**Chapter 131 – Second Hunt**
Sunday dawned clear.
Unlike Saturday, no one needed to convince anyone. After breakfast, the group was already gathered in the internal courtyard with the same clear intention in the air.
— Again? — Astrid asked, already stretching her arms.
— Again — Harley confirmed. — It's still the weekend.
Joker looked at Elowen.
— This time is different.
She raised her gaze.
— Different how?
— We don't step in — he answered. — You're going alone for real. We only watch.
The silence grew heavier for a second.
— Until when? — Kuroe asked.
— Until the real limit — Joker said. — Breath trail. Broken bone. Bleeding that doesn't stop. One step from death. Before that, no one moves.
Harley smiled sideways, without the light humor this time.
— And so it doesn't come cheap… we raise the rank.
Rina whistled low.
— Rank B?
— Rank B — Joker confirmed.
Elowen stayed quiet for a moment. Then she nodded.
— I want it.
— Are you sure? — Marina asked.
— I am. If it's to see the real evolution… there's no point making it easy.
Kuroe didn't look happy. Even so, she didn't contest it.
— If it goes past the point, we step in.
— Only if it goes past the point — Joker repeated. — Until then, no one interferes.
No one disagreed.
---
At the capital's guild, Nara lifted her gaze as soon as she saw them enter and already frowned.
— You again.
— We like it here — Harley answered.
Tessa rested her elbow on the counter.
— And this time your faces look worse.
Joker placed the mission plaque on the counter.
Nara read it. Then she looked at him for real.
— Rank B. Nest of corrupted beasts in the deep tunnels of the eastern district. There's a report of a matriarch. That's not a mission for a novice.
— The novice is going anyway — Joker said.
— Are you going along?
— We're going to observe.
Nara stayed silent for a second, then let out a breath and stamped the authorization with clear reluctance.
— If it goes wrong, don't say I didn't warn you.
— We won't — Harley answered.
The gate fee was paid. In a few minutes, the group was crossing the blue light of the teleport.
---
The deep tunnels were worse than any of them expected.
The air came hot and humid, loaded with a metallic and sour smell. The walls were irregular, covered by a thin layer of dark substance that pulsed weakly, as if it had a life of its own. The sound of carapaces scraping stone echoed from several sides at the same time.
The group walked in silence until the center of the tunnels.
There, the space opened into a wide underground hall — high enough to swallow small buildings, with an irregular stone ceiling and the floor marked by deep grooves. Remains of dens and dry cocoons spread along the sides.
Joker stopped in the middle of the hall.
— Here.
The group formed a semicircle around him.
— From now on — Joker said, looking at Elowen — you stay. We go up. No one comes down before the time.
Elowen nodded.
— I know.
— You don't — Harley retorted. — But you'll find out.
Astrid crossed her arms.
— And if too many come at once?
— Then she deals with it — Joker answered. — Or she reaches the limit. In both cases, we see what we need to see.
Kuroe looked at Elowen.
— Don't force beyond what the body can take.
— I'll go as far as I can — she answered.
— That wasn't what I asked.
— I know.
Joker raised his gaze to the ceiling.
— Then let's begin.
He took a step forward, closed his fist, and the air around him grew heavy for a fraction of a second. The punch rose in a straight line.
The impact against the ceiling was absurd.
The stone cracked with a dry and deep boom that echoed through all the tunnels at once. An enormous hole opened above them, throwing dust, shards and pieces of rock downward. The noise didn't stop in the hall — it spread through the corridors, through the dens, through every crack of the underground complex.
For a second, there was silence.
In the next second, the entire underground answered.
Sounds of carapaces. Paws. High-pitched screeches. Mass movement coming from every side.
— Go up — Joker said.
The group was pulled by a discreet light up to the edge of the hole in the ceiling, positioned on a stable ledge with total view of the hall. From above, they could see everything. Elowen stayed alone in the center of the open space.
— Now — Harley murmured — everything comes.
And it did.
The first beasts burst through the side corridors.
They were creatures with black and shiny carapaces, the size of an adult man, with six jointed legs that were too long and an abdomen swollen by purple veins that pulsed. The multiple eyes glowed with a sickly tone, without a clear pupil. Jaws opened in three parts, revealing rows of thin black teeth. Some had spines on their backs. Others carried a dark secretion that dripped onto the floor and made the stone hiss.
Elowen didn't wait.
The silver lance formed in her hand with almost instantaneous speed. The **Veil of the Silent Goddess** opened next — denser, more alive, and the silver threads that left the lance multiplied on their own in the air, as if they responded to her thought even before the movement finished.
The first beast leaped.
