Chapter 48: City Ruins

  The sun hadn’t truly risen, not in that dungeon. It never did. The light was always the same faint, crystal-like glow that clung to the rocky mountain ceiling. Even so, dawn felt like it had passed when the squad reached the blackened stone arch of the city’s gatehouse.

  The thing looked ready to collapse. Its battlements leaned like a drunk struggling to stand, moss choked every seam of mortar, and one side of the portcullis had long since crumbled into a pile of rusted teeth. The road beyond stretched inward, flanked by skeletal frames that might have once been houses, and broken walls. A maze of ruins that whispered of a place once proud, and long dead.

  “Cozy,” Garret said. He raised his shield as he ducked under the tilted arch. “Definitely screams five-star lodging.”

  “Just like home,” Alex said.

  His [Aether Sight] traced the outlines of collapsed rooftops, every brick and beam humming faintly in his perception. There were no signs of monsters yet—just dust and decay—but he stayed vigilant. “Feels like walking through an old district after the bombs dropped. Remember Kansas-City?”

  That drew a few snorts of laughter. Devon shook his head. “Kansas looked better than this place.” Even Henry cracked a grin at that.

  The squad’s formation took shape as the walked forward, falling in place naturally as breathing. With the tanks up front, Henry’s bulk, Doran and Garret’s shield set the pace. The healers and support moved close to the middle. Allie kept her hands ready, Myrae trailing near her with light dancing faintly at her fingertips. The ranged fighters and strikers drifted around the edges: bow half-drawn, spells half-cast and blades loose.

  For a moment, there was almost… levity. The dry humor gave the sense that even in this husk of a city, they could find echoes of Earth. Then the ground shuddered. It wasn’t much at first, a dull rumble that vibrated through the soles of their boots, like some great machine turning far below the streets. Dust trickled from the cracked stone awning above them. Then came the sound of stone splitting from somewhere close by.

  Every weapon came up.

  The squad froze as the wall of a nearby building groaned and leaned outward before a cascade of rubble tumbled down its face. The noise echoed like thunder between the hollow streets.

  Alex saw something move behind the wreckage. Not the skitter of rats, nor the collapse of another wall. A fast movement of some creature he couldn't quite get a glimpse of. His senses flared, aura pulling tight around him like a net. His heart hammered, every instinct screaming at him that whatever stirred in the ruin wasn’t just rubble falling into place. He raised a hand, signaling the squad to stillness.

  The rumble came again, deeper this time.

  “...Oh good,” Garret whispered, coughing out ash and dust. “Haunted city. My favorite flavor.”

  The wall just ahead of them gave way all at once. A window, half-choked in vines, burst outward in a spray of dust, glass, and broken stone as something black and chitinous slammed through it.

  It landed on the flagstones in a crouch—too smooth, too fast—its talons gouging lines in the stone. Its head snapped up, long jaws opening in a hiss that cultivated goosebumps along Alex’s skin. A second shape crashed through the ruin beside it, then a third, showering the street with shards of glass and mortar.

  They weren’t jackals, bears, or snakes. These were something else entirely.

  Velociraptor-shaped, if velociraptors had been dragged screaming through a nightmare merging machine. They had long, sinewed front limbs ending in scythe-like claws, sleek insectoid chitin plates running down their spines, and mandibles flexing wetly around needle-sharp, teeth-filled mouths. Their bodies gleamed like oil-slick obsidian, every ridge of their exoskeleton catching the faint light with a rainbow shimmer, and they moved with a sickening, predatory grace.

  “...Oh hell,” Garret muttered, shield rising instinctively. “We just got Zerg rushed.”

  The first chimera didn’t wait for them to make further jokes. It lunged toward them with a shriek. Henry intercepted, his halberd slamming forward in a burst of water aether. The impact with its body rang out like a church bell—but the beast barely staggered, its claws scraping across the weapon’s blade and sparking. It snapped its jaws at Henry’s throat, forcing him back into a retreat.

  The second and third beast blurred forward, moving like streaks of shadow. One crashed against Garret’s shield with bone-jarring force, its claws screeching across steel. The other darted for the midline and leapt, foot-talons reaching for Allie and Myrae.

  “Not today!” Kate was there, her blade erupting with fire as she intercepted the beast. Her strike met its exoskeleton and slid, barely biting through the hard bioarmor before the chimera lashed back. The impact rattled her arm from wrist to shoulder.

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  The chimeras were fast. Faster than their size had any right to be.

  Alex’s vision flashed with [Aether Sight], tracing the churn of energy inside each beast, and his gut sank. Their cores glowed brightly concentrated. Late gaseous-stage Adept, every one of them, but compressed so close to liquid-stage he could feel the pressure against his own aura.

  “Shit,” he breathed, ducking as the first chimera’s arm scythed past his head. “They’re all Adept. Early stage—but close to middle.”

  “What?” Devon yelped, scrambling back as one of the beasts slashed a furrow through the cobblestones where he’d been standing. “That’s not fair!”

  “It’s the System, Chimera don’t play by normal mage rules. No martial styles, gear, or spells, of course. But they don’t need them. The Heavens evened the odds with raw stats and their knack for adapting to any battle they find themselves in. I’m looking at the math, fleshsack. And it’s stacked against you.” Obby explained somberly in his mind.

