Rhaevia did not venture out into the dead zone out of sheer recklessness or a foolish desire to prove her bravery.
She walked away because staying anywhere near the smoking metal wreckage was nothing short of suicidal. The burning transport had already begun attracting the attention of the surrounding Zerg swarms, and within minutes, the entire crash site would transform into a chaotic feeding ground.
To survive, she needed three basic necessities immediately: clean water, secure shelter, and a defensible high-ground position.
Her sharp, analytical gaze swept methodically across the desolate landscape. To the east, the jagged terrain dipped sharply into a narrow, winding valley.
Dark boulders formed a natural defensive barrier around its entrance, while a faint, dark depression in the soil suggested the presence of underground moisture.
"That will do," she murmured quietly to herself.
Rhaevia adjusted her footing and continued forward across the scorched earth.
Behind her, three figures quietly trailed her footsteps through the dust. They were fellow freshmen from the shuttle, terrified and desperate for guidance. One of the boys clutched his bleeding shoulder, wincing with every step as he struggled to keep up with her steady pace.
After several minutes of tense silence, the wounded boy finally couldn’t hold back his confusion.
"Why are you acting like you’ve done this a hundred times before?" he called out, his voice trembling slightly.
Rhaevia stopped in her tracks and slowly glanced over her shoulder.
The three students immediately froze under her cold, unblinking gaze, suddenly feeling absurdly nervous in front of the girl everyone had called trash.
"I’ve never seen anyone remain this calm after a transport crash," the wounded boy pressed on, clutching his arm tighter. "You knew the Zergs were coming before the alarms even sounded, you knew exactly where to run, and even now, you’re looking for something specific."
Rhaevia studied his terrified face for a few long seconds, assessing his physical condition.
"Keep your voice down," she replied flatly, turning her back on them without further explanation.
The boy exchanged a bewildered, helpless glance with his companions. Before he could open his mouth to demand a real answer, a sharp noise shattered the quiet air.
CRACK!
The sound of shattering rock echoed through the canyon, and every single student froze in absolute terror.
A monstrous creature slowly stepped out from behind a jagged obsidian boulder. It was significantly larger than the Zerg they had encountered near the shuttle wreckage, its heavy body covered in thick, mutated armor plates.
Six jointed limbs dug deep into the soil as six crimson eyes locked onto the four humans. A low, guttural growl reverberated through the narrow valley, vibrating in their chests.
The three students couldn’t move a single muscle, paralyzed by pure instinct. Their minds screamed at them to run for their lives, but their legs completely refused to obey.
The beast crouched and lunged forward with terrifying velocity.
Rhaevia’s eyes narrowed instantly into slits. She knew the reality of her physical limits. Her current host body was fragile and severely malnourished, rated at a pathetic E-rank.
Her underconditioned muscles couldn’t support the overwhelming physical strength she had possessed as a military commander in her previous life. However, real combat had never been solely about brute strength.
It was about split-second timing, precise spatial awareness, and predicting exactly where an enemy would strike before its muscles even contracted.
Rhaevia’s gaze flickered toward the monster’s blind spot on its right flank. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a sharp, broken piece of shuttle hull half-buried in the dirt. Her hand closed tightly around the jagged fragment of metal.
The mutated beast charged, its razor-sharp mandibles snapping shut.
Rhaevia didn’t retreat an inch. Instead, she took a decisive step forward directly into the path of the attack. At the ultimate fraction of a second, she twisted her torso sideways with fluid precision.
The creature’s massive claws tore through empty air, missing her by millimeters. Rhaevia slipped smoothly beneath its strike, using the beast’s own heavy momentum against it as she drove her arm upward.
PFFT!
The jagged piece of metal drove deep beneath the creature’s armored jaw, piercing straight into its soft throat.
The beast convulsed violently, thrashing its heavy limbs as dark blood gushed over the dry soil. Rhaevia immediately released the metal shard and stepped backward out of reach.
With a heavy, dull thud, the mutated Zerg collapsed onto the ground and went completely still.
An overwhelming silence descended upon the valley. The three students stared in utter disbelief at the massive corpse, and then at the slender girl standing over it.
Rhaevia calmly crouched beside the dead creature, wiping a smudge of dirt from her cheek. As she looked closer, her calm expression subtly shifted.
"That’s strange," she muttered.
"What is it?" the wounded student whispered, his voice trembling as he carefully approached.
Rhaevia ignored his question entirely, using her blade fragment to pry open the creature’s thick chest cavity. Deep beneath its mutated flesh, something was pulsating with a rhythmic glow.
It was an energy core, but it looked horribly corrupted. The core pulsed irregularly, casting a dark, red-black light across her face that felt utterly unnatural.
Rhaevia’s eyes narrowed into cold steel. "This isn’t an ordinary biological mutation."
Far above the planet’s atmosphere, a long-range military surveillance satellite captured every detail of the brief encounter. The high-definition feed was instantly transmitted to the central tactical screen of the imperial flagship Veyr.
Major General Raevor Veyr watched silently as the slender girl stood victoriously over the dead beast.
His aide stared at the playback recording in absolute shock, his mouth hanging open. "Major General... do you know who she is?"
Raevor’s dark eyes narrowed, his gaze fixed intently on Rhaevia’s calm demeanor on the screen. "No."
A heavy pause settled over the command bridge.
"But she is certainly no E-rank," Raevor added, his voice low and commanding.
Why do I feel a sense of familiarity with her? Have I seen her before?