The squad and the burned humanoid watched each other in a pregnant silence. Flynt's mind raced as he tried to think of a solution that didn't involve violence. This monster gave him a very bad feeling even in this injured state. As Flynt focused more on it, he realized why.

/It has a core./

He thought simply through the Synaplink, the rest of the squad visibly tightened their formation at his revelation. This was way above their pay grade.

/What makes you say that SL./

Jaxsyn asked, his gaze locked firmly with the abomination.

/I can feel it… the way the surrounding Spirit energy orbits around it. That happens to only 2-star divers or…/

/Monsters with cores./

Dahn completed his transmission gravely. The squad who were already under mountains of pressure, felt even worse at the moment. Vai's left arm could be seen shaking slightly while Flynt had some cold sweat running down his back. Trying to keep his focus, he transmitted a command to Dahn. He could feel the Spirit energy in the surroundings calming.

/Dahn, when the cavern stabilizes, immediately notify us for the jump./

Dahn just pinged him once in response.

<Umm… Hello?>

Suddenly, the squad heard the creature speak. Its voice sounded rough and pained but no doubt that of a young man. The only issue was, it spoke in an alien language.

/It can talk?/

Vai asked in disbelief. Not knowing what to think, the rest of the squad stayed silent and ever vigilant but a shared unease ran through them. Thanks to their extensive training, they knew anything could happen in an unexplored domain.

A talking humanoid was actually quite common from all the reports they had read but seeing it in person was still profoundly unnerving however.

With the team still shell shocked by the humanoid's voice, the creature slowly raised both its arms in a surrendering pose as it continued to speak.

<I mean no harm… Wait, can you even understand me?>

Its last sentence had a questioning tone to it followed by a low hum from its chest. As it heard the sound of the hum, the creature's disfigured face scrunched up as it spoke once more.

<They can't understand me? Then what should I do? If they get trigger happy and blow my brains out, I would be so pissed. All this struggling and I die to a misunderstanding? Fuck that.>

As the eight limbed monster spoke more and more, the more on edge the squad felt. As Flynt watched the creature ramble on with its tendrils flaying and gesturing, he decided to take an active decision. This standoff would not end anytime soon otherwise.

/Vai, do you have a clear shot?/

After a moment of hesitation, he got a ping from her.

/Good, on my mark, take it out. Everyone else, stay vigilant./

Flynt knew it was a big risk to attack this creature but he was given no choice. Rather than banking on the monster's mercy, he would rather place his confidence in his squad and their equipment. He couldn't risk their lives on wishful thinking.

<Hey, I'm going to leave now. Don't shoot me, okay?>

As the creature's movements got more pronounced with its tendrils now waving in slow, almost hypnotic patterns, the squad could tell it was trying to communicate something to them once more but the language barrier and situation wouldn't let them think too deeply about it.

<I can see you guys gathering energy but I don't want to fight alright? I'm leaving, see?>

When it finished speaking, it began slowly walking backwards towards the far wall into the shadows of the cavern. Flynt immediately tensed up and commanded.

/Vai, now!/

BOOM!

The shot she had been preparing all this while, blasted out of her rifle at hypersonic speed. The monster couldn't even react before the bullet punched a giant hole through its black, metallic skull and out the back of its head while producing a massive shockwave. The round directly vaporized its head in the process due to the super heated plasma coating it, leaving behind a faint blue trail in its wake.

Its body flew back like a gruesome rag doll, smashing into the cavern wall with a crushing bang. Still on guard, the squad watched the dust settle. They collectively held their breaths wishing it was dead. After a few moments of deafening silence—they felt it.

The surroundings Spirit energy was being siphoned towards the creature's position. Every second that passed, the Spirit energy seemed to become denser and denser to the point where it was even visible to the naked eye. It formed deep crimson threads in the air as it moved towards the monster. Flynt could tell something was wrong and commanded.

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/Open fire!!/

The squad blasted at the cloud of dust with no regard for their Spirit energy. It was do or die. The squad relentlessly fired for a solid fifteen seconds before the air stilled. The Spirit energy in the air calming down and dissipated. As the squad seized fire, Flynt spoke to Dahn once more.

/Dahn, is the jump not—/

BANG!

Mid transmission, a blisteringly fast blur shot out of the cavern wall and smashed into Dahn with a sickening crunch.

"Aaaahhh!!!"

Dahn's pained scream rang out throughout the cavern as the squad scrambled to react. With their guns aimed at the monster, it hastily fled back to the shadows as if it were an illusion. Flynt and Jaxsyn opened fire at it while Vai stayed her shaking hands. Her face pale within her helm as she was already drained from her previous shot.

Ana rushed over to Dahn to find his armor had a massive hole punctured into its chest. Placing a hand on him, she could already tell he was dead.

Through the hole in his armor she could see black dust pooling out. Whatever the monster had done, it was not something she could heal even if he was alive. The thought froze her in place, sheer disbelief and panic overtaking the months of training she had been through.

/Ana, how does it look?/

Jaxsyn asked anxiously, his transmission tinged with worry. Ana just shook her head repeatedly, too choked up to coherently transmit her thoughts.

Before the squad could fully process her implication, Flynt saw a black streak making its way to Ana rapidly. The wind howled in its wake as it got within a few meters of her in what felt like an instant.

'[Jolt]!'

