High Stakes

"WOAH! What is that!? It's HORRIBLE!" Wes exclaimed.

Everyone instantly draws their weapons and slowly backs away.

"Bingo, this is what we were looking for! Wes, Cass, positions! Mira, protect Harper!" Grant pointed, directing the team's strategy.

"It's a C-rank, be careful, Grant!" Mira shouted.

Displaying its cannibalistic instinct, the beast's mouth released the corpse of a hybrid it had consumed. As it did, a corrosive substance that looked like slime—but was far more—dripped out, melting everything it touched.

Before the group rises Akki, a biological abomination unlike anything they had faced before, appears. The beast begins to slowly close in on them.

"Stay back, Harper, this is one of the most dangerous beasts," Grant shouts to Seth from the front.

Seth obeyed the order. The further he retreated, the more he could appreciate the abomination they were facing.

So this is a true Rem beast... It's more terrifying in real life than in books or videos.

FWOOOOSHHH!

Without warning, the beast charged wildly toward them. It stopped abruptly, almost skidding, and lashed out with a long arm like a whip, taking Grant by surprise. He barely managed to defend himself with his sword, but he injured his hand as he fell.

"AAGH! Wes! Do your thing!" Grant orders from the ground.

The beast was about to strike Grant with its other arm when Wes threw his Rem-wire, tangling its legs. A sharp pull brought the creature crashing down. Cass seized the moment, slicing a shallow cut across its left arm.

GRRUUUAAASHH!!! The beast roared in pain but pushed itself up using its other arm.

Wes tries to prevent it from getting up, tightening the wire, but the beast responds by pulling back with equal force. Suddenly, the wire snaps right under the acid dripping from the beast's mouth.

"AAGH!" Wes stumbled backward as the tension gave way.

Defenseless and on the ground, Wes quickly backs away, his breath gasping as he sees the acid nearly splash him.

Seeing this, Grant wants to attack head-on and says:

"Wes, get out of there! Cass! Let's close the distance!"

"That won't work, you idiot! We need to neutralize its other arm!" Cass shot back, her voice cracking.

The beast suddenly fires its other arm like a bullet. Grant froze, barely processing the lethal attack until it was too late, and belatedly exclaims:

"LOOK OUT!"

The blow hit Mira, who was sent flying by the impact and landed hard.

"AGH! How did this thing get here!?" she groaned, clutching her already injured shoulder.

"MIRA!" Cass cries out in anguish.

Seth rushed over to Mira, who had been right in front of him.

"Mira, are you okay!?"

"AGH! I'M FINE! It's just that this isn't what…!" She cut herself off, visibly affected by the wound, and collapsed to the ground.

"...Huh?" Seth spun around.

The beast recoils, aiming straight for Seth, who ducks instantly.

FWOOOSHH...
The deadly attack whizzed just over his head. He looked up, breathing heavily, realizing he'd dodged death by a millimeter.

But he remembers he's not alone. He looks at his teammates, those imposing, arrogant figures—now wearing expressions of deep concern that reflected the limits of their abilities.

I can't do anything for them! Or can I? His gaze swept the area, searching for an answer. Calm down. Just stay calm!. I need to come up with something useful! Anything!

The beast slowly retracts its arm, and Seth watches this movement intently...

Remember, just be useful!. What can I actually do for them in this situation?

His mind formulates a somewhat rudimentary plan:

"Umm... Cass! Now that its arm is all the way over here, maybe we can do something! Don't let it retract!"

Wes understood instantly. "EXACTLY! Don't let it pull back the arm! Cass!"

The arm continued retracting, sliding across the floor like a snake.

"Not a chance, you piece of trash!" Cass exclaimed. She drove her sword through the beast's hand, pinning it to the ground.

GRRUUUAAASHH!!! The beast deafens everyone with a roar of pain.

Wes saw Cass's move and signaled Grant. "Grant, now's your chance!"

"GOT IT! THANKS, WES!" Grant yelled, sprinting toward the beast.

CRUNCH-CH... Tearing the hand that was trapped by Cass's sword, the beast desperately tried to retract its arm.

"HURRY! IT'S GETTING LOOSE!" Cass warned, watching the hand slowly pull free.

Grant charged ahead. The beast shook its head, spraying acid.

"GRANT, ABOVE YOU!" Wes shouted.

The acid rained down, but Grant didn't stop. An improvised long jump let him dodge it by a hair's breadth, though a few drops landed on his arm.

"AAAGH, DAMN IT! NO, YOU DON'T, YOU CLEVER FREAK!" he yelled directly at the beast, advancing while enduring the pain.

"TAKE THIS!" Grant delivered a slash to the middle of the beast's arm.

