Chapter 168:Another experiment.
The mutated tiger remained perfectly still. Its burning eyes swept across the contractors one after another, as though memorizing each face.
Silver felt an uneasy pressure settle over the corridor. He had fought intelligent beasts before: the ape, the fox, and the squirrel, but this was different. This creature wasn’t merely clever. Every movement it made carried purpose, almost as if it had been trained.
"Don’t let it isolate anyone," Silver warned, his eyes never leaving the beast. "Stay close and keep supporting each other."
Dillian nodded.
"You heard him. We move together."
The tiger’s ears twitched; almost immediately, it sprang into motion. Its body blurred, and no one was able to follow it.
[Spatial Sense Lv2 Activated]
Silver’s pupils narrowed.
"Left!"
Thanks to Spatial Sense, he felt the subtle disturbance in the surrounding space a split second before the beast changed direction. It hadn’t actually committed to the left; it was feinting.
"Right! It switched!"
The warning came just in time. Iris barely managed to throw herself aside as the enormous claw tore through the floor where she had been standing. Concrete exploded into the air. The force of the impact sent fragments flying in every direction.
"Now!" Dillian shouted.
A layer of frost burst from beneath his boots as he accelerated forward. His strength-enhanced strike crashed against the tiger’s shoulder, forcing the beast to take two heavy steps backward.
Before it could recover, Ravenna moved. Flames ignited along the edge of her sword. She swept her blade in a clean diagonal slash, a crescent of fire racing toward the beast.
The tiger crossed its forelegs as the flames exploded against its armored scales. When the smoke cleared, the creature remained standing. Only a few blackened scorch marks remained.
"It barely worked," Ravenna muttered.
"It’s a fire beast," Silver reminded her. "Fire won’t hurt it as much."
The tiger suddenly lowered its body, its muscles coiling.
[Spatial Sense Lv2]
Silver’s Spatial Sense flared violently.
"Scatter!"
The beast lunged. This time, it wasn’t targeting the strongest fighters; it shot straight toward Selene. She raised her pistol and fired three quick shots.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The bullets struck the tiger’s side; two ricocheted harmlessly off the scales and the third embedded itself shallowly between two plates of armor. The beast didn’t even flinch.
Its claw descended. A rifle cracked from the backline. Maya’s shot hit the tiger directly in the cheek, knocking its head just enough for Selene to dive beneath the incoming claw. The strike smashed into a metal cabinet instead. The steel twisted like paper.
"Nice shot!" Iris shouted.
Maya was already chambering another round.
"I’m aiming for the eyes!"
The tiger growled deeply, its gaze shifted toward Maya. Silver saw the change immediately.
"It’s changing targets!"
The beast kicked off the floor. Dillian intercepted once more. Ice spread over his sword as he swung with all his strength. Their weapons collided again. This time, frost rapidly spread across one of the tiger’s forelegs.
For a brief second, its movements slowed, and Silver seized the opportunity.
"Ravenna!"
She understood instantly. The two moved together. Silver appeared beside the beast with Short-Step, his sword slashing toward its exposed flank. At the same moment, Ravenna attacked from the opposite side, forcing the tiger to divide its attention.
The mutated beast twisted with frightening agility. It avoided Silver’s blade by only a few centimeters before meeting Ravenna’s strike with one massive claw.
Sparks erupted everywhere. Ravenna slid backward, boots scraping across the concrete. Silver refused to let the opening disappear. Space rippled around his blade.
[Space Slash Lv2 Activated]
A thin, nearly invisible blade of distorted space shot forward. The attack struck the tiger squarely across the shoulder. Unlike the previous sword strikes, this one ignored most of the scales. A narrow crimson line appeared across its body.
The beast roared as actual blood flowed from the wound.
"It worked!" Iris exclaimed.
Silver didn’t celebrate. His head throbbed almost immediately. The familiar mental strain returned. It was manageable... For now.
The tiger stepped backward, glaring at the wound, then it looked directly at Silver. It had recognized what had injured it.
"...That’s not good," Silver murmured.
The beast changed tactics; instead of charging wildly, it began circling the contractors. Every few seconds, it darted forward just enough to force someone to react before retreating again. It was testing them, clearly learning their habits.
"It’s trying to exhaust us," Selene observed.
Silver nodded.
"It knows we can’t keep this up forever."
The confined corridors also worked against them. There wasn’t enough room to surround the beast properly. Every time they tried, it simply leaped onto a wall, using exposed pipes and support beams as if they were solid ground.
At one point, it even sprinted several meters along the side of the corridor before launching itself back toward the group.
"Above!" Silver shouted.
His Spatial Sense had detected the change before anyone else. Everyone instinctively looked up. The tiger dropped from the ceiling like a meteor.
Dillian barely raised his sword in time. The impact forced him onto one knee, the concrete beneath him cracking.
"Damn...!"
His enhanced strength allowed him to hold the beast back for only a moment.
"Move!"
Silver thrust out another Space Slash.
The compressed blade struck the tiger’s side. The beast abandoned its clash with Dillian and sprang backward, narrowly avoiding a follow-up strike from Ravenna.
Silver exhaled slowly. His breathing had already become heavier. The repeated use of Space Slash was steadily draining his mind.
A notification appeared in the corner of his vision.
[Warning]
{Mental fatigue increasing.
Repeated use of Space Slash may reduce reaction speed.
Recommended action: Limit skill usage until mental stability recovers.}
Silver dismissed it without a second glance. Now wasn’t the time to conserve energy. If Space Slash remained the only attack consistently breaking through the beast’s defenses, then he would keep using it, even if it left him exhausted afterward.
The tiger snarled, lowering its body once more. Its eyes moved from Silver to Dillian, then finally settled on the others.
Silver’s Spatial Sense pulsed again. Something was wrong. The beast wasn’t preparing another frontal assault; it was planning something different.
He tightened his grip on his sword.
"...Stay alert. I don’t think it’s finished testing us."