Shale loosened as it shifted beneath their boots, sending cascades of rock tumbling down the slope. Luca half-ran, half-slid down the treacherous terrain, his scout suit's stabilizers working overtime to keep him upright. Behind him, the toxic storm wall churned closer, its howling wind already whipping at their backs.

"Move, move, move!" he shouted into the comms, but the Varnathi scientists were struggling. Their lighter frames and inadequate gear made every step a gamble. One researcher went down hard, tumbling several meters before Joey's heavy armor intercepted him.

Ryan had taken rearguard position, his scattergun tracking the shadows moving in the rocks above them. Cliff Borers were emerging from their crevices, drawn by the commotion or fleeing the approaching storm themselves.

"Contact rear!" Ryan called out, his weapon roaring. The wide plasma spread caught two Borers mid-lunge, their chitinous bodies exploding in sprays of acidic ichor.

But there were more. Always more.

A Borer dropped from an overhang onto one of the Varnathi researchers. The female scientist screamed, a high-pitched trill that cut through the wind as the creature's mandibles clamped down. Her body went rigid as venom pumped into her bloodstream.

"Sera!" Dr. Pol cried out, but the Borer was already dragging its paralyzed victim into a crack in the rock face.

Chris fired after them, but the angle was wrong. The researcher and her attacker disappeared into darkness.

Ten Varnathi left, Luca realized grimly. We're losing them faster than we can count.

The cave entrance loomed ahead, a dark mouth in the cliff face roughly fifty meters down. But between them and safety, the slope grew steeper, more treacherous. Wind-driven spores were already reaching them, yellow-green tendrils of toxic fog curling around the rocks.

A shadow swept overhead. Then another.

"Venowraiths!" Zoe shouted from her position. "Multiple contacts, diving!"

The aerial predators shrieked as they descended, their talons glinting in the fading light. One dove straight for a cluster of researchers, its venom-glazed claws extended.

Emily was already moving, her grav-stabilizers firing as she launched herself between the creature and its targets. Her plasma blade ignited mid-leap, the energy weapon carving through the Venowraith's wing membrane. The creature tumbled past her, crashing into the rocks below.

But three more were coming.

Zoe's sniper rifle cracked twice, dropping two of them mid-dive. The third veered off, circling for another pass. It found a lone researcher who had become separated from the group.

The Varnathi male tried to run, but his footing gave way. He tumbled down the slope, right into the Venowraith's path. Talons closed around him, lifting him off the ground even as venom from its claws began eating through his protective gear.

"No!" Danny roared, but there was nothing he could do. The Venowraith carried its victim out over the spore fields, its prey's struggles growing weaker as the toxins took hold.

Nine researchers left, Luca thought, forcing himself to keep moving. Just get to the cave. Get them to safety.

The storm wall hit them like a physical force. Wind screamed through the rocks, carrying dense clouds of toxic spores that reduced visibility to nearly zero. He could hear the Varnathi choking and gasping through their inadequate masks.

"Cave, now!" he ordered. "Everyone inside!"

They stumbled through the entrance, Varnathi and humans alike, collapsing in the relative safety of the rocky shelter. The cave stretched back into darkness, but the opening was wide enough for the whole group.

Luca did a quick headcount. Nine Varnathi scientists, four guards. All seven of his team. They'd made it, but barely.

"Danny, Joey, seal the entrance!" he barked.

The two heaviest armored members moved to the cave mouth, their powered suits forming a barricade. Outside, the storm raged with biblical fury. Toxic spores swirled in dense clouds, visibility dropping to nothing. And through it all, shapes moved. Cliff Borers, driven from their caves by the storm, were seeking any shelter they could find.

Even their shelter.

"Here they come!" Danny warned as three Borers scuttled toward the cave entrance.

Joey activated his energy shield, the defensive barrier snapping into place just as the first creature lunged. It bounced off the shield, mandibles scraping uselessly against the energy field. Danny's warhammer came down in a crushing arc, pulverizing the Borer's thorax.

Ryan positioned himself just behind them, his scattergun ready for anything that got past the heavy armor wall. Chris took the opposite side, his assault rifle tracking targets through the swirling storm.

Emily stood in the center of the cave, her plasma blasters covering both angles. The Varnathi scientists huddled behind her, their breathing ragged with exhaustion and fear.

"Luca, Zoe!" Emily called out. "Where are you?"

"Outside," Luca replied, activating [Ghost Protocol]. The familiar shimmer enveloped him as he faded from view. "We're scouting a route down to the research station."

