Chapter 1154: The Calm Before the Storm

After getting a good look at the lineup camped at the exit, Ethan quietly retreated.

Back at the original spot, the Silverfox Squad had slipped back into hiding. Chris and the rest of the Fallen Star Squad were waiting where he’d left them.

The moment they saw Ethan return, everyone came to meet him.

"How is it, Ethan? Can we get out?" Chris asked.

Ethan shook his head, clearly frustrated. "Not anytime soon, no."

The mood instantly dropped.

"They stacked the place?" Chris pressed.

"More than stacked," Ethan said grimly. "One Tier 11. Over a dozen Tier 10s. And at least a hundred Tier 9s. Maybe more."

Dead silence.

"...Yeah, no. We’re not getting out of here," someone muttered with a bitter laugh.

That kind of force would absolutely obliterate them. No contest.

But just then, a sharp light flashed in Ethan’s eyes. "If they won’t

let

us leave... we’ll find a way to

make

them."

Chris blinked. "You’ve got a plan?"

"Nope," Ethan said flatly, shaking his head. "Not even a little."

"That kind of lineup?" He rubbed his temples. "Only thing that might help is what I pulled last night—stealth attacks. Chipping away at their numbers, slow and careful."

"But that only works on Tier 9 Titan Apes or below. Anything Tier 10 and up... forget it. I can’t one-shot them. Not yet."

"Then what if we pulled one of the Tier 10s out somehow?" Chris suggested quietly. "Separate it from the rest?"

"They stick together," Ethan said immediately. "The Tier 10s are all grouped up. You try pulling one, you’ll get the entire damn nest charging in. And they’re smarter than they look. They’re not gonna fall for cheap bait."

"I might have an idea," Sean chimed in suddenly.

Everyone turned to him. "Let’s hear it."

"Didn’t you say Titan Apes and Ironback Rats are enemies? What if we kill a few Ironback Rats, take their bodies, drag the scent over to the Apes’ camp, stir up some bad blood? Let ’em duke it out while we slip through."

That actually made a few people perk up. Now

that

sounded promising.

But Ethan sighed. "Not gonna work. Those two factions aren’t dumb. They can communicate. You stir things up without a

real

reason and they might start coordinating instead of fighting. If we push them into ’common enemy’ mode, we’re toast."

"Ah. Good point."

"Which means..." Garrick muttered, "we wait it out. Focus on strengthening ourselves. If we all hit peak Tier 9 and manage to reach Tier 10 by drawing mysterious energy from the stars, we’ll actually have the power to punch through."

Ethan gave a dry chuckle. "I wish it were that simple. The mysterious energy here is pathetic. At night, the Nine-Star Dipper barely even shows up. You want to reach Tier 10 from training in this world? Might take months. Years."

Garrick blinked hard. "Huh. That explains why I didn’t see the Dipper last night..."

"So, Captain, what now?" he asked.

Ethan thought for a second. "Your overall idea is sound. We

do

need to get you all to Tier 10 eventually—but not through training. We’re going to collect Tier 10 crystal cores."

"Titan Apes obviously aren’t an option—too many, too tight, way too dangerous. And we don’t know the other regions well enough to wander, or we risk running into something even worse."

"That leaves us with one target—the Ironback Rats."

Sean laughed. "Full circle, huh? Back to the rats."

"We really don’t have a choice," Chris added. "They’re the only ones we

might

be able to take."

Ethan sighed. "Don’t kid yourselves. Those rats aren’t pushovers either. You think they look weak, but even the Bloodfang Wolves avoided their territory. Even those arrogant Titan Apes chased prey until the rats showed up—then turned right back around."

"That means something."

"Maybe the rats don’t

like

to fight, but that doesn’t mean they

can’t.

"If we had any other options, I wouldn’t even

think

about messing with them."

He cut off the conversation there and waved his hand. "Alright. Let’s move. We need to find a safe place to regroup and push everyone to peak Tier 9 first."

"Got it," the team echoed back.

They departed together, disappearing between the trees once more.

