Chapter 167:Attack.
The warning echoed through the archive.
"The footsteps...! They’re getting closer!"
Silver drew his sword in one smooth motion while his eyes fixed on the doorway. The entire archive fell silent. No one dared breathe too loudly. Only the faint sound of footsteps drifted through the corridor.
Tap...
Tap...
Tap...
They were slow and measured. It wasn’t the hurried movement of someone charging toward them. Whoever, or whatever, it was, seemed completely unafraid.
Dillian lowered his voice.
"Formation."
His team moved immediately. Weeks of working together showed in their coordination. Maya stepped toward the rear, unslinging the long rifle from her back before smoothly chambering a round.
Selene drew a compact pistol with practiced movements while keeping another hand near the combat knife at her waist. Iris spun the short spear in her hand once before lowering its tip toward the corridor.
Cruella quietly unsheathed her sword, faint streams of wind beginning to swirl around the blade.
Silver glanced toward Ravenna. She nodded once. Without exchanging another word, they took up positions opposite Dillian’s group. Silver stood slightly ahead of Ravenna, his sword angled toward the doorway.
Ravenna sighed softly.
"...You’re doing it again."
Silver blinked.
"What?"
"Standing in front of me."
He opened his mouth to deny it before stopping himself. She wasn’t wrong, even now, without realizing it... He had instinctively stepped between her and the unknown danger.
A faint smile tugged at Ravenna’s lips despite the tension.
"I’ll stay behind you for now."
Silver smiled awkwardly.
"...We’ll argue about it later."
"If we have to."
The footsteps stopped, and complete silence returned. Thirty seconds passed, but nothing.
Iris frowned.
"Did it leave?"
Before anyone could answer, a shout erupted from outside.
"It’s above...!"
The cry ended abruptly, followed by a deafening crash that shook the hallway. Concrete exploded inward, nearly crushing those outside. A massive shadow burst through the ceiling, showering the corridor with shattered steel and chunks of stone.
The contractor stationed outside barely had time to look up before a gigantic claw slammed into him. The impact hurled him across the hallway like a rag doll. He crashed through a wall with a sickening crunch before collapsing motionless beneath broken concrete.
"Thomas!" Maya shouted.
A thunderous roar shook the entire administration wing. The sound was unlike any beast Silver had heard before. It carried the deep growl of a tiger... Yet something about it felt horribly wrong.
The creature landed heavily in the middle of the corridor. Dust slowly settled around it. Everyone stared in shock as it was revealed.
"...What... is that?" Selene whispered.
It resembled a tiger. Its body was nearly four meters long from head to tail. Burnt orange fur covered most of its frame, but large sections had fallen away completely, exposing dark red muscle beneath.
Black scales protruded irregularly across its shoulders and spine, blending unnaturally with fur. Its forelegs were noticeably larger than its hind legs, each ending in claws that gleamed like polished black gems. Several jagged bone-like protrusions emerged from its back, almost resembling unfinished armor.
Most disturbing of all were its eyes. They weren’t the wild eyes of an ordinary beast. Golden irises slowly moved across every contractor present, clearly studying and judging them.
Silver felt a chill travel down his spine.
"...It’s intelligent, look at its eyes."
The tiger slowly opened its mouth; instead of immediately roaring again, it sniffed the air. Its gaze settled briefly on Silver, then Dillian, and then Ravenna, almost as though it were evaluating the greatest threats first.
"It isn’t attacking," Iris whispered.
"No..." Silver tightened his grip on his sword. "It’s choosing its next prey."
The tiger’s head tilted slightly. A strange clicking sound escaped its throat almost... Recognition.
Dillian’s expression became serious.
"That thing... It doesn’t feel like an ordinary beast. With its intelligence, it’s probably tier three or four."
Silver nodded.
"It might fall on that..."
His eyes briefly drifted toward the journal still clutched in Dillian’s hand. This was a research facility, which meant an experiment might escape.
The word deep containment came to mind.
’Could this... No’
He denied the thought. This beast clearly wasn’t Subject 001. The diary had described a humanoid volunteer, and this was something else.
It was probably another experiment, perhaps one that had escaped when the station fell or one that had survived all these years beneath it.
The tiger slowly paced sideways; every movement was smooth and controlled. It wasn’t behaving like a predator driven purely by instinct but was searching for an opening.
Silver activated Field Analysis almost instinctively.
[Field Analysis Lv2 Activated]
A familiar translucent screen appeared before his vision.
[Field Analysis]
{Target: Unknown Fire Beast
Estimated Tier: Tier 4
Classification: Mutated Variant
Threat Assessment: Extremely High
Warning: Multiple abnormal biological traits detected.
Recommendation: Extreme caution.}
Silver’s pupils narrowed.
"Mutated Variant..."
Ravenna quietly asked, "What is it?"
"I don’t know, but whatever experiments happened here... I think this thing is connected."
The beast suddenly lowered its body, its muscles tightening. Silver’s instincts screamed.
"It’s coming!"
The tiger exploded forward. The floor shattered beneath its paws because its speed was unbelievable. In the blink of an eye, it had crossed nearly fifteen meters.
"Dillian!" Silver shouted.
"I know!"
Frost erupted beneath Dillian’s feet. His body surged forward with astonishing speed as a layer of ice spread across his sword.
He intercepted the beast just before it reached the group. Steel collided with claw. A deafening shockwave echoed through the hallway. Dillian slid backward nearly five meters, boots carving deep grooves into the concrete.
His arms trembled.
"...Strong!"
Before the tiger could press its advantage, Silver appeared beside it.
[Short-Step Lv2 Activated]
Space rippled. His sword slashed toward its exposed ribs, but the beast twisted impossibly fast. Silver’s blade scraped across black scales instead of flesh, sending sparks flying.
The tiger swung one enormous paw. Silver barely managed to raise his sword in time. The impact blasted him backward. He landed in a crouch beside Ravenna, his arms tingling from the force alone.
"...It’s stronger than anything we’ve fought."
The beast didn’t chase; instead, it slowly backed away, its burning eyes moved between every contractor once more. Then it released another deep growl that reverberated through the station.
This time, everyone understood; they weren’t hunting it, but it was hunting them.