Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] Chapter 196: Book 3: Chapter 48: City Ruins

Read chapter 196 of Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] by TTReynolds on NovelPedia.

Book 3: Chapter 48: City Ruins Chapter 48: City Ruins The sun hadn’t truly risen, not in that dungeon. It never did. The light was always the same faint, crystal-like glow that clung to the rocky mountain ceiling. Even so, dawn felt like it had passed when the squad reached the blackened stone arch of the city’s gatehouse. The thing looked ready to collapse. Its battlements leaned like a drunk struggling to stand, moss choked every seam of mortar, and one side of the portcullis had long since crumbled into a pile of rusted teeth. The road beyond stretched inward, flanked by skeletal frames that might have once been houses, and broken walls. A maze of ruins that whispered of a place once proud, and long dead. “Cozy,” Garret said. He raised his shield as he ducked under the tilted arch. “Definitely screams five-star lodging.” “Just like home,” Alex said. His [Aether Sight] traced the outlines of collapsed rooftops, every brick and beam humming faintly in his perception. There were no signs of monsters yet—just dust and decay—but he stayed vigilant. “Feels like walking through an old district after the bombs dropped. Remember Kansas-City?” That drew a few snorts of laughter. Devon shook his head. “Kansas looked better than this place.” Even Henry cracked a grin at that. The squad’s formation took shape as the walked forward, falling in place naturally as breathing. With the tanks up front, Henry’s bulk, Doran and Garret’s shield set the pace. The healers and support moved close to the middle. Allie kept her hands ready, Myrae trailing near her with light dancing faintly at her fingertips. The ranged fighters and strikers drifted around the edges: bow half-drawn, spells half-cast and blades loose. For a moment, there was almost… levity. The dry humor gave the sense that even in this husk of a city, they could find echoes of Earth. Then the ground shuddered. It wasn’t much at first, a dull rumble that vibrated through the soles of their boots, like some great machine turning far below the streets. Dust trickled from the cracked stone awning above them. Then came the sound of stone splitting from somewhere close by. Every weapon came up. The squad froze as the wall of a nearby building groaned and leaned outward before a cascade of rubble tumbled down its face. The noise echoed like thunder between the hollow streets. Alex saw something move behind the wreckage. Not the skitter of rats, nor the collapse of another wall. A fast movement of some creature he couldn't quite get a glimpse of. His senses flared, aura pulling tight around him like a net. His heart hammered, every instinct screaming at him that whatever stirred in the ruin wasn’t just rubble falling into place. He raised a hand, signaling the squad to stillness. The rumble came again, deeper this time. “...Oh good,” Garret whispered, coughing out ash and dust. “Haunted city. My favorite flavor.” The wall just ahead of them gave way all at once. A window, half-choked in vines, burst outward in a spray of dust, glass, and broken stone as something black and chitinous slammed through it. It landed on the flagstones in a crouch—too smooth, too fast—its talons gouging lines in the stone. Its head snapped up, long jaws opening in a hiss that cultivated goosebumps along Alex’s skin. A second shape crashed through the ruin beside it, then a third, showering the street with shards of glass and mortar. They weren’t jackals, bears, or snakes. These were something else entirely. Velociraptor-shaped, if velociraptors had been dragged screaming through a nightmare merging machine. They had long, sinewed front limbs ending in scythe-like claws, sleek insectoid chitin plates running down their spines, and mandibles flexing wetly around needle-sharp, teeth-filled mouths. Their bodies gleamed like oil-slick obsidian, every ridge of their exoskeleton catching the faint light with a rainbow shimmer, and they moved with a sickening, predatory grace. “...Oh hell,” Garret muttered, shield rising