Chapter 28: Tactical Distortion

He knew the danger. His NYX integration was sitting at a precarious 83%, and pushing it past 99% meant risking total overwrite. But letting these people get slaughtered while he played it safe wasn’t something his pride would allow. He didn’t need to unleash a high-risk, world-shattering form—he just needed to construct the right tool, with maximum efficiency, to tear Vora’s plan apart.

The teenage girl’s stride was short and erratic. Before her desperate sprint could take her over the ledge into the killing zone, Ren and Ryu closed the distance simultaneously. Ryu snagged her upper arms from behind, pulling her body back into the crowd of refugees. The girl thrashed against his grip, sobbing hysterically as her feet kicked up loose gravel, but Ryu held his ground like an iron anchor, locking her safely within the mob’s perimeter.

Ren’s eyes narrowed into sharp slits as he analyzed the tactical layout in a split second.

To his left, the refugees were on the verge of a full-scale riot, ready to hurl themselves at a calamity-class threat with nothing but wooden stakes. Beside him, Ryu was straining to keep the crowd back. And thirty paces ahead, Liora was crumpled on the scorched stone, screaming in agony as dark violet threads tore through her pale skin, feeding her remaining vitality directly into Vora’s outstretched palm.

’If I don’t peel Liora out of her grip right now, she’s dead,’ Ren calculated coldly. ’And if Liora dies while Vora is siphoning her, the pocket realm loses its anchor violently.’

Separating Liora from Vora was the immediate objective. Without direct physical contact, Vora’s continuous drain would be severed, halting the passive siphon. But doing that meant breaching the center of the plateau.

Creating a high-caliber firearm through the System was out of the question. At an 83% NYX threshold, forging a heavy kinetic weapon demanded complex energy structures that would spike his corruption rate instantly. He didn’t need high lethality right now—he needed pure, unadulterated sensory overload to break Vora’s lock.

Ren closed his eyes, instantly filtering out the frantic shouts of the mob and the gut-wrenching screams of Liora’s Mana Burn. In the darkness of his mind, he bypassed all lethal constructs, focusing purely on a localized chemical shock device.

"System," Ren commanded mentally, his inner voice razor-sharp. "Construct: Flashbang Grenade."

The interface materialized across his vision, pulsing with a crisp blue hue. Because the design relied purely on standard chemical combustion—magnesium, oxidizers, and compressed gas—it required zero dark mana alignment, keeping the strain on his seal at a bare minimum.

[CONSTRUCTION PROTOCOL ACTIVATED]

[SCANNING MENTAL DESIGN...]

[TARGET OBJECT: TACTICAL FLASHBANG GRENADE]

[FUNCTION ANALYSIS:]

• Chemical Flash: >1,000,000 Candela (Causes temporary optical overload and retinal blindness)

• Sonic Shockwave: >170 Decibels (Causes inner-ear disorientation and equilibrium disruption)

[RESOURCE COST:]

• Chaos Matter (CM): 4 (Low-density casing & reactive payload)

• Chaos Points (CP): 6 (Reagent stabilization)

[HOST RESOURCES:]

Available CM: 2,481

Available CP: 798

[NYX SEAL WARNING:]

Standard physical energy footprint.

Estimated Seal Increase: +1%

[PROCEED WITH CONSTRUCTION?]

[YES / NO]

YES.

A faint weight settled into his palm. A sleek, white metal cylinder materialized between his fingers, its surface cool to the touch. A steel pull-pin glinted at the top. No dark aura, no ominous energy signature—just the dry, sterile smell of cold industrial alloy.

[CONSTRUCTION SUCCESSFUL!]

[ITEM OBTAINED: FLASHBANG GRENADE MK-I]

[ITEM SPECIFICATIONS:]

TYPE: Non-Lethal / Tactical Distraction

EFFECTIVE RADIUS: 5–7 Meters

EFFECT DURATION: Complete Blindness & Deafness (3–5 Seconds)

DEPLOYMENT: Pull Pin → Throw → Instant Optical and Acoustic Detonation

NOTE: Shield eyes and ears prior to detonation. Overload affects all targets within effective range.

[REMAINING RESOURCES:]

CM: 2,477

CP: 792

NYX SEAL: 84%

Ren snapped his eyes open.

Vora was still entirely focused on extracting Liora’s mana, her face twisted in sadistic ecstasy. She hadn’t even registered Ren moving to the flank.

"Ryu! Drag that girl back into the rear lines! Now!" Ren ordered, his tone laced with sharp urgency.

Ryu glanced at the white metal canister in Ren’s grip. Without questioning the odd device, he pivoted on his heel, wrapping an arm around the crying girl and hauling her into the middle of the crowd.

The angry refugees tried to push past Ryu, but the swordsman used his broad shoulders to form an unyielding wall.

