​Chapter 18: High-Voltage Copper and Smoking Boots

Phoenix hit the overgrown mossy forest floor in a tight, fluid roll, her steel-toed boots kicking up a shower of glowing purple spores. She bounced back up instantly, her star-iron spear already whirling in a broad, defensive arc.

SWOOSH!

Before her boots even settled, the canopy above burst open. A six-legged, nightmarish hybrid between a wolf and a giant mantis plunged toward her face, its razor-sharp chitin scythes gleaming with venom.

[TARGET DETECTED: B-RANK VENOM-SCYTHE STALKER]

"A bit eager, aren't we?" Phoenix smirked.

She didn't dodge backward. She ducked straight under the creature's lunging forelegs, drove the butt of her spear up into its jaw, and executed a ruthless upward thrust with her foot straight into its soft, unarmored groin joint.

CRACK-SQUISH!

The creature let out a high-pitched, wildly unholy screech that sounded like a blender full of rocks, curling up into a tight ball on the dirt.

"Anatomical rule number one, bug-boy," Phoenix yelled, pivoting on her heel and slamming the weighted pommel of her spear through its skull. "Everything has a weak point, especially the bits between your legs!"

BOOM!

Toby slammed down onto the ground ten feet away, propelled by a set of makeshift thruster-boots that were currently smoking violently. He stumbled forward, almost face-planting into the dead stalker monster.

"Boss! I think my boots are on fire!" Toby shrieked, frantically stomping his feet.

"Rub some dirt on it, kid! We've got company!"

The dense jungle rustled as three more Venom-Scythe Stalkers prowled out from the glowing foliage, their multi-eyed faces twitching as they eyed Phoenix like a high-protein midnight snack.

"Toby, load the shock-launcher!" Phoenix commanded, her dark brown eyes burning with crimson dragon-blood fire. "Let's see if your little invention can make these overgrown cockroaches dance!"

"Already locked and loaded!" Toby yelled back. He leveled his double-barreled launcher, aiming squarely at the middle beast. "Eat high-voltage copper, you ugly bastards!"

PFT-PFT-THWACK!

Two pressurized star-iron harpoons shot from the launcher, impaling the lead stalker straight in the chest and tethering it to a massive obsidian tree.

"Now, Boss!"

Phoenix vanished.

Thanks to her enhanced body reinforcement, she moved in a terrifying crimson blur. She closed a forty-foot gap in half a second, vaulting off the tethered monster's head and driving two star-iron daggers directly into the eyes of the second stalker.

SPLAT!

Before the third monster could sweep its scythe arms, Phoenix grabbed its upper jaw with her bare hand, pivoted her hips, and slammed the four-hundred-pound beast over her hip with a violent, bone-crunching throw.

THUD!

She dropped her heel straight down onto its neck, snapping it like a dry twig.

[NOTIFICATIONS: B-RANK STALKER x3 ELIMINATED.] [POINTS AWARDED: 1,500.]

From the high metal platform above, Travis, Lionel, and the rest of Class A were still slowly lowering themselves down on heavy winch ropes. They stared down at the pile of dead B-rank monsters and the two outcasts casually collecting mana cores.

"She... she cleared an entire ambush in fifteen seconds?!" Lionel gasped, holding his aching ribs. "Without taking a single hit?!"

Phoenix wiped a drop of purple beast-blood off her cheek, looked up at the dangling Class A cadets, and cupped her hands around her mouth.

"Hey, Travis!" Phoenix shouted, her voice echoing hilariously across the cavernous jungle. "Make sure you guys wipe your feet on the way down! I'd hate for you to slip on all my free points!"

Travis’s face turned bright red, but he slammed his mouth shut and looked away, refusing to say a word.

"Come on, Toby," Phoenix grinned, tossing a freshly extracted B-rank core into her void-ring. "The big boss monster is at the center of the ruins, and I’m not letting those fancy Class A princess-cadets get a single bite."