Marcus ran at full speed toward where Raylan, Liora, and Victoria were. They had planned everything meticulously: a coordinated attack, a precise raid on Victoria's group. Every step had to be perfect, every movement counted… but something was about to ruin that plan.
A deep, low tremor ran through the ground before they could react. It wasn't just the earth shifting beneath their feet—it felt as if the rock itself stirred from within. Raylan frowned, Liora shivered, and even Victoria hesitated, sensing the air tighten around them.
From the dust and debris, a Thrakos emerged—a high-level Lurker. Its appearance was sudden, brutal, as if the earth itself had spat it onto the battlefield. It was enormous, the size of a bus, looming and oppressive in its presence. Its massive body resembled that of an ankylosaurus, but with a profoundly alien aura: rough, green-and-brown skin covered in overlapping bony plates that acted like natural shields. Its short, powerful legs crushed the ground with every step, sending dust and stones flying. Its tail ended in a dark, hammer-like bone capable of smashing trees and boulders. Small, glowing purple eyes peered out from the dorsal plates, and faint, almost invisible runes pulsed across its skin, radiating a primeval energy that made the air itself tremble.
Raylan barely had time to react. His mind froze at the sight of the Thrakos; the creature was so enormous and so close that sheer shock left him paralyzed. He couldn't dodge. He couldn't move… and the Thrakos's tail struck him directly, hooking him with devastating precision.
Liora screamed and acted instantly. She invoked her power, conjuring a blue bubble that enveloped only Raylan. The sphere glowed and pulsed with its own energy, refracting light and trembling under the Thrakos's blow. The tail slammed into the bubble with a deafening crash. The force was so immense that the bubble didn't just hold—it was sent flying forward, smashing through trees, rocks, and debris like a blinding projectile, spinning Raylan inside it until it vanished from sight beyond the nearby forest.
Victoria took advantage of the chaos, stepping back and fleeing from the battlefield, while the meticulously planned raid fell apart in seconds. Liora dropped to her knees, breathing heavily, her hands shaking from maintaining the shield, fully aware that the situation had become far more dangerous than they had anticipated.
The ground still trembled under the weight of the Thrakos as its blue-shielded impact sent Raylan spinning out of sight. Adrian and Emma, who had been coordinating their positions moments before, froze for a heartbeat as the monstrous ankylosaur-like creature erupted into the battlefield. The sudden appearance of the Thrakos had completely shattered the careful raid.
Adrian's eyes narrowed, immediately spotting movement at the edge of the chaos. Duke, seizing the distraction, took advantage of the confusion to slip away, weaving between debris and fallen trees. Without hesitation, Adrian lunged after him, chasing the enemy with relentless determination, leaving the immediate battlefield behind.
Emma, meanwhile, shifted her focus. She darted toward Marcus and Liora, who were struggling to process the sudden turn of events.
Liora forced herself to breathe, to cut through the noise in her head. Panic was useless. The Thrakos had already proven it wasn't just a setback but a walking death sentence, and if they kept reacting instead of thinking, they'd end up flattened like the trees it had just plowed through.
First, the obvious: defense.
The Thrakos was essentially a living fortress. The gray-blue plates covering its back weren't just thick; they were curved, redirecting force away from its core. Its tail, crowned with that brutal mace of bone, worked as both weapon and shield, sweeping arcs that cleared everything around it. Practically speaking, its defense was extreme. Any direct strike to its top or sides was wasted effort. Neither weapons, nor techniques, nor transformed bodies could pierce it efficiently from those angles.
Second, mobility.
It was slow, technically. But that was a lie in practice. It didn't need speed to kill. Each step shook the ground, each swing of its tail could crush ribs like twigs. It moved like a natural disaster, something you avoided rather than confronted. Dodging it was simple. Approaching it without dying wasn't.
Third, escape routes.
They could run. From an external point of view, fleeing was the smart choice. Splitting up, scattering, forcing the monster to choose a target. Eventually it would lose interest.
But running wasn't a real option. Not after losing the chance to claim Victoria's team and their points. Those points mattered. They needed them to stay in the competition's upper ranks, to avoid falling behind in a system built to punish anyone who didn't hunt aggressively. If they backed off now, they'd be abandoning a reward far bigger than any human group ambush. A Thrakos was worth more, and they all knew it.
Fourth, weak points.
The shell was invulnerable. The tail, suicidal to get near. The neck too thick to pierce without overwhelming power. The limbs sturdy enough that crippling one wouldn't stop it. But the underside, the belly, lacked armor. Only thick hide and muscle protected it. That was the only practical place to land a killing blow.
Unfortunately, reaching it required flipping a creature the size of a bus.
Liora clenched her jaw, running through every possibility. Severing the legs wasn't viable. Luring it into a ravine was impossible on this flat terrain. Blinding it wouldn't matter; it fought by instinct more than sight. Bleeding it out slowly would drain their strength long before it weakened.
