Han Li heard it before he saw it.
It wasn't the chittering of Nightclaws but a deeper sound, like boulders grinding together. The ravine floor shook under his boots, and pebbles fell from the cliff walls.
He looked toward the tunnel he had come through, expecting another pack of scavengers. Instead, the shadows moved, and eyes appeared in the dark.
Not two, but dozens, all glowing pale yellow and all set into one massive head.
It pushed forward, forcing the thorn trees to bend aside. Plates covered its skull and neck.
Deep scars cut through the armor, marks from battles that had failed to kill it. Its breath came in wet bursts that smelled of rot and iron, making the air feel heavy.
The creature stepped fully into the open. One claw came down on the stone ledge where Chu Feng had stood earlier, the rock dipping under its weight. The rest of its bulk followed, each slow step gouging the stone.
***
Ding!!
Local Apex Detected: Ravine Tyrant (Mid-Tier)
Survival Odds: 3%
Recommendation: Ascend or Die!
***
Han Li gripped the bone spike tighter. His shoulder ached and his leg still throbbed from the Nightclaw's claws, but his eyes stayed fixed on the Tyrant's head.
The Tyrant saw him. It lowered itself, massive claws flexing as the plates along its neck shifted. A low rumble built in its throat, rising into a roar that made the air shake.
"ROARRR!!!!!!"
Han Li ran. The first claw slammed down where he had been, smashing the stone into powder.
Fragments cut his cheek and arm. He dove over a low ridge, boots slipping on loose gravel, and stopped short against a wall of rock blocking the slope ahead.
Behind him, the Tyrant's shadow spread across the ground. It stepped around the ridge as if it were nothing, head lowering, eyes locking onto him with a focus that made his stomach tighten.
Another claw swept in. He rolled, but the edge grazed his side and knocked him flat. Pain flared.
***
[Minor Injury Detected: Muscle Trauma (Left Side)]
[Pain Suppression: +15% for 60 seconds]
***
Han Li pushed himself up just as the Tyrant's tail whipped around. The air cracked. He dropped into a crouch, the tip missing his head by inches before slamming into the ground and sending a shock up his legs.
The Tyrant wasn't rushing him. It was herding him, like a predator playing with prey. Each step cut the distance in half.
To his right, a narrow split in the cliffside caught his eye, a crack barely wide enough for his shoulders. He didn't know where it led, but anywhere the Tyrant couldn't fully follow was better than open ground.
He started moving toward it, slow at first, keeping his eyes on its head. The moment it shifted weight onto its left leg, he broke into a sprint.
The Tyrant's roar rolled over Han Li again. The next claw came faster, smashing into the ground behind him. Stone shards stung his neck.
The gap was close now, ten steps, maybe less.
The ground shook again. Han Li glanced over his shoulder and saw the Tyrant's body coil for another strike.
The claw came down like a falling tree.
He didn't have time to dodge cleanly. Dropping flat, he felt the air tear above him as the claw slammed into the ground a handspan from his head. Stone burst apart, sharp fragments cutting his ear and the side of his neck.
The Tyrant dragged the claw back for another strike. Han Li rolled toward the crack, pain flaring in his right leg as he scrambled to his feet.
***
Minor Injury Detected: Ligament Strain (Right Leg)
Agility temporarily reduced by 1.
***
Han Li forced his body forward. The gap in the cliff loomed ahead, narrow, and dark.
"ROARRR!!!"
Behind him, the Tyrant's roar shook the air, followed by the crunch of stone as it pushed into a charge.
Its tail swept low, aiming to cut him off. He jumped at the last moment, clearing it by less than a hand's breadth, and landed hard, almost twisting his injured leg.
The mouth of the crack was barely wider than his shoulders. He turned sideways and forced himself in, rock scraping his ribs through the torn robe.
Behind him, the Tyrant slammed a claw into the gap. The plates caught on the stone walls, stopping it from forcing its way inside, but the forearm still pushed in far enough for the talons to rake the ground. One missed his foot by less than a finger's length.
The impact made the narrow walls groan, and bits of rock fell onto his head.
He pressed deeper into the crack, following a faint sound, water, trickling somewhere ahead. The air grew damp and cooler with each step.
The space widened slightly into a hollow no more than three strides across. A thin stream spilled from a fissure, feeding a shallow pool ringed by pale fungus.
***
Ding!!!
Local Apex remains hostile.
Combat Option Available: Target weak points for accelerated Ascension.
Temporary Perception Boost: +1.
***
Thin seams glowed faintly across the Tyrant's body where it strained at the entrance, weak points between plates, at the base of the jaw, and above each eye.
Han Li glanced at the pale fungus. Up close, it gave off a sharp, metallic scent. He didn't know if it was poisonous, but most beasts avoided bitter plants.
The Tyrant roared again, forcing its head a few more inches into the gap. Its left eye came into view, bright and locked onto him. A foreclaw reached in, scraping across the pool's edge.
His grip tightened on the bone spike. He didn't have long before it broke through or brought the walls down around him.
