Chapter 381: Despair Once More

Finally, the flames began to die down...

The rib cage prison, baked by the intense heat, turned ashen white, then cracked apart inch by inch. Fragmented bone shards rained down, piling into a thin ring of ash upon the ground.

Within that ring of ash lay a charred skeleton.

No signs of life.

No movement.

Not even the faintest trace of Anomalous activity.

Only the blackened bones, and the ashes scattered over them.

“D-Did we... did we do it?”

Someone asked, voice trembling.

The words were so soft, as if afraid of waking something.

Yet, as if in response to that very question—

The bony eyeball still bearing mottled oil paint swiveled abruptly.

Every heart plummeted—

Before anyone could react, the charred skeleton sprang violently to its feet!

Its speed was utterly unforgiving.

The blackened bones blurred through the air, lunging straight into the depths of the mist.

Its target—was Jack.

Jack felt a chill sweep through his entire body.

That killing intent crashed over him like a bucket of ice water, freezing him solid.

The “unremarkable” trait that had shielded him time and again had now marked him as the weakest prey in the Anomaly’s eyes.

In that instant, the Anomaly’s killing intent locked onto him completely. He could not move a single muscle.

His legs felt like lead, his fingers rigid against the crystal fragment, his throat unable to produce even a whisper.

In that moment, he was nearly ready to die.

But just then, a force yanked him sharply backward a step.

The force came from behind—the assistant squad leader’s hand, gripping his collar with desperate strength, dragging him back.

Immediately after, a figure flashed in from the side, blocking his path.

It was the squad leader!

At this final juncture, the squad leader ignored his body’s limits and mutated his limbs once more.

His figure dissolved into a blur, both hand blades crossing as he slashed at the Anomaly’s spine.

The attack forced the Anomaly to shift targets. The claws originally aimed at Jack abruptly veered off course, turning instead to bite at the squad leader.

Even in its dying state, the Anomaly’s attacks were still lethal.

But the squad leader did not retreat.

In a split second, several ribs materialized out of thin air, forming a curved bone shield to guard the side of the squad leader’s skull.

That was the assistant squad leader’s final strength.

His arms were thrust into the ground once more, blood seeping from between his fingers, only to be flash-dried in an instant.

The fangs snapped through several ribs in a single breath. Bone fragments sprayed, pressing toward the squad leader’s skull...

“Crack—”

A crisp snapping sound rang out.

The squad leader’s nose and mouth overflowed with blood. It poured from his nostrils and the corners of his lips simultaneously, dripping down his chin.

But his hand blades finally, just before the beast’s jaws could fully clamp shut, severed that vertebra already charred brittle by the flames.

The blade bit in, bone chips sprayed, and the spine snapped clean through.

The other squad members’ attacks followed in that same instant.

Bullets shattered its skull.

The bony eyeball split apart, and in the moment of its shattering, the mottled oil paint convulsed like a dying insect, then finally dimmed for good.

Mucus enveloped the broken bones, sealing those still-writhing fragments firmly in place.

The once-massive beast collapsed with a thunderous crash.

The charred skeleton scattered across the ground, never to move again.

“Just a little more... just a little bit more...”

Jack slumped to the ground, staring at the wound still seeping blood on his chest, and at the fragments of shattered crystal scattered across the floor. His voice trembled.

That was the mark the claw tips had left when the Anomaly lunged at him.

Half an inch deeper, and it would have reached his heart.

Had the assistant squad leader not pulled him back, had the squad leader not risked his own life to save him...

He dared not imagine any further.

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the squad leader’s stance wavering.

That once-straight spine was slowly bending.

He rushed over, catching the squad leader just as he collapsed backward.

“Squad leader!”

“Captain!”

The other squad members cried out and crowded around.

The assistant squad leader checked him over and let out a small sigh of relief. “It’s fine... just power exhaustion. He passed out.”

His voice was trembling too, but it still held steady.

Hearing this, the tension coiling through everyone’s nerves finally truly released.

Shoulders slumped, fists unclenched. Some simply collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.

Now, at last, they could turn back and confirm—

They had truly succeeded.

They had slain a powerful Rank-3 Anomaly!

Even if they had borrowed the strength of a Rank-3 Wizardry Crystal, it was still a genuine achievement that belonged to them.

The assistant squad leader even managed a grim joke:

“After this, we can brag about it in Eden for a whole year!”

A few squad members squeezed out faint smiles, sitting exhaustedly around the captain and the scattered bone fragments on the ground.

The smiles were faint, pale with the pallor of narrow survival, but they were real.

Betty, however, did not sit down.

She leaned against the wall, her face ashen, her lips nearly bloodless, dark shadows hollowing beneath her eyes.

“I... I can’t seem to breathe. I want to... go rest somewhere nearby.”

Her voice was so weak it was barely audible.

The assistant squad leader hurriedly said, “Betty, go ahead. The residual heat and low oxygen here aren’t good for your recovery. Do you want me to help you?”

Betty waved her hand, the gesture so faint she could scarcely lift her arm.

Without another word, she walked alone into a relatively quiet empty room nearby.

Her silhouette swayed in the mist, thin and unsteady, as though she might collapse at any moment.

Soon, the Susurrus Mist swallowed her figure...

………………

The beast’s remains lay scattered across the ground. Ashes still swirled in the lingering heat.

The charred skeleton was no longer recognizable. Only a few larger bone fragments still held some faint shape. The rest had shattered into knuckle-sized debris, scattered among the remnants of the ashen-white rib cage prison.

The mottled oil paint had dimmed entirely. The bony eyeball had cracked in two, its hollow socket staring up at the ceiling.

The support squad, at last, shed the tension that had been wound through their nerves.

Several members slumped to the ground in disarray. One rubbed a bruised arm, wincing. Another simply lay flat on his back, gulping down air as if trying to expel every last trace of searing heat from his lungs.

The air was thick with the acrid stench of scorched flesh and floating ash. The smell was bitter and harsh, enough to make one’s throat itch.

But no one complained.

“I can’t believe we actually killed that thing...”

One squad member murmured, his voice carrying a faint, dazed note.

His gaze fell upon the pile of charred bones, as if confirming to himself that he was not dreaming.

“We—a bunch of Rank-2s—actually killed a powerful Rank-3 Anomaly in a head-on battle...”

Another member added, his voice trembling. “If we tell anyone back home, who’d actually believe us?”

The assistant squad leader leaned against a load-bearing pillar, a bitter smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. He grumbled:

“If this Anomaly had landed in Lady Poppy’s hands, she’d probably have swatted it dead with a casual slap. Don’t overthink it.”

But even he could not help glancing at the scattered remains.

Truthfully, this thing was nowhere near as weak as he had just implied.

Even for a Rank-3 expert, handling it would likely take considerable effort.

They had truly given everything they had.