Chapter 230: Blood on the Crags
The mountain wind howled down the narrow canyon pass, driving a cold, relentless drizzle against the jagged granite cliffs. All across the upper crags, thawing snow had turned the mountain trails into treacherous mud and slush.
Sheets of dark ice clung to the rock faces, dripping water continuously onto the valley floor below as absolute, suffocating silence settled over the hidden defense positions.
Four Apex Hounds advanced through the narrow canyon corridor in a tight, disciplined tactical wedge. They moved with frightening speed and fluid agility, their heavy combat boots splashing softly through patches of melting slush.
They wore dark body armor—Kevlar plating, insulated field jackets, and shock-absorbent knee and forearm guards designed to absorb heavy impact. Night-vision goggles and lower-face respirators covered their features, while their hands gripped customized high-caliber assault carbines fitted with suppressors and optical sights.
What made them truly terrifying was the violent, volatile energy surging beneath their skin—the raw, modified powers granted to them through experimentation.
Inside the concealed crevice fifty meters ahead, Beacon Two pulsed with its fake high-tier awakening frequency, sending out steady, rhythmic loops designed to mimic an isolated power-holder resting near the ridge.
The lead Hound raised a gloved hand, signaling a halt just as the entire four-man squad stepped directly into the narrowest choke point of the canyon floor.
From a concealed alcove sixty meters up the eastern cliff face, Lieutenant Chen watched through his optical sight, his breath held tight in his chest. His thumb hovered over the remote detonator switch pinned to his tactical vest. Beside him, Da Yong crouched behind a heavy boulder, his hand gripping the secondary manual override lever connected to the high-heat fuel cells buried under the wet stone fall.
"They’re in the pocket," Lieutenant Chen whispered into his comms mic, his voice barely audible over the wind and the steady drip of melting ice. "All four targets inside the funnel."
"Do it," Lin Qing’s voice snapped back over the secondary command channel from her vantage point higher up the ridge.
Lieutenant Chen slammed his thumb down on the detonator.
An explosive roar tore through the canyon as three high-grade incendiary fuel cells detonated simultaneously beneath the canyon floor.
Superheated orange flames geysered upward into the damp air, instantly vaporizing the surrounding slush and blowing tons of shattered granite high into the sky.
The primary explosion hit the four-man formation dead center. The lead Hound was caught squarely in the direct blast; the concussive pressure and intense heat instantly ruptured his chest body armor, throwing his body backward into the burning debris where he lay motionless.
The second Hound was blasted forty feet against the cliff face by the shockwave, his leg crushed under falling rock and his tactical gear scorched, completely neutralizing his ability to fight.
𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
"Direct hits on two targets!" Da Yong shouted over the roaring fire and the sudden rush of melting snow cascading down from the blast shockwave.
"Don’t relax!" Lin Qing’s warning echoed sharply through the radio. "The remaining two are still active!"
Out of the boiling wall of black smoke and fire, the remaining two Hounds burst forward at terrifying speed. Their modified bodies surged with unleashed power. Red aura lines flickered across the skin of the third Hound as his muscular strength expanded unnaturally, while the fourth Hound channeled localized kinetic blasts around his fists. Their eyes, visible behind their goggles, burned with ruthless, predatory instinct as they locked directly onto the stone barricade on the western ridge—where Song Yan and Xiao Li were stationed.
The third Hound leapt onto a boulder, unleashing a condensed kinetic shockwave from his palms straight at the stone barricade.
BOOM!
The kinetic blast detonated upon impact against the rock wall. The shockwave shattered the upper masonry, spraying razor-sharp stone shrapnel across the shelf and knocking Song Yan off-balance as his gravity manipulation field flickered and collapsed under the sudden concussive force.
Without slowing down, the third Hound cleared the remaining distance in a single, fluid leap, landing heavily on the wet stone shelf. Drawing a long trench knife from his harness, his modified physical speed allowed him to strike with lethal, blinding swiftness.
The Hound lunged straight for Song Yan’s exposed throat.
"Get back!" Xiao Li roared, stepping directly between Song Yan and the incoming blade.
Xiao Li activated his Earth Hardening power to its absolute limit. Dense, rock-hard mineral layers coated his skin, forearms, and shoulders in thick, slate-gray armor plates. He raised his left arm to block the sweeping arc of the heavy knife.
CLANG-CRACK!
The knife, propelled by the Hound’s boosted physical strength, struck Xiao Li’s armored forearm with brutal force. The sheer impact cracked through the mineral armor, shearing through the outer stone layers and biting deep into the flesh and bone of Xiao Li’s upper arm and shoulder.
