Chapter 29: Blood in the Grass

Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Blood in the Grass

Instead of waiting for the trio to complete their encirclement, Eric exploded into motion.

He dropped low, scooped two handfuls of dry, coarse gravel from the sunbaked trail, and whipped his arms forward in a wide, violent arc.

*FWOOSH.*

A dense spray of dirt and sharp grit blasted directly into the eyes of the three advancing scavengers.

"This little bastard—!"

"Brat, you’re courting death!"

Cursing in fury, all three men lunged forward on raw instinct, their vision burning and obscured by the cloud of soil.

Eric didn’t hesitate for a fraction of a second. Exploiting their blinded momentum, he slipped cleanly past the leader’s wild spear thrust and closed the distance on the weakest link—the Level 4 scout on the left flank.

Channeling the full kinetic weight of his physique into a single explosive thrust, Eric drove his shortsword straight through the seam in the man’s rusted breastplate.

*SHLICK.*

"Aaaagghhh!"

The scout let out a wet, strangled shriek, dark blood bubbling past his lips as the steel pierced his sternum. Eric wrenched the blade free with a brutal twist, planted his boot against the dying man’s chest, and shoved him away, backpedaling several paces to reset his defensive spacing.

"Garth!" the Level 8 leader roared, aggressively rubbing the stinging dirt from his bloodshot eyes. "Kill him! Rip that little shit to shreds!"

Before their beasts could even register the command, a flurry of pitch-black plumage and cold, smoky Shadow mana descended from the clouds.

Coal had entered the fray.

*Rank-D Shadow Clone!*

Five smoke-like avian duplicates swarmed out of the morning sky in a shrieking dive.

The malnourished Level 2 Fernmane Wolf and Level 3 Ashen Gecko snapped their jaws in frantic disorientation, batting their claws wildly at the dark illusions.

The real Coal plummeted through the chaos like a falling guillotine.

*SHRED—SNAP!*

Infused with his Level 6 momentum and Rank-E Shadow Talons, Coal tore the gecko’s skull open in a single high-speed pass. Banking sharply off an updraft, he folded his wings and drove his razor-sharp ivory beak straight into the base of the wolf’s spine with a sickening crunch.

Both low-tier beasts collapsed into the trampled turf, their limbs twitching once before going entirely limp.

The scarred, Level 6 Ashfang Hound snarled, breaking away from the flock of shadow clones and lunging straight for Eric with snapping, soot-stained fangs.

Eric kept his center of gravity low and his breathing icy. He sidestepped the hound’s flying bite with practiced agility, letting the beast’s forward momentum carry it past his guard.

In less than ten seconds, the enemy’s numbers had been halved. From six hostile targets, only three remained: the Level 7 thug, the Level 8 leader, and the Level 6 hound.

*Coal, pin the dog!*

*CAW!*

Coal shot across the clearing, directing his remaining shadow clones to dive-bomb the hound’s eyes and snout. Confused, blinded by flapping wings, and snapping helplessly at smoke, the hound left its flanks completely exposed.

Eric darted behind the beast, reversed his grip on the iron shortsword, and brought the heavy pommel and spine down directly onto the base of its skull with the full force of his body weight.

*CRACK.*

The hound let out a choked whimper, its hindquarters collapsing as its nervous system shut down instantly. Paralyzed and bleeding from its snout, it was completely neutralized.

Across the clearing, the two surviving scavengers finally cleared the last of the grit from their eyes. They brandished their notched scimitars with trembling palms and pale, sweating faces.

"Don’t think you’re walking out of this rift alive, kid!" the Level 8 leader spat, though cold sweat was drenching his collar. "You slaughtered our beasts... you’re dead meat!"

"Hah," Eric let out a cold, mocking scoff, leveling his blood-dripping shortsword directly between the man’s eyes. "You think you can bluster your way out of this? A tamer’s soul sea is tethered directly to their contracted beast. When I snapped their necks, your spiritual vessels took the full brunt of the soul backlash. You can barely keep your hands steady right now. If I were you, I’d be thinking about running."

"Tsk!"

The two killers exchanged a frantic, panicked glance.

Their chests were heaving violently, their internal mana circulation shattered and thrashing wildly in their meridians from the abrupt severance of their soul bonds. Severe spiritual backlash was actively paralyzing their muscle control, and their eyes darted toward the tree line, frantically calculating if they had enough stamina to turn and bolt.

"Too bad," Eric’s eyes turned dead and icy. "I’m not letting you leave this rift alive to bring back reinforcements."

*Coal, suppress the leader! I’m taking on the thug!*

Eric lunged forward.

The Level 7 thug swung his notched scimitar in a desperate, telegraphed cleave. Eric parried the sloppy strike with his round buckler, the metallic impact sending sparks showering across the stone path.

With the man thrown completely off-balance by the rebound, Eric stepped smoothly inside his guard, drove an iron-hard elbow into his throat, and shoved his shortsword upward beneath the jawline.

*CRUNCH.*

The thug went instantly limp, his scimitar clattering against the limestone.

Meanwhile, the Level 8 leader was thrashing in blind panic, his face relentlessly gouged by Coal’s razor-sharp Shadow Talons as smoky feathers blinded his vision. He screamed hoarsely, swinging his spear wildly at empty air.

Eric closed the distance from behind in two silent strides. Stepping into a low, braced stance, he brought his shortsword around in a clean, decisive horizontal arc across the man’s exposed throat.

*SHLICK.*

The leader’s weapon dropped into the mud, and his heavy frame toppled forward into the tall grass, joining the absolute silence of the clearing.

*DING.*

│ [SUDDEN QUEST COMPLETED: Eliminate the Threat]

│ Objective: Slay the hostile entities (3/3 Tamers Slain)

│

│ Rewards Distributed:

│ - [Basic Gacha Ticket x3]

│

│ Items have been deposited into [System Inventory].

Eric stood in the center of the clearing, the wind rustling through the bloody grass. He drew a steady breath, wiped the dark crimson from his blade against a clump of weeds, and looked down at the glowing system prompt with a sharp, satisfied smirk.

"Three tickets. That was well worth the fight."