Chapter 321: SSS ranked showings

Chapter 321: SSS ranked showings

The air above the landing pad split open like a wound in reality itself. A dark purple portal tore through the atmosphere, its edges crackling with void energy as red mist poured out like liquid fire. The temperature around Noah dropped ten degrees instantly, and every being on the landing pad felt the primal fear that came with the presence of an apex predator.

Nyx erupted from the portal with a roar that shattered windows in the nearby buildings. The Red Death Dragon’s scales gleamed like molten metal, each breath releasing wisps of crimson vapor that hissed against the air. His wings spread wide enough to cast shadows over half the landing area, and his eyes burned with intelligence and barely contained fury.

The dragon didn’t wait for commands. Noah’s tactical assessment flowed through their bond like shared instinct—not words or thoughts, but pure understanding. The falling pod, the threat it represented, the need for immediate aerial interdiction. Nyx banked hard toward the descending Harbinger vessel, his massive form cutting through Nebular’s atmosphere with deadly grace.

“Holy shit,” one of the EDF soldiers breathed, staring up at the massive dragon. “That’s an actual fucking dragon!”

Sergeant Mills’s voice cut through the chaos. “I don’t care what it is—if it’s fighting those things, it’s on our side! All units, defensive positions!”

‘Six pods total,’ Noah calculated, watching the dark shapes tumbling through Nebular’s atmosphere. ‘Scattered insertion pattern. They’re forcing us to split responses across multiple threat vectors.’

The first pod hit the ground two hundred meters from the landing pad with an impact that sent shock waves through the crystalline surface. The crater it created was easily fifty meters wide, spider-web cracks radiating outward as alien metal began to unfold like a mechanical flower.

Nyx slammed into the second pod mid-descent with the force of a falling meteor. Dragon claws ripped through alien hull plating in showers of sparks and twisted metal, the collision sending both dragon and pod careening toward the ground. Nyx wrapped his massive form around the vessel, using his momentum to drive it earthward in a controlled crash that left a crater stretching nearly three kilometers wide.

‘One threat neutralized before deployment,’ Noah noted with grim satisfaction. ‘Five remaining.’

But the first pod was already opening.

The Harbinger that emerged moved with fluid predatory grace, its bipedal form towering three meters tall. Rhinoceros-like hide covered muscles that bunched and flexed with each movement, and the single horn protruding from its skull caught the light like polished bone. When it turned toward the landing pad, Noah saw intelligence burning in its too-human eyes.

‘Standard scout deployment. Single horn marking it as a scout class. Dangerous but manageable if I can exploit the regeneration weakness.’

With a simple thought, he summoned his weapon. His hand found Excaliburn’s hilt, and the mythic blade materialized in his grip with a whisper of displaced air. Its obsidian surface drank in the light around it, void energy pulsing along the edge like black fire. The weapon’s hunger resonated through the bond between wielder and blade—its desire to cut through anything that dared stand before it.

The Harbinger’s attention locked onto him immediately, its predatory instincts recognizing the threat level he represented. It began moving toward him with measured steps, each footfall cracking the crystalline surface beneath its weight.

“Noah!” Lucas called out, electricity already crackling around his frame. “Multiple contacts incoming! How do you want to handle this?”

Lucas was doing what Beaumont had asked him to do. Though he knew this before hand but different environment meant different pressure. He’d gone as far as putting other lives before himself when all along he saw himself as a necessity.

Now, he was trusting his teammates with responsibilities and speciality. And who was more tactically sound than his buddy, Eclipse?

‘Coordinate defensive positions. Eliminate threats individually rather than letting them mass for a coordinated assault.’

“Air superiority!” Noah called back, his eyes never leaving the approaching Harbinger. “Keep them separated! Diana, establish control zones!”

The creature was fifty meters away now, and Noah could see the calculation in its alien features—sizing him up, looking for weaknesses, preparing to strike. But there was something else there too, something that made Noah’s tactical instincts sharpen.

‘It’s not rushing. Standard pack behavior would be immediate assault to overwhelm defenses. This one is being cautious.’

The Harbinger suddenly exploded into motion, covering the remaining distance in three bounding leaps that left meter-deep craters in the landing pad. Noah had been ready for the charge, but the sheer speed still caught him off guard—this thing moved faster than the ones on Cannadah.