Elowen crossed the veil and reappeared above it. The lance came down. A silver thread attached itself at the exact point between the carapace plates. The creature collapsed in the middle of the leap, the body already limp before hitting the ground.
Three came together.
She didn't retreat. The veil expanded in a short arc, the threads intertwining in the air and forming a momentary web. The three beasts crossed. Two locked up in the middle of the movement. The third still tried to attack — and was pierced by the lance before completing the strike.
From above, Astrid murmured:
— That's not the same power from yesterday.
— It's not — Lirien confirmed. — It evolved.
— The threads are moving on their own — Kuroe said. — She doesn't need to command each one anymore.
More beasts invaded the hall. Dozens. Then more. The floor became covered in black carapaces and purple veins contorting. Elowen moved among them as if the entire space responded to her. Every time she crossed the veil, she left behind a trail of threads that reorganized into traps. Each cut of the lance didn't just wound — it marked, delayed, undid the creatures' rhythm.
Cuts began to appear on her body. Blood ran. Breathing increased. But instead of weakening, each impact seemed to pull something deeper to the surface. The veil grew heavier. The threads, sharper. Her presence, more suffocating.
That was when the matriarch entered.
The entire hall seemed to shrink.
She was much larger — almost triple the others. The carapace wasn't just black: it had irregular plates reinforced by thick purple veins that moved like worms under the surface. On her back, long spines dripped the same corrosive secretion. The multiple eyes all glowed at once, and when the triple jaw opened, the sound that came out wasn't just a screech — it was a call. The smaller beasts around her became more aggressive immediately.
— She commands — Rina murmured.
— And she's furious — Harley completed.
The matriarch advanced.
The ground trembled. Elowen crossed the veil by a narrow margin, feeling the wind of the legs pass far too close. The lance cut the side of the carapace, leaving several silver threads stuck. The matriarch didn't even retreat. She spun her body violently and struck from the side.
Elowen was thrown. Her body hit one of the hall walls with dry force. The air left her lungs. An ugly crack echoed in her left arm. Blood ran from her mouth right after.
From above, Astrid took a step forward by reflex.
— No — Joker said, without taking his eyes off below. — Not yet.
Elowen got up.
The left arm clearly compromised. Breathing irregular. Blood running. Even so, the veil returned denser than before. The silver threads around her moved with an almost aggressive intensity, as if the pain had turned into fuel.
She returned to the fight.
Cut. Dodged. Crossed. Bled.
A deep cut opened on the shoulder. Another on the ribs. The knee failed. She fell.
Got up again.
Fell again.
Got up again.
Every time the body gave way, something inside her pulled more strength. The veil didn't disappear — it thickened. The threads didn't weaken — they multiplied. The lance glowed with an increasingly cutting silver light. The entire hall seemed to respond to her rhythm now.
The matriarch attacked with everything.
Elowen didn't retreat.
She crossed the veil at the last instant, reappeared above the carapace and drove the lance with both hands into the point where the purple veins concentrated. The silver threads exploded into the wound. The matriarch convulsed, released a horrendous sound, and finally collapsed with enough weight to crack the ground around her.
For a second, the hall stayed silent.
Elowen was still standing.
Then her body simply shut off.
Her knees gave way. The lance dissolved. The veil vanished. She fell sideways onto the ground, unconscious, her chest rising and falling by a thread.
The smaller beasts didn't flee.
The opposite.
With the matriarch dead, something in them broke. The movement became more chaotic, more violent, more desperate. All of them turned toward Elowen's fallen body and advanced at the same time, jaws open, legs scraping the stone, corrosive secretion dripping onto the floor.
Only then did Joker speak:
— Now.
The barrier opened. The group came down at once.
There was no conversation. There was no delay.
Astrid and Rina opened a path through the middle of the pack. Marina and Sylvara closed the sides. Lirien locked the rhythm of the nearest creatures. Kuroe reached Elowen first, covering her body with her own. Harley and Joker entered last and, in a few seconds, everything that still moved in the hall was dead.
The silence returned heavy.
Elowen was on the ground, completely out. The left arm at a bad angle. Too much blood. Breathing so weak it barely lifted her chest.
Kuroe pressed the worst cut with both hands.
— She went all the way.
— She did — Joker said, voice low. — Killed the matriarch alone. Then shut off.
Harley knelt on the other side, the smile gone.
— Idiot. She lasted far too long.
Even unconscious, Elowen's face still carried a firm tension, as if the body had only given up after the mind authorized it.
The subspace was opened. Proof and materials were collected in a hurry. There was no mood for delay.
When they left the tunnels, Elowen was no longer walking on her own legs. Kuroe and Astrid supported her. The entire group followed together, more serious than the day before.
The evolution was clear.
The price was too.
**End of Chapter 131**