GRRUUAAASH! The beast screamed in response, distracted enough to stop spraying acid.

Grant skidded to a halt right in front of the demon. His sword drew a silver arc in the air, and Akki's head rolled free in one swift motion.

FWOOSH!

A thick jet of blue blood and acid erupted from the neck, sizzling on the ground. Grant kicked the body away, avoiding the corrosive torrent.

"Phew... You put up a good fight, huh?" Grant panted, almost breathless, as he leaned on his saber.

"Finally, it's over...!" Cass sighed in relief.

Seth observed everyone. Wes and Mira were getting back on their feet. Cass and Grant approached the beast.

Something was off about Grant. The usual steel in his posture was gone. His hand shook faintly—whether from pain or the crash of adrenaline, Seth couldn't tell.

Is he really okay? The thought flickered through Seth's mind as he watched.

Grant gave his head a sharp shake, as if to clear it. He hefted his saber, its blade catching the dim light. "Well," he muttered, his voice low. "Let's finish this."

CRUNCH...

He delivered a final, decisive thrust into the beast's corpse.

Withdrawing his sword from the corpse, he extracted the beast's core: a rose-colored mineral coated in blue blood. A valuable object used to forge Rem weaponry, and above all, a trophy that would be this team's ticket into the elite.

Examining the frayed ends of his Rem-wire, Wes let out a low whistle.

"Whoa… now that was intense. Shame about the gear, though."

The team regrouped.

"We almost didn't make it, idiot. Don't get too excited," Cass retorted to Wes.

"What a spoilsport. We were amazing! Wes shot back, then flashed a grin at Seth. "You saw that, right, rookie?"

"Uh... yeah. I didn't think we could fight something that size."

"Me neither. That's only the second time I've faced a Rem beast like that. They say there are worse ones."

As they walked, Grant held the core and said, "It wasn't easy... But with this beast's core, we'll be one of the few academy teams with proven beast combat experience. They'll assign us much more important missions."

"HAHA! With this, we're officially the top team in Class A," Wes replied with an ambitious grin.

Cass frowned at them both in a friendly manner and tugged Wes's ear.

"You shouldn't encourage him. We reached our limit this time. It was dangerous."

"Ouch, why only me? It was his idea, and it worked!"

"Exactly. It worked this time."

Seth watched them. They seemed very close-knit. That was really dangerous, especially when... He remembered the fatal attack he'd dodged by a hair. But they're strong as a team. Though Mira seems distant.

Mira interrupts the friendly exchange with a slightly serious tone.

"Let's just head back. I can't stand this environment anymore."

Wes replies about Mira, worried:

"Oh, Right!. Sorry, I forgot you were hurt, Mira," Wes said, concerned. "Now that we've got what we came for, let's get out of here and get you and Grant patched up. Though I'll miss this place—it feels old. Like the world before everything went wrong."

"Old?" Grant frowned. "You mean before the Rem cataclysm?"

"Yeah," Wes shrugged. "Back when buildings weren't reinforced to hell and back."

"I think it's just bad construction," Cass said.
"These materials look like they'd collapse any second."

"As optimistic as ever, Cass."

Hearing this interesting exchange, Seth remembered the first hybrids they'd encountered and got lost in thought.

Hearing the exchange, Seth thought about the first hybrids they'd encountered.

The world before the Rem cataclysm...
I wonder what it felt like to live without constant fear.

"Alright, time to move out," Grant ordered, snapping Seth out of his reverie.

"Yeah, it's getting late," Mira agreed.

The group retraced their steps, triumphantly heading down to the previous floor. Although it was still the same eerie place, everyone felt more relaxed.

"Hey, when we get back to the city, I'm buying everyone dinner. What do you say? Even you, new guy," Wes said, addressing them all.

"Thanks," Seth replied. Though nervous, he offered a genuine smile.

Wes really holds the group together. He's a great guy.

KRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN...!

A deafening, screeching sound echoed as they were about to pass a door.

"What was that?" Cass asks, taking a few steps back.

"I don't know, but that screech scared me out of nowhere!" Wes replied.

Grant moved forward slowly, extending a hand to signal everyone to stay back.

"That sound wasn't normal. Hold on," he ordered, advancing cautiously toward the door.

"We already came through here!. It's probably just another hybrid," Cass said, trying to ease the tension.

"I'll check it out. It seemed to come from that room over there."

Grant crept forward, peering slowly into the room...

FWOOOSH!

Suddenly, his arm moved on instinct, violently slamming the door shut despite his injured hand.

"Ugh, what the...?!" Grant exclaimed, his face contorted with utter horror.