The Wild Elephant's grotesque, shifting hide, moments ago riddled with bullet wounds and bruises, had already begun to mend. The deep cracks along its stone-like flesh sealed shut, the green ichor congealing before vanishing entirely. It was as if their relentless assault had barely mattered.
The beast then let out a loud bellow before rushing at Stone again. Dust and loose debris cascaded from above, disturbed by the unnatural energy rolling off the beast in waves.
However, Stone didn't hesitate.
He pushed off the ground, his muscles flexing as his qi surged to its peak, red energy crackling around his frame. With a powerful step forward, he clenched his fists, body coiling like a spring before he launched another devastating punch straight at the beast's incoming tusk.
[Mountain Breaker!]
The collision was explosive.
A thunderous boom cracked through the battlefield as his fist met the thick, reinforced bone of the Wild Elephant's protrusion. A visible shockwave rippled outward, sending smaller rocks and loose dirt flying in every direction. The sheer force of the impact stalled the creature's momentum—but only for a fraction of a second.
The beast had instinctively learnt how to deal with this attack. Instead of letting itself be staggered again, it twisted its massive head, using the inertia of Stone's strike against him. The tusk slid off his fist, altering its trajectory, and in one swift motion, the creature swung its colossal limb forward.
Stone barely had time to react.
The beast's tree-trunk-like leg slammed into him like a wrecking ball, the sheer weight behind the blow launching him backward. He barely managed to cross his arms in front of his chest, activating a defensive technique and redirecting more of his qi to that area in order to absorb some of the impact, but it still sent him flying. His body crashed into the side of the partially collapsed research facility through a rusted support beam, snapping it in half, before he was swallowed by a storm of falling debris.
Before he could even push himself back up, the Wild Elephant was already moving.
It slammed one of its colossal limbs into the foundation of the ruined structure, the impact sending violent tremors through the already fragile building. Cracks spiderwebbed along the walls, deep fractures running through the exposed steel framework.
A final, earth-shaking stomp from the Wild Elephant sent a deep, resonating crack through the facility's foundation. A groan, long and dreadful, rolled through the ruins as one of the last remaining support beams gave way.
The ceiling caved in.
A cascade of concrete, steel, and shattered glass came crashing down in a roaring avalanche of destruction. Dust erupted outward in thick, suffocating clouds, momentarily blinding everyone caught in its wake.
"Stone!" Adrian shouted, eyes widening as he instinctively took a step forward.
A heavy silence followed.
For a long second, there was nothing but the sound of shifting rubble, small stones tumbling over larger ones. The thick cloud of dust refused to settle, shrouding the scene in uncertainty.
Then came the tremor.
Not from the ruins Stone was buried under, but from the Wild Elephant.
The annoying tiny lifeform whose hits hurt like hell and had repeatedly stopped its attempts at charging the other lifeforms at the back was now buried beneath a mountain of rubble.
That meant there was nothing that could obstruct its path anymore.
Its black, abyss-like eyes scanned the battlefield, its ragged breath steaming in the cold air. it shifted its massive frame, the ground trembling beneath its weight. Its muscles coiled like wound steel cables, its posture lowering. Then, with a final exhale, it charged.
The entire battlefield seemed to shake.
Chunks of shattered stone and broken metal were sent flying as the beast's colossal limbs pounded the earth, its enormous tusks carving a destructive path through the ruins. It moved with terrifying momentum, its sheer size making dodging near-impossible.
"Shit! Open fire! Don't let it reach us!" Adrian barked, snapping back into action.
The squad didn't need to be told twice.
«Craaaaack» «Craaaaack»
A fresh wave of suppression fire erupted across the battlefield. Muzzle flashes flared in the dim light, bullets streaking through the air in rapid succession. Grenades burst against its joints, filling the air with shrapnel and flame. The gunfire overlapped with the heavy thuds of grenade launchers and the piercing boom of Adrian's rifle.
The rounds sank into its thick flesh, trying to dig through the unnatural layering of its grotesque, stone-like skin. Rion even lunched multiple Corrosive rounds under the effects of [Overclock] and [Deadeye Triple Burst] in am attempt to slow the beast down. Green ichor sizzled where they struck, flesh bubbling and sloughing off.
To their dismay, the humongous beast plowed through the barrage, its monstrous body absorbing the onslaught as if it were nothing more than a light drizzle. Bullet wounds slowly sealed as they appeared, the torn flesh mending itself in unnatural waves. Even the deeper wounds that Adrian's anti-materiel rifle had inflicted earlier were closing.
"Fuck!!" Vance cursed, ejecting a spent magazine and slamming a new one into place.
The Wild Elephant arrived before them in no time, using its sheer momentum to roll into the stumble. It twisted its massive frame, shifting into a brutal, sweeping turn. Its tusks carved deep trenches through the rubble, sending a deadly wave of debris outward like a high-speed landslide.
"Get back!" Adrian yelled, but the warning came too late.
One retainer was caught in the blast, their body sent tumbling like a ragdoll before slamming hard against a broken wall. Another barely managed to throw himself aside, escaping with only a few deep gashes from the flying shrapnel.
Adrian gritted his teeth. They couldn't keep this up.
The Wild Elephant strength wasn't out of the norm for an Anomaly-class beast. However, its uncanny regeneration made this a battle of attrition. They needed a decisive move as a prolonged battle would only tilt things further in its favor.
Before he could call out orders, the rubble behind them shifted.
A deep, rumbling groan filled the air, followed by the unmistakable sound of cracking stone.
Then, with a violent burst, the wreckage exploded outward.
