Free Web NovelChapter 154: Greed
Hide stood completely still, his blue eyes locked onto the churning, bruised-purple heavens. The majestic, luminescent blue dragon continued its slow, anti-gravitational coil around the central typhoon, its massive golden eyes already looking past them as if they were nothing more than insignificant insects.
Hide stared at it in a daze. And the sight didn’t fill him with terror or shock, but greed.
’I want it,’ Hide thought, the dark whisper echoing in the back of his mind. To kill a dragon of the sky and turn it into a phantom—to wield that apocalyptic storm as his own weapon. It was an insane, suicidal notion, but the desire was undeniably there.
CRACK!
A chunk of magically dense hail the size of a tennis ball bypassed his guard, striking the bedrock and ricocheting directly into his face and shattered his trance, bringing him back to reality.
Hide winced, recoiling backward into the shallow recess of the rocky overhang to avoid the continuous, punishing downpour.
This was no time to daydream about hunting dragons. It wasn’t safe here. The steep incline of the mountain stretched high above them, disappearing into the storm clouds.
Hide looked away from the sky and glanced down at his team.
Gideon, Sora, and Rol were still completely incapacitated, their bodies trembling violently as their minds remained trapped in the hyper-realistic hallucination of their own brutal deaths.
Hie had no idea how, but her talents had somehow allowed her to resist the dragon’s psychic intrusion.
Seeing her squad writhing in agony. She raised her hand, her silver mana flaring brilliantly against the darkness of the storm.
"Come forth, Raiko!" Evelyn commanded.
A massive, intricate summoning circle of pure white light erupted onto the freezing bedrock. From the glowing epicenter, a colossal beast materialized. It was a magnificent, heavily armored tiger, its fur a pristine, glowing white striped with crackling bands of golden electricity. The Shikigami possessed an aura of pure, untainted life force that immediately pushed back the oppressive, suffocating atmosphere of the gate.
The massive tiger planted its heavy paws onto the stone, threw its head back, and let out a deafening roar.
Unlike the dragon’s, death-bringing scream, the tiger’s roar was a physical wave of warm, restorative vitality. The golden soundwave washed over the overhang, violently shattering the psychic residue infesting the team’s minds.
Gideon gasped loudly, his eyes flying open as he greedily sucked in the freezing air, his chest heaving as if he had just breached the surface of a deep ocean.
Sora let out a ragged sob, dropping her hands from her head, while Rol violently coughed, rolling onto his side and spitting a mouthful of saliva onto the stone.
"Get up," Hide ordered, his voice cutting through the howling wind. He didn’t offer them a moment of comfort. "We cannot stay here. If a beast rolls down from the peak, this overhang will become our grave."
Gideon wiped the cold sweat from his face, forcing his massive, trembling legs to push himself upright. "Right... right. Move out."
The gate didn’t have many beasts left in this specific place, which gave them a precious, fleeting window of opportunity to advance before the storm intensified.
"I’ll take point," Evelyn declared, her voice steady as her massive tiger Shikigami flanked her.
She stepped out from the safety of the rocky crag, bracing herself against the torrential rain. But the moment her boot touched the exposed incline, a terrifying, grinding rumble echoed from the darkness directly above her.
Hide’s head snapped up. Plummeting down the face of the mountain at terrifying speed was the massive, lifeless corpse of a Mountain Roller. It had been killed higher up, its armored, spherical body accelerating until it was essentially a falling meteor aimed directly at Evelyn’s head.
It was close. Far too close. Evelyn’s eyes widened in horror, her body freezing as the shadow of the falling boulder engulfed her.
Before the corpse could crush her, the space directly in front of Evelyn violently warped. A thick, inky mist of absolute darkness exploded outward. From the center of the pitch-black fog, a towering, colossal silhouette stepped forward.
Aegis.
The phantom planted its massive, dark-iron boots into the bedrock, raised both of its colossal gauntlets, and caught the falling beast.
BOOM!
The impact was deafening, cracking the solid stone beneath Aegis’s feet, but the phantom didn’t buckle. It didn’t even take a single step backward.
Hide stood casually a few feet away, his glowing blue eyes fixed on his summon. "Break it open," Hide ordered in hiss mind. "and take the core."
