section of it flickered and died completely.

"The generator’s overheating!" someone screamed. "We lost sector seven!"

The monsters surged through the gap.

Most of them were smaller creatures. Rank 1 fodder that the students could handle. But behind them, something massive pushed through.

A Siege-Beast.

It was built like a tank. It had eight legs, each as thick as a tree trunk. Its body was covered in overlapping stone plates that made it look like a walking boulder. Its head was a blunt wedge of armored bone with no eyes, just a gaping maw filled with grinding teeth.

Rank 2, 3-Star. Not as strong as the Queen, but in this chaos, it might as well have been a god.

The beast crashed through the barricade, sending wooden splinters flying. Students fled in a panic, but the beast didn’t even look at them. It clearly had a more important goal in mind.

It charged straight toward the science tent, where Maeve was.

"Evacuate!" Emric shouted from the wall. "Get her out of there!"

But Maeve couldn’t run. She was the one controlling all the radios and monitors in the camp. If she disconnected, the students on the walls would lose their tactical advantage. The entire defense would collapse.

The Siege-Beast closed the distance. Twenty meters. Fifteen. Ten.

Henry dove.

The noble boy threw himself in front of the tent, with his shield raised.

"YOU WON’T TOUCH HER!"

The Siege-Beast didn’t slow down.

Thud!

Its front leg caught Henry’s shield and threw him aside effortlessly. His shield was crushed instantly, and he tumbled across the ground, his body moving without any control at all.

He didn’t get up.

The beast loomed over the tent. Maeve’s voice had stopped. The speakers went silent.

The Siege-Beast raised one massive leg. It was going to crush the tent.

Holden moved.

He activated his Gale-Step.

Holden crossed two hundred meters in a single second. The air couldn’t get out of his way fast enough. It compressed, then exploded outward.

BOOM!

A sonic boom shattered the night.

The students on the walls stumbled. The smaller monsters cringed. Everyone looked up.

A red streak crashed into the Siege-Beast like a meteor.

Holden’s foot smashed into the beast’s skull. He had poured every ounce of his Rank 2 strength into that single strike. His Iron-Body made his leg harder than steel.

Crack!

The stone plates on the beast’s head shattered. Its skull was crushed. The creature’s momentum carried it forward for another meter before it collapsed dead.

Holden landed in a crouch, one hand on the ground.

Then the cheering started.

"Holden!"

"He made it!"

"Did you see that? He kicked its head in!"

Holden stood up slowly. He let his shoulders slump. He bent over and put his hands on his knees, forcing himself to take loud, ragged breaths.

"I ran," he gasped, loud enough for everyone to hear. "All the way from the hive."

He wiped sweat from his forehead that wasn’t there and stumbled slightly.

"Is everyone okay? Did I miss anything?"

Renna’s voice came from the wall, high and excited. "HOLDEN! You just killed a Siege-Beast with your foot! That was insane! I’ve never seen anything like it! Are you okay? Wait, no, you look fine!"

Emric appeared beside her, his shield lowered. "The power you just showed was too much for a rank 1. Statistically, it shouldn’t be possible. Either you’ve got a secret move, or that beast was already falling apart before you reached it."

"Maybe it tripped," Holden said, still panting. "I got lucky."

Lyra landed beside him. Her eyes scanned him quickly, checking for injuries.

"You’re not hurt," she said. It wasn’t a question.

"Just tired," Holden said. He straightened up and stretched his back. "I ran all the way back here and nobody saved me a snack? Rude."

Despite his joking, his eyes were already moving to Henry’s crumpled form. The noble boy was starting to sit up, groaning, his arm hanging at a wrong angle.

"Someone get him to the medical tent," Holden called out. "He earned it."

Inside the science tent, the flap opened. Maeve stepped out, her glasses slightly crooked, her face pale but calm. She looked at the dead Siege-Beast, then at her brother.

She didn’t say anything dramatic. She just smiled.

Holden winked at her.

[Ding!]

[Threat Neutralized: Siege-Beast]

[Base Reward: 1,000 KP]

[Breach Defense Bonus: +1,000 KP]

[2x KP Booster Applied!]

[Total: +4,000 KP!]

[Current Balance: 74,390 KP]

Holden closed the notification and looked around at the camp. The shield was still flickering. Monsters still pressed at the edges. The night wasn’t over.

But they were going to make it.

"Alright," he said, letting his voice carry. "Who wants to tell me what I missed?"