Gathering Husbands with a System in a Game Like World [BL]
Chapter 34: The Raid 2

Chapter 34: The Raid 2

Dexter stood between Kai and the rising chimera, blade low, fox ears flat, tail still. The creature pushed free of the shattered crates, violet light flaring brighter along the cracks in its hide. It opened a mouth full of too many teeth and screamed. The pressure in the warehouse shifted hard enough to make the remaining lamps flicker.

The System flared hard in Kai’s vision.

[Critical threat confirmed.]

[Subject: Modified Mistfang Tyrant.]

[Current classification: Chimeric Abomination.]

[Power level: Significantly elevated beyond previous Emeraldwood record.]

[Warning: Adaptive physiology and probable mutation abilities detected.]

Dexter rolled one shoulder and stepped forward.

"Stay behind me."

The chimera charged.

What followed did not look like a normal fight. Dexter met the creature head-on, blade flashing in short, precise attacks. He was fast. Faster than most of the room could track.

He cut along the chimera’s forelimb, rolled under a sweeping claw, and drove the knife up into the joint behind the shoulder. Black-violet blood sprayed everywhere. The beast roared and swung. Dexter was already gone, reappearing on its other side to hamstring a back leg. The creature staggered. Dexter pressed the advantage, every movement clean and efficient.

Elias watched with narrowed eyes.

"Not bad, fox."

Dexter did not look back.

"Try to keep up."

The chimera adapted.

Muscle and bone shifted under the hide. A second pair of arms burst from its ribs, long and jointed in a terrifyingly wrong way.

One of them caught Dexter across the chest and flung him into a support pillar.

Dexter hit the ground, rolled, and came up bleeding from a shallow cut across his ribs. He wiped the blood with the back of his hand and smiled.

"Alright. So you can learn."

The System kept feeding data.

[Form shift detected.]

[Additional limbs manifested.]

[Muscle density increasing.]

[Core energy output rising.]

Then, just as the creature was gearing to attack once more with a growl, the air in the warehouse changed again.

A new presence slammed into the space like a second storm. A pair of Heavy boots hit the weatherd floorboards.

The System reacted instantly.

[New high-tier signature detected.]

[Identity confirmed: Rhydian Valeheart.]

[Role: Husband Candidate 003]

[Classification: Beast Emperor.]

[Threat assessment: Extreme.]

[Note: Previous allied status retained.]

[Affinity currently: 17%]

Someone has been thinking about me

Kai breath caught as he looked towards him.

Rhydian stood in the shattered doorway, coat slightly dusty from travel, eyes already locked on the chimera. The thunder Griffin was no where around but the weight of his presence alone was enough to make the remaining Guild members freeze.

The chimera turned its head toward the new threat.

Rhydian smiled the way a man smiles when he has found something worth his time.

"You. You look different, i was wondering where you were all these while"

They moved at the same instant.

The world became a blur.

Kai’s Eye struggled to track them. Even with the skill of the eye fully engaged he only caught fragments

Well, damn how fast are these people? Could i ever move like that? Kai wondered, the system nosy as always came with it’s own unsolicited opinion

[Answer! Host has a capability of reaching that level of speed and strength if he focuses more on his training and focus on improving the compability to his infinte strength]

[Current Compatibility is marked at 5%]

"System" kai said eyes twitching.

[Hmm..]

"Shut up!" He reprimanded

[Noted]

.

Meanwhile Every exchange of the fight sent ripples of force outward. Crates exploded. Support beams cracked. The shield woman and the healer were forced to brace against the pressure or be thrown off their feet.

Elias’s voice was tight.

"They’re too fast" he said, kai gave him a side look.

"Can you match thier speed?" He said in a mockish tone.

Elias looked at him and gave a genuine smile "ofcourse..."

Kai widened his eyes

"Of course not" Elias added immediately and looked towards the fight. Kai heaved in relief.

"You really don’t like me do you" Elias asked but kai did not answer. He kept his eyes on the blur, letting the Eye feed him what it could.