His suit's camouflage had nearly nine minutes of charge. More than enough time to reconnoiter while the storm provided cover. Beside him, Zoe activated her own stealth system, both scouts becoming invisible wraiths in the toxic tempest.

They moved along the cliff face, using the storm as concealment while their enhanced optics cut through the spore clouds. The research station was three kilometers below, its emergency lights barely visible through the toxic haze.

Then Luca saw it.

The massive creature was closer now, maybe three kilometers out. Through his rifle scope, he could make out more details. It was snake-like, its body easily a hundred meters long, moving through the storm like it was swimming through water. Bioelectric organs pulsed along its length, lighting it from within with sickly yellow bioluminescence.

Luca activated [Combat Predictive Modeling], his enhanced tactical awareness analyzing the approaching threat.

[Combat Predictive Modeling: Grimspine Leviathan – Level 80] Threat Profile: Extreme Lethal Behavior Forecast:

Apex territorial predator - aggressive response to intrusion

Drawn to bioelectric signatures and movement

Tactical Forecast:

Massive physical strikes capable of crushing heavy armor

Bioelectric discharge across body length - area effect weapon

Armored scales deflect most small arms fire

Tactical Notes:

Eyes are primary weak points

Soft tissue under jaw vulnerable to point-blank fire

Acidic blood spray hazard - corrosive to armor and equipment

Level 80, Luca's mind screamed. We're level 68. That thing will tear us apart.

"Zoe, you seeing this?"

"Yeah," her voice was tight. "That's heading straight for the research station."

"And we're heading straight for it."

A Cliff Borer passed where Luca had been standing, heading toward the cave. His invisibility held, but the creature was too close. He activated [Trajectory Focus] and hurled his plasma tomahawk in one smooth motion. The weapon's energy blade took the creature's head clean off.

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More Borers were emerging from crevices, driven mad by the storm. And now something else was approaching through the toxic clouds.

The Grimspine Leviathan had changed course. It was coming toward them.

"Back to the cave," Luca ordered. "Now!"

They sprinted back as the massive creature's bioluminescence grew brighter through the storm. It was close enough now that Luca could feel vibrations through the rock, could hear something that might have been breathing or might have been the storm itself.

He and Zoe dove through the cave entrance just as the Grimspine Leviathan's shadow fell across the opening. The creature was enormous, its serpentine body undulating as it approached. Multiple eyes glowed along its head, each one the size of a person. Bioelectric organs pulsed along its hundred-meter length, casting everything in sickly yellow light.

And it was looking directly at their cave.

"Positions!" Luca barked, his stealth dropping as he brought up his sniper rifle. "Danny, Joey, hold that entrance!"

Danny planted his feet at the cave mouth, activating [Taunt]. "Come on, you oversized worm! I'm right here!" His voice amplified through his armor's external speakers, cutting through the storm.

The Leviathan's head swung toward him, multiple eyes focusing on the heavy armored figure. Joey moved up beside his brother, his shield projecting forward as he roared his own challenge.

The creature struck.

Its head crashed into Joey's shield with enough force that Luca felt the shockwave through his bones.

The energy shield shattered into dissipating particles of light, as useless as tissue paper against a freight train.

Joey, all two hundred kilos of him in heavy powered armor, was launched backward like a toy. He flew ten meters into the darkness, his armored boots leaving twin gouges in the stone floor before he crashed into the far wall.

We can't stop this. We're all going to die here.

"Fire!" Luca shouted, his voice barely audible over the ringing in his ears. "Everything we have!"

The team opened up. Ryan's scattergun roared, wide plasma bursts hitting the creature's face. Chris's assault rifle chattered, bolts slamming into armored scales. Emily's twin blasters added precise fire, targeting the glowing eyes.

The Leviathan recoiled, then its massive body began wrapping around the cliff face outside. Rock groaned under the pressure as the creature's coils tightened. Boulders crumbled to gravel, the grinding like continents colliding. Servo torque warnings flashed across Luca's HUD as his suit strained under the vibration. The creature was literally trying to squeeze the cave entrance shut.

"It's collapsing the opening!" Zoe shouted.

Cracks spider-webbed across the cave walls. Dust and debris rained down as the Leviathan constricted, its muscles rippling with impossible strength. The opening began to narrow, tons of rock shifting under the pressure.

"Get the Varnathi back!" Luca ordered. "Deep into the cave, now!"

