Beecroft, after hearing Gruger's words, couldn't help but chuckle.
"Yeah… let's get those Veil fucks."
Gruger didn't reply. He just turned and walked toward the Q.R.C. staring at the magnificent weapon
"Miss Kenny!"
"Yes, Lord Gruger!"
Still overwhelmed and trembling, Miss Kenny scrambled forward.
"You… you called, my lord?"
"Get the chain."
"O-okay, Lord." She hurried to the Q.R.C., unhooking a hidden compartment. From inside, she pulled out a long black chain that was bolted into the device itself.
"Here it is, sir," she said, handing it over.
Gruger gripped the chain and turned. With just his strength, he began to drag the entire Q.R.C. across the ground behind him.
Beecroft whistled low, then strolled toward Miss Kenny.
"Hello, missy. You might know me already, but the name's John. John Beecroft."
Miss Kenny ignored him, keeping close behind Gruger.
"What an odd duo," Beecroft thought with a crooked smile.
Elsewhere, a wild scream split the night a woman's voice.
"What the fuck… mmhhahh!"
"Would you keep it down?"
"Fuck you, Ronal! It was your stupid plan that almost got me killed!"
Blood running down his side, Ronal bared his teeth.
"Shut it. The moment that second lycan showed up, the whole fight turned to shit. One, we could handle but two? They coordinated the wolves like a damned army. Every time we struck, they sent the pack to cut us off. And that variant he kept healing the other. We barely escaped with our asses intact."
He wiped the blood from his mouth, panting.
"We'll have to split them. Pick them off one by one. We can't take them together."
"I'm not following your dumbass plans again," Toga shot back, eyes blazing.
Before Ronal could snap, three corrupted wolves crept into view, howling into the dark.
"Fuck!" he snarled. In one fluid motion, he hurled the jagged tip of his broken spear, nailing a wolf through the throat. As it dropped, he pounced on another, strangling it until bones cracked and finishing it with a mana-charged fist that shattered its skull.
The last wolf lunged straight for him
but a rock smashed into its head midair, knocking it aside.
"I had it," Ronal growled.
"You had nothing," Toga smirked.
The beast writhed, trying to rise until a massive shadow slammed down, crushing it flat. The corrupted lycan loomed above them, its hulking frame blotting out the moonlight.
Ronal groaned. "You again."
But Toga's grin split wide, manic and fearless.
"Time to die, you beautiful fuck!"
"Wait... no"
She charged, mana crackling in her fists. Her punch came down like a hammer, shattering the earth where the lycan had stood. The beast swiped a claw the size of a scythe, but she slid under its belly and blasted upward with a mana-fueled kick, launching herself sky-high.
Her killing strike plummeted down
but the lycan's jaws snapped shut, teeth sinking deep into her arm.
"Arrghh, you bastard!" she screamed. With her free fist she smashed its eye again and again until it let go.
Both of them crashed to the ground, blood spraying across the dirt.
Ronal had seen enough. He circled behind the beast, pulling its attention just long enough for Toga to slash across its face. The lycan snarled and retaliated, claws flashing toward her head, forcing her to stumble back just in time.
"Who asked for your useless help?" Toga spat, glaring at Ronal.
"It was taking too long. If you dragged it out any longer, the corrupted wolves or worse, the other lycan would've been drawn here."
Before she could retort, the beast lunged, claws extended to tear them both apart. Ronal reacted instantly, shoving Toga aside and sliding away in the same motion. The lycan, agitated beyond reason, turned on him with a savage growl and struck again.
This time, Ronal didn't dodge. Mana surged down his arms as he caught the creature's claws head-on, locking it in place.
"I… I got it! Go for its eyes!" he roared through gritted teeth.
Hearing his words, Toga sprinted behind the lycan and vaulted onto its back. The monster thrashed violently, trying to hurl her off. With a furious swing of its free paw, it swatted Ronal aside, sending him sprawling across the dirt.
"Damn thing's moving too much!" Toga cursed, clinging to its fur with savage determination. She forced mana into her legs, then launched herself skyward, using the lycan's back like a springboard.