Frames of still violence flashed through his vision: Rhydian’s boot crushing a secondary arm, the chimera’s tail lashing through a wall, both of them rebounding off each other hard enough to crater the floorboards.

For a short stretch the balance tipped. Dexter rejoined the fray from the flank, cutting low while Rhydian kept the chimera’s attention high. Elias finally moved, slipping in to sever one of the extra arms when an opening appeared. The chimera bled from a dozen wounds. Its movements slowed. Violet light flickered.

Then it changed again.

Bone cracked and reformed. The extra limbs melted back into the torso. The body compressed, shoulders broadening, spine straightening until the creature stood on two legs in a grotesque humanoid shape roughly Dexter’s height and mass. The head remained wrong, too many teeth, too many eyes, but the proportions now matched a powerful humanoid fighter.

Dexter actually laughed.

"If you think matching my size is going to help you, then you really are a mindless monster."

The chimera answered by growing.

Mass poured into it from the violet energy still leaking through the warehouse. In seconds it towered again, larger than before, shoulders scraping the broken ceiling beams. New plates of bone armour locked into place across its chest and arms. The humanoid shape remained, but scaled up into something that made the floor groan under its weight.

Dexter’s ears flattened.

"Oh shit."

Elias’s voice came from Kai’s left, dry and sharp.

"Well you just had to jinx it, didn’t you?"

Dexter shot him a look.

"Seems last night is making you feel cocky and ahead of yourself."

Elias’s smile was all teeth.

"And I think you can’t keep your dick in one place. That’s why you couldn’t finish it clean."

"Shut up, Casanova."

"Watch your mouth, fox."

The chimera roared and brought both fists down.

The warehouse came apart.

The shockwave flattened what was left of the crates and sent the Guild team sliding backward. Kai planted his feet and used his Strength to hold position. Elias braced beside him. Rhydian met the blow directly, both arms raised, boots carving trenches in the floor as he was driven back. Dexter darted in under the creature’s guard and opened a long cut along its thigh, but the wound sealed almost as fast as it opened.

[Regeneration rate critical.]

[Core energy still climbing.]

[Warning: Structural integrity of current location failing.]

Rhydian spat blood and grinned.

"Stubborn thing."

He and Dexter attacked together again. The blur returned, shockwaves ripping through the collapsing building. Elias pulled Kai and the two remaining Guild members toward the far wall as a support beam crashed down where they had been standing.

Kai’s Eye caught a single clear frame in the chaos: the chimera’s chest, where the violet energy burned brightest. He shouted over the noise.

"Core is in the centre of the chest! Deep!"

Rhydian heard him. So did Dexter. They adjusted without needing to discuss it. Rhydian drew the chimera’s guard high with a series of brutal strikes. Dexter went low, then vertical, using Rhydian’s shoulder as a springboard. His blade punched into the glowing centre of the creature’s chest up to the hilt.

The chimera convulsed.

Violet light exploded outward in a single violent pulse. The force threw everyone backward. When the light faded the creature was still standing, but the glow in its chest had dimmed to a sick flicker. It took one step, then another, then collapsed to one knee. Black-violet blood poured from the wound that refused to close.

Dexter landed in a crouch, breathing hard. Rhydian stood over the chimera, fists still raised, waiting to see if it would rise again.

It did not.

The massive body shuddered once more and began to dissolve, breaking apart into dark mist that bled up through the broken roof and into the night. In less than a minute nothing remained except scorched floorboards and the lingering stink of corrupted mana.

Silence settled over the ruined warehouse.

Rhydian finally lowered his hands and turned. His eyes found Kai across the wreckage. For a moment neither of them spoke. The noise of the collapsing building.

Rhydian’s expression softened, just a little.

"Fancy seeing you here."

Kai let out a breath he had not realised he was holding. The tension in his shoulders eased by a fraction.

"Rhydian."

The Beast Emperor picked his way across the broken floor, stepping over scorched boards and the remains of crates. When he reached Kai he stopped at a respectful distance, looking him over the same way he had the first