Noah sidestepped the initial strike, bringing Excaliburn up in a diagonal slash aimed at the creature’s leading leg. The void-touched blade bit deep, parting scale and flesh with a sound like tearing silk. Black blood sprayed across the crystalline surface as the Harbinger’s momentum carried it past him, its wounded leg buckling under its weight.

The creature spun to face him, and Noah felt a surge of fierce satisfaction at what he saw. The wound remained open, bleeding freely, refusing to close despite the Harbinger’s legendary regenerative abilities. For the first time in Noah’s experience, a Harbinger looked down at an injury with something approaching concern.

‘I know you know me. You must know me because you all seem to have some kind of hive mind despite the intelligence shown here,’

“That’s right,” Noah said quietly, adjusting his grip on Excaliburn. “Now you know you can actually die.”

The Harbinger’s expression shifted, alien features showing an emotion Noah had not seen often from one of these creatures before—caution mixed with genuine anger. It circled him slowly, favoring its wounded leg while its too-human eyes tracked every movement of the void-touched blade.

‘Good. Fear makes them predictable. But it also makes them dangerous.’

The creature feinted left, then came in fast from the right, its massive fist aimed at Noah’s head. Noah ducked under the swing and drove Excaliburn’s point toward the Harbinger’s ribs, but the creature twisted away at the last second, accepting a shallow cut along its flank rather than the killing blow Noah had aimed for.

More black blood hit the ground, and this time the Harbinger actually took a step back, its intelligent eyes reassessing the threat Noah represented.

Around them, the battle was exploding into coordinated chaos. Lucas had taken to the air, his body wreathed in crackling electrical energy as he engaged a second Harbinger that had emerged from another pod. Lightning danced between his fingers in controlled arcs, each bolt precisely aimed at joints and vulnerable points.

“Eclipse! This one’s adapting to my attack patterns!” Lucas called down, banking sharply to avoid a leap that would have taken his head off.

Diana had found her rhythm with momentum nullification, creating dead zones around Harbinger strike points where the creatures moved like they were fighting through thick syrup. Her ravager gun barked repeatedly, each shot timed to exploit the windows her ability created.

But Noah’s attention was pulled back to his own opponent as the Harbinger suddenly pressed its attack with renewed fury. Its caution hadn’t disappeared—it had simply been replaced by desperate aggression. The creature came in low, trying to use its reach advantage to keep Excaliburn at bay while landing devastating body blows.

Noah gave ground, letting the Harbinger think it was gaining momentum while he looked for an opening. The creature’s wounded leg was slowing it down, forcing it to compensate with upper body strength, and that compensation created patterns Noah could exploit.

‘There. Overextension on the left cross. Window of opportunity for three seconds after each committed strike.’

The Harbinger threw another massive punch, putting its full weight behind the blow. Noah slipped to the side, letting the fist pass close enough to feel the wind of its passage, then stepped in with Excaliburn already moving. The blade took the creature across the throat in a cut that would have decapitated a human.

The Harbinger staggered backward, both hands going to its neck as black blood poured between its fingers. But it wasn’t dead—the cut hadn’t gone deep enough to sever the spine, and even with Excaliburn’s void edge, that much damage would take time to prove fatal.

Time Noah didn’t have, as the sound of another pod impact shook the ground beneath his feet.

‘Multiple threats. Need to finish this one quickly before the tactical situation deteriorates further.’

The wounded Harbinger was making wet, choking sounds as it tried to keep pressure on its throat wound. Its eyes were fixed on Noah with pure hatred, but Noah could see the life fading from them as void energy prevented the injury from healing.

Noah raised Excaliburn for the finishing blow, but movement in his peripheral vision made him abort the strike and throw himself sideways instead. A second Harbinger slammed into the ground where he’d been standing, its own single horn gouging a furrow in the crystalline surface.

‘Coordinated assault. They’re learning to work together.’

The new arrival was smaller than the first, but it moved with predatory grace that spoke of experience. Its hide bore scars from previous battles, and when it looked at Noah, he saw the same calculating intelligence that had made the first one so dangerous.

Two Harbingers. One wounded and dying, one fresh and looking for revenge.