The torchlight struggled against the damp cavern air, barely illuminating the space ahead. In Hank’s pupils were reflected countless flickering points of purple light, while the air was filled with the hissing cries unique to the crystallized lizards, echoing back and forth through the cave in waves of noise that grated on the nerves.
“The strategy is simple.” Nolan’s voice was not loud, yet it cut cleanly through the clamor. “Hank, I need you to aggro them away.”
“Aggro… what?” Hank muttered around the cigar clenched between his teeth.
“I mean, pull their attention,” Nolan corrected himself quickly after almost slipping into gamer jargon. He traced an arc with his finger. “Lead the smaller ones in circles. Don’t engage them head-on. The queen is cautious by nature and won’t move easily. I’ll deal with her.”
After all, this is just dungeon mechanics, Nolan thought.
Hank shot him a sideways glance. When Nolan relaxed, he always let slip strange, unfamiliar terms, and it was hard to tell where he had picked them up. “So this is your ‘special method’? Sounds pretty ordinary.”
“Trust me,” Nolan said with easy confidence. “I’ve been dealing with these things since I was a kid.” He paused, then shifted the topic. “Actually, I noticed something before we even entered the cave. Don’t you think they’ve been overly cautious toward us intruders?”
Hank frowned, recalling the fights along the way. “You’re right. I’ve led teams to clear monster nests before. Once you get close, they usually become far more aggressive because of their instinct to defend the nest.”
“Exactly.” Nolan snapped his fingers. “Remember what the villagers said? There have been strange tremors underground. That means we’re not the first outsiders to come here. And the one that came before us occupies a higher position in the food chain than these crystallized lizards. They’re being suppressed by fear, but they have nowhere to go, so they’re stuck in this standoff.”
Understanding dawned on Hank at once, and the way he looked at Nolan grew more complex. “You… did you figure all this out beforehand?” He exhaled a stream of smoke, the question sounding more like admiration than doubt. “I’d like to crack open your head and see what’s inside.”
Nolan accepted the remark without modesty. “That earlier intruder is our real target. That’s why I didn’t let Little Donnie come in. If I’m right, at his Bronze rank, he’s not ready to face something like that.”
“What kind of thing?” Hank pressed.
Nolan drew Darkpiercer, the blade reflecting a cold arc of light in the glow of the torch. “I’ll tell you in a moment. They’re coming.”
The pack of crystallized lizards, long disturbed by the firelight, finally lost their restraint. Their instinct to defend the nest overpowered their fear. With shrill cries, the ground transformed into a vast mire that spread rapidly toward the two men.
Hank snorted and, without even looking, swung his sword in a backhand strike. A solid arc of blood-red sword energy shot forth, his signature technique, Blood Lion’s Fang. The slash swept cleanly past the two lizards at the front. They didn’t even have time to cry out before being severed at the waist.
The thick scent of blood ignited the entire pack’s ferocity.
Hank said nothing more. Sword in hand, he relied on the speed advantage of his Silver rank and began circling the enormous cavern at high speed, occasionally waving his torch to keep most of the lizards’ attention firmly fixed on him.
Watching Hank move with such ease, Nolan couldn’t help but feel that having a capable partner made everything simpler. He wedged his torch into a crack in the rock, stepped back to avoid the spreading mire, and waited just long enough for the cooldown to end before activating his skill.
Radiant Sun Charge.
His entire body transformed into a streak of blazing golden light. Ignoring the mud spreading beneath his feet, the force of his charge plowed a dry path straight through the viscous swamp as he shot directly toward the massive crystallized lizard queen at the center of the nest.
The distance vanished in an instant. The queen, clearly unprepared for such an assault, let out a pained hiss as it was struck. Its immense size kept it from being sent flying, but the impact still triggered a brief stun.
Nolan knew well that a Silver-rank queen would be stunned for no more than two seconds. His goal had never been to kill it outright.
In a flash, he bent low and snatched two lizard eggs from the nest beneath the queen. His gaze swept the surroundings, and just as he remembered, he spotted two massive rocks stacked together nearby. Without hesitation, he sprinted toward them.
At that moment, the queen shook off the stun. The sight of her stolen offspring sent her into a frenzy. Her deafening roar made fragments of rock rain down from the ceiling, and the purple crystals covering her body flared with blinding intensity.
With a thunderous crash, the mire she created surged far beyond that of any ordinary lizard, both in range and depth. Nolan was instantly trapped, the thick mud swallowing him to the waist, its immense suction pinning him in place.
At the same time, four spear-like pillars of stone, each as thick as a man’s arm, burst from the swamp with shrieking force, sealing off every possible route of escape from all directions. That was the queen’s unique ability—Stone Spear Barrage.
Nolan tossed the lizard eggs behind him, gripped his sword with both hands, and let his wrists move in a blur as Darkpiercer wove a net of steel through the air.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Three sharp, ringing impacts echoed as he deflected three of the stone spears, sending them flying off in different directions. The last spear was already upon him. He twisted his body to the limit, and it grazed past his cheek by a hair’s breadth.
In that fleeting moment, he caught sight of Hank leading a large group of crystallized lizards charging in their direction.
“Hank, get ready!” Nolan shouted.
At the same time, he counted silently.
Three. Two. One.
As precise as a ticking clock, the queen’s massive body burst from the mire on his right. With jaws wide open, carrying enough force to tear through iron armor, she lunged straight at him.
Nolan lowered his body and narrowly slipped beneath the attack. The instant her fangs passed him, he spun around and seized her thick, scaled tail.
“Down you go!”
Power surged through his core as he unleashed the full strength of his Silver rank. He dragged the queen down from midair and slammed her heavily into the mire.
Mud exploded skyward.
With that leverage, he wrenched himself free from the swamp’s grip. Planting his feet against the queen’s broad back, he launched himself upward. In one swift motion, he drew his scabbard and, aiming at the queen’s mouth forced open by the impact, jammed the hard sheath inside like a lever.
Then he braced his right foot firmly against the back of her neck, gripped the end of the scabbard with both hands, and pulled with all his might.
The queen’s head was forced back, her throat fully exposed and defenseless.
At that exact instant, a deep crimson arc of sword light arrived on cue.
Hank’s strike descended with unstoppable force, cleaving straight into the queen’s vulnerable neck.
This Silver-rank monster, a level 26 terror in the game, stood no chance against a veteran whose strength rivaled the Gold rank.
Slash!
The queen’s head shot into the air, the severed edge smooth as a mirror. Even Nolan hadn’t expected the blow to be so clean. Having overexerted himself, he nearly stumbled from the corpse.
The residual force of Blood Lion’s Fang did not dissipate. The crimson sword energy surged onward and slammed into the two massive stacked rocks behind them. Already weakened by the mire eroding their base, the rocks collapsed with a deafening crash under the powerful impact.
With the queen dead, the remaining crystallized lizards were leaderless.
Hank no longer needed to hold them back. He turned and rejoined Nolan, and together they swept through the rest of the pack.
Five minutes later, the two men, covered head to toe in mud, stood in the wrecked cavern as the swamp beneath their feet slowly hardened back into solid ground.
Around them, not a single living creature remained.
Nolan flicked his wrist, shaking the grime and blood from his blade before sheathing it.
Beside him, Hank did not look at him. Instead, he tilted his chin toward the collapsed pile of rocks behind Nolan. There, a pitch-black opening had been revealed, one that had not existed before.
“The thing you mentioned… is it down there?” Hank asked, his breath slightly heavy.
Nolan glanced back, a faint smile playing at his lips. “Well? Special enough for you?”
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