They pushed deeper into the nest's tunnels, their footsteps echoing off slick stone walls.
The nest's core opened suddenly into a vast chamber, the ceiling lost in shadow, the ground scarred with claw marks and dried gore. At the center stood the Alpha.
Twice the size of the others, its scaled hide gleamed obsidian under faint bioluminescence. Thirty E-rank raptors prowled in a protective ring around it, amber eyes glowing like scattered embers.
The Alpha stood upright like a predator king, posture deliberate, its gaze intelligent and calculating. The air around it shimmered faintly with mana, it was no mindless beast, but a commander.
"Cadets, the E-Ranks are yours!" Helena barked, her aura igniting like a furnace. "Leave the Alpha to me."
As if mocking her command, the Alpha raised its head and released a guttural roar. The surrounding raptors shifted instantly, formation tightening, movements synchronized.
Orders, intelligent, deliberate, had been given. Adrian felt the Source stir, recognizing the sophisticated mana patterns weaving through the pack's communication.
The cavern erupted into chaos. Kai blinked between shadows, his spatial tears opening deadly rifts that bisected charging raptors.
Seraphina's saber blazed with stellar fire, each swing leaving trails of burning light. "They're coordinating! Watch the flanks!"
Marcus anchored their center, his war hammer crushing skulls. Elena's ice spread across the ground, creating treacherous footing that sent raptors sliding into Damon's poison clouds.
Adrian held his ground at the formation's heart, white-blue flames erupting in controlled bursts. His gravitic snares caught leaping predators mid-air, holding them for Marcus's devastating strikes.
Still, their enemies fought with uncanny precision, reacting to the Alpha's subtle commands. Each fallen raptor was immediately replaced by another, the pack flowing like water around obstacles.
Helena surged forward, her body wreathed in flame. With a sweep of her arm, she revealed her first skill [Blazing Edge], a greatsword of condensed fire that ignited the air itself.
She clashed with the Alpha, each strike spraying sparks across the cavern walls. The beast's claws met her blade, neither giving ground in the initial exchange.
When the Alpha tried to pull back to issue more commands, Helena unleashed another skill [Inferno Surge]. A wave of searing flame cut off its retreat, forcing its focus solely onto her.
The Alpha was no brute. It fought with tactical precision, its affinity shaping bursts of shadowed fire that lashed across the battlefield to aid its pack. But Helena pressed harder, forcing it into a duel of equals, her firestorm against its primal ferocity.
Gradually, the cadets gained ground. One by one, the lesser raptors fell, their bodies dissolving into smoking husks. When the last collapsed, silence returned for a heartbeat, broken only by the thunder of Helena and the Alpha colliding again and again.
The cadets turned to watch, and awe washed over them. The difference between ranks was laid bare before their eyes, not just raw power, but speed, resilience, and years of instinct packed into every strike.
Helena's strikes carved gouts of fire through stone, yet the Alpha met them with brutal counters that rattled the chamber.
Adrian's gaze sharpened. Every flare of Helena's flame spoke to him. The Source unraveled the structure of her techniques, embedding their essence into his mind.
His own fireball, already quivering on the cusp of evolution, flared in his veins as if begging to ascend. The fundamental patterns of D-rank flame manipulation solidified in his consciousness. Each of Helena's strikes revealed new depths of fire mastery he hadn't known existed.
But Helena's breathing grew ragged. For every wound she inflicted, the Alpha returned another. Sweat beaded her forehead as she parried a vicious claw swipe that left gouges in the stone behind her.
At last, her voice rang across the chamber, sharp and commanding. "Cadets! Support me. now!"
The Seven moved as one. Kai blinked behind the Alpha, disrupting its stance with a spatial tear that severed tendons. Seraphina's light lanced into its exposed flank, while Elena froze its legs in place.
Adrian struck hardest, his white-blue flame detonating against its chest, forcing the creature back on its heels. The impact sent ripples of shadow-fire scattering across the cavern walls. For the first time, momentum shifted in their favor.
Then the Alpha screamed.
The sound was more than a roar, it was a concussive wave that shook stone loose from the ceiling.
From the tunnels behind them came answering footsteps, heavy, deliberate, monstrous.
Another Alpha stepped into the chamber.
Shock paralyzed the cadets for a heartbeat. This second creature was even larger, its hide bearing scars that spoke of countless battles won. Helena's eyes widened, fury flashing across her face.
"Two…?" she muttered, disbelief cutting her usual composure. Her flame sword flickered.
Panic edged through the chamber. Even Helena, locked against one Alpha, could only fight an equal. Against two, survival itself became questionable.
"Retreat!" she bellowed, her voice sharp with urgency. "Fall back, now! Mission is compromised!"
But the monsters had no intention of letting prey escape. The new Alpha lunged, cutting off their retreat.
The second creature moved, positioning itself between the cadets and the tunnel entrance. Its scarred hide rippled with muscle as it lowered into a hunting crouch.
The two predators coordinated instantly, their movements fluid, intelligent. The tunnel behind them was sealed with claws and shadow.
One Alpha engaged Helena directly, locking her in a duel she couldn't break free from. The second turned toward the cadets, its eyes glinting with cruel hunger.
The cadets regrouped, adrenaline surging.
"Formation!" Marcus roared, sweat streaming down his face. His war hammer felt heavier now, his arms aching from the prolonged battle.
Breathing ragged, Marcus tightened his grip on his hammer. Elena summoned frost through trembling hands.
"My mana's at forty percent," Elena whispered, ice crystals forming weakly around her fingertips. The earlier battles had drained more than she'd realized.
Seraphina's light flickered from mana drain. They had only half their reserves left after the earlier battles.
Kai attempted a spatial blink but stumbled, his teleportation cutting short. "Can't maintain the rifts much longer."
Damon's poison clouds had thinned to wisps. His breathing came in sharp bursts as he clutched his side where raptor claws had found their mark.
Adrian alone stood tall, his mana nearly untouched, the Source brimming within him like an endless ocean. Power flowed through his veins, eager, waiting.
The cadets' gazes turned to him instinctively. For the first time, Adrian realized, their survival might now rest on his shoulders.