Chapter 24 : The Siegbarste Challenge - Part 1
The Mellifer network went dark in the industrial district at 6 PM.
That never happened. The bee Wesen maintained constant surveillance, overlapping coverage, redundant observers. For an entire sector to go silent meant something had systematically eliminated every watcher.
I was still processing the implications when Monroe called.
"Cross." His voice was tight, controlled. "We have a problem."
"The industrial district?"
"Worse." I heard him moving, breathing hard. "I went to check. There's a Siegbarste. Seven feet tall, built like a tank, wearing Viktor's sigil. He's—" A crash in the background. "He's destroying everything."
[THREAT ALERT: SIEGBARSTE (OGRE WESEN)]
[CLASSIFICATION: B-RANK (ELITE)]
[CAPABILITIES: SUPERHUMAN STRENGTH, ENHANCED DURABILITY, REDUCED PAIN SENSITIVITY]
[WEAKNESS: SIEGBARSTE GIFT (POISON), JOINT TARGETING, ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS]
"Monroe, get out of there."
"Already running." More crashes, more distance. "He's asking for you by name, Cross. Says Viktor sent him to deliver a message about interfering with Royal business."
The dock shipment. The coins. Viktor's response, arriving exactly when I least needed it.
"Where's he headed?"
"East. Toward the Wesen business district. He's already destroyed the Eisbiber's construction supply, the Fuchsbau pharmacy—" Monroe's voice cracked. "He's going to kill everyone who's worked with us."
I was already moving. Sword, crossbow, the vial of Siegbarste poison I'd taken from Marie's trailer. Everything I had that might work against an ogre.
[QUEST GENERATED: DEFEAT THE SIEGBARSTE]
[DIFFICULTY: HIGH]
[RECOMMENDED APPROACH: ENVIRONMENTAL ADVANTAGE, POISON APPLICATION]
[WARNING: DIRECT COMBAT NOT ADVISED]
I called Angelina. "Construction site on Morrison. How fast can you get there?"
"Twenty minutes. What's happening?"
"Viktor sent a Siegbarste. We're going to kill it."
A pause. Then a laugh—genuine, delighted. "I've always wanted to fight an ogre."
"Bring chains. Heavy ones."
I called Adalind next. "I need a favor."
"What kind?"
"The magical kind. A Siegbarste is rampaging through the industrial district. I'm going to lure it to a trap site. I need something that will slow it down."
"Siegbarstes are resistant to most magic." I could hear her thinking. "But I have a binding ritual that might work. Give me thirty minutes."
"You have twenty."
The construction site was a skeleton of steel and concrete—half-finished high-rise, abandoned when the developer went bankrupt. I'd scouted it weeks ago as a potential battleground. High ground. Heavy equipment. Structural weaknesses that could be exploited.
I arrived first. Started preparing.
The industrial crane's controls were locked, but locks didn't stop someone with the right tools. The pre-stressed cables that held up the partially completed floors were marked—I knew exactly which ones to cut for maximum collapse. The excavation pit at the site's center was thirty feet deep, lined with rebar that would impale anything falling into it.
[TRAP PREPARATION: IN PROGRESS]
[ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS: MULTIPLE]
[ESTIMATED EFFECTIVENESS: MODERATE]
Monroe arrived looking battered—a cut above his eye, his jacket torn.
"He's following me. I led him toward the site, but—" He grabbed my arm. "Cross, you can't fight this thing directly. Even three Blutbaden working together would struggle."
"I'm not planning to fight him directly." I handed Monroe a detonator. "When I give the signal, press this. It'll drop the crane."
"On what?"
"On him."
Angelina appeared from the shadows, chains coiled over her shoulder, expression eager. "Where do you want me?"
"Third floor, southwest corner. When he enters the pit, wrap those chains around him. Keep him in place long enough for the poison to work."
"And you?"
"I'm the bait."
The ground shook.
He came through the construction site's fence like it wasn't there—seven feet of muscle and rage, skin that looked like gray stone, wearing Viktor's sigil on a chain around his neck. His woge was already active, the ogre's features fully emerged. Small eyes. Massive jaw. Hands that could crush skulls like grapes.
[SIEGBARSTE: COMBAT READY]
[ESTIMATED STRENGTH: 8X HUMAN BASELINE]
[ESTIMATED DURABILITY: RESISTANT TO CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS]
[BEHAVIORAL STATE: AGGRESSIVE / HUNTING]
"Grimm." His voice was deep, rumbling, the words barely human. "Viktor sends regards."
