Chapter 454:Fire.

Chapter 454: 454:Fire.

Caleb was thrown backward and crashed through a wooden partition.

"Caleb!" Mina shouted.

Silver immediately checked if he was Alive and moving without any critical injury.

He was.

The bear turned toward Caleb, clearly ready to finish it’s job.

Silver drew his handgun.

[Phantom Draw Lv4 Activated.]

Three bullets left the gun in s deafening noise. Two struck the creature’s exposed neck and one hit its eye.

The bear roared and turned toward him.

Silver smiled grimly.

"That’s right, come to me."

He activated Short-Step as the bear lunged.

Silver vanished.

It crashed through another container with a thunderous roar as they toppled.

Helena’s voice came through the communicator.

"Silver, don’t try to kill it alone! We have the personnel and the case!"

He looked toward the injured man. Rowan had reached him. Both him and the case were being dragged toward the exit.

Silver moved backward.

"Then leave!"

Helena hesitated.

"Silver..."

"I’ll follow! Someone has to distract this thing."

The bear charged again.

Silver raised his sword.

He could’ve teleported away but he needed the creature facing him,not the others.

He activated Space Slash.

[Space Slash Lv2 Activated.]

A narrow spatial blade tore through the air. It struck the bear’s armored shoulder. The cut penetrated but not deeply enough.

The beast roared.

Silver frowned.

Lv2 was still insufficient.

He’d been using Space Slash for a long time. But most of his development had gone toward movement and defense. He hadn’t refined the attack properly.

The bear swung.

Silver stepped sideways. Its claws passed inches from his face.

He activated Short-Step and reappeared behind it. He released another Space Slash, the spatial blade striking the rear joint.

The bear staggered.

Silver’s eyes sharpened.

He knew he had gotten the weakness but the cut was still too broad. Too much energy had spread across the attack.

He needed concentration, not more power. Silver remembered Peter’s lessons.

Strength without control is a liability.

He remembered Ravenna’s sword training.

Stop swinging harder and strike properly.

He remembered his old life. A firing range and an instructor telling him that missing with a powerful weapon was still missing.

He exhaled.

The bear turned to him, completely fuming.

He raised his sword again. This time he didn’t force more energy into Space Slash, he compressed it into something narrower and sharper to create a smaller distortion.

The surrounding space trembled from it. He felt the technique resisting him, then something clicked.

[Space Slash Lv2 Proficiency Increased.]

Silver smiled.

The bear charged.

He stepped forward.

[Space Slash Lv2 Activated.]

The spatial blade flashed a fraction against the light as it was being released. It was thinner than before, almost invisible. It struck the bear’s rear joint and cut straight through the reinforced tissue.

The creature stumbled before its enormous body crashed sideways into a cargo container.

His eyes widened slightly.

That was different, much different.

The system responded.

[Space Slash proficiency threshold reached.]

[Space Slash Lv2 → Space Slash Lv3.]

[Skill Evolution Successful.]

[Spatial cutting precision significantly increased.]

[Energy efficiency improved.]

[Effective cutting concentration enhanced.]

[Reduced energy dispersion during activation.]

He felt the change immediately.

Although it became stronger, the technique also became clearer and more precise.

He could understand how the spatial blade formed, how its edge interacted with matter, and how to control the concentration of energy rather than wasting it across a larger area.

The bear struggled to rise.

Silver raised his sword, then stopped when Helena’s voice came through.

"Silver! Extraction route is clear!"

He looked toward the exit.

Everyone was moving; the personnel, the case and his squad.

The bear was injured but not dead.

He considered finishing it, then lowered his sword. It was not the mission. He activated Short-Step and disappeared.

The squad regrouped outside the loading station. Caleb was holding his left shoulder. His armor had absorbed some of the impact, but his arm was clearly injured.

Helena immediately checked him.

"Can you move it?"

He winced.

"Yes."

"Can you fight?"

"With my right arm."

"Good enough."

Silver approached.

Mina looked at him.

"You actually fought that thing."

He shrugged.

"Briefly."

Caleb stared before rolling his eyes.

"Briefly? It nearly tore the warehouse apart."

Silver smiled.

"It was enthusiastic."

Helena looked toward him.

"Are you injured?"

"No."

She narrowed her eyes.

"Silver."

He raised both hands.

"I’m fine."

She examined him anyway.

His uniform was torn, dust covered his shoulders and there were several shallow scratches across his forearm but nothing serious.

Helena finally nodded.

"Good."

The third personnel’s identification activated.

[MISSING PERSONNEL LOCATED: 3/3]

[PRIMARY OBJECTIVE 1 COMPLETE.]

The case was scanned.

[SECURED MILITARY CASE RECOVERED.]

[PRIMARY OBJECTIVE 2 COMPLETE.]

Silver smiled.

Two down, one left.

Unfortunately for them, the mission display flashed red.

[MISSION UPDATE.]

[PRIMARY EXTRACTION POINT COMPROMISED.]

Helena froze.

Silver stared in disbelief.

Caleb looked toward the sky in defeat.

"You’ve got to be kidding me."

Another notification appeared.

[ALTERNATE EXTRACTION POINT UPLOADED.]

The map changed.

Their new extraction point was nearly two kilometers away through another damaged district.

Silver checked the timer.

Forty-three minutes.

Helena looked at the squad but nobody spoke.

She let of a heavy sigh and exhaled.

"All right."

She pointed toward the new route.

"We move."

The first kilometer was ugly.

The injured personnel slowed them. Caleb’s shoulder hurt. Rowan carried most of the military case’s weight, while Silver alternated between scouting ahead and helping transport the wounded.

Tier Two beasts appeared twice but they avoided one group entirely.

The second attacked but Elias killed two with arrows. Mina also handled another. Silver shot the fourth.

Then they encountered another Tier Three.

A long-bodied reptilian beast with armored scales and a powerful tail.

He identified it immediately.

[Beast: Stonecrest Monitor]

[Tier: 3]

[Primary Traits: Reinforced Scales, Crushing Tail, Ambush Behavior]

[Weaknesses: Underside, Jaw Hinge]

Helena looked toward it.

"Can we avoid it?"

Silver checked.

"Yes."

"Then we avoid it."

Caleb looked disappointed.

Silver smiled.

"You’re injured."

"I can still swing," Caleb defended.

"And I can still shoot. Doesn’t mean we need to," he calmly said.

They moved around it. Thankfully, the beast never noticed.

At thirty minutes remaining, they entered a commercial street... And found fire. A wall of flames stretched across part of the road.

They were not ordinary fire. Silver recognized the energy signature immediately and his expression changed.

Ravenna.

He could sense the familiar pattern of her fire through the heat spreading across the street.

Beyond the flames, several beasts were moving. Another squad was fighting.

Helena stopped.

"Can we go around?"

Silver expanded Spatial Sense.

The alternative route was blocked by collapsed vehicles and another path required a significant detour.

They didn’t have time.

He looked toward the flames, then smiled.

"Probably don’t need to."

Helena narrowed her eyes as she stared at him.

"What?"

He stepped forward.

"Give me a second."

Mina frowned.

"Silver, those flames are hot."

"I know."

"Very hot."

"I know."

Caleb looked toward the fire.

"Don’t tell me you’re going to walk through it."

Silver smiled.

Helena immediately understood.

"Don’t tell me you’ve also got a fire Resistance."

Silver chuckled before nodding.

He activated the passive more deliberately.

[Fire Resistance Passive Lv2 Activated.]

Heat pressed against his skin as Silver stepped into the flames. His clothes began to smoke, the sleeves darkened and a small section of his jacket caught fire.

He extinguished it with one hand while continuing forward.