Cosmic Crucible

Chapter 11: Ghoul Tide

Could it be a deliberate lure? Lucien Vance narrowed his eyes, hoping he was overthinking it.

The incident with Conrad Magnus had left everyone’s nerves even more taut.

A day later, the convoy halted beside a derelict tollgate. Their mission began here; this section of the communication line was damaged and needed urgent repair.

"Report! Combat sighted five li ahead! Five Evolved are surrounded by mutants!" a soldier relayed.

Lucien ordered a rescue.

Half an hour later, five Evolved men were brought in. They were ragged, filthy, and clearly starving.

Lucien didn’t order food distributed to them. Anyone daring to hunt mutants alone in the wild had to be prepared to die. He was no saint, and military rations weren’t free. If desperate, they could eat the mutant rats crawling everywhere.

The five Evolved were isolated outside the tollgate, watching enviously as the soldiers cooked. Soon, one requested to speak with Lucien.

Lucien stood atop the tollgate roof, scanning the surroundings.

Below, the Evolved man looked ashen. "Sir... could you spare us some food? We have information to trade."

Lucien looked down at him. "Speak."

"You’ll give us food if we talk?" the man asked hopefully.

Lucien’s voice turned icy. "Are you bargaining with me?"

The man flinched. "No! Never!" he stammered. "W-we did bring enough supplies, but yesterday... they were stolen. Taken by a Skyforger clad in silver-white battle armor."

Lucien’s gaze sharpened. "Continue."

The man swallowed, his throat dry. "Only Judicator Zane Shaw among Crimson Fortress's protectors is Skyforger-tier... but this man could fly. I think it was the armor. After stealing our food, he was going to kill us to silence us... but then he started talking to himself like a lunatic, got excited, and flew east."

Lucien knew they’d encountered Odon. Talking to himself? That was likely a personal comms link via his combat scanner. Had he contacted other landed students? This was bad. Zane Shaw barely repelled Odon; if more students joined the fray, Shaw might not hold.

"Give them some rations," Lucien commanded, then sat down, gazing at the sky.

What was he really worried about? Crimson Fortress? The survivors? He was an outsider, not native to Earth. Strip away the pretense, and he was like Yasta and the others. Yet, living here... Earth had become home. He had only two and a half years of memories, most of them spent on this ravaged world. Earth was his home.

Lucien took a deep breath. He wasn't powerful enough to save Earth, but he could save some within his reach.

He activated his comms link to Zane Shaw, relaying his suspicions about Odon.

Shaw’s voice was grim. "Understood. Repair that line. Fast. I need intel on the others. Those students are dangerous."

Lucien cut the link. Others? The other Paragons of the Six Paragons?

"I hope Leon Shaw doesn't die," Lucien murmured coldly to the darkening sky. "Otherwise, who would I take my vengeance on?"

That night, clouds smothered the sky, snuffing out the stars. Disappointed, Lucien slept inside an armored vehicle.

Midnight. A shriek tore through the silence, jolting everyone awake.

"Boss! Ghoul Tide! A Ghoul Tide incoming!" Silas Third’s panicked voice crackled over Lucien’s comms.

Lucien burst from the vehicle, leaping onto the tollgate roof. The dark landscape teemed with shambling figures. Ghouls. They were coming from every direction.

"All units, fortify positions! Light torches, throw them out!" Rowena shouted.

Soon, the Ghoul Tide crashed against the tollgate perimeter. The earth burned as flaming debris rained down, waves of heat rolling over the defenders.

"Careful with that fire! Keep it away from the tollgate, unless you want to roast yourselves!" Rowena yelled.

Machine guns roared, shattering the night's silence. Nearly ten thousand soldiers formed the outer ring, butchering ghouls. When bullets ran dry, steel blades flashed. Soldiers were clawed, dragged screaming into the shambling mass, vanishing instantly. The five rescued Evolved watched in horror; the sheer brutality of military combat dwarfed anything they’d imagined.

