Ascension of the Primalist [A Tamer Class, LitRPG]

Before Seth could even react, Colossus and Nightmare burst from the teardrop necklace, materializing on either side of him in defensive stances. The five Earth Elementals exhaled through the hollow gaps that served as their nostrils, and they repeatedly lifted their front paws, ready to charge.

'You should've stayed inside,' Seth muttered mentally to them, raising his fists. His gaze flicked to the other creatures inside the large cavern—too many of them were within earshot. The noise would draw them all sooner or later. Probably sooner.

'Now we can't run,' Seth said.

Colossus clacked his pincers together, shaking his head. 'We don't have to—'

Before the scorpion could finish, the ground began to shudder violently. A low, thunderous rumble echoed from the depths of the cave and swelled into a deafening roar. A wave of brown and gray bodies surged from a massive cavern opening to the left—a stampede of dozens, then hundreds of Rhinoceros Earth Elementals. Their stone-plated bodies thundered toward Seth, Colossus, and Nightmare. All of the creatures' eyes were wide not with aggression, but with primal terror.

They weren't charging to attack. They were fleeing.

'Shit, run!' Seth yelled through their bond, spinning on his heel and bolting back the way they'd come.

The cave floor shook beneath the thunder of countless heavy steps, causing loose shards of stone to crash from the canyon ceiling. Seth glanced back, his heart sinking as he saw Colossus struggling to keep up; the scorpion's lower Agility was a death sentence in such a situation.

And with them still in the distortion field, it was impossible to recall Colossus to the necklace.

Damn it.

The only option was Beastmaster Rage. But once the spell ended, his Toughness would plummet and leave him vulnerable.

I have no damn choice.

A crimson haze bled into his vision as he cast the spell. Instantly, power surged through his body, filling each of his muscles before spreading through Link to his packmates. Colossus' legs began to hammer the ground in a blur, and the scorpion gained just enough speed to stay ahead of the panicked Elementals.

Seth, Colossus, and Nightmare burst from the narrow canyon back into the colossal cavern, the rhino-like golems thundering behind them, the creatures' infectious fear drawing more of their kin from connecting tunnels. Seth veered left toward the stone bridge they had crossed earlier.

"Let's go!" he shouted, while glancing at Nightmare and Colossus.

But as he turned, his eyes caught movement on the far right of the cavern. Another horde of elementals was surging forth from a different tunnel, and two small figures were running desperately before the crushing tide.

It was a woman with dark hair and a slim young man. Even from this distance, Seth recognized them. If he got closer, he was sure he'd see the scars on their cheeks: those two were the Bridan Empire fighters he'd faced weeks ago. The young man was the Dark Assassin, Kaelen, the one who'd stopped Seth from finishing the Rogue that had tried to kill Elena.

Seth's mind reeled. How did they get here? Did they arrive from the same portal as me and Reat—no. This Rift has more than one portal! The realization struck him. One of them must be in the empire's territory.

Seth cut left sharply, gesturing for Colossus and Nightmare to follow toward the natural stone bridges that arced over the bottomless precipice they had crossed earlier. They went for the closest one on the left, since the two Bridan Rogues were already scrambling for the one on the right.

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Yet before any of them could reach those bridges, the cavern wall behind them exploded.

A blast of scorching air and jagged debris slammed into Seth as a creature of impossible scale tore its way through the breach, loose rocks crashing down around it. It was a behemoth of molten stone and raw magma with a form that looked like a twisted imitation of something humanoid. Its massive eyes burned with the light of dying stars. The creature dwarfed everything Seth had ever seen; the Desert Snake, the giant owl, even the Peak-Gold golem Orwen and the other members of the Champions of Chaos had killed.

The thing was a moving mountain of destruction the size of an eight-story building. Each of its earth-shattering steps sent violent tremors through the cavern, threatening to bring the entire place down upon them.