  Alex’s jaw clenched in frustration. He dodged sideways, sliding under a lunge, his aether flashing as he cast his [Flare] spell with a knife-hand strike. Energy burst where his strike hit chitin and it cut a line through the thing's armor leaving a line of blood.

  The chimera felt the impact and hissed at him, biting at him by throwing its head forward, and he realized with cold clarity: even they, the overpowered Worldstriders, were not stronger than this thing straight on.

  “Keep them off the healers!” Eric shouted. Alex could see he was already darting to the flank, lightning crawling along his skin.

  The street exploded into chaos, shields locking, steel ringing, fire, rock, wind and lightning slashing through the space around them. Every strike landed with half the effect it should. Every counter had to be twice as fast just to keep them from being gutted open by a swing of a bladed forearm.

  And still, the chimeras pressed harder, faster, as if the ruined city itself had sent them as its wardens against their advance.

  Claws screeched across Garret’s shield, sparks blinding in the dim light. He braced, teeth gritted, only to be flung back three steps by a lightning fast kick before planting his boots with a pained grunt. Henry tried to counter with his halberd glowing with blue aether, but the beast twisted unnaturally to dodge the blow, its tail lashing around to sweep his legs. Henry crashed hard into a pile of rubble, coughing blood.

  “Henry!” Allie shouted, darting toward him—only to stumble back as another chimera barreled for her. Its mandibles clicked, saliva hissing with acrid smoke where it hit the stone floor.

  Eric was faster, though. Lightning raced down his arms as he intercepted the beast, an open palm strike cracking against its carapace. He pushed his aether into the strike, but the chimera absorbed the blow with terrifying ease. Its counter-strike raked across his chest, fragments tearing from his armor. Eric’s teeth bared in a scowl as blood welled across his torso.

  “Don’t give it an inch!” he yelled, even as Kate blurred past him.

  Her blade ignited in a pillar of fire as she leapt, a flaming arc slicing across the chimera’s head. The blow staggered it, but it wasn’t enough. It slammed a scythe blade into her armored ribs midair, tossing her sideways into a crumbling wall. She gasped as she lay half-buried in debris, blood pooling beneath her.

  “Kate’s down!” Devon shouted, panic threading his words. Allie was already running to Kate’s side when a figure stepped between the two women and the chimera.

  Ghrukk roared. His halberd flashed with fire-dark aether as he barreled forward, slamming into the beast that had dropped Kate. His weapon hacked against its plated torso again and again, each strike a thunderous crack.

  “Fight me, monster!” The Ork bellowed.

  The chimera chittered loudly, turning on him, mandibles stretched wide. That was when Eric struck again, his lightning spearing down the exposed neck joint Kate’s attack had created. The carapace split with a violent pop. Ghrukk’s halberd followed after, the blade plunged deep and the chimera writhed, black ichor spilling across the ground. A duo of dark arrows slammed into its head shortly after as Rynel's bow twanged.

  The two mages, Eric and Ghrukk, nodded to each other as the beast collapsed in a twitching heap.

  “One down!” Ghrukk snarled, panting heavily. “Two more!”

  The second chimera was already being held back by Garret and Doran, the two held in a defensive deadlock. Holly rushed in from across the street, her air aether moving in quick, silver crescents. Every strike of her sword hit with gale-force precision, shoving the beast back and carving lines into its exoskeleton. Alex was at her side, fists glowing with caustic azure energy of his Martial Style. He struck with his knife-handed [Flare] again, each blow hammering into the seams between its plates and pumping explosive aether into his flesh below.

  The chimera lashed out. Its tail clipped Holly’s shoulder, spinning her into Alex. He caught her, shoved her upright again, and they moved together, sword and fists, wind and fury.

  Selka appeared from behind, her daggers coming down with a bright flash of aether as she stabbed, one into each of the chimera's legs. It faltered then shrieked in surprise and pain from her attack. Her daggers pinned it in place for just a moment.

  “Now!” Holly shouted, thrusting her sword-tip low, piercing in between two chitin sections on its chest and then out again just as quickly.

  Alex launched forward as well. His strike hit the wound she’d just opened, a precise burst of [Flare] detonating inside. The chimera convulsed and collapsed, ichor pooling beneath it.

  Alex panted and gave a thumbs up to Selka and Holly, “That’s two.”

  The last chimera hadn’t waited around for a fair fight. During the battle it had tasted blood. Peter’s side was slashed, Lance was on one knee clutching his arm, Myrae already scrambled between them with light aether radiating between her hands.

  The beast looked about quickly and growled, a low rattling sound from deep in its chest. It appeared to almost be thinking about its chances, and then it turned and ran. It vaulted up a half-broken wall, scythe-claws digging into stone, then vanished into the skeletal silhouette of the ruined city.

  “Shit,” Garret swore. “We lost it!”

  Alex’s gaze followed the trail of broken stone where it had disappeared, heart pounding in his ears. Through his heightened senses, he could still feel the pulse of its aether in the distance, moving deeper, faster.

  “Not lost,” Alex muttered darkly. “It’s running back to the hive.”

  The team stood bloodied and gasping a midst the wreckage, two chimera corpses steaming at their feet, their still bleeding wounds raw reminders of how hard the fight had been.

  And one still out there, running home.

  It ran, while carrying knowledge of their skills and abilities that they didn’t want the Hive to have...