Chapter 33: Claiming the Dragon Sovereign Core

The Hive-Mother let out a deafening, high-frequency screech that nearly blew the eardrums out of everyone without an S-rank buff. A wave of glowing, bile-green acid erupted from her multi-jawed mouth, raining down like a corrosive tidal wave.

Phoenix didn't even flinch.

She snapped her fingers, summoning a localized aura of raw, crimson dragon fire that instantly vaporized the acid into a harmless cloud of lemon-scented steam.

"Nice try, ugly, but my skin routine is expensive," Phoenix purred.

She detonated off the ground, driving her star-iron spear straight down into the beast's skull with the force of a falling anvil. An SSS-rank kinetic shockwave ripped through the monster's nervous system, causing its massive fifty-foot body to hit the vault platform with a bone-rattling CRUNCH.

"Killian! Clear the roaches!" Phoenix shouted, stepping onto the twitching head of the dying Hive-Mother like she was standing on a footstool.

"On it, Boss!"

Killian leaped off the truck hood like a golden wrecking ball. His SS-rank vanguard aura flared bright enough to blind a god as he swept his massive greatsword in a wide, terrifying circle, bisecting thirty Abyssal drones in a single stroke. Bug blood and blue slime painted the cavern walls, but Killian just stood at the base of the vault ramp like a brick wall made of pure muscle and bad attitudes.

Across the cavern, Sterling's covert Class A strike team was in absolute, high-grade panic.

"Open fire! Kill the Guide! Kill the giant tank! Kill EVERYONE!" the mercenary commander shrieked, aiming his high-tech plasma rifle at Phoenix.

"Oh, sweetie, pointing that thing is a great way to lose a arm," Valerie’s voice purred over the squad comms.

THWIP.

From the roof of the assault truck, Valerie chambered an armor-piercing tracer round and pulled the trigger. The round tore straight through the mercenary commander’s shoulder, spinning him around like a ragdoll and pinning his armored ass to the cavern wall.

Jax followed up with a cackle, launching a cluster of incendiary grenades right into the middle of the mercenary squad. "Welcome to Sector Seven, dickheads! Complimentary sunburns for everyone!"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The cavern turned into a full-blown fireworks show of fire, dragon light, and screaming mercenaries. In under ninety seconds, Sterling’s "elite strike team" was reduced to a pile of crying, toasted metal, while the surviving Abyssal drones scrambled into the dark cracks of the cave like terrified cockroaches.

Toby zoomed up to the massive blue vault door on his tactical mower, hopping off with his diagnostic kit already humming. "Boss! The Hive-Mother was acting as a bio-lock, but now that her brain is scrambled, the ancient Imperial seals are exposed! Give me thirty seconds to hack this bad boy!"

Soren strolled over, leaning against the vault door with a lit cigarette dangling from his lip as he plugged his cybernetic neck-cable straight into the main panel. "Make it fifteen, kid. I’m already bypassing the secondary firewall."

"Hey! Keep your greasy cyber-cables off my hack, silver-hair!" Toby barked, his fingers flying across his keyboard at warp speed.

"Then move faster, short stack," Soren smirked, blowing a puff of smoke right into Toby’s goggles.

BZZZZT—KLUNK.

The three-foot-thick solid-titanium doors groaned, ancient hydraulic locks releasing with a heavy, satisfying hiss. The doors slid open, bathing the dark cave in a blinding, golden ethereal light that made everyone’s jaws drop.

Inside sat rows of high-tier weapon racks, rare mana cores, and crates of lost pre-collapse tech. But floating right in the middle on an obsidian pedestal was a pulsing, fiery red gem the size of a human heart—an SSS-rank Dragon Sovereign Core.

Phoenix stepped into the vault, her dark eyes locking onto the core as her dragon blood pulsed in absolute sync with its heavy heartbeat.

"Well, damn," Phoenix grinned, a wicked, predatory smirk spreading across her face as her fingers brushed the burning jewel. "Looks like Sterling just bought us a massive upgrade."

Valerie walked up beside her, taking a long swig from her flask and looking around at the mountain of priceless military gear. "Grand Commander... if the Academy Board finds out we claimed an SSS-Class Vault without filling out thirty pages of bureaucracy..."

"What are they gonna do?" Phoenix laughed, yanking the Dragon Core off its pedestal and feeling a surge of raw, absurd power erupt through her veins. "Send another hit squad? God, I hope so—my spear is still thirsty."