Chapter 81: High-Silver

Ethan stopped his carnage against the weak monsters as he watched Ruan getting thrashed by the Harpy.

The general fought with skill born from decades of combat, silver energy flaring around his blade as he struck at the winged beast. But each attack met empty air as the Harpy twisted, avoiding them.

He can’t match its mobility.

Ethan had cleared enough bronze ranks to ease pressure on the soldiers temporarily. The breach stood momentarily secured, monster corpses creating a grotesque barricade that would slow the next wave.

But “temporary” was the main word.

Suddenly, the earth vibrated like it was about to spill it’s contents. The weaker soldiers barely able to stand normally as the vibrations increased.

’An earthquake? How?’

BOOM

Ruan crashed to the ground twenty meters away, his silver aura flickering weakly as the Harpy’s wind blast connected with devastating force. The general’s armour had crumpled inward, blood seeping from beneath crushed metal.

“Fall back!” Ethan shouted to the remaining soldiers. “Take defensive positions! Now!”

They scrambled to obey as the ground beneath them began to tremble. Cracks spread through cobblestones like veins across ageing skin.

The Harpy circled above, its screeching laughter carrying notes of triumph.

Ethan rushed to Ruan, daggers still dripping with monster blood as he helped the general to his feet.

“Something’s coming,” Ruan gasped, clutching his shattered ribs.

Ethan nodded grimly.

The ground split with explosive force fifty meters ahead, the stone buckling as something massive tunnelled upward from below. Soldiers screamed as bronze-rank burrowers erupted from the newly created holes, dozens appearing where none had been seconds before.

But these were merely heralds.

The central fissure widened as a creature the size of a small building hauled itself from beneath the city.

Armoured plates covered its shoulders, chest and knees, each leg ending in claws that cracked stone where they touched.

<Ferocious Beast: Tunneler Behemoth>

<Rank: High-Silver>

<Earth Control: D+ Grade>

Ruan’s face drained of colour. “Oh…god.”

The behemoth rose to its full height, towering over nearby buildings. Six eye-stalks swiveled independently, assessing the area around it.

Then it reared back and released a roar that shattered windows throughout the district.

“We can’t beat that,” Ruan stated flatly. “Not without reinforcement or the city lord.”

Ethan nodded grimly at the scene.

In front of him stretched a nightmare made manifest—hundreds of bronze-rank monsters flooding through breaches, the intelligent Harpy coordinating from above, and now a behemoth at high-silver rank that towered over the battlefield like a walking fortress.

His hand slipped into his pocket, fingers closing around the Serpent’s core. The core pulsed against his palm.

I will not have the chance to devour it later.

Decision made, Ethan activated his Devour talent immediately, channelling the core’s energy directly into his system.

<Ding! Your Intelligence has advanced to Low-Silver Rank>

Power surged through his mana pathways, synapses rewiring to accommodate expanded capacity.

All his attributes now reached the low-silver threshold. His mana pool expanded significantly, reserves deepening to ensure he wouldn’t deplete during the inevitable confrontation.

Enhanced perception detected a silver aura approaching from behind.

Han.

Ethan turned, his silver eyes meeting the general’s across ten meters of blood-soaked stone. For one heartbeat, they locked eyes.

Then Han’s expression shifted, the mask of a concerned commander sliding into place with ease. He moved past Ethan toward Ruan, silver aura flaring with apparent urgency.

“I came here for backup,” Han announced, voice pitched to carry to nearby soldiers. “This is going to be tough.”

Ethan wasn’t entirely fooled.

I don’t know what kind of games this guy might play. I need to keep an eye on him.

He studied Han from the corner of his eye, cataloguing subtle tells that betrayed the general’s performance—the distance he maintained, the way his silver aura remained unusually contained despite the crisis unfolding around them.

The behemoth unleashed another earth-shaking roar. Bronze-beasts surged forward through fresh breaches, their movements coordinated by the Harpy’s aerial signals.

“What should we do?” Ruan asked, blood streaming from beneath his damaged armor.

Ethan stepped forward before Han could respond. “I think we should both take care of the behemoth, while the general takes care of the Harpy. He fought it before, so he knows its tricks.”

Ruan’s eyes widened, understanding the plan. He nodded quickly. “Agreed. Han, your experience against the beast makes you best suited to fight it.”

Han’s expression flickered—frustration disguised as hesitation. The suggestion had neatly separated him from Ruan, preventing whatever he’d planned next.

“The behemoth is the greater threat,” he countered.

“And two of us can handle it,” Ethan replied, meeting Han’s gaze directly. “Unless you’ve fought a behemoth before and know their weaknesses better than both of us?”

Checkmate. Han couldn’t admit knowledge of the Behemoth’s capabilities without raising dangerous questions.

“Very well.” Han’s silver energy expanded, cascading around him like liquid moonlight. “I’ll handle our winged friend.”

He launched skyward without further debate, silver aura propelling him toward the circling Harpy with explosive speed.

Ethan turned to Ruan. “Can you fight?”

The general straightened despite his injuries, silver energy already working to stabilize damaged tissue. “Enough to matter.”

They faced the behemoth together as it lumbered through devastated buildings, each footfall creating tremors that destabilized the ground beneath defenders’ feet.

“Any ideas?” Ruan asked, blade glowing with gathered power.

“The joints between segments,” he indicated. “And the base of the eye-stalks. Hit those simultaneously, we might disorient it enough for a killing blow.”

Ruan nodded grimly. “Simple in theory.”

“Difficult in execution.”

The behemoth had noticed them, six eye-stalks swivelling in unsettling unison to fix them with a baleful stare.

“Ready?” he asked Ruan.

The general raised his blade. “Together.”

They charged as one, silver auras flaring against the gathering darkness.

The behemoth sensed their approach, claws lashing out with impossible speed for something so massive. Ethan dodged left while Ruan went right, their coordinated attack targeting vulnerable joints.

Ethan’s daggers found their mark, silver energy penetrating the beast’s armour—only to meet second layer of armoured tissue beneath. The monster’s leg swept sideways, catching him mid-dodge.

Pain exploded through his ribs as he crashed through a stone wall.

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