Chapter 8: Crushing the Chieftain
The air screamed as the giant axes cut downward.
Leon didn’t throw himself backward or scramble for cover like a normal mortal would. Instead, he waited until the heavy iron blades were less than two feet from his face before sliding his right foot out, shifting his entire weight to the left.
The twin axes slammed into the asphalt right where his chest had been a millisecond ago. The sheer force of the impact split the concrete, sending sharp rocky debris flying like shrapnel. A few jagged stone pieces peppered Leon’s face, but his hardened skin didn’t yield a single drop of blood.
The Chieftain let out a frustrated grunt, trying to pull its heavy weapons back out of the deep crack in the road.
"My turn," Leon muttered.
He stepped inside the monster’s wide guard, invading its personal space. His thirty-foot Wither circle instantly enclosed the beast’s massive frame. The Chieftain’s thick fur began to wither into brittle gray patches, and the iron chains wrapped around its thick forearms turned brown with rapid, corrosive rust. The giant felt twenty percent of its monstrous raw power drain straight through its boots into the dirt.
Leon drove his palm straight into the center of the monster’s thick sternum.
"[Sovereign’s Domain: Wither — Burst]"
He didn’t just let the dark energy drift around them; he channeled every ounce of the active aura directly through his fingertips, focusing the concept of Finality into a single point.
A muffled explosion of violet static echoed inside the Chieftain’s ribcage. The monster gasped, its yellow eyes bulging out of its furry skull as the necrotic force began to rot its heart from the inside out. It dropped both axe hilts, its massive hands clawing at its own chest as it stumbled backward, vomiting black, clotted blood.
"Sir! The boss monster is down!" the young lieutenant back at the barricade shouted, his voice cracking with disbelief. "The shadow guy just... he just hit it once!"
Captain Harrison couldn’t even speak. He kept his binoculars glued to his eyes, watching the dark duster coat ripple in the wind. "Who the hell is that guy? Is he a registered Hunter from the central district?"
"No, sir! There’s no record of anyone with an aura like that!"
Down on the blood-slicked street, Leon didn’t give the giant any room to recover. He leaped onto the creature’s slumping shoulders, wrapped his steel-hardened fingers around its thick neck, and twisted with everything he had.
SNAP.
The heavy, nine-foot carcass hit the ground with a dull thud. The moment the light faded from its yellow eyes, the entire body collapsed into a massive cloud of gray dust, leaving behind a glowing sapphire orb and a black, heavy iron chest.
[Target destroyed. You have gained 800 Experience Points.]
[You have achieved First-Blood for a Surface Sector Gate.]
[Absolute Extraction Activated.]
Strength +4
Constitution +5
Agility +3
[You have successfully extracted the Skill: ]
Leon felt another wave of liquid heat rush through his limbs. His chest expanded, his muscles tightening as the newly stolen attribute points settled into his frame. He reached down, grabbing the sapphire orb—the Gate Core—and tossed it into his internal inventory along with the black chest.
With the Chieftain dead, the swirling green whirlpool of the gate behind the library steps began to crack and splinter like cheap glass, dissolving into harmless particles of light. The outbreak on 42nd Street was officially over.
"Hold your fire!" Harrison’s voice boomed from the sandbags as the remaining low-tier Gnolls began to scatter into the alleyways, losing their pack courage. "Hold fire! Squad A, cover me! I’m going out there!"
Leon heard the metal doors of the Humvees slam shut. He didn’t even turn his head. He had no intention of answering questions from a captain whose authority would be completely meaningless in a few weeks when the warlords took over the city.
He turned toward the dark library entrance, intending to use the building’s rear exits to slip back into the shadows.
"Wait! Stranger! Stand down!" Harrison yelled, jogging forward with three armed soldiers trailing close behind him. "You just saved an entire defensive sector! By order of the National Security Protocol, I need you to identify yourself and register your Awakened class!"
Leon stopped at the top of the stone steps, his dark cloak billowing around his ankles. He looked over his shoulder, the hood casting a deep shadow that completely obscured his facial features, leaving only his twin pitch-black eyes visible to the soldiers.
"The rules of your government ended at noon, Captain," Leon said, his voice flat, carrying a chilling resonance that made the soldiers instinctively lower their rifles. "Keep your men behind your sandbags. If you cross into my space next time, I won’t distinguish you from the monsters."
Before Harrison could step any closer, Leon turned and vanished into the pitch-black interior of the shattered library doors.