Chapter 86: S-Rank Cataclysm-level Threat

The world dissolved into a scream of twisted space and blinding blue light. For Tia, the ninety-second channel had felt like an eternity of agony watching her comrades fall one by one, seeing Resmond’s final, sacrificial act, feeling the searing gaze of the galactic-eyed serpent burning into her soul.The pull of the teleportation was violent, yanking her through a void that seemed to resent her escape.

With a final, bone-jarring THUMP and the sound of shattering crystal, reality slammed back into place. The acrid scents of blood and ozone were replaced by the sterile smell of antiseptic, stone, and oiled metal. The chaotic roar of battle gave way to a sudden, ringing silence, broken by alarmed shouts.

They were in the Forward Outpost’s Secure Receiving Chamber—a small, circular room of reinforced stone, etched with concentric circles of teleportation-stabilizing runes that now smoked and flickered, spent.

Tia collapsed to her knees, vomit rising in her throat as spatial dislocation wracked her body. Beside her, Tama hit the cold floor with a limp, unmoving thud, the cracked and blackened Emergency Recall Beacon clattering from her slack fingers.

"By the gods—an emergency recall!" a guard’s voice, sharp with protocol-driven alarm, cut through Tia’s disorientation.

Boots clattered on stone. Two guards in the polished steel and blue tabards of the Solaria Royal Guild rushed into the chamber, halberds held at ready positions, their eyes wide. Their training warred with their shock—emergency recalls were rare, and almost never from a team of this caliber.

The senior guard, a veteran with a scar across his jaw named Arlen, took in the scene: two women, one retching and trembling, the other unconscious and pale. The spent, cracked artefact. The absolute absence of anyone else. His face hardened.

"Medic! NOW!" he bellowed over his shoulder, before kneeling beside Tia, his voice dropping to a firm, urgent tone. "Vice-Guild Master Tia. Report. What happened? Where is the rest of the suppression team? Where is Sir Resmond?"

Tia forced her head up, wiping her mouth with the back of a trembling, soot-stained hand. Her green hair was matted with sweat and grime, her eyes hollow with trauma, but a flicker of steel, the core of her duty, reignited within them.

"No time," she rasped, her voice raw. "Listen. Priority Black communique to Chief Koff. Immediate. Face-to-face or secure crystal only. Tell him... tell him the Red Cross Vanguard is confirmed lost. The suppression team is... gone. Ken, Silas, Max, Adel... all of them. Resmond is fallen." The words felt like glass in her throat.

The other guard, a younger man, paled dramatically. "All... all of them?"

Arlen’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t flinch. "What did this? A Dungeon Lord outbreak? A hive collapse?"

Tia gripped his vambrace, her fingers ice-cold. "Worse. New threat. Sentient. Coordinated. Multiple species working as one party. A serpent... with a crown. A void panther, a solar drake, a psychic spider. They use tools. Tactics. Potions." She spoke in frantic, clipped bursts, each fact a vital piece of intelligence. "They are not monsters. They are a rival force. They slaughtered A-ranks like... like nothing. They must be classified as an S-Rank Cataclysm-level threat. The Chief must know. Now! Before they... before they decide to come up."

The sheer, paradigm-shattering horror of her message finally broke through Arlen’s professional composure. His eyes widened. S-Rank. Cataclysm. Terms used for natural disasters and Demon Lord incursions.

He shot to his feet. "You heard her! Activate Priority Black! Wake the Chief, whatever he’s doing! You!" He pointed to the younger guard who had just returned with two medics carrying a stretcher. "Get the Vice-Guild Master and the Arcanist to the infirmary. Full guard detail on the door. No one in or out without my or the Chief’s direct order. Their survival is state secret level. GO!"

Chaos erupted, but it was the disciplined chaos of a military outpost snapping into highest alert. As the medics gently but swiftly lifted the unconscious Tama onto the stretcher and helped a swaying Tia to her feet, Arlen was already at the chamber’s communication console, his voice low and urgent as he coded in the direct line to Chief Koff’s private quarters in the guild headquarters far above.