"Let's see how you like being hit from behind!"
She tucked midair, both legs blazing with mana, and came crashing down. Her double knee-drop hammered into the beast's spine with explosive force. The ground cracked beneath the impact, smoke and dust erupting around them in a violent wave.
"Now that was epic!" Toga's wild voice rose from within the haze.
Ronal, coughing and grimacing, pushed himself up with effort.
"Is it… dead?" he muttered, his voice raw and unsteady.
Ronal grunted, clutching his side where the lycan's claws had raked him.
"I'm not sure," toga muttered through clenched teeth, "but I think I broke its spine."
Toga smirked, her confidence unshaken.
Ronal looking at her with a pale face added "Of course you did. With my help."
The lycan's guttural cry cut through the air, dragging their eyes back to the beast. It staggered, struggling to rise.
"Hrrraagh!" Its roar grew louder each time it collapsed under its own weight, its voice echoing like a warning bell.
"Nice work, Toga," Ronal said dryly. "Not like you could've managed it without me."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Their argument died instantly when the lycan's wail deepened, reverberating through the ground beneath them.
"Shit, not again" Ronal cursed. "It's calling for backup."
"Now? Why now? After I already took it down?!"
"Maybe because it knows we're about to finish it," he answered grimly.
Before Toga could retort, the earth shook. A suffocating pressure closed in around them.
"The other one's coming."
"Yeah, I feel it… We need to get its essence core before "
"You mean I'll get it, since I brought it down."
"Shut up, you're wast..."
A thunderous impact silenced him. The second lycan landed in front of the wounded one, snarling.
"Shit, it's here… Wait its wounds are gone!" Ronal's eyes widened.
Toga squared her stance, fire in her voice. "We're not running. One's injured, and this one's fresh. We can take them."
"You don't understand!" Ronal snapped. "We can't engage."
"Why? This is the perfect chance!"
"Because we'll lose. Now run."
Ronal bolted, his speed carrying him far in seconds. Behind him, Toga cursed but gave chase.
"You owe me an explanation," she growled as they finally stopped to catch their breath. She grabbed his torn shirt, forcing him to face her. "We had it why run?"
"Did you notice?" he asked.
"Notice what?"
" This feeling, It felt almost like déjà vu the same thing that happened the first time that lycan showed up. Back then, after we took down one beast, everything spiraled out of control."
Ronal was actually right. After they both managed to bring down the injured lycan, the other appeared healing its partner while striking at them. Worse, it didn't come alone. It brought more wolves and began directing them, coordinating their attacks, forcing them to strike only when an opening appeared.
That was when the similarity hit.
"Wait… are you saying the lycans set this up? That they tried to recreate the exact same situation only this time to finish us off?"
"Didn't you notice anything strange while we fought that first one?" Ronal pressed. "while watching you to it felt like it the lycan...It kept hesitating. And the speed at which the other appeared it wasn't coincidence."
Toga finally began to think back. The fight had felt almost too easy. And yet… she couldn't believe it. "No. That can't be the case," she said, shaking her head hard. "I broke its spine. Do you really think a corrupted lycan would let me do that?"
Her doubts were valid. A lycan would never willingly allow such a wound. Ronal had thought the same until he saw the second one appear. He noticed the truth then: the injuries had healed, almost instantly, as though the two beasts were bound together.
"They can heal each other," Ronal whispered, his voice echoing with the weight of realization.
"That was their plan," he continued. "The moment the other showed up, its partner's wounds closed. When they're near each other, they regenerate faster. That was their trump card all along."
Toga sank to the ground, overwhelmed. The weight of the revelation crushed her chest.
"You're saying these Wirens… have developed the intelligence to plan all this?" she asked quietly.
It was an unsettling thought. Wirens of there level weren't supposed to think like this. Their kind thrived on savagery and raw instinct not strategy. For them to coordinate, to deceive that meant something had changed. Something far more dangerous was awakening inside them, it felt as if there where evolving