Time seemed to slow to a crawl in Donald’s vision.
The cavern was a deadly web of glowing yellow lines and pulsing red circles. Ten steel-tipped crossbow bolts cut through the damp air from the left. From the right, the front wave of the Iron-Scale Centipede swarm launched themselves, their mandibles snapping violently.
Donald didn’t panic. With his 39 Speed and upgraded [Valuation Eye], his brain processed the trajectories like a high-speed stock ticker. He couldn’t block everything, but he didn’t need to. He just needed to control the angles.
He dropped to one knee, turning his body into a heavy anchor. He raised his left arm, flaring the [Aura of the Vanguard] into a slanted, invisible ramp. He brought his right arm up, crossing the massive, thirty-pound steel barrel of the Type-3 Pile Bunker over his chest like a barricade.
CLANG! THWACK! KRACK!
Sparks filled the dark cavern. Four crossbow bolts shattered against his angled Vanguard shield, harmlessly deflecting into the ceiling. Two unstable fireballs slammed directly into the B-Rank metal of his Pile Bunker. The explosion washed over him, but the dense military-grade steel absorbed the kinetic shock and dispersed the heat.
From behind his shoulder, Evelyn moved.
She didn’t cower behind his shield. She used the space he created. As the first three centipedes sailed over Donald’s head, aiming for his blind spots, Evelyn’s Bloodhound’s Fang became a blur of crimson light.
Shhhk. Shhhk. Shhhk.
She didn’t use wide, sweeping slashes. She used sharp, precise flicks of her wrist, letting the perfectly balanced blade do the work. The centipedes were sliced perfectly in half mid-air, their dark blood splattering the stone floor before their bodies even landed.
"They’re reloading!" Donald yelled over the deafening hiss of the swarm. "Evelyn, take the bugs! I’ll break the firing line!"
"Don’t die, Investor!" Evelyn shouted back, already pivoting to face the chittering tidal wave of black armor.
Donald stood up. His [Valuation Eye] scanned the thirty thugs reloading their crossbows across the narrow gorge. Charging straight at them would mean running through a hail of steel. He needed leverage. He needed an unfair advantage.
He looked up.
The glowing red lines of his environmental analysis lit up the cavern ceiling. Directly above the Iron Dog thugs, a massive, jagged stalagmite hung over the gorge. The System highlighted a severe structural fracture at its base, glowing bright crimson.
Donald didn’t run at the thugs. He ran at the wall.
Tapping into his C-Rank mobility, he yelled, "[Bull Rush]!"
His boots cracked the stone floor as he launched himself diagonally toward the cavern wall nearest to the gang. He didn’t slow down. Using the explosive momentum, he ran two steps up the vertical cave wall, defying gravity for a split second, bringing himself level with the fractured base of the hanging stalagmite.
He thrust his right arm forward, slamming the flat barrel of the Pile Bunker directly onto the glowing red structural weakness.
He pulled the trigger.
BOOM!
The explosive silver spike fired with a deafening roar. The immense kinetic payload bypassed armor and struck raw stone. The cave shook violently. A deep, echoing CRACK ripped through the cavern as the structural base shattered completely.
"Look out!" one of the thugs screamed, pointing up.
It was too late.
Dozens of tons of jagged rock and glowing ore collapsed from the ceiling, raining directly down onto the Iron Dog firing line. The front line of thugs was crushed instantly under massive boulders. The remaining gang members scattered in blind terror as a thick cloud of dust and debris choked the tunnel.
But Donald’s chaotic maneuver accomplished something even better.
The centipede swarm was driven by the smell of blood. With ten thugs suddenly crushed to death, a massive pool of fresh blood flooded the left side of the gorge.
The mindless monsters instantly changed targets. Ignoring Evelyn, half the swarm crawled straight over the walls and rushed into the dust cloud to feast on the screaming gang members. The ambush had dissolved into a chaotic, three-way massacre.
On the right side of the gorge, Evelyn was putting on a masterclass in violence.
She used the narrow bottleneck of the tunnel to funnel the remaining centipedes. She moved with fluid, balletic grace, entirely too fast for the D-Rank insects. The Bloodhound’s Fang drank the ambient blood spilling onto the floor, causing the crimson blade to literally extend its reach with a glowing aura of red energy. She spun, ducked, and slashed, turning the tunnel into a meat grinder. The monsters couldn’t even touch her.
Donald landed heavily on his feet as the dust settled around the crushed stalagmite.
Out of the smoke, a figure lunged at him. It was the Iron Dog Lieutenant. His face-plate was dented, and he was bleeding from a deep cut on his forehead, but his eyes were filled with murderous rage. He raised a glowing, enchanted crossbow, aiming point-blank at Donald’s chest.
Donald’s eyes flashed.
[Target: Iron Dog Lieutenant (D+ Rank, Level 10)]
[Class: Rogue (Crossbow Specialist)]
A bright yellow trajectory line snapped perfectly into Donald’s vision.
The Lieutenant pulled the trigger.
Donald didn’t raise his shield. He simply tilted his torso two inches to the right. The heavy, enchanted bolt whistled past his chest, slicing a thin line through the fabric of his new trench coat, but missing his flesh entirely.
The Lieutenant’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief. "How—"
Donald didn’t let him finish. He stepped into the man’s guard, dropping his center of gravity. He used his left hand to grab the front of the Lieutenant’s rusted armor, pulling the man off balance.
With his 39 Strength, Donald hoisted the Level 10 Awakener completely off the ground. He spun and slammed the Lieutenant brutally onto the solid stone floor. The impact knocked the breath from the man’s lungs in a violent wheeze.
Before the Lieutenant could even reach for the dagger on his belt, Donald brought the heavy metal heel of his boot down onto the man’s wrist, pinning it to the floor with a sickening crunch.
Donald aimed the barrel of the Type-3 Pile Bunker directly at the Lieutenant’s face. The weapon hissed, releasing a cloud of hot steam.
"Tell Silas his bounty is canceled," Donald said, his voice cold and echoing in the chaotic cavern.
The remaining thugs, seeing their leader pinned and the centipedes eating their friends, broke completely. They dropped their weapons and scrambled back up the tunnel toward the surface, screaming in terror.
Behind Donald, the wet sounds of slicing meat stopped.
He looked back. Evelyn stood in the center of a pile of dozens of dead centipedes. Her breathing was steady, her dark hair stuck to her sweating face. The crimson sword in her hand was glowing incredibly bright, completely saturated with the blood of the swarm.
[Massive Experience Gained.]
They had broken the box. They had survived.
But as the dust began to clear and the screams of the fleeing thugs faded into the upper tunnels, Donald’s [Lesser Mana Perception] flared so violently it felt like a burning needle in his brain.
From the dark tunnel the thugs had just fled into, a new, massive presence stepped forward. The heavy, rhythmic sound of metal boots striking stone echoed through the cavern, accompanied by a suffocating, dense kinetic pressure that made the air itself feel heavy.
Evelyn’s eyes widened. She raised her sword, stepping quickly to Donald’s side.
"That’s not a common street thug," Evelyn whispered, her voice tightening. "That’s a C-Rank aura."