A red-tinged silhouette emerged from the settling dust, a figure wreathed in energy—Stone.
His body was covered in dust and streaks of blood, but his stance was solid, his presence unshaken.
The Wild Elephant skidded to a halt, its abyss-like eyes narrowing.
Stone exhaled, slow and measured. Then, he fished out three vials which had somehow escaped the fate of breaking under the collapse and downed their contents at the same time.
Almost immediately, his qi pulsed in visible waves around him, the raw intensity making the air hum. Small pebbles and bits of debris lifted slightly off the ground, caught in the invisible force of his rising energy as he raised his fist.
"Alright! Time for round two."
Stone's body radiated raw power, his qi pulsing like a living forcefield around him. His muscles tensed, veins bulging as the energy from the three vials coursed through his system, supercharging his already formidable physique. The red glow surrounding him intensified, crackling like wildfire.
He didn't wait for the Wild Elephant to react.
With a ground-shaking stomp, Stone launched forward. The cracked earth beneath his feet cratered from the sheer force, sending a shockwave rippling outward. He covered the distance between himself and the beast in the blink of an eye, his fist already cocked back. The Wild Elephant's abyss-like eyes widened slightly in recognition, but its body was too massive to dodge in time.
Stone's fist collided with the monster's thick hide like a battering ram striking a fortress wall.
«Boom!»
A deafening boom split the air, the impact sending ripples across the beast's grotesque, stone-like flesh. The sheer force behind the blow was enough to send the colossal creature skidding backward, its massive limbs digging deep trenches into the ground.
Yet Stone wasn't done.
He surged forward, his movements fueled by sheer will and raw strength. His arms wrapped around the Wild Elephant's tusk, muscles straining as he lifted. The beast let out a distorted bellow, struggling against the unexpected maneuver. Its immense size made it nearly impossible to throw, but Stone didn't need to throw it—he needed to slam it down.
[Titan's Might!]
With a roar, he pivoted his hips and yanked with everything he had. The beast's front legs lifted from the ground, its immense weight momentarily rendered useless against Stone's overwhelming force. Then, with a ground-quaking crash, he slammed it down, sending a shockwave that rattled the ruins around them. Dust and debris shot into the air as the Wild Elephant was momentarily stunned.
"Keep up the pressure!" Adrian shouted, snapping the others out of their shock.
Gunfire erupted once more. But amidst the hail of bullets, something was off.
The trademark whizz of Rion's rifle was suspiciously absent.
Instead, his controlled his Sentinel to continue firing relentless bursts at the Wild Elephant's vulnerable spots. The team was too focused on the battle to notice that Rion wasn't shooting it reloading his own gun. His stance was eerily still, his eyes narrowed in concentration.
He was waiting.
Meanwhile, one of the cultivators on the team, a retainer named Psyko, took a step forward. Her hands lifted, fingers twitching in a rhythmic motion. A subtle, almost invisible ripple spread through the air. The Wild Elephant's movements faltered as it tried its best to shrug off the unseen force that was bothering it and pick itself up.
However, in doing so, it had made a very fatal mistake. It momentarily forgot about the presence of the 1st-tier Peak-Stage stryker in front of it.
Stone on the other hand did not waste such a perfect opening.
He executed a gravity defying jump and landed on the back of the beast's head. Then, the red energy around his fists began to crackle with intensity as he pummeled the creature's skull.
The Wild Elephant roared in fury, its massive body writhing as it tried to throw him off. But Stone was relentless. He delivered blow after blow, each strike sending shockwaves through the creature's body. The beast's stone-like hide began to crack under the onslaught, green ichor oozing from the wounds.
But the Wild Elephant still had a final trick up its thick sleeve. Suddenly, its grotesque flesh rippled, its already massive muscles swelling further. Veins pulsed beneath its hide, and its wounds no longer sealed themselves. Instead, its black irises, were now glowing slits of pure, unrestrained rage.
With a sudden burst of strength, it managed to throw Stone off, sending him flying through the air. He landed hard, skidding across the ground before coming to a stop. The beast rose to its feet, its eyes blazing with rage. It let out a deafening roar, its body trembling as it entered what could only be described as a berserk state.
The beast lurched forward, its movements no longer calculated but fueled by mindless aggression. It charged, its immense body plowing through walls and rubble as if they were made of paper. Chunks of debris and twisted steel exploded outward as it carved a path of raw destruction through the ruined landscape.
Stone barely managed to sidestep, but in doing so, left two combatants who had moved a bit too close to the action at the beast's mercy. The shockwave alone sent one retainer flying into a crumbling wall, while another was caught in the beast's sweeping tusk, his body flung like a ragdoll. He hit the ground with a sickening thud, coughing up blood.
"Fall back!" Adrian barked.
But there was nowhere to fall back to. The Wild Elephant had already turned, its berserk rampage leaving no room for escape. It charged again, this time even faster.
«Whizz!»
All of a sudden, a single, blue-streaked bullet whizzed through the air, moving with pinpoint accuracy toward the weakest point in the beast's hide—a fractured section on its armored torso, right where Adrian's high-caliber round had already softened it.
The instant it made contact, the bullet detonated.
A mini explosion erupted inside the Wild Elephant's body, sending scorching blue flames tearing through its internals. The beast shrieked, its entire body convulsing. Its regeneration fought desperately to counteract the internal damage, but it couldn't—its ability had never been meant to regenerate from the inside.
It stumbled, its massive limbs no longer obeying its berserk will. Its breathing grew ragged, the once unstoppable monstrosity now quivering on unstable legs.