Chapter 64: The Hunts Final Stage

The hexagonal door bathed the clearing in a red glare. I stared at the rusted runes carved into the precursor metal. The distinct hum of ancient magic vibrated through my entire body.

I visualized the iron vault in my chest and reached for the mental handle, opening the valve just a fraction.

A stream of mana rushed down my arms in a dense white aura, coating my fists. I pulled my right arm back and drove a heavy punch directly into the center of the vault door.

The kinetic shockwave kicked up a cloud of dust. The metal unfortunately, didn’t even dent, instead a painful vibration rang up my forearm, forcing me to drop my guard.

Katrina lunged before the dust even settled. Her claws sparked uselessly against the metal door. She landed with a frustrated hiss, her tail lashing behind her.

"Save your energy," Damara said. She inspected the edge of the doorframe. "It’s a resonance lock. Hit it again and you’ll trigger a permanent lockdown."

Elise stepped past us to a rusted biometric console. Her grip tightened on her wooden staff.

"He locked the perimeter to keep the local fauna out," Elise said quietly.

She pressed her bare palm flat against the panel.

She closed her eyes and took a slow breath. The metallic veins resting beneath her pale skin flared to life. A pulsing wave of turquoise light traveled down her arm and bled directly into the console.

The red runes on the door flickered wildly. The two magical frequencies fought for dominance. The surrounding stone shuddered under our feet.

Elise pushed harder. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she fed more mana into the relic fused to her sternum. The red glare shattered. A calming turquoise glow replaced it entirely.

As heavy gears screamed inside the mountain, the vault door ground opened and retracted into the sheer cliff face, unleashing a rush of stale air.

The atmosphere changed immediately. The bitter scent of chemical runoff, and old blood hit my face. The temperature dropped ten degrees. It stripped away the lingering warmth of the afternoon sun.

"Stay sharp," I ordered.

We stepped past the threshold. The descending corridor consisted of dark metal plating. Glowing strips of yellow light flickered along the ceiling, illuminating decades of undisturbed dust.

Damara took the point position with her daggers drawn. She moved with fluid precision. Her rogue instincts were dialed to maximum.

"Do not step on the raised plates," Damara warned. She pointed the tip of her dagger toward a subtle shift in the metal grating. "The corridor is rigged. I see three tension wires and a collapsed pressure valve. Step exactly where I step."

We followed her path perfectly. Katrina stepped carefully, holding her bushy tail tight against her waist to avoid the hidden triggers. Sarah walked silently behind her. Her tall frame ducked slightly under the low-hanging pipes as she pulled ambient moisture from the damp cave air, keeping her hands ready for a spell.

We navigated fifty yards without incident. A sharp mechanical click echoed from the ceiling.

"Ambush," Damara hissed. She stopped dead.

An automated alchemical turret dropped from a concealed hatch. The rusted barrel swiveled with a grinding whine. Its targeting laser locked instantly onto the turquoise glow emitting from Elise’s chest.

I moved before the turret could fire.

I stepped directly in front of Sarah and Elise. I ripped the mental valve completely open. The white aura surged and coated my entire upper body in a thick kinetic shell.

The turret unleashed a rapid volley of green darts. They slammed into my chest and arms with the force of a battering ram.

The acidic payload sizzled violently against my compressed mana as the stench of melting metal and sulfur flooded the corridor.

The kinetic force pushed me backward causing my boots to skid against the metal grating. The heat of the acid began to bleed through my aura.

It seared my skin beneath the magic. Holding the valve open under sustained fire was agonizing. My muscles screamed, but I held the line as I absorbed the entire barrage.

"Now!" I shouted through gritted teeth.

Katrina bounded off the metal wall. She used her brawler momentum to clear my shoulder entirely. She slammed into the automated turret and dug her sharp claws directly into the rusted seams.

With a guttural growl, she ripped the entire weapon housing out of the ceiling.

Sparks rained down. She tossed the sparking scrap metal onto the floor. The weapon sizzled and died.

