More cuts appeared in the tent’s fabric. The black figures coordinated their attacks, creating strategic openings that allowed more Stalkers to enter.
“Maintain formation!” Zhao ordered his auxiliaries while another feather flew from his hand.
The auxiliaries reduced the circle further… Zhao felt confusion pierce through his battle focus for a moment.
Were there fewer students than before?
He dismissed the thought, he had enough on his mind dealing with each Shadow Stalker that breached their perimeter. Every second brought new threats that demanded his immediate attention.
Zhao hadn’t been lying, this was his territory.
The Mist Owl’s abilities were perfectly adapted for night combat.
In this zone, he could move freely even during the medusas’ hunting hours, he could fly far faster than they could and was capable of distinguishing them perfectly in the darkness.
His enhanced vision turned their greatest advantage into nothing.
A single silver feather was enough to kill a Shadow Stalker, but even with this lethal advantage, he couldn’t eliminate such a massive swarm quickly enough to protect a big group all night…
There were simply too many, their numbers seeming endless.
‘This doesn’t make sense,’ he thought while eliminating ten more with precise strikes. Shadow Stalkers were exclusive to this region of the habitable world. No one had managed to obtain a Shadow Stalker from an egg in Yano, and even if they had…
A medusa nearly reached a student. Zhao’s feather pierced it just in time, the creature falling dead before it could touch its prey.
‘The control over them… it shouldn’t be possible.’
Even having a contract from an egg wouldn’t necessarily explain such mastery over these creatures. Luna couldn’t control wolves despite having a powerful shadow one, for example…
Yet the Stalkers moved with purpose, coordinated in a way that defied their very nature.
Another section of the tent gave way.
The attackers pressed from all directions, their distorted forms suggesting something more than simple manifested beasts. Their movements carried an unnatural fluidity that spoke of powers beyond normal cultivation.
‘Abyssals,’ the thought made his feathers vibrate with recognition. The corrupted creatures that dwelled beyond known depths and emerged in controlled hordes.
But making a contract with one of them…
“Professor!” an auxiliary’s cry pulled him from his thoughts. More cuts appeared as the tent began failing at multiple points, their protection crumbling piece by piece.
The students clustered in the center, forming an ever-shrinking circle of frightened faces and manifesting beasts.
Zhao launched another feather, the silver metal gleaming with medusa blood. He was fast, he was lethal, he was the Hunter of Yano. But even he had limits, and tonight they were pushing him beyond them.
‘How?’ he wondered while eliminating another wave. ‘How did they manage to contract with an Abyssal? What are they willing to sacrifice for this power?’
The medusas flooded the tent through dozens of cuts. Zhao’s silver feathers flashed ceaselessly, each strike finding its mark with deadly precision.
The attackers’ leader released a satisfied laugh from outside when Zhao began running low on feathers. His triumph was palpable.
“It’s over, Zhao. Not even you can…”
Zhao launched his last feathers, striking even the attackers cutting the tent who were now more visible, eliminating another enemy with lethal efficiency.
The movement created a moment of vulnerability that the medusas rushed to exploit, surging toward Zhao…
Exactly as he had planned.
The silver feathers illuminated, vibrated, then shot back, returning to their master in an instant.
In a flash of impossibly fast movement, the feathers fired out again, now backwards before reattaching to their owner’s wings. Dozens of Stalkers fell simultaneously, their lifeless bodies hitting the ground in a macabre rain.
“Damn you…!” the leader lost his composure at seeing they were back where they started with one less person.
“Everyone, attack! I don’t care if the heirs survive anymore!”
The black figures began moving in concert with the medusa avalanche, their coordinated assault promising swift death.
“Professor!” Ren’s cry cut through the chaos. “The supports! Destroy the tent supports!”
Zhao wanted to demand why the boy wasn’t hidden where he’d left him…
But he didn’t hesitate.
His feathers found the structural points with surgical precision. The enormous fabric roof began collapsing on all of them, creating a moment of perfect chaos.
The attackers retreated instinctively.
“Fools!” the leader roared as the tent fell. “You’ve buried yourselves alive!”
When the tent collapsed completely over them, the leader decided they didn’t need to remove it, they could eliminate their targets right where they lay, blind and helpless.
“Attack the tent!”
The fire-wielding attacker from the enemy didn’t wait for further orders. His flames began devouring the fallen fabric while his companions struck with other invocation powers or their blades.
“Let them cook for a moment,” the leader smiled beneath his mask. “The smoke will make our work easier.”
The flames spread rapidly across the treated fabric. The attackers waited to hear screams of terror, pleas for help…
But there was only silence.
“What…?” The leader advanced when the flames finished their work and revealed the interior.
Where there should have been fifty trapped and burned students, there was only disturbed earth and a covered hole.
“Impossible,” he whispered as understanding dawned. “They’ve been digging this whole time.”
Then an explosion launched feathers everywhere, striking the attackers once more.
♢♢♢♢
Moments before…
Ren crawled out of the office, covered in the Shadow Stalker skins he’d collected.
He’d decided to wrap himself in them again when the professor rushed out and he understood the situation.
The battle chaos above provided perfect cover for his movement.
‘Sorry, professor,’ he thought while moving through the shadows, ‘but I can’t stay still when I can help my friends.’
He found Taro among the group of students. Min was with him, both manifesting their beasts against the imminent threat.
“Taro,” Ren whispered, making his friend jump in surprise. “I need you to use your digger beetle and… dig. Now.”
“Ren? What…?”
“Your beetle can go through compact earth very quickly, hurry,” Ren explained while another Stalker fell, pierced by Zhao’s silver feather. “We need cover.”
Taro understood immediately, a trench. His beetle manifested fully, its pincers beginning to work the ground while Min kept watch.
The sound of digging attracted nearby students’ attention. A boy with a mole-type beast joined without hesitation. Then a girl whose rock beast also had a facility for digging.
Soon, several students combined their efforts.
Above, Zhao continued his impossible battle. His feathers flashed in the darkness, finding target after target, but the Stalkers kept entering through the increasingly numerous cuts.
“Deeper,” Ren urged as the hole took shape.