Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] Chapter 197: Book 3: Chapter 49: Solo-Fight

Read chapter 197 of Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] by TTReynolds on NovelPedia.

Book 3: Chapter 49: Solo-Fight Chapter 49: Solo-Fight The raid regrouped in the broken gatehouse at the front of the city with the stink of chimera blood and sweat still thick in the air. The crumbling walls gave them half a shelter, enough for breath to be caught and wounds to be seen to. Allie and Myrae were already weaving through the group with their sleeves rolled up and hands glowing faint with light aether as they pressed warmth into gashes and wounds. Cole uncorked potion after potion, his pack of glass vials clinking as he handed them to Allie. The strong smell of alchemical herbs joined the iron tang of blood. “Drink it,” Allie snapped at Garret, pressing a corked vial into his hand. “Don’t argue.” “I wasn’t gonna argue.” Garret grimaced before he tipped it back, and shuddered. “But you could’ve at least said please.” “Please don’t die,” Allie said flatly, moving to the next patient. Potion corks popped like firecrackers around the room. Henry’s chest wound hissed as the potion sealed it shut, leaving angry pink skin behind. Peter spat out blood before he took another gulp. Kate leaned against a wall, ribs wrapped tightly by Myrae’s glowing hands, sweat streaking her soot-stained face. When everyone was at least upright, the talk began. “That wasn’t the same as the others,” Eric said first. “Not like the forest, or the lake, or the garden snakes” “No,” Henry agreed, shaking his head. His massive shoulders slumped as he drained the last of his healing flask. “The ones before were… beasts. These…” He gestured outside to the city's crumbling fixtures. “These are killers. Built for death.” “War-forms,” Ghrukk rumbled. His halberd leaned across his knees, still smeared in dirty blood, he wiped it with an even dirtier cloth. “The hive has them waiting for us now, ready to fight back.” The words were punctuated by Tom-Tom’s nervous chitter as he mimed the chimera’s claw swipes. The little guy’s attempt at turning fear into humor, Alex assumed. A few weak chuckles rippled through the gathering, but not much else. “If that’s what waits in those ruins, then pushing into the hive itself is going to be a slog. Every step paid for in blood.” Kate said. Devon cleared his throat, fiddling with his glyph stylus. “We… we could leave. We’ve got the teleportation tokens now since we cleared all the Hidden Objectives. They’ll take us back out of the Dungeon. We’ve already stripped the hive of its specialized adaptations, got a butt load of points. That’s a win.” Garret shook his head. “I don’t like running. Not when we’re this far in.” “Running now just means fighting them later, when they’ve had more time to adapt,” Holly added through exhaustion. “I won’t ask anyone to stay if they don’t want to. The tokens are an option, as Devon said. But if we leave now, we leave this dungeon unfinished. And we all know the System wants excellence from us, or else... “Death,” Alex said quietly. He sat with his back to the wall, his elbows resting on his knees. “And I doubt it will just let us walk away. Maybe not today, but eventually it’ll yank us back here sooner or later.” A murmur of agreement followed. The System would demand they clear the dungeon in one way or another. No one liked it. But they all knew it. “So, we keep the tokens in our back pocket a last resort. But otherwise…we finish the damned dungeon,” Eric said with a crack of knuckles. The squad nodded, one after another, even Ghrukk and his team. Alex leaned his head back against the wall once more, shutting his eyes just for a moment. The decision sat in his stomach like first full of iron, but it was the only one that made sense. “Fine, we keep going. Be ready to pull out your tokens, though.” Everyone nodded. *** The ruin swallowed them as they pushed on. The silence pressed in closely, broken only by the shuffle of feet and the faint metallic clink of their gear as they walked. Alex swept the street with his senses, and felt the faint thrum of hostile aether lurking ahead. He ra