I stepped into the open, sword drawn, every instinct screaming to run.
"Tell Viktor he should have sent someone bigger."
The Siegbarste laughed—a sound like grinding stone. "I like you. You have courage. I'll kill you quickly."
He charged.
The ground trembled with each step. Twenty feet. Fifteen. Ten. I held position, counting heartbeats, waiting for the exact moment—
I dove sideways. His fist smashed through the spot where I'd been standing, cracking concrete, sending debris flying. The momentum carried him forward, exactly where I needed him.
Into the excavation pit.
He fell thirty feet, roaring, crashing into the rebar forest below. Metal punctured his skin—not deep, not fatal, but enough to pin him temporarily. Enough to slow him down.
"Angelina!"
She dropped from the third floor, chains uncoiling, landing on the Siegbarste's back. The metal wrapped around his arms, his torso, pulling tight. He thrashed, screaming, but the chains held—reinforced, industrial-grade, designed for loads ten times his weight.
I jumped into the pit.
The Siegbarste saw me coming. His eyes—small, piggish, filled with rage—tracked my descent. One arm tore free from the chains, swinging toward me with killing force.
I ducked under the blow and drove my sword into his shoulder joint.
The blade went deep—through muscle, between bones, finding the soft tissue that even Siegbarste durability couldn't protect. He screamed. The arm went limp.
"Monroe! Now!"
The crane dropped.
Twenty tons of steel and counterweight, falling forty feet, aimed directly at the pit's center. I threw myself clear, scrambling up the rebar ladder, feeling the impact through my entire body as the crane hit.
Dust. Debris. The sound of crushing bone.
[SIEGBARSTE: INCAPACITATED]
[STATUS: SEVERE INJURIES, MOBILITY COMPROMISED]
[EXTRACTION OPPORTUNITY: AVAILABLE]
I climbed back to the pit's edge. Below, the Siegbarste lay pinned beneath the crane's wreckage. His legs were crushed. His torso was trapped. But his head—his eyes—still tracked me with living hatred.
"This isn't over." Blood bubbled from his lips. "Viktor will send more. Better than me."
"I'm counting on it." I pulled out the vial of Siegbarste poison—the Gift, they called it. Fatal to ogres, harmless to everything else. "But you won't be delivering that message."
The poison went into his mouth. He tried to spit it out, but gravity and broken teeth worked against him. The effect was immediate—convulsions, foaming, the slow shutdown of a body that could survive almost anything except its own specific weakness.
[KILL REGISTERED: SIEGBARSTE (ELITE)]
[XP GAINED: +100]
[ABILITY EXTRACTION: AVAILABLE - ACCEPT? Y/N]
I accepted.
The extraction from a Siegbarste was different—heavier, denser, like absorbing concrete rather than liquid. Power flowed into my body, settling into bones and muscles, reinforcing structures that had been merely human.
[ABILITY ACQUIRED: SIEGBARSTE DURABILITY (PASSIVE)]
[EFFECT: +25% RESISTANCE TO PHYSICAL DAMAGE]
[NOTE: ENHANCED BONE DENSITY, MUSCLE FIBER REINFORCEMENT]
[COOLDOWN: N/A (PERMANENT)]
Angelina climbed out of the pit, chains trailing behind her. Monroe descended from his position, detonator still clutched in shaking hands.
"That was insane," Monroe said. "That was absolutely insane."
"It worked."
"It almost didn't work. If that crane had been six inches to the left—"
"But it wasn't." I looked at the Siegbarste's corpse, already beginning to revert to human appearance. "Viktor knows now. He knows his enforcers can't touch us."
"He'll send more," Angelina said. "This was a test. Next time will be serious."
"Then we'll be ready." I retrieved my sword from the creature's shoulder, cleaning the blade on his shirt. "Call Scalpel. Tell him to prepare for incoming injuries."
We left the construction site as sirens approached—someone had reported the noise, the collapse. Let the police find a body they couldn't explain. Let them add another mystery to Portland's growing collection.
Eleven days remained until the Reapers arrived. I'd just killed a Siegbarste, extracted an elite ability, and sent another message to my enemies.
The Pack was getting stronger. The network was holding.
But somewhere in Europe, the real Reapers were mobilizing. And Viktor—wounded in pride if not in person—was planning his response.
The game was accelerating.
I intended to win.
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