Dr. Pol herded her civilian researchers deeper into the darkness, but her four remaining guards stood their ground, raising their plasma rifles. They were outmatched and they knew it, but they held position.

"Guards, concentrate fire on the left eye cluster!" Luca commanded. "Support our heavy armor!"

The guards responded immediately, their own plasma rifles adding to the barrage.

Another section of ceiling collapsed near the entrance. A two-meter boulder crashed down where Emily had been standing seconds before.

Danny braced himself against the cave wall, his powered armor's servos whining as he pushed back against a falling rock slab. "Can't hold this for long!"

The Leviathan's tail whipped through the narrowing opening, moving with horrifying speed. It caught Chris across the chest, lifting him off his feet and slamming him into the cave wall.

"Chris!" Ryan shouted, but the engineer was already rolling to his feet, grabbing his rifle.

"I'm good! Keep shooting!"

The creature released a roar that physically shook them. The sound reverberated through their armor, making servos rattle and HUD displays flicker. Luca's teeth ached from the vibration, his bones feeling like they might shake apart.

This thing is impossible.

Joey staggered back to the entrance, his armor scored but functional. He grabbed his plasma blaster, the weapon feeling inadequate against something this massive. "We need to stop it from crushing this cave!"

Luca activated [Target Lock Assist] and [Weak Point Focus], his enhanced targeting painting vulnerable spots between the creature's scales. He and Zoe fired simultaneously, their sniper rifles firing at the same time. The shots burned through flesh, drawing acidic blood that sprayed across the cave entrance.

Where the blood landed, stone began to sizzle and melt. One of the Varnathi guards screamed as droplets hit his exposed arm, the acid eating through fur and flesh. Luca grabbed him, dragging him away from the spreading pool of corrosive fluid.

"Joey!" Luca shouted while helping the burned guard deeper into the cave.

Joey was already moving with his medkit, applying neutralizing agents to the guard's wounds while the battle raged around them.

"Watch the blood!" Luca warned. "It's eating through everything!"

Pools of corrosive fluid spread across the cave floor, eating into rock and creating hazardous terrain that forced everyone to constantly reposition.

The Leviathan's bioelectric organs suddenly flared brighter. Arcs of electricity leaped from its body, crackling through the air. One bolt hit Danny's armor, and his HUD went dark. Another struck near Ryan, overloading his suit's systems.

"Comms down!" Chris reported, his voice barely audible without the suit amplification. "HUD's scrambled! We're fighting blind!"

Shit. It's using the bioelectric discharge as a weapon.

Emily saw her opening. As the creature's head swung toward Danny for another strike, she activated her grav-stabilizers and launched herself upward. Her plasma blade ignited mid-flight, the energy weapon carving deep into the soft tissue where the Leviathan's jaw hinged to its skull.

The creature shrieked, its head whipping sideways and throwing Emily clear. She hit the ground hard but rolled with the impact, her armor's stabilizers absorbing most of the force.

"Nice hit, Em!" Luca called out, even as his own HUD flickered back online.

But the Leviathan was learning. Instead of just ramming the cave, it thrust its head deep into the opening and opened all its mouths. Multiple maws, each lined with rows of serrated teeth, snapped at anything that moved.

Joey barely dodged one set of jaws, the teeth scraping against his shoulder armor. He jammed his plasma blaster against the creature's lower jaw and fired point-blank. The blast burned through soft tissue, but the creature didn't retreat.

Instead, it clamped down on Joey's arm.

"No!" Danny roared, watching his brother get pulled toward the cave entrance. Toward the toxic storm outside.

Danny dropped his warhammer and grabbed Joey with both hands, his powered armor's servos screaming as he fought against the Leviathan's pull. The creature's coils tightened around the cliff face, rock cracking under the pressure. Boulders broke free and tumbled into the toxic fog below.

"Ryan!" Luca shouted. "We need an opening, now!"

Ryan was already moving, pulling something from his pack. "Got an idea! Danny, when I say, you let Joey go!"

"Are you insane?"

"Trust me!"

Ryan armed the [Smart Fragmentation Grenade]. He threw it into one of the Leviathan's mouths, the device disappearing down its gullet.

"Now, Danny! Let go!"

Danny released Joey, and the Leviathan yanked his brother forward. But before Joey could be pulled into the storm, the explosive detonated inside the creature's throat.

The blast was muffled but devastating. The Leviathan's neck bulged, then erupted in a spray of blood and tissue. The creature released Joey, its head whipping back as it writhed in agony. More acidic blood sprayed everywhere, eating into stone, forcing everyone to scatter.