Every line of logic circled back to the same absurd solution.
The plan was madness. But it was their only plan.
Liora accepted that with a cold, focused calm
She took a deep breath and called out in a calm but urgent tone. "Marcus… distract it."
Marcus didn't hesitate. His movements were fluid and precise, almost instinctive, weaving around the Thrakos's massive tail swings and crushing steps.
Marcus moved toward the right side of the Thrakos, his eyes locked on the massive creature. The ankylosaur shifted suddenly, swinging its hammer-like tail directly at him. Marcus reacted instantly: he leapt just over the tail, propelling himself with force, and executed a sideflip over the moving appendage before landing lightly on the ground.
As the tail whipped back toward him for a second strike, Marcus dropped to his knees and crouched low, narrowly dodging the incoming blow. From that protected position, he began to circle the creature, moving nimbly around its towering legs and armored hide, always alert to the tail's next swing.
Marcus continued his careful movement around the Thrakos, keenly observing every twitch and shift of the monster's massive body. Then a sudden intuition struck him: the spines along the sides of the Thrakos's shell were about to launch outward. His eyes fixed on them, and instinctively he knew he had to act immediately.
Timing himself perfectly, he approached the creature's shell just as the spines shot out like projectiles. Marcus leapt onto the Thrakos's back, rolling skillfully across the hard, ridged armor. He landed on the other side with precision, narrowly avoiding the lethal spines. Every movement was sharp, fluid, and deliberate, guided by instinct and experience, keeping him always one step ahead of danger while weaving through the Thrakos's massive form.
For a moment, Marcus froze, surprised at the sharpness of his own intuition. He hadn't consciously planned for the spines—yet somehow, instinctively, he had known exactly how to react. The realization left him with a mix of awe and adrenaline, heightening his focus even further.
Marcus took a step back, assessing every movement of the Thrakos. His eyes fixed on Emma, rushing toward him at high speed from the right flank, transformed into her imposing bear form. In that moment, something clicked in his instincts: he understood the plan before it fully unfolded.
Swiftly and precisely, he applied the Ether of Kara technique and hurled the stone he had picked up toward the Thrakos's right eye. The projectile struck with force, momentarily blinding the eye and unleashing a deafening roar that made the ground tremble. Marcus knew that the move not only distracted the monster but also served as a visual signal for Emma—showing her the exact spot to strike.
After throwing the stone and seeing Emma approaching, Marcus charged toward the Thrakos. The creature, enraged, lunged at him with a powerful bite, but Marcus slid under the gaping jaws, grazing the ground as the fangs passed dangerously overhead. Using the momentum, he quickly moved to the opposite side of the monster.
Pressing his body against the lower side of the Thrakos, Marcus braced himself. From the other side, Emma slammed into the creature with all her force, striking its flank. The combined impact, amplified by Marcus applying leverage, produced a spectacular effect: the Thrakos roared, staggered, and lifted partially into the air, its massive legs and armored shell wobbling as it tried to regain balance.
But the combined strength of Marcus and Emma was too much. The colossal beast finally lost stability and crashed down with a thunderous impact, sending dust and leaves swirling across the clearing.
Marcus barely had time to catch his breath when he saw Liora sprinting from the forest, the black sword in her hand and determination blazing in her eyes.
Suddenly, a red bubble emerged from the ground directly beneath her. In an instant, it exploded upward, propelling her into the air as if launched by an invisible spring. Marcus followed every movement intently, watching Liora spin gracefully in midair, sword poised for the strike.
The Thrakos lay on its back, completely exposed and unable to defend itself. Liora landed on its stomach with controlled force, driving the black sword deep into the monster's flesh. A powerful roar erupted from the Thrakos, more from surprise than from any real resistance, as Marcus observed the precision and devastating impact of the strike.
The Thrakos lay motionless, its colossal body defeated, and the clearing fell into a heavy silence after its final roar. Marcus, Emma, and Liora breathed hard, staring at the enormous creature they had overcome. The sense of triumph was undeniable, yet a tinge of bitterness crept into their thoughts.
They had defeated a high-level Lurker, a monster that had seemed nearly invincible, but that victory came at a cost: the opportunity to eliminate Victoria's group had slipped away. The tension of the hunt and the potential points lost weighed on them, leaving a bittersweet taste that none of the three could ignore.
One by one, they began to revert to their human forms, their monstrous shapes fading as they returned to their normal size and appearance. Marcus lowered his arms slowly, taking a deep breath; Emma let her fur disappear and her claws shrink, and Liora held the black sword for a moment longer before it returned to its normal form in her hand.
The three regrouped in the center of the clearing, looking at each other with a mixture of relief, pride, and the quiet awareness of what they had lost even as they had won. The battle was over, but the war was far from finished.
Liora, moving quickly and with determination, ran toward Raylan to check that he was alright, worried for her brother while the rest of the team composed themselves after the intense confrontation.