Rowena swung her steel blade. A Terra-tier warrior was leagues beyond ordinary Evolved; a single s***h sent arcs of force ripping through a dozen ghouls. Though often timid, she fought fiercely.

Lucien plunged into the throng, his iron staff sweeping wide arcs, clearing swathes of undead with every blow.

Against Tides like this, heavy weapons were best. But Crimson Fortress had too few left. If the old armories hadn’t been destroyed, missile barrages would have shredded this tide effortlessly.

As Lucien fought, the comms unit on his belt squawked frantically: "Legion Commander! Southwest flank collapsing!"

Lucien cursed. He launched himself skyward, running across the heads of ghouls towards the southwest. Chaos. Soldiers were being slaughtered. Why?

"Boss! There's a weird ghoul! Squad Leaders (Mortal-tier) can't touch it!" Silas reported from his vantage point.

Lucien landed hard. Facing the churning mass where soldiers met undead, he brought his iron staff down with devastating force. A visible shockwave ripped through the air, tearing the ground apart, bisecting dozens of ghouls and carving a stark line in the earth.

Behind the line, soldiers scrambled back, terror-stricken. At least fifty had just died.

CRACK! The iron staff in Lucien’s hands snapped in two. His growing power had finally shattered the crude weapon.

"Legion Commander, look out!" someone screamed.

Ghouls surged like a tidal wave from all sides. Tens of thousands. Impossible to count. They covered the land.

Lucien activated his ​Astral Glyph. Waves of ​Stellar Energy​ erupted from him, blasting every ghoul within ten meters away. All except one.

A long-haired ghoul stood firm, unharmed, its crimson eyes locked onto Lucien, burning with unnatural intelligence.

"Boss! That's the one! He killed our men!" Silas yelled over the comms.

Lucien stared, stunned. This was no ordinary ghoul. This one had intelligence. A thinking ghoul? Impossible. Yet here it stood.

The creature was barely two meters away. Those crimson eyes weren't vacant; they calculated. It was thinking.

Before Lucien could react, the long-haired ghoul lunged. Claws slashed towards his throat.

Lucien twisted aside. The claw’s wind-pressure shredded ghouls ten meters behind.

Terra-tier strength. Far surpassing Conrad or Rowena. Equal to Zoya Rain.

Lucien tracked its movements. There was method—chaotic, yet forming an impenetrable defense. If he hadn't seen it, he'd never believe a ghoul was attacking him like this.

After several fruitless strikes, the ghoul let out a guttural snarl and turned to flee.

Lucien spotted thin white strands clinging to its back. ​Arachnid Silk​? His mind raced back to his earlier suspicion: This was the ghoul that lured Conrad into that tower! This thing definitely had intelligence!

No time to ponder. Lucien hurled the broken half of his staff like a javelin. It pierced the air, embedding deep in the fleeing ghoul's abdomen. The creature roared, twisted its head to glare venomously at Lucien, then bolted south.

The surrounding Tide erupted in a collective shriek, frenzied, surging to block Lucien’s path.

"Silas! Track that ghoul!" Lucien bellowed.

Silas’s voice crackled back: "Boss! It’s a hundred meters out... turning now! Heading west! Back the way we came!"

Lucien’s leg muscles coiled. He vanished. A blur of motion left behind was instantly swallowed by the ghoul tide.

Silas gaped from his perch. Was that a combat technique? Incredible!

Lucien burst free of the Tide, sprinting down the road they'd travelled. But the long-haired ghoul was gone.

"Boss... lost visual," Silas reported.

Lucien stopped, back to the tollgate. He pulled out his ​combat scanner. Readings flickered—nearby mutants, various power levels. And one strong signal: ​Combat Rating 990. Terra-tier apex. That had to be it.

Lucien followed the scanner’s directional cue. Eliminating that intelligent ghoul should break the Tide. If his guess was right, this was the ​Ghoul Sovereign​ / ​Hive Mind—the commander orchestrating the siege, the one targeting his Legion. Conrad had been its first victim.