Flynt activated the skill without even thinking about it, he heard a notification go off in his mind but he completely disregarded it. His focus was absorbed by the task at hand. Saving Ana.

Everything slowed to a crawl as he aimed his pulse rifle at the abomination. In his [Jolt] state, Flynt could see its haunting visage once more. Its previously injured body now healed, its pitch black skin carrying an almost metallic sheen.

Its head however was a different story, its face had been completely burned away leaving behind an ominous black skull with deep crimson wisps in its sockets. Its burning gaze locked on to Ana, blazing with a chilling killing intent.

With the creature in his crosshairs, Flynt let loose a concentrated beam of pure plasma. The beam slammed into the monster with a sharp boom, smashing it away but not doing any significant damage apart from burning its skin.

Before Flynt could fire off another round, he felt a sharp pain in his head and arms. He immediately shut off [Jolt] and the monster vanished from his sight.

'This can't go on like this.'

Things were swiftly going out of control. They had to escape now. Hardening his resolve, Flynt transmitted a command to the squad.

|We are going to jump one by one. Vai goes first followed by Ana then Jaxsyn./

/What about you, Flynt?/

Vai asked, her transmission shaky and barely going through.

/I'll be fine. I can react to its movements better than you guys. Okay Vai, start. We'll be on guard./

With an escape plan made, the squad got into formation. Vai and Ana stood at the center while Jaxsyn and Flynt stood back to back across from them. Jaxsyn stored away his rifle opting for his shield and short sword, he couldn't react fast enough to actually shoot the creature. Flynt pulled out his sword as well since his rifle simply wasn't powerful enough to do some decisive damage.

Ana produced a runic circle in her palm after calming herself down. A green thread shot out of it and connected to Vai, increasing her energy regeneration rate. With this, Vai had enough energy to make her jump in a few seconds.

Taking a deep breath, Vai conjured her riftkey with a soft glow. It looked like a compact, rhombus-shaped device made of overlapping crystalline layers, each inscribed with glowing Runes. The Runes pulsed in sync with her own energy, reacting to her intent. At its center, a small, rotating core of condensed Spirit energy hummed faintly, like a pulsing heartbeat.

As she held it up, the edges of the riftkey shifted slightly, as if adjusting to an unseen current. Thin, threadlike veins of light spread from the core across the crystalline surface, tracing intricate patterns that changed with each pulse. With a practiced motion, she twisted the Riftkey, aligning the runes into a new configuration.

The cavern air vibrated. A faint, jagged distortion rippled outward from the Riftkey, carving an ephemeral doorway into space itself. It wasn't a perfect portal as it visibly flickered unstably.

It produced nonsensical lights and shadows which clung to its edges, like a wound in reality. The riftkey whined softly as it fed on Vai's already depleted Spirit reserves, struggling to stabilize the portal for a few more moments.

She took a shaky breath and transmitted.

|It's ready—|

Before she could finish, the darkness stirred. The monster shot out towards her from the perfect stillness but Jaxsyn was ready and intercepted it mid air with his shield, his form coated in an intangible energy as he roared.

"What are you waiting for?!!"

Vai hastily jumped through the closing portal without looking back while the insidious humanoid shot away back into the eerie blackness with almost twice the velocity it came in with.

A massive boom could be heard from where it crashed into. Ana deactivated her Skill as she steeled herself to repeat the same process as Vai. Despite her efforts, her hands shook while tears streamed down her face as she tried to focus her Mind and Spirit.

As the seconds ticked by without an attack, the squad's nerves were fraying at the edges. Jaxsyn visibly jumped and shook at the slightest sound. Flynt was unusually tense, trying his best to perceive the flow of Spirit energy in hopes of tracking the predator hunting them.

WHOOMM!

Ana finally opened her portal and rushed through, the two men raised their guard as much as possible, banking on the monster attacking at this moment. But to their surprise, it didn't attempt anything. Now, they were down to two.

|Okay SL, take out your Riftkey.|

|What?|

|You think I'm going to let you die here, Flynt? I'm the Vanguard of this squad for a reason. Take out your Riftkey and leave. I'll hold it back.|

|But—|

The darkness stirred once more as the grim humanoid attacked, this time aiming for Flynt. Jaxsyn charged at it with his shield hoisted while Flynt dodged to the side. When Jaxsyn and the beast collided, a sharp crack could be heard from the shield as the monster shot away almost as fast as it came in.

"Just go!!"

Flynt bit back his tears as he took out his riftkey and activated it. As the portal opened, Flynt could see the humanoid charging towards him while Jaxsyn did his best to fend it off. He could see Jaxsyn's shield and armor gaining numerous cracks and fractures. Each attack he intercepted weakened him further and further.

Flynt tore his eyes away from the scene and focused on the portal he was generating. He had to at least comply with Jaxsyn's dying wish. When the portal finally opened, Flynt looked to the side at Dahn's desecrated corpse and back at Jaxsyn.

"Aaahhhh!!!"

He turned just in time to see Jaxsyn being impaled by a sharp tendril while he let out a baleful scream filled with resentment and unwillingness.

Flynt clinched his teeth and dove into the portal. His mind clouded in fear, pain, helplessness but most of all—hatred.

Deep within, he had carved this day in his heart. This day will be forever burned in his heart due to the profound hatred he felt for that pitch black abomination.

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