Chapter 94: Settling the Debt I

Chapter 94: Chapter 94: Settling the Debt I

"Looking for me, Vane?" Eric’s voice cut through the noise of battle like ice dropped into hot grease. "Let’s see if you still want to break my legs."

Scarface Vane flinched. His bloodshot eyes went wide as the blur faded, revealing Eric standing there in his fitted dark drake armor. The scar along Vane’s jaw flushed an ugly purple as he realized who was standing in front of him.

"You?!" Vane snarled, baring yellowed teeth. "You little gutter rat! You dare show your face here and raid our base?! I’ll skin you alive! Hound! Snake! Tear his throat out!"

ROAR!

HSSSSS!

The Level 7 Ashfang Hound shot forward in a furious sprint, snapping its jaws inches from Eric’s chest while spitting burning sparks and hot saliva across the stone floor. From the left, the five-meter Frostscale Viper whipped its heavy coils across the rubble, exhaling a cone of icy mist that froze the gravel solid.

"Coal, take them!" Eric shouted.

SKRRRAAAK!

Dropping from the ceiling beams like a falling spear, Coal snapped his wings wide.

Shadow Clone!

Five black illusions peeled off from the crow’s descent, shrieking in wild circles around the dog’s eyes and at the snake’s snout. The sudden swarm scrambled their vision, locking both beasts into a confused, frantic counterattack against coal’s shadow clones.

Eric did not hesitate for a second.

Shadow Steps.

Pushing his starlight mana down through his calves, Eric vanished into the flickering shadows cast by the burning crates. Bypassing the thrashing beasts entirely, he stepped out two paces behind Vane’s blind spot. The ivory edge of the Wavecaller hummed with dense blue mana.

Crescent Slash!

SHRRRIP!

A sharp arc of pressurized blue mana sliced through the air and slammed right into Vane’s back.

CRUNCH!

"GAAAH!"

The kinetic shock tore through Vane’s armored vest, cutting a deep, bleeding gash across his shoulder blades and driving him face-first into the crushed stone.

He hacked up a thick mouthful of blood, his sword clattering across the floor. Yet, backed by his Level 7 Soldier body, the seasoned thug forced himself up onto one knee, shaking with rage as he grabbed his sword back.

"You... little bastard..." Vane wheezed, his breath rattling wet in his chest. "I should’ve snapped your neck right there on the orphanage porch... dragged those brats to the mines on day one..."

"Don’t act like you showed mercy, Vane," Eric said, his voice flat as he took a steady step forward. "I paid back the original debt and every single credit of your compound interest."

"That’s the only reason you lived!" Vane spat, blood flying from his lips. "Damn it... I should’ve killed all of you anyway!"

"Too late for regrets now." Eric’s eyes turned cold. "Die."

Crescent Slash!

SHLICK.

A second blue arc severed the air. Before Vane could lift his sword to parry or draw breath to yell, the blade cut clean through his neck.

His heavy head rolled onto the bloodstained stones with a dull thud, his headless body toppling limp into the dirt right after.

"Coal, kill the hound! I’ll take the snake!" Eric barked.

With Vane dead, the soul tether connecting tamer to beast snapped violently. The spiritual backlash hit both beasts like a hammer. The Ashfang Hound let out a strangled whine, its legs folding as mana thrashed wildly in its channels, while the Frostscale Viper hissed in agony, its icy scales dulling to a dirty gray.

Yet, running on blind survival instinct, both beasts turned to tear Eric apart.

The Frostscale Viper whipped its thick tail like an iron cable, driving a crushing horizontal sweep right toward Eric’s ribs.

Eric sprang upward with fluid balance, planting his boot squarely onto the swinging tail to launch himself into the air. Flipping over the serpent’s broad head, he poured starlight mana down the length of the Wavecaller and drove the ivory tip straight through the back of its skull plate.

CRACK-SQUELCH!

The steel bone punched through, severing the spinal core. The giant serpent twitched once in violent spasms, then went limp.

A few yards away, Coal was putting on an aerial maneuver.

Skystride!

Kicking off pockets of air, Coal banked sharp around the disoriented hound. The dog snapped upward, coughing a sputtering burst of fire, but Coal’s agility made the flames completely useless.

Shadow Talons!

Black blades of shadow mana erupted from Coal’s claws. Dropping in a terminal dive, the crow raked both talons across the hound’s throat, severing its windpipe in one clean pass. The beast dropped to the floor, gave one last kick, and died.

Across the hall, the remaining syndicate thugs saw their second-in-command get decapitated and lost their minds in panic.

"Vane is dead!"

"Run! Get to the vents!"

They sprinted for the emergency blast doors, dropping their weapons in total terror.

PFFT.

Out of nowhere, a small red demon with bat wings and curved horns appeared right in front of the exit corridor.

"Hehehehe~!"

Impy gave a manic giggle, his sharp shark teeth glinting in the light. Moving with easy Captain-rank speed, the Dark Imp blurred from one man to the next, his claws tearing through throats and chests with casual cruelty. Within ten seconds, seven fleeing men lay in a bleeding heap on the ground.

Licking a drop of dark blood from his thumb, Impy laughed like a gremlin and vanished back into purple smoke.

Eric let out a long breath, wiping the monster blood from his blade before glancing up at the roof.

*Coal... remind me to never get on Alena’s bad side,* Eric thought.

*Caw.* Coal bobbed his head in serious agreement from the beam.

On the other side of the warehouse, the boss’s fight had reached its final seconds.

The Boulderhorn Toad was already half-dead. Its throat was torn open by the Mistmane Lion’s bite, while the Ashscale Lizard had roasted its belly into blackened charcoal.

Alena took a step back, her rapier steady as she watched the fog start to thin.

"Dino, blast them now while they are still fighting," she commanded through their bond. "Piki’s illusion will fade in a second."

ROOOAAAR!

The ten-foot Darkspire Drake drew in a massive breath, its black scales expanding as dark mana gathered in its jaw like a swirling void.

FWOOOOOM!

A colossal stream of black dragon breath exploded from Dino’s maw. The beam swallowed the toad, the lion, and the lizard all at once, blasting the three Captain-rank beasts straight across the floor. They slammed into reinforced concrete pillars, their bones broken and their bodies crushed into smoking ruins.

"YOU BITCH! DIE!" the syndicate boss screamed, completely unhinged by the instant loss of his beasts.

The spiritual backlash was tearing his mana channels apart, but forcing every drop of his remaining liquid mana into his muscles, he charged Alena in a suicidal rush, swinging his massive serrated greatsword down with both hands.

This time, Alena didn’t dodge.

She stood her ground, her sword snapping up into a clean high guard.

CLANG!

Dense black mana flared from her blade, stopping the heavy greatsword dead in its tracks. Sparks showered across her breastplate as the boss threw his entire weight into the clash, the veins on his neck bulging as he tried to overpower her with raw brute force.

Alena’s red eyes narrowed with total disgust.

She pressed her free left palm right against the man’s chest.

"Darkness Blast."

BOOM!

At point-blank range, a concentrated ball of dark mana detonated.

The shockwave punched clean through his chest. His ribs, organs, and armor were blasted to pieces, scattering across the concrete floor.

The heavy greatsword clattered noisily against the stone, followed by dead silence throughout the hall.

Alena flicked the blood from her blade and sheathed it with a sharp click.

Glancing at the dying beasts twitching beneath the broken pillars, she gave a flat command:

"Dino, Impy, Piki, finish them off. We’re done here."