Chapter 126: Abyssal Lieutenant
Holden studied the armored figure from the shadows of the crater wall.
The beast stood at least eight feet tall. Its body was humanoid in shape but stretched and wrong, with limbs that were too long and shoulders that were too wide. Bone plates covered its torso like a suit of armor, held together by dark metal rivets that pulsed with faint purple light.
In its clawed hand, it held a massive blade carved from what looked like a femur. The weapon was almost as tall as Holden himself.
And it was drawing.
The creature’s free hand moved with deliberate, careful precision. It traced lines into the black mud at its feet, marking out shapes that Holden recognized instantly.
The Demon-Mouth Outpost.
There were the walls. There were the heavy cannon emplacements. There were the gates. Little X marks showed breaching points. Arrows indicated attack vectors for different beast types.
This thing wasn’t just intelligent.
It was a commander.
Holden’s grip tightened on the Solar-Forged Sword. The crimson edge was dimmed to near-blackness, but even so, he kept the blade angled away from the light. The Void Mantle clung to his shoulders, hiding his energy and presence from the hundreds of beasts below.
He could end this right now.
One clean strike to the back of the skull, and this entire organized siege would fall apart. The monsters would revert to their wild, uncoordinated state. The Outpost would be safe.
Holden began to descend.
He moved slowly, carefully, using the crater wall as cover. His boots found solid footholds in the slick black stone.
Fifty feet away.
Forty.
Thirty.
The Lieutenant didn’t look up. It was focused entirely on its map, scratching another tactical notation into the mud with a bone finger.
Twenty feet.
Holden pulled the Solar-Forged Sword back, positioning it for a single, devastating thrust. He’d aim for the base of the skull, right where the spine met the skull.
Fifteen feet.
Ten.
Five.
Holden struck.
The sword lunged forward, a silent streak of dimmed crimson aimed directly at the kill point.
CLANG!
The Lieutenant had already moved. In fact, it was moving before he even struck. Its bone blade had swept around in a lightning-fast arc, intercepting Holden’s thrust at the last possible moment.
The impact sent a shockwave up Holden’s arm.
His eyes widened.
The beast hadn’t heard, seen, or sensed him with energy.
It had felt him.
The Lieutenant’s head slowly turned, and Holden saw its eyes for the first time. They weren’t normal eyes. There were no pupils, no irises. Just two hollow sockets that burned with a faint orange glow, like dying coals.
Thermal vision.
The Void Mantle could hide his energy signature. It could hide his scent. But it couldn’t hide the physical heat radiating from his body, from the Asura core burning inside him.
The Lieutenant’s mouth stretched into a grotesque smile.
"Warm blood," it wheezed, voice rough as stones. "Kill."
It lunged.
Holden threw himself backward, barely avoiding a sweeping horizontal slash that would have cut him in half. The bone blade whistled through the air where his torso had been a second earlier.
The Lieutenant pressed the attack immediately. It was fast. Faster than Holden had expected from something that size. Each swing of its massive weapon sent shockwaves through the air.
Holden dodged and weaved, using his Gale-Step to flash between the creature’s strikes. But he couldn’t find an opening. The beast’s guard was too tight, its movements too precise.
And worse, the horde had noticed.
The rows of organized monsters were stirring. Wolves were standing up. Crawlers were turning their heads. The Siege-Boars at the far end of the crater were snorting and pawing at the ground.
If they all attacked at once, even Holden would be overwhelmed.
The Lieutenant saw his hesitation and laughed.
"Soft meat," it gurgled. "Die screaming."
It opened its mouth and let out a roar that shook the crater walls.
"GRAAAHHH!"
The sound was a command. The organized formations began to collapse as monsters turned toward the source of the commotion, their instincts overriding their discipline.
Holden made a decision.
He stopped retreating.
Instead, he activated his Iron-Body.
Instantly, his skin gained a metallic sheen and his muscles locked into steel-hard density. Raindrops striking his body stopped sounding wet, turning into tiny, sharp pings.
The Lieutenant’s next slash came in high, a diagonal cut aimed at his neck.
Holden didn’t dodge.
He raised his left arm and took the hit directly on his shoulder.
CRACK!
The bone blade bit into his Iron-Body, cracking the surface of his enhanced skin. Sharp pain flared through him, but his arm held. His shoulder didn’t break. The blade dug into his flesh and stopped dead, unable to cut any deeper.
The Lieutenant’s eyes widened. It had never seen prey do that before.
Holden smiled.
"Thanks for holding still," he said.
He was close now. Too close for the beast’s long weapon to be effective. The bone blade was trapped in his shoulder, and the Lieutenant was already trying to pull it free.
Holden didn’t give it the chance.
He channeled everything into his Solar-Forged Sword.
Energy flooded the blade, and the dimmed crimson edge erupted into blazing light. Heat radiated outward in waves, instantly boiling the rain that fell near him.
Hellfire Cleave.
He swung.
The blade caught the Lieutenant directly in the center of its chest, right where the bone plates met. The blazing energy ripped through the monster’s crude armor like paper, slicing straight through bone, muscle, and organs without slowing down.
The Lieutenant’s orange eyes went wide with shock.
"Sorry to interrupt your little planning committee," Holden said.
The cut finished its arc.
The Lieutenant’s head separated from its shoulders in a spray of black blood. The body stood frozen for a moment. Then it collapsed backward, crashing into the mud with a thunderous splash.
[Ding!]
[Abyssal Lieutenant (Rank 2, 7-Star) Defeated!]
[+3,000 KP]
[2x KP Booster Applied!]
[+6,000 KP!]
Before the notification even finished, something else caught his eye. A golden glow was pulsing in the mud where the Lieutenant’s body had fallen.
A chest.
Small, ornate, and radiating energy that made the System hum in recognition.
Gold Tier loot.
Holden didn’t hesitate. He touched the chest, willing it into his System Inventory.
The wolves were starting to whine. The Crawlers were retreating toward the crater walls. Without their commander, the organized formations were already breaking down, the monsters reverting to their base instincts.
Holden pulled the Void Mantle tighter around his shoulders and activated Gale-Step.
He vanished into the mist, leaving behind a crater full of confused, leaderless beasts and a headless corpse cooling in the rain.
The walk back to the outpost took twenty minutes. By the time Holden climbed over the eastern wall, the sky was starting to lighten with the first hints of dawn.
Captain Venus was standing near the breach, directing soldiers who were welding steel plates over the gap. He looked up as Holden appeared, covered in mud and blood that definitely wasn’t his own.
Venus stared.
"You’re alive," the captain said, sounding almost disappointed.
"Barely," Holden lied, keeping his expression flat. "Ran into some trouble in the trenches."
Venus’s eyes dropped to the blood soaking Holden’s jacket. "Looks like the trouble ran into you."
"Same thing, really."
The captain grunted, showing a shred of respect through his skepticism. "Head to the barracks, clean up, and report back for a briefing in five minutes."
Holden nodded and headed toward the barracks, already pulling up his System panel to check his new loot.
[Inventory Updated]
[Gold Chest (Unopened) - Contains: ???]
[Current KP: 175,890].