Chapter 366: Commander in action.

She always found it ridiculous when Beauty rolled her eyes, but this time round, she did not, because the system gave her another reminder.

[Host, have you forgotten your task of taking in mid-level beasts? The universe has sent a solution to your problems. All you have to do is embrace it.]

"Should we start shooting?" Bullet asked nervously. Like others, he was very tense and tired of the stare off between them and the beasts.

Zyra held her hand up. "No. Not until I give the signal. I want to try something first."

Some were filled with fear, others doubt. But nobody fired a weapon.

Zyra took a shaky breath, wiped a drop of sweat from her forehead, and gripped her spear. "You are right Beauty, time to test my command abilities." She took a cautious step forward towards the biggest stone wolf that looked like it could break her body in half in one bite.

Her beasts flanked her, waiting for her command to attack. She could feel their eagerness, as well as their unease.

"Sister-in-law just be careful with those things, they have not eaten in a long time." Achilles said with worry, grabbing his gun with white knuckles.

Ignoring him, Zyra gripped her spear tight, planted her feet, and pointed at the guardian beasts. "All of you! Stand down!"

The stone wolves didn’t listen. The biggest one which appeared to be the Alpha let out a growl that shook everyone’s teeth lose. Its red eyes were all focused on Zyra, as though she was its chosen target.

"Shit! They seem even more agitated." Arrow took a few steps back, "I say we start the massacre."

Bertha snorted, "I can smell the fear on you. What are you afraid of? I have met worse in other dungeons. Do what I am doing, aim for the eyes. When you meet a beast like this, always take away its senses first. Sight, smell, hearing. If you can do that, then the possibility of living goes up by 50 percent. It doesn’t mean you won’t lose a limb or two, but at least, you will still have breathe in your lungs."

Neil shuddered, his sister’s words were not comforting at all.

Meanwhile, Zyra’s temper flared. She puffed out her chest, released as much soul energy as she could and stamped her foot. She roared back at the top of her lungs, "Test my authority and, and you will learn why I am the sovereign beast commander. I command you to bow."

She raised her hand and slapped the alpha across the jaw. The strength she used did not sent it flying away, but it caused the internal organs of the stone wolf to crack. It whimpered and collapsed. It was not dead, but close enough.

Zyra slapped the stone wolf some more, giving each cheek equal treatment. "Who is your boss? I am your boss? How dare you growl at your boss?"

With every slap came a question.

The other stone wolves whimpered like frightened puppies. The pain the alpha felt, they felt too.

The humans were stunned. Was this a new method of forcing beasts to submit?

Zyra finally stopped and took a deep breath. She fed the alpha a pill that healed its internal wounds and rose. "Now, are you ready to submit?" She asked. She raised her palm. "Or do you want to start afresh?"

The Alpha stone wolf tucked its paws under its stomach, making pathetic whining noises. The other stone wolves dropped to their knees and bowed low, trembling like terrified puppies caught chewing on a couch.

"Good canines." Zyra said, smiling in approval.

Silence fell over the room, save for the sound of falling dust.

"I’ll be damned_ " Neil muttered, staring blankly at the scene. He rubbed his eyes once. Twice. Nope, the stone wolves were definitely bowing to Zyra. He had witnessed her strange behavior before, but this reached an entirely new level of absurdity. "I have never seen such a thing in my life. You must really be the divine maiden, because I don’t know another human that could pull that off."

Bertha scoffed out loudly, "I had my doubts but after today_"

"Let us focus people....I want no talk of the divine maiden stuff." Zyra said especially to the grinning Etania. "I am serious."

Zyra looked at the Alpha wolf, gently this time. "Where is the real dungeon? No more stupid clues." She was tired of them.

The alpha stone wolf carefully nudged its snout forward, pointing a long claw down a dark, winding corridor that led to the giant iron circular door. "T-that way_ Master," it rumbled in a pathetic, tiny voice that didn’t match its terrifying body at all.

"Thank you," Zyra huffed, dusting off her armor and trying very hard to act like she hadn’t just beaten it up a minute ago.

She waved her hand, sending all the half-life beasts into the dominion, except for squirrel who was providing the light "Follow me. And try not to touch anything because I don’t want to play escape room games. We are taking the express route."

The rest of the party stood frozen for a full three seconds before scrambling after her like ducklings.

"I have a lot of questions about Zyra?" Bertha whispered to Arrow, her voice cracking.

"Me too. She said she was the sovereign beast commander," Arrow swallowed hard, keeping a very safe six-foot distance behind Zyra’s back. "She is not someone that I would ever mess with."

One thing was clear to him now, Achilles was his boss and Hunter was Achilles’s boss, but Zyra was the biggest boss around here. Her word was law.

"You guys have seen nothing," Malia smirked, though her knees were still visibly wobbling."

The alpha wolf came to a circular door that had big, ancient writings carved all over it. "Master, I can’t open this door."

Zyra let out a loud, frustrated sigh and rubbed her temples. "So much for express route. System, translate this already," she muttered. "At this point, whatever is behind this heavy slab of iron better be worth my fading sanity."

The System’s crisp voice echoed in her head, dropping a dramatic poem right onto the screen in her mind:

[The greedy hand shall leave empty. The wise hand shall take only what it can carry. For the sands of the sleeping hourglass wait above. When the final grain kisses the earth, the vault shall forget the footsteps of those who came before. What was broken shall mend. What was opened shall close. Choose quickly, traveler, for even treasure has an hour before it becomes a dream.]

Zyra read the translated words out loud to the group. The second the last word left her lips, the doors groaned like an old man waking up from a nap, slowly grinding open on their own.

Zyra took the first step inside, and her jaw almost hit the floor. Hanging right from the high ceiling to the floor of a very large room was a giant hourglass. The golden sand was already pouring down from the top bulb to the bottom like an open faucet.

"We don’t have time! Grab what you can and move!" Zyra yelled, her eyes widening.

The room was a vault. It was packed with literal mountains of shiny loot: glowing resonance stones, sparkling energy stones, bottles of rare liquids, rare herbs, and strange eggs with thorny scales.

Neil didn’t even care about his own safety_ he dove straight toward a rack of gleaming swords, guns and whips, like a kid in a candy store, grabbing as many weapons as his arms could physically hold.

Bertha ignored the shiny stuff entirely and ran toward the book racks, shoving heavy historical scrolls into her bags.

Even Zyra’s usually calm System went into panic mode. Before she could even give the order to collect things, items were already vanishing left and right.