As for the Silverfox Squad?

Ethan didn’t look back.

They’d made their decision—clearly didn’t want to come along—and he wasn’t about to drag them.

Emily didn’t push, either. She’d tried. She’d offered. If they didn’t want help, that was on them.

If things went well and the Fallen Star Squad managed to clear out the Titan Apes at the exit, they’d leave a path open behind them.

Whether those Silverfox stragglers could hold out long enough to escape through it?

That was their problem now.

In the distance, high up in the trees, Rachel watched with a complicated expression as Ethan and the Fallen Star Squad disappeared into the forest.

Who wouldn’t want personal protection from a team like that?

But deep down, she was more afraid of becoming cannon fodder.

They didn’t owe her squad anything. In a real fight, when things turned deadly, who was going to stick their neck out for people they barely knew? The Fallen Star Squad had the strength—and the speed—to cut and run. The Silverfox Squad? They’d be the ones dragged down and torn apart.

"Don’t beat yourself up over it," someone next to her murmured. "Staying here was the right call. You ask me, they’re nuts—running around a place like this, like they’re in a damn park. We follow them? We’d be corpses by sundown."

"Don’t underestimate them," Rachel replied softly. "Fallen Star Squad isn’t just lucky. They’ve clearly got something special, to be that strong with so few people. But yeah... we’re not cut out to follow them. Let’s just stay low and stay alive."

...

Meanwhile, Ethan and his group had found a secluded spot deep in the trees.

Without a word, Ethan started pulling Bloodfang Wolf corpses out of his spatial ring and tossing them on the ground.

There hadn’t been time to harvest cores during the actual combat—they’d just grabbed what they could mid-fight. Even that had pushed it. Honestly, it was a miracle he’d been able to store this many.

Dozens of bodies dropped in a heap. That was all he had—his ring was full. The space that once felt huge now felt like a tight closet, especially in this world, where everything useful seemed to take up a ridiculous amount of room.

Still, it was enough. More than enough, actually, to get the entire team boosted to peak Tier 9.

Everyone jumped into action, cracking Wolf skulls with practiced hands and pulling the crystal cores free. The glow of energy pulsed in their palms as they absorbed them one by one.

In just a few minutes, every core had been harvested—and every team member had hit peak Tier 9.

Not long ago, they were all still at Tier 8.

Two days. That’s all it took in here for them to skyrocket to the edge of Tier 10. No denying it—this place was a goldmine.

But no matter how good the gains...

If you couldn’t get out?

This place might as well be a tomb.

"Let’s move," Ethan said, standing. "We’re heading to the Ironback Rat zone."

"On it."

The group moved fast, exiting the Titan Ape sector and slipping back into what felt like the safest ground they’d found in the entire forest: Ironback Rat territory.

From what they’d seen, the rats weren’t great at spotting threats.

Small heads. Tiny eyes. Narrow field of vision. Practically blind compared to other beasts. Ethan’s crew had passed through their zone multiple times already, and not

once

had they been spotted.

Short legs. Heavy armor. Slow movers. They didn’t

look

dangerous.

If anything, their land felt like a bubble of peace in a war zone.

Under Ethan’s lead, the group crept past scattered packs of Ironback Rats, sticking to cover and staying out of direct sight.

Finally, after a wide circuit, Ethan signaled everyone to stop.

He’d found the target.

A dense cluster: over a hundred Ironback Rats.

And among them, one unmistakable signature—a Tier 10.

They hunkered quietly in the undergrowth, hidden behind thick bushes, eyes locked on the group ahead.

The rats looked almost comically harmless. One of them stood less than five feet from Goldie’s massive frame, yet didn’t seem to notice.

Even at barely a hundred feet away, even with one of the largest figures in the group partially visible, the rats just kept snuffling around in the grass, poking at the dirt with twitching noses.

Completely unaware.

Ethan narrowed his eyes, quietly assessing.

An entire Tier 10’s worth of power was hidden in this docile herd.

And they had no idea he was watching.