Ren whirled around to face the mob. "Everyone, get back and shut your eyes! Cover your ears!"

The refugees blinked in confusion. Ryu froze, instinctively sensing the absolute authority in Ren’s voice. Driven by pure survival instinct, the crowd collectively ducked, covering their eyes and burying their faces into their knees.

’Fifteen meters behind me, twenty meters from Vora. Clear zone.’

Ren yanked the metal pull-pin with his thumb and hurled the grenade across the crater.

The white cylinder sliced through the air in a tight arc, spinning over the scorched stone straight toward Vora’s feet.

Vora’s gaze flicked downward, her brow knitting as her violet eyes locked onto the strange, non-magical metallic object bouncing near her boots.

BANG—!

A blinding wave of pure white light swallowed the entire hill, followed by an ear-splitting, thunderous detonation that tore through the quiet air. The shockwave rattled the stone beneath their boots, producing a high-frequency whine that vibrated deep inside the skull.

Ren slammed his eyes shut, pressing his arms firmly over his ears.

The payoff was immediate. The continuous stream of purple energy snapped like a pulled wire. Vora jerked her hands back from Liora’s hair, staggering backward as she clutched her streaming eyes with a shrill, furious hiss.

’Opportunity.’

Ren opened his interface again. To ensure he could pull Liora away without Vora blindly throwing out area-of-effect spells, he needed a temporary vanguard to force Vora onto the defensive.

"System," Ren growled internally, ignoring the sharp, thumping migraine pounding against his temples as the seal reacted. "Open Monster Forge."

The interface transformed, darkening into a crimson-and-black HUD. Eight glowing crystal spheres rotated in a slow circle across the screen, each encapsulating the residual core of a slain Aberrant.

[SPECIAL FEATURE ACTIVATED: MONSTER FORGE]

[STATUS: READY]

[ABERRANT CORE INVENTORY (8 ITEMS DETECTED):]

• [Beast Core - Rank C]: Speed & Enhanced Tracking

• [Reptile Core - Rank C]: Armored Scales & Minor Regeneration

• [Insect Core - Rank C]: High-Speed Reflexes & Neurotoxin

• [Undead Core - Rank C]: Pain Immunity & Intimidation

(Plus 4 Mixed Attribute Cores)

[EXECUTION PROTOCOL SELECTION:]

OPTION A: [HYBRID FUSION](SYSTEM RECOMMENDED)

Process: Fuse 2–4 Cores into a superior, permanent entity.

CP Cost: High (50+ CP)

NYX Impact: +9% (CRITICAL RISK: Complex essence manipulation)

OPTION B: [RAW SUMMON] (FAST & CRUDE)

Process: Materialize a single Core directly into a temporary physical form without modification.

CP Cost: Low (15 CP)

NYX Impact: +3% (Within emergency tolerance)

[CRITICAL WARNING:]

Current NYX Seal: 84%.

A drastic increase may trigger the Overwrite Protocol. Choose carefully.

Option A was suicide right now. Adding 9% would launch his integration to 93%, pulling him right to the brink of losing control. He didn’t need a masterpiece—he just needed a fast distraction.

"Option B. Raw Summon," Ren commanded without hesitation. "Select the Core with the highest agility rating."

[COMMAND ACCEPTED.]

[SELECTED CORE: HYBRID BEAST-INSECT (AGILITY TYPE)]

[INITIATING SUMMONING...]

[INJECTING CHAOS ENERGY INTO REALITY...]

[NYX SEAL REACTION: +3%]

[SUMMON SUCCESSFUL!]

[REMAINING CORES: 7/8]

The space directly in front of Ren rippled violently. Dense, pitch-black smoke billowed out of thin air, condensing rapidly into a sleek, imposing shape. Within seconds, a grotesque entity stood erect between Ren and the blinding light.

Standing 1.8 meters tall, the creature possessed a hairless, muscular frame covered in smooth, violet skin. Its face was completely smooth, save for a narrow, horizontal breathing slit where eyes should have been. Its limbs ended in five-inch obsidian talons that gleamed like polished steel.

[ENTITY OBTAINED: VOID STALKER (RAW FORM)]

[TEMPORARY STATS:]

POWER LEVEL: Equivalent to Rank C+ Aberrant

PRIMARY SKILLS: [Shadow Step] (High-Speed Movement), [Razor Claws] (Armor Penetration)

LOYALTY: Low (Executes simple commands only: "Attack" or "Defend")

DURATION: 5 Minutes before reverting to Core state.

[COUNTDOWN: 05:00:00]

[HOST STATUS:]

NYX SEAL: 87% ⚠️

REMAINING CP: 777

REMAINING CM: 2,477

Ren let out a tight breath. Seeing the 87% marker flickering in red sent a cold shudder down his spine, but he shoved the anxiety away.