In the sterile white of the outpost infirmary, Tia finally allowed herself to be lowered onto a cot. She watched as priests of light and alchemical healers swarmed around Tama, their hands glowing as they worked to stabilize her mana depletion and physical trauma. The gentle hum of healing magic filled the room, a stark, peaceful contrast to the hell she had just escaped.

-----Back in the dungeon-----

The silence in the fungal forest clearing was absolute, save for the occasional crackle of dying embers and the steady, wet sounds of consumption. With the immediate threat gone, Adam turned to the grim but necessary task. The bodies of the fallen adventurers were not just corpses; they were repositories of power and resources.

"Strip them of everything useful," Adam commanded, his voice a low rumble. "Weapons, armor, potions, anything enchanted. Alice, into the Void Locker."

As his companions set to work with a practiced, if somber, efficiency—Ignis using careful bursts of flame to melt stubborn straps, Lilith precisely cutting with her silk, Alice phasing items directly into storage—Adam began to feed.

He started with Resmond. The knight’s body, even broken and parasite-ravaged, still thrummed with a dense, sanctified energy. As Adam consumed him, the system chimed.

[ Skill Fragment Acquired: Radiant Dawn’s Core - 1.0/1.0 - COMPLETE ]

[ Passive Skill Generated: Aegis of the Dawn. Grants moderate resistance to holy/unholy damage and provides a minor regenerative effect in direct sunlight or under strong light sources.]

’A holy defense... useful against future human paladins or priests,’ Adam mused.

Next was Derek, the ranger. His essence carried the focus and precision of a thousand loosed arrows.

[ Skill Fragment Acquired: Sniper’s Trueshot - 1.0/1.0 - COMPLETE ]

[ Passive Skill Generated: Deadeye. Greatly increases accuracy and critical hit chance for all ranged attacks. Minor perception boost against distant targets.]

Adel, the lightning-swift swordswoman, came next. Her essence crackled with furious, voltaic power.

[ Skill Fragment Acquired: Lightning Weave Technique - 1.0/1.0 - COMPLETE ]

[ Passive Skill Generated: Lightning Reflexes. Significantly increases reaction speed and agility. Grants a chance to deliver a minor shock on melee contact.]

Finally, from Jeff the rogue and the other agile fighters, he absorbed the essence of their evasive prowess.

[ Skill Fragment Acquired: Phantom Rush - 1.0/1.0 - COMPLETE ]

[ Passive Skill Generated: Flow of the Gale. Increases overall movement speed and reduces stamina/mana cost for short-distance movement skills.]

But the true evolution came next. As the Lightning Weave Technique settled into his being, it resonated with the existing, storm-aspected power within him. The violent, cutting winds of Stormrend and the furious, chain-like electricity of the new fragment began to swirl and merge in his core, seeking a more potent, unified expression.

Similarly, the Phantom Rush fragment, all about blurred speed and afterimages, intertwined with the short-range teleportation dashes of Phantom Onslaught.

Two brilliant flashes of insight, facilitated by his Celestial Calculus, erupted in his mind.

[ Composite Skill Formation Detected... ]

[ Synergy Found: Stormrend (Lvl 4) + Lightning Weave Technique (Complete) ]

[ New Composite Active Skill Generated: Tempest Fangs (Lvl 1) ]

[ Unleashes multiple, simultaneous lances of concentrated wind and lightning that seek targets. Each lance carries armor-piercing and paralyzing properties. High Mana Cost.]

[ Composite Skill Formation Detected... ]

[ Synergy Found: Phantom Onslaught (Lvl 4) + Phantom Rush (Complete) ]

[ New Composite Active Skill Generated: Mirage Cascade (Lvl 1) ]

[ Perform a series of four ultra-fast teleportation dashes in quick succession. Leaves behind persistent, taunting afterimages that can distract and confuse enemies for a short duration. Moderate Mana Cost.]