"Good block," Damara muttered. She kicked a piece of the broken turret aside.

I let the mental valve shut. The white aura faded, dropping me to one knee, I panted heavily. The burning sensation in my arms lingered, leaving the skin feeling completely raw.

"Are you okay?" Sarah asked. She knelt beside me, her hands glowing with a soft green light. She pressed her palms against my forearms.

A soothing wave of thermal healing sank into my bruised muscles, but the phantom sting of the acid remained deep in my tissue.

"I’m good," I assured her. I stood back up, ignoring the lingering throb. "Let’s keep moving. He knows we breached the door."

The corridor widened into a massive processing chamber. Tall glass vats lined the walls, filled with murky, bubbling fluid. Precursor machinery lay scattered across rusted surgical tables. The room was a monument to the mage’s twisted obsession.

Elise stepped fully inside. The heavy blast doors slammed shut behind us. The locking mechanism engaged with a deafening thud.

A heavy iron grate near the ceiling shattered.

A hulking, mutated bruiser dropped heavily onto the metal floor. It stood eight feet tall. Thick precursor armor plates were bolted directly into its swollen, gray flesh.

It possessed no eyes, only a smooth metal visor and a heavy maw dripping with black fluid.

The beast roared, shaking the chamber walls before charging straight at me.

I planted my feet and threw a glowing right hook aimed at its armored chest. The punch connected solidly.

The beast did not stagger. The precursor plating absorbed my kinetic impact completely. The monster swung a massive, spiked fist in return.

I ducked under the blow. The wind of the strike rustled my hair. Blunt force wasn’t going to work against that armor. I shifted my stance and stepped directly into the beast’s guard.

Locking both of my glowing arms around the creature’s thick waist, I drove my shoulder hard into its gut in a brutal grapple. The monster thrashed. Its sheer physical strength threatened to break my hold immediately.

I was sent sliding backward across the slick metal floor. The recent acid burns on my forearms screamed in protest as they scraped against the rough precursor metal.

"Sarah!" I yelled over the grinding metal. "Overload it!"

Sarah didn’t hesitate. She stepped directly into the fray. Her hands glowed with brilliant green light. She pulled the humidity from the room into a swirling mist.

She pressed her hands flat against the beast’s exposed side. She channeled a localized, highly concentrated healing aura directly into the monster’s corrupted flesh.

The rapid cell growth worked instantly.

The beast’s mutated muscles expanded at an unnatural, accelerated rate. The flesh bulged violently against the bolted precursor armor. The rusted metal plates groaned under the sudden internal pressure.

A loud, echoing snap rang out. The heavy armor ruptured and split down the middle. It exposed the vulnerable, raw tissue beneath.

"Katrina!" Damara called out. She tossed one of her twin daggers across the room.

Katrina caught the blade mid-stride. She vaulted off a nearby surgical table to clear the beast’s thrashing arms. She drove the stolen steel dagger directly into the exposed gap in the creature’s neck armor. She buried it to the hilt.

The beast let out a gurgling shriek. Black fluid spilled from the fatal wound. The monster collapsed heavily onto the metal floor. The impact shook the entire chamber. I stepped back and let the massive carcass fall motionless.

A crackling arcane projection echoed through the rusted intercom speakers mounted in the corners of the chamber.

"The integration has stabilized beautifully," a smooth, clinical voice observed. The static-laced sound filled the room. "Bringing the core back yourself saves me a retrieval fee. Strap her down. I’ll make the extraction efficient."

The threat hung in the air as I looked at Elise, prepared to step in if the trauma overwhelmed her.

Elise stepped past me. Her grip on her wooden staff never wavered. She stared directly into the glowing lens of the closest security crystal mounted on the chamber wall.

"You’re not putting me back on that table," Elise stated. Her voice was cold. It echoed clearly across the empty chamber without a single tremor of fear.

The intercom hissed with static and abruptly died. The final set of blast doors at the end of the room parted with a heavy mechanical groan. They revealed the brightly lit inner sanctum.

The hunt was in its final stage.