Blood sprayed across the damp rock as Xiao Li let out a guttural scream of agony. But instead of retreating, his eyes burned with fierce, unyielding fury. Using the sheer thickness of his crushed mineral armor and muscle, Xiao Li clamped his left arm down tight, trapping the Hound’s blade firmly inside his arm and pinning the super-soldier in place.
"I’ve got him!" Xiao Li screamed through his grit teeth, blood mixing with the melting slush at his feet. "Song Yan, now!"
Song Yan scrambled up from the stone, his face pale with rage as he slammed both palms downward toward the trapped Hound. "Gravity Collapse!"
A dense, localized gravitational field weighing several tons instantly slammed down on the third Hound. The mountain floor cracked beneath his boots, crushing through layers of mud and stone as the immense pressure compressed his body and armor. The Hound’s bones groaned and buckled under the impossible weight, and he collapsed onto the granite shelf, lifeless.
Down on the eastern ledge, the fourth Hound moved with ruthless, calculated efficiency.
Recognizing that his squad was decimated, he pulled two smoke grenades from his belt and popped them, filling the narrow, damp goat path with thick, opaque gray smoke that blinded direct line of sight.
"I lost visual!" Old Wang shouted from his sniper position, adjusting his scope optics in vain against the dense haze and mountain mist. "He’s in the smoke!"
Lieutenant Chen drew his sidearm and activated his thermal power, heating his body temperature to project a localized heat wave to clear the fog around him. "Da Yong, fall back toward the secondary line! I’ll flush him out!"
"Wait!" Su Yun’s voice cut through the comms. "It’s a lure!"
Before Lieutenant Chen could react, the fourth Hound materialized out of the thick gray fog directly beside him like a ghost, his combat boots silent against the muddy path. Using his enhanced speed, his left arm swept out, grabbing the barrel of Lieutenant Chen’s rifle and twisting it violently out of his grip while driving a knee straight into Lieutenant Chen’s chest.
Lieutenant Chen gasped as the blow cracked his ribs, sending him tumbling backward against the jagged cliff face. Desperate to survive, Lieutenant Chen channeled a concentrated, point-blank burst of high-heat thermal energy straight into the Hound’s face.
The white-hot flame scorched the Hound’s face and goggles, blinding him, but in his thrashing agony, the Hound instinctively unleashed a wild, unrefined kinetic burst from his hands.
BOOM!
The close-range shockwave exploded between them. The blast threw Lieutenant Chen backward onto the sharp, icy rocks, the concussive force and heat tearing through his tactical vest and inflicting severe secondhand burns across his chest and torso.
The blinded Hound stumbled backward on the narrow, mud-slicked path, swinging his knife wildly through the smoke.
"Clear the line!" Lin Qing’s voice echoed from above.
Lin Qing and Su Yun dropped down from the upper cliff ledge, landing softly on the stone path in perfect synchronization. Without missing a beat, both women raised their rifles, aiming directly at the unarmored gap at the base of the blinded Hound’s throat and collarbone.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
A synchronized volley of high-caliber rounds tore through the Hound’s neck and chest. The fourth Hound shuddered violently, stiffened, and crashed face-first into the muddy slush, completely motionless.
The heavy wind gradually swept the smoke out of the canyon corridor.
The ridge returned to a heavy, suffocating quiet, save for the steady sound of water dripping from the thawing crags above. Four Apex Hounds lay dead in the mud. The decoy trap had succeeded, but the cost was carved deep into the team.
Xiao Li sat propped against a rock, his face deathly pale and covered in cold sweat as Song Yan applied a tight tourniquet around his mangled, bleeding shoulder. On the eastern path, Da Yong was carefully dragging Lieutenant Chen back into cover, the lieutenant gritting his teeth in agony from his cracked ribs and charred chest.
Lin Qing lowered her rifle, her eyes dark and sharp as she checked on the wounded before pressing her hand to her earpiece.
"Command Hub, this is Lin Qing," she reported, her voice steady despite the adrenaline surging through her veins. "Vanguard element eliminated. Four Hounds destroyed. We have casualties—Xiao Li and Lieutenant Chen need immediate medical extraction."
Sun Hao’s voice crackled through the comms, tense and urgent. "Copy that, Vice-Commander. Sending retrieval team. But be advised... Chen Yan just picked up heavy energy signatures at the main valley entrance."
Lin Qing looked out across the misty mountain pass, watching the dark water run down the crags as her grip tightened on her rifle stock. "How many?"
"Six signatures," Sun Hao replied, his tone heavy. "The remaining Hounds have regrouped. They aren’t probing the ridges anymore... they’re marching straight down the main approach road toward the blast gates."