Chapter 145: Two More

The underground garage of Meridian Tower hummed with the deep sound of diesel engines.

Three armored carriers were parked on the polished concrete floor. Forty veteran hunters from the Iron-Thistle Guild stood in neat rows, their steel armor and shields shining under the lights.

Walter stepped forward, his dented breastplate polished to a mirror shine. "Chairman Evren, all forty frontline hunters are armed and ready. Nine men remain on the upper floors to protect Lady Calista."

"Good," Evren nodded. "Let’s move out."

Evren climbed into the lead carrier, with Amber and Zephyra taking the seats right beside him. Walter climbed into the driver’s cab, slammed the door shut, and hit the ignition.

The heavy hydraulic blast doors of Meridian Tower parted with a mechanical groan. The three armored carriers roared up the exit ramp and accelerated into the wide streets of District 1.

Outside, the Imperial Capital was on high alert, with red emergency beacons pulsing from every streetlamp and automated defense sirens echoing across the skyline.

Civilians and low-tier guild squads cleared the boulevards as the Apex convoy sped past. The three carriers merged onto the Eastern Radial Highway, the dedicated military artery leading directly to the outer defense ring.

Amber opened a tactical comm-slate mounted on the armored interior wall. A glowing holographic map of the Empire’s twelve defense zones flickered to life.

"The Northern Corridor is active," Amber reported, scanning the data streams. "Solar Crown has entered Zone Two."

"They move fast," Zephyra murmured softly from the shadows of the cabin, her silver hair catching the amber display light. "Solar Crown does not lack discipline."

"They were the top guild in the Capital before we arrived," Evren said with a calm nod. "Silas Drake is arrogant, but his hunters are seasoned combat veterans. Zone Two is in capable hands."

He glanced at the speedometer as the carrier crossed the fifty-mile marker, leaving the Capital’s outer wall far behind. "Our concern is Zone One."

According to the Imperial Defense Charter, Zone One was the most hostile sector along the Outer Void Perimeter. It sat in a rugged mountain basin where the barrier between worlds was at its thinnest.

Fifteen minutes later, the convoy crested a high mountain pass. The paved highway gave way to crushed black rock and jagged granite ravines.

"Approaching the Zone One staging basin!" Walter’s voice crackled through the cabin speaker. "Slowing down now!"

The carriers rumbled down a steep incline, coming to a halt at the edge of a wide, bowl-shaped canyon. A thick haze of ozone hung in the frigid mountain air, smelling of crushed slate and raw mana.

Evren pushed the armored door open and stepped down onto the gravel, followed closely by Amber and Zephyra.

Before them lay the rift: a massive, forty-foot vortex of swirling violet mana anchored firmly to the canyon floor, humming like a turbine. Its edges twisted and rippled across the fractured rock, warping the light around it.

There was no monster spillover, meaning the dimensional pressure was contained within the threshold.

The rear doors of the trailing carriers hissed open. Forty Iron-Thistle hunters disembarked in silence, their heavy boots crunching on the stone as they formed a defensive perimeter.

"Set up the perimeter shields," Walter ordered, plant-root runes glowing faintly along his iron broadsword. "Make sure no stray beasts sneak past our line."

Before the hunters could even drop their shields into position, a violent shudder ripped through the canyon. The bedrock beneath their boots groaned in protest. Deep underground, a wave of distorted mana surged toward the surface like an erupting geyser.

CRACK!

About a hundred yards left of the main portal, space fractured and a jagged fissure opened into a second swirling vortex, sparking with dark crimson energy.

BOOM!

A second tremor struck on the right flank. The earth buckled upward, and another grounded spatial tear burst through the stone, tearing a thirty-foot chasm into the canyon floor.

"Chairman!" Walter yelled, bracing his tower shield against the shaking ground. "The subterranean pressure just split the bedrock! Two more ground rifts are opening on our flanks!"

The forty veteran hunters immediately raised their shields, their knuckles whitening against the steel handles. Dealing with one unstable portal was difficult enough, but three simultaneous ground rifts threatened to overrun the entire basin.

At that exact moment, a sharp chime resonated in Evren’s mind. The now so familiar golden notification interface flashed across his vision:

[SYSTEM QUEST TRIGGERED: HEROINE #3 SECOND-STAGE CATALYST DETECTED!]

[LOCATION: ZONE ONE CENTRAL MUTATED CHASM]

[SOURCE: LEVEL 70 MUTATED ABYSSAL BEHEMOTH (MUTATED RIFT BOSS)]

[TARGET REAGENT 1: ASTRAL VOID TENDONS (0/1)]

[TARGET REAGENT 2: LEVEL 70 SPATIAL CRYSTALLINE CORE (0/1)]

[OBJECTIVE: ENTER RIFT, SLAY MUTATED BOSS, SECURE CATALYSTS]

Evren’s eyes narrowed.

The ingredients Calista had identified in the Vesper family grimoire were real. The Level 70 boss waiting at the heart of this central chasm carried the exact catalysts needed to restore her lower spine.

Amber stepped to Evren’s side, golden flames flickering around the edges of her slender rapier. "Evren, the flanks are expanding. If we leave them unchecked, whatever is inside will circle around behind us."

"We won’t leave them unchecked," Evren said smoothly, turning toward Walter.

"Guild Master Walter!" Evren called out.

"Sir!" Walter responded, stomping forward with his shield raised.

"Take your forty hunters and divide them into two squads of twenty," Evren commanded with authority. "Form an Iron-Thistle phalanx at the mouth of both flanking fissures. Your only job is containment. Lock the choke-points and hold the line."

Walter’s weathered face hardened with grim resolve. "Understood, Chairman! What about the central chasm?"

"Leave the center to us," Evren replied, a confident smile touching his lips. "Amber, Zephyra, and I will dive in, kill the core beast, and collapse the source."

"Understood!" Walter turned on his heel and roared at his men. "First Squad, on me to the left flank! Second Squad, take the right fissure."

The forty veteran hunters moved together smoothly. Stomping their boots in rhythm, they split into two organized groups and locked their tower shields at the entrances of the two side rifts.

Golden-yellow earthen runes flared along their linked shields, creating a solid defensive barricade that completely sealed the flanking exits.

Evren turned back toward the central forty-foot violet vortex.

The portal’s pull grew stronger, drawing small rocks and dust into its spinning center. The air around it buzzed with an intense energy.

Evren reached into his spatial ring and drew the massive Frost-Bane Cleaver, resting the blade lightly on his shoulder.

Next to him, Amber’s eyes shone with a bright golden light. A pair of translucent Valkyrie wings made of dawn light spread behind her, warming the cold mountain air. On his other side stood Zephyra, her silhouette blurring into the surrounding shadows as the twin curved daggers in her hands hummed with cold, lethal intent.

"Ready?" Evren asked quietly.

"Always," Amber smiled, her grip firm on her rapier.

"To the end, Master," Zephyra whispered from the darkness beside him.

With a calm stride, Evren stepped onto the threshold of the swirling ground portal. Amber and Zephyra fell into formation right beside him. Together, the three of them stepped through the swirling vortex, vanishing into the depths of the mutated domain.