The crack widened with a groan of stone. Dust rained from above, stinging his eyes. The Tyrant's head pushed further in, close enough for him to see the plates around its jaw shift and its breath steam in the confined air.
Han Li snatched a handful of pale fungus and hurled it at its face. The brittle stems burst on impact, scattering powder into its left eye and nostrils.
The reaction was instant. The Tyrant jerked its head back with a snarl, claws raking deep gouges into the rock.
Han Li didn't wait for it to recover. His boots splashed through the pool as he sprinted toward its forearm wedged in the gap. The plates were slick and uneven, but he found hold in the ridges and began to climb.
The Tyrant thrashed to shake him off, but the narrow space worked in his favor, it couldn't swing its arm without jamming against the stone.
He climbed high enough to see the seam just behind its jaw. Gripping the bone spike tight, he drove it down.
CLANG!!!
The first strike glanced off.
STAB!!!
The second dug shallow, drawing a hiss of dark blood.
ROARRR!!!!
The third made the Tyrant roar so loud the confined space shook.
***
[Qualifying Damage Detected]
[Micro-Essence Absorption Initiated]
Strength +1
***
His arms trembled from the impact, but he raised the spike for another strike, only for the Tyrant to wrench its entire arm back. The motion tore him free.
He landed hard on his shoulder, pain shooting through it, and before he could recover the claw slammed into the wall beside him, knocking him to his knees as the stone under his palms shook.
***
[Minor Injury Detected: Shoulder Trauma (Right Side)]
[Pain Suppression: +15% for 60 seconds]
***
The Tyrant pushed again, the jagged edges of its plates scraping sparks off the stone. It forced more of its bulk into the crack, using sheer weight to collapse it inward.
Han Li rushed in, grabbed one of the ridges on its arm, and climbed again, faster this time. The System's highlighted weak points glowed in his vision, one right above its left eye.
He drove the spike down.
BAM!!!
***
[Trait Assimilation Triggered: Armor Crusher (Minor)]
Strength +3
Agility +2
***
"GROAARRRR!!!!"
The Tyrant roared and pulled back violently. His grip tore free, flinging him out of the crack entirely.
He landed hard on the open ground, rolling across gravel until he stopped with the taste of blood in his mouth. Above him, the shadow swelled again, the Tyrant was already turning to come after him in the open.
Han Li threw himself sideways.
The tail swept past, close enough for him to feel the heat against his skin. It smashed into the rock wall where he had been standing, splintering stone into a shower of fragments. The impact was so strong he felt it in his teeth.
The Tyrant didn't pause. Its front claws dug deep into the ground, dragging its bulk forward faster than its size should allow. Out in the open, without the crack's narrow walls, nothing limited its movement.
Han Li ran for the sharp ridge he had hidden behind earlier. The shadow of a claw swept over him.
He dove behind the ridge as the claw slammed into it, sending a deep fracture zigzagging through the stone. The entire formation groaned under the strain.
[Environmental Use Bonus: Incoming damage reduced]
The Tyrant pulled back for another strike, plates scraping together with a sound like grinding steel. Han Li's leg still throbbed from earlier, but he forced it to move. He skirted around the far side of the ridge and sprinted toward higher ground.
It came after him, faster than he expected for its size. The second claw came down, and he dodged, but its tail lashed out at the same time, sweeping his legs out from under him.
He hit the ground hard, the spike slipping from his hand and clattering across the stone.
[Minor Injury: Back Strain]
[Agility -10% for 15 seconds]
Han Li rolled just as a claw came down where his head had been, the impact cracking the stone in a web of fissures. The Tyrant roared, its breath washing over him in a wave of heat and rot.
DING!!!
[Survival Chance: 2%]
[Last Stand Protocol Activated]
[Vitality +5 for 10 seconds]
Strength surged through his body, clearing the fatigue from his muscles. He rushed for the spike, fingers closing around it just as the Tyrant's head lowered to bite.
Instead of retreating, he charged forward under its jaw and drove the spike into the glowing seam behind its skull plates. The first strike sank deep, hot blood bursting across his hands. The second pierced through completely.
[Critical Strike!!!]
[Major Essence Absorption Initiated]
[Strength +5 | Agility +5 | Vitality +5]
The Tyrant let out a single, bone-rattling roar that echoed through the ravine. Its massive frame shuddered, then collapsed onto its side, the ground shaking with the impact.
BAM!!!
Han Li staggered back, chest heaving, his hands dripping with steaming blood.
[Local Apex Eliminated]
[Special Drop: Tyrant Core (Consumable) – Permanently increases physical power]
He crouched beside its head and pried the core loose. It pulsed faintly, warm in his palm.
[Consume Item?]
"Yes."
Heat spread through his body. His leg stopped aching, his breathing steadied, and his whole body felt stronger.
Han Li tore free one of the Tyrant's long, razor-edged plates and strapped it to his belt. The rest of the corpse was too large to move, but the thought of dragging it back to the sect burned in his mind.
He turned toward the slope leading out of the ravine. Light spilled down from above, bright and cold. He had survived the Forbidden Zone's strongest predator.