Joey crashed to the cave floor, his armor smoking but intact. Acidic blood dripped from the Leviathan's wounds, pooling near the entrance and continuing to eat into the rock.

"Aim for the eyes!" Luca commanded. "Blind it!"

The team and the Varnathi guards concentrated fire on the glowing eyes. Emily's precision shooting took out two in quick succession. Zoe's rifle destroyed a third. Chris, despite his rebooting HUD, managed to take out a fourth. The guards' plasma rifles contributed, their shots finding marks between the creature's scales.

The creature thrashed blindly now, its massive body slamming into the cliff face with enough force to trigger more rockfalls. The cave was coming apart around them, but the Leviathan was weakening. Its coils ground boulders to powder, its roar making their armor servos rattle, but it was dying.

"Final push!" Luca activated [Heightened Awareness], tracking the creature's movements even as it thrashed. "Danny, when it strikes again, go for the skull!"

The blinded Leviathan made one final, desperate attack. Its head crashed through the narrowed opening, jaws snapping wildly.

Danny was ready. He grabbed his warhammer and activated every offensive ability he had. The weapon glowed with accumulated energy as he brought it down with superhuman force.

The warhammer connected with the creature's skull between its ruined eyes.

Bone shattered with a sound like breaking thunder. The plasma field vaporized brain tissue, cooking it from the inside. The Leviathan's entire body convulsed once, twice, then went still.

Its massive corpse slumped against the cave entrance, partially blocking it but also creating a barrier against the storm. Acidic blood continued to drip from its wounds, slowly eating into the stone floor and the corpse itself.

[+1,251,193 XP] [+357,814 credits]

[Skill level up! Silent Takedowns Familiarity Level 3 --> Level 5] [Skill level up! System Override Familiarity Level 3 --> Level 5] [Skill level up! Data Breach Familiarity Level 3 --> Level 5] [Skill level up! Adaptive Exploits Familiarity Level 3 --> Level 5] [Skill level up! Execution Protocol Familiarity Level 3 --> Level 5]

The team stood in shocked silence, breathing hard. Rock dust settled around them. Acidic blood pools still sizzled on the floor, steam rising where blood met stone. Emergency lighting cast everything in red. The Leviathan's blood was still dripping, eating into the barricade that now protected them.

Luca was panting. "Everyone intact?"

One by one, they reported in. Bruised, battered, systems damaged, but no suit breaches. No one exposed to the toxic storm.

The Varnathi guards were checking their own people. One guard had severe acid burns but would survive thanks to Joey's quick treatment. The other three guards looked exhausted but determined, their plasma rifles still ready.

"Good work," Luca told them.

Chris was working on his HUD, muttering curses as he rebooted systems. "Bioelectric pulse fried half my electronics. Give me five minutes to get comms back online."

Emily helped Joey to his feet, checking the bite marks on his armor. The teeth had scored deep gouges but hadn't punctured through. "You're lucky. Another inch and you'd have been breathing spores."

"Thanks for the save, Ryan," Joey said, his voice shaky. "That was either brilliant or suicidal."

"Definitely brilliant," Ryan said.

That had been too fucking close, Luca thought. We're over our heads here.

Luca moved to the partially blocked entrance, careful to avoid the spreading acid pools. The toxic fog was so dense he couldn't see more than a meter. Wind howled like a living thing.

"How long do these storms last?" he asked Dr. Pol.

"Hours. Sometimes days." She looked at their damaged shelter, at the dead Leviathan slowly being eaten by its own blood. "We are trapped here until it passes. And that corpse..." She gestured at the dripping acid. "It will not last forever. The blood will eventually eat through it."

Great, Luca thought. So we're safe for now, but our barricade is slowly dissolving. Just another fucking problem to worry about.

[Item acquired: Adaptive Toxin Filters (Schematic)] [Item acquired: Power cell x5] [Item Acquired: Hover Propulsion System (Schematic)]

"Chris…" His voice cracked over comms. "Do you know what this is?"

The two of them were still talking, voices bouncing between disbelief and giddy excitement. Ryan kept saying hover propulsion like the words themselves were magic. Chris actually whistled, low and impressed.

Luca let the sound wash over him, too tired to care. His head hit the stone wall, eyes closing as the storm howled outside and the Leviathan's blood hissed on the floor.

He settled down near Emily, letting his exhaustion show. Outside, the storm raged. Inside, they were alive.

The blood hissed louder now, chewing through bone and stone alike, steam curling up from the barricade.

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