Aegis didn’t hesitate. The phantom’s massive fingers dug deep into the calcified rock armor of the beast’s corpse. With a sickening, grating crunch, Aegis violently ripped the beast in half, plunging a gauntlet into the center of the mess and pulling out a glowing, muddy-brown core. The phantom silently turned and handed the crystal to Hide.
Hide slipped it into his inventory, glancing to his left. Gideon was standing frozen in a half-lunge, his brown mana already gathered around his arms. The giant warrior had been ready to jump in and save Evelyn, but he had stopped dead the moment Aegis materialized.
Gideon stared at the towering phantom, his jaw slack with pure awe. He was a pure physical combatant, but the sheer, monstrous strength radiating from Aegis made Gideon feel incredibly small. Aegis had recently reached level twenty, and its Anchor Rank had evolved from D to C. That evolution had fundamentally altered its density, making the phantom physically stronger than any human Hide had ever fought, save for James Maddox or Claire.
"Keep your eyes open," Hide muttered, dismissing Aegis back. "The mountain isn’t empty."
The squad pushed higher, their boots slipping against the wet, freezing stone as they navigated a narrow, winding path between two massive rock formations. The wind howled relentlessly.
Sora was bringing up the rear, constantly checking their blind spots. But the noise of the storm masked the subtle shifting of the rocks behind her.
A massive reptile erupted from a hidden crevice directly behind Sora’s back. It possessed a back coated in diamond-like crystalline scales, and its muscular limbs ended in razor-sharp talons. It opened its venomous maw, lunging straight for her neck.
Sora heard the hiss, but she couldn’t turn fast enough.
Hide used Phantom Step and he instantly materialized directly behind Sora.
His left hand shot out as he caught the leaping reptile right by its thick, scaly throat.
As Hide gripped the thrashing beast, his eyes narrowed. Through the rain, he noticed deep lacerations already bleeding across the creature’s diamond-scaled back. It was already heavily injured, fleeing from something else. Hide didn’t care. He tightened his grip, channeled his superhuman strength, and violently crushed the beast’s windpipe and skull. freewёbnoνel.com
[Calamity Beast (Low-Gror) - Eliminated]
Experience Points gained - 300
He tossed the limp corpse onto the rocks just as the sound of skidding boots echoed from the right. freewebnoveℓ.com
A figure slid around the rocky outcropping, completely out of breath, and stopped awkwardly a few meters away, staring directly at the dead reptile at Hide’s feet.
It was a guy. Short, messy grey hair clung to his wet forehead, framing sharp, angry eyes.
He stared at the dead beast, then at Hide. His face contorted into a fierce scowl as he immediately pivoted on his heel, preparing to run away.
Hide didn’t let him. Using Phantom Step a second time, his body blurring into darkness. In the blink of an eye, he reappeared directly in his path, completely blocking the escape route.
The person skidded to a halt, nearly crashing into his chest. he gritted his teeth, glaring up at his glowing blue eyes with absolute defiance.
"That beast was my kill!" He revolted, voice harsh and raspy.
Hide stared down at him and he felt as though there was a mistake here. He gave a lazy, dismissive shrug. "So you say that I should have just let it attack my friend? That is a bad notion."
The guy scoffed. He aggressively wiped a few wet strands of grey hair out of his eyes, raised his hand, and boldly flicked a middle finger. "Fuck you."
He immediately tried to sidestep him and bolt into the storm.
Hide’s arm shot out like a striking viper. He caught him firmly by the shoulder and violently slammed the guy’s back against the flat face of the mountain rock, pinning him in place.
By then, Sora had recovered from the ambush and sprinted over, her daggers raised and ready for a fight.
Pinned against the freezing stone, the girl shrieked, struggling frantically against his unbreakable hold. "What are you doing, you pervert?!"
Hide’s stoic, deadpan expression didn’t change a single fraction. He just stared at her, his brow furrowing slightly. He slowly lowered his gaze, looking at the completely flat, non-existent curve of her chest.
"So you are a girl," Hide said, his voice completely devoid of emotion. He now knew what he was presuming wrong. "I was thinking you were a guy."
