Chapter 138: Poisoned Rain
The four Guild Masters engaged the Zephyr Eagle simultaneously.
The beast was enormous — forty-meter wingspan, storm-cloud feathers crackling with contained lightning, golden eyes tracking all four opponents at once. The Guild Masters spread out in a diamond formation, each one radiating Grand Core Realm pressure, and attacked from four angles.
Earth spikes erupted from below. Wind blades slashed from the sides. A fire user launched a torrent of flame. The fourth — an ice user — created spears of frozen mist that spiraled toward the eagle’s wings.
The Zephyr Eagle barely acknowledged them. It banked left, dodging the earth spikes. Its wings flapped once — BOOM — and the wind blade and fire stream were scattered like leaves. The ice spears struck its flank and shattered against feathers harder than steel.
CRACK.
A lightning bolt came from Lucian’s left.
He threw himself sideways — Light Steps firing on instinct — and the bolt scorched the air where his head had been. He hit the rooftop rolling and came up in a crouch.
A C-Rank Zephyr Eagle circled above him. Smaller than the dominant one — maybe an eight-meter wingspan.
Lucian looked up.
The sky was full of them.
Eagles. Dozens. Maybe hundreds. E-Rank to C-Rank, spreading across the darkened sky like a net of feathers and lightning. Every time he glanced up, he could see their sharp claws glinting and their enormous wings cutting through the green rain, and his scalp turned numb.
The C-Rank eagle dove again. CRACK. Another bolt.
Lucian jumped off the building — dropping three stories — as the lightning struck the rooftop behind him, shattering stone. He landed on the street below — thud — and without breaking stride, formed a blood arrow between his fingers and fired it upward.
Twang.
The arrow pierced the eagle’s left wing. The beast shrieked — a piercing screeeech — and spiraled sideways, blood trailing from the wound. It didn’t fall, but it pulled back, rejoining the swarm above.
Lucian didn’t watch it go. He was already running — back toward the tower.
The white figure popped into existence beside him, floating at shoulder height.
"Why are you here?" Lucian muttered between breaths.
"The rain," the system said. "It’s poisoned."
Lucian’s stride faltered for half a step. "WHAT?"
"The green discoloration isn’t mineral. It’s a neurotoxin — organic compound, likely produced by a plant-type beast. Absorbed through skin contact. Once it reaches the bloodstream, it begins degrading the nervous system. Motor function first, then cognitive function, then organ failure. Timeline depends on exposure — light contact might take hours. Heavy contact could kill in under thirty minutes."
Lucian’s jaw tightened. "Why am I not affected?"
"Your biological resistance. Your vampiric cellular structure is fundamentally different from human biology — your cells don’t absorb environmental compounds through the dermal layer the way human cells do. Your membrane structure actively rejects foreign organic molecules that don’t match specific blood-based signatures. It’s the same mechanism that lets you consume blood from mutated beasts without being poisoned by whatever toxins they carry in their bloodstream. The rain toxin can’t penetrate your cells."
Lucian said, "Oh." Then he didn’t need to finish to understand the consequences.
It meant every single guild member, guild master, or anyone this rain touched right now would be poisoned. The Guild Masters fighting the Zephyr Eagle above. The Task Force officers on the streets. The Hunter Guild teams rushing to the walls. Thousands of awakeners in the middle of a beast horde, getting soaked in neurotoxic rain with every passing second.
Lucian activated Light Steps and ran faster.
The Starveil Tower came into view. The front entrance was chaos. A group of rogue awakeners — seven of them, peak Core realm — were fighting the officers stationed outside. Crash. An officer was thrown through a glass panel. Bam. Another fired a mana bolt that missed.
Lucian activated Light Prism.
His form shimmered, blurred, and vanished. Invisible. He slipped past the fighting — the rogue awakeners didn’t even glance in his direction — and entered the tower.
Inside, the reception area was empty. The students had already left the pool. Lucian spotted movement deeper in the building and rushed toward it, dropping Light Prism as he rounded the corner.
An officer stood behind the reception desk, speaking frantically into a communication device. Several students were gathered nearby — Arthur, Clara, Rose, Mickey and Carlos near the windows, Liang Feng and a few Chinese Vanguard students near the rear and also students of the American Apex academy.
Lucian reached the desk and slammed his palm on it.
"Call the higher-ups in the city. Tell them the rain is poisonous."
The officer looked at him with contempt. He was middle-aged, jowly, the kind of man who’d spent his career behind a desk and resented anyone younger who tried to give him orders.
"And how do you know that?"
Lucian’s eyes narrowed. "I have a skill that lets me analyze chemical compositions on contact. The rain contains a neurotoxin — organic, likely from a plant-type beast. It’s absorbed through the skin and degrades the nervous system. Everyone out there is being poisoned right now."
The officer’s expression didn’t change. "You’re a student. I don’t take tactical assessments from—"
Lucian slammed his fist on the desk again. BAM. The wood cracked. "Are you even listening to me? Every person in this city who’s been in that rain for more than a few minutes is dying right now and you’re worried about protocol?"
"You don’t have the authority—"
A hand landed on the officer’s shoulder.
Wei Chen. His expression calm but his eyes cold.
"I might as well report," Wei Chen said quietly, "that if he’s right, you will be fired from your job."
The officer’s face went red. "You—"
Lucian added, "The ones who have already been in the rain are already affected. The longer they stay in it, the worse it gets. Every second you waste arguing is a second someone’s nervous system is degrading."
Wei Chen turned to Lucian. "Why aren’t you affected?"
Lucian kept his expression flat. He couldn’t exactly say because I’m a vampire.
"I have a physique that naturally grants immunity to most poisons."
Across the room, Ryan, Rose and Clara’s eyes flickered connecting the dots to his vampire physiology.
None of them said anything.
The officer’s mouth opened. He looked at Wei Chen, then at Lucian, then at the communication device in his hand.
He picked it up and started dialing.
Silence filled the reception area. Outside, the muffled sounds of combat continued — crack, boom, crash — and the green rain hammered against the tower’s ancient stone walls.
Lucian turned to the group. "Cover yourselves with a layer of mana. Skin contact is how the toxin gets in. If you maintain a mana barrier over your body, it can’t reach you."
Mickey tapped his shoulder. He wore a wry expression.
"Bro, do you think everyone is like you?" Mickey gestured at the other students. "Not everyone has that level of fine mana control. Most of these guys are Early to Mid Core Realm. Sustaining a full-body mana barrier while also fighting drains them dry in minutes."
Liang Feng spoke from the back. "Then what do we do?"
Arthur crossed his arms. "We wait."
"Wait for what?" one of the Chinese Vanguard students snapped.
"For the higher-ups to respond. For the rain to stop. For the Guild Masters to handle the eagle." Arthur’s voice was calm. "We’re students. Our job right now is to not die and not get in the way."
The officer was still on the communication device. His face was growing paler by the second.
"I can’t reach anyone," he said quietly. "The emergency channels are overloaded. Every unit in the city is reporting in simultaneously. I’m getting nothing but busy signals."