The purple creature let out a wet, raspy hiss, its muscles tensing as it sensed the hostile presence ahead.

"Monster... rip her apart!" Ren barked, pointing his index finger straight at Vora, who was stumbling backward while rubbing her streaming, reddened eyes.

"ROAAAAAR!"

The Void Stalker unleashed a shrill shriek and burst into motion, its dark form blurring across the gravel.

The refugees and Ryu gasped as they reopened their eyes, staring in shock as a feral Aberrant charged straight at Vora instead of them.

Ren didn’t waste a millisecond. Sprinting right behind the beast’s wake, he reached Liora’s collapsed body. He scooped her up in a fireman’s carry, her limp frame surprisingly light, and sprinted back toward the safety of the rear line.

Over by the crater edge, Vora’s acute hearing picked up the rushing footsteps.

"You bastard...!" Vora spat through gritted teeth. Driven by raw combat instinct, she launched herself into a high backflip, her black dress snapping in the wind as she cleared five meters of distance blindly.

SLASH!

The Void Stalker’s obsidian talons sheared through empty air, missing her chest by millimeters and slicing through the trailing hem of her black skirt.

Vora landed heavily on the scorched earth, kicking up a small cloud of grey dust. She instantly dropped into a low stance, her teeth bared in pure irritation.

"Damn it! What is going on?!" Vora shouted, her blurred vision making out the silhouette of a beast. "Why is an Aberrant attacking me?!"

She thrust her right hand forward, attempting to lock onto the creature’s core with her mental domination spell. But her mana washed over the Void Stalker uselessly—it wasn’t connected to her network. The creature merely screeched again, launching a ferocious combination of low sweeps and overhead claw strikes.

Meanwhile, Ren reached the crowd and gently laid Liora down on a flat patch of grass. The silver-haired girl was deathly pale, blood still trickling faintly from her nose.

The villagers immediately swarmed around her, their voices overlapping in frantic, tearful checks. The teenage girl dropped to her knees beside Liora, holding her cold, motionless hand while weeping softly.

"Ren..." Ryu approached, his eyes wide as he looked from Ren to the purple monster driving Vora back. "What did you just throw back there? And where did that creature come from?!"

"Doesn’t matter right now," Ren interrupted, his voice clipped as he kept his eyes locked on the countdown floating above his interface. "We need to hit Vora together while that thing keeps her occupied."

"Why is a rogue beast targeting her?" Ryu pushed, adjusting his grip on his longsword. "Is it an anomaly in her summoning spell?"

"Yeah... let’s go with that," Ren said quickly, giving Ryu a sharp nod to maintain the cover story. "It’s an anomaly. Now draw your blade before she snaps it in half!"

Ryu nodded tightly, stepping up beside Ren with his weapon drawn.

Across the clearing, Vora’s vision finally began to clear, her violet pupils ringed with angry red veins. She ducked beneath another sweeping claw strike, the sharp talon missing her chin by an inch and whistling through the air.

"Damned pest! Kneel!" Vora spat, extending her palm to exert pressure. But the Void Stalker ignored her command entirely, snapping its toothless jaws near her throat.

Vora’s gaze flicked past the monster, locking onto Ren standing forty paces away. Her lips gradually curled into a dark, understanding smile.

"Hahaha... I see," Vora purred, her tone dripping with mock affection as her eyes narrowed. "This little pet belongs to you... doesn’t it, husband?"

Ryu shot Ren a sharp, bewildered look, but Ren didn’t even blink.

’Kill her! Keep pressing!’ Ren commanded the Void Stalker in his mind.

The purple beast roared, unleashing an unrelenting onslaught of sharp claw thrusts. Yet despite being blind-sided, Vora moved with terrifying grace. She glided across the uneven terrain like a phantom, her black dress fluttering as she effortlessly dodged every lethal swipe, laughing softly under her breath.

WIRRR—

Without warning, the air temperature dropped sharply.

Thousands of glowing, violet motes of light materialized out of nowhere, floating through the atmosphere like endless swarms of unnatural fireflies. From the north, south, east, and west, the shimmering purple particles drifted inward, converging directly above the center of the plateau.

The Void Stalker paused its attack, its smooth head tilting upward toward the sky.

Ren stopped mid-step, his jaw tightening as he looked up. Beside him, Ryu lowered his guard slightly, his mouth slightly open as the entire sky above the mountain peak turned into a swirling canopy of luminous, violet light.

The refugees fell completely silent, their weeping cutting off as they stared at the sky.

The purple lights didn’t emit warmth; instead, a heavy, suffocating pressure descended upon the hill, making every breath feel like inhaling cold lead. The particles spun faster and faster, forming a massive, spiraling vortex directly over Vora’s head, casting an eerie, pale shadow over every face on the plateau.