The stone ceiling shattered. Huge chunks of ancient masonry rained down.
Kaelen grabbed the Vanguard knight by her silver collar. He threw them both under the reinforced archway of the heavy blast doors. A massive slab of stone crashed directly onto Kaelen's back.
His Ironclad Carapace took the brunt of the impact. The magically hardened skin held firm, but the sheer kinetic weight drove him to his knees. The knight curled up beneath him. Dust choked the air, turning the world pitch black.
The rumbling finally stopped. Kaelen pushed the heavy stone slab off his back. It hit the floor with a loud thud.
"Are you breathing?" Kaelen asked. He coughed out a lungful of stone dust.
The knight nodded in the dark. A faint glow from her fractured chestplate illuminated her pale face. "I am alive. My name is Lyra."
"Stay here, Lyra," Kaelen said. He tightened his grip on the Vanguard dagger. "I have a gang to dismantle."
Lyra grabbed his wrist. "They have explosives. They have numbers. You cannot fight an entire gang alone."
"Watch me," Kaelen whispered.
He activated Street Stealth. His silhouette melted into the settling dust. He slipped out of the collapsed outpost and into the toxic mist of the Deep Sump.
The Scrap Gang leader had not stayed to check the bodies. He had retreated to his fortified hideout deeper in sector four. Kaelen followed the heavy boot prints in the mud. The hunger in his chest pulsed rhythmically, guiding him toward the highest concentration of Aether.
The hideout was a sprawling fortress built from welded shipping containers and rusted gears. Thick acidic smog surrounded the perimeter. Kaelen crouched on a high iron pipe looking down at the base.
The place was heavily trapped. Thin tripwires made of razor wire crisscrossed the entrance. Makeshift explosive charges hung from the scaffolding. Three guards patrolled the outer wall holding heavy crossbows.
Kaelen dropped from the pipe. Street Stealth muffled his landing completely. He moved like a ghost through the acidic smog.
He approached the first guard from behind. Kaelen clamped a hand over the man's mouth and drove his dagger into the base of his skull. The guard died instantly. Kaelen devoured his weak Iron Tier essence in a heartbeat. The body crumbled to ash.
Two more guards remained. They were standing near a cluster of explosive charges.
Kaelen picked up a rusted gear tooth from the mud. He threw it hard against a metal container on the far side of the entrance. The loud clang echoed sharply.
Both guards turned toward the noise. They raised their crossbows and stepped away from the explosives.
Kaelen lunged. His Bronze Tier agility made him a blur. He slashed the first guard's throat. Before the second guard could pull his trigger, Kaelen buried his dagger deep into the man's chest.
Shadowy tendrils erupted from Kaelen's hands. He drained them both dry. Warm power flooded his muscles.
[Agility +2. Strength +2.]
He stepped carefully over the razor tripwires. He recognized the crude mechanisms from his years scavenging the slums. He snapped the tension lines with his dagger and disabled the firing pins on the explosives. The path into the stronghold was clear.
Kaelen kicked the heavy metal doors open.
Inside the main courtyard, the gang leader was barking orders at a dozen remaining thugs. He turned around in absolute shock. The heavy metal doors crashed against the walls.
Kaelen stepped into the light. His eyes burned with an abyssal black glow. The stolen dagger in his hand dripped with dark blood.
"You dropped a building on me," Kaelen said coldly. "I took that personally."
The gang leader stepped back. Real fear flashed in his eyes. He realized his entire perimeter security was gone. "Kill him! Kill the rat!"
The thugs hesitated. Kaelen looked like a nightmare stepping out of the fog.
The leader cursed. He reached into his heavy leather coat and pulled out a jagged, glowing red crystal. It was a corrupted Abyssal shard. He jammed the sharp crystal directly into his own neck.
Thick purple veins bulged across the leader's face. His muscles expanded violently, ripping through his leather coat. He roared as his body mutated into a towering, hulking monstrosity.