Lucas watched the huddled players from his perch. Fear was a powerful leash. He had broken Scorch's operational pattern, forcing them into a defensive posture in the wide, open center of the quarry. They were safer there from ambushes, but they were also stagnant. Trapped. A predator doesn't charge a fortified position; it draws its prey out into more favorable terrain.
He needed a new weapon, and the quarry itself would provide it. He began to scan the environment, his [System Insight] digging past the surface data of rocks and ore veins, searching for something more. His gaze settled on a dark, fissure-like cave at the quarry's deepest point.
[Lair of the Quarry Devourer | Level 18 (Elite)] [A territorial apex predator. Possesses extreme physical resistance and a devastating acid spray attack.] [Hidden Behavior: Emerges from its lair once every hour to hunt. It is instinctively drawn to the scent of freshly mined, high-purity ore.]
There it was. His weapon. Now, he just needed the bait.
Lucas and Kael moved to the far side of the quarry, near the entrance to the Devourer's lair. There, nestled against the cave wall, was a cluster of untouched [Iron Ore] nodes, shimmering with a richness the other veins in the quarry lacked. It was the perfect lure.
The plan was simple. He needed to be seen.
He began to mine one of the nodes, the clink of his pickaxe echoing unnaturally in the quiet section of the quarry. After gathering a few pieces, he gave Kael a subtle nod. The wolf let out a loud, intentional howl. Lucas immediately feigned panic, "dropping" a few pieces of the high-purity ore on the ground and sprinting away, making himself look like a cowardly scout who had been spooked.
The performance was flawless. Minutes later, one of Scorch's members reported back to their leader, Rive.
"It's that Tamer!" the scout said excitedly. "He found a huge, untouched vein of ore at the back of the quarry! I think his mutt alerted him to us, 'cause he ran off like a coward and even dropped some of the good stuff!"
Rive's eyes lit up with greed and arrogance. An unguarded, rich ore node, and a chance to finally crush the Tamer who was likely responsible for his missing members? The bait was too tempting to ignore.
"All of you, with me!" Rive commanded, his earlier caution forgotten. "We're securing that vein and skinning a wolf. Let's move!"
The remaining members of Scorch followed their leader into the quarry's depths, their fear replaced by avarice. They found the rich nodes exactly as the scout had described, the few dropped pieces of ore glinting on the ground.
"Look at this purity!" one of them exclaimed.
"That Tamer idiot did all the work for us!" another laughed.
As they greedily descended upon the ore veins, their pickaxes striking the rock, the scent of freshly broken, high-purity ore began to fill the confined space.
From the shadows of the cave behind them, the ground began to tremble.
Before anyone in Scorch could react, a monstrous, worm-like creature with a thick, chitinous shell and massive, grinding mandibles burst from the rock wall. The Quarry Devourer had been summoned to its dinner table.
Chaos erupted. The Level 18 Elite was a force of nature against the disorganized, low-level players. Its shell deflected their panicked attacks, and its first spray of acid melted through a warrior's armor, killing him instantly.
From a hidden ledge high above, Lucas and Kael watched the massacre unfold. He wasn't a participant; he was an architect. This wasn't a fight; it was the result of a perfectly executed equation.
The Scorch members were routed, their frantic attempts to fight back proving utterly useless against the elite monster. Rive, with his superior gear, managed to survive the initial onslaught, parrying a blow that killed the player beside him. As he scrambled back, his desperate eyes scanned the quarry walls for an escape route, and he saw him.
High above, wreathed in shadow, stood the Tamer and his wolf, watching them die.
Their eyes met across the battlefield. In that instant, Rive understood. The missing members, the rich ore, the monster—it wasn't a coincidence. It was a trap. He had been played from the very beginning. A roar of pure, unadulterated fury escaped his lips, a sound that was quickly drowned out by the shriek of the Devourer as it lunged again.
Lucas didn't stay to watch the end. His objective was complete. He and Kael slipped away, circling back towards the now-deserted Scorch encampment at the quarry's main entrance. There, he found their prize: a large, unguarded cache of all the ore and resources they had stolen from other players.
He methodically transferred the spoils into his own inventory, his real payment for the day's work. He had crippled a hostile organization, turned their own greed against them, and secured a wealth of materials that would be crucial for his progression. It was a calculated, profitable, and utterly ruthless victory.
The hunt in the quarry was over. But as he recalled the look of pure hatred on Rive's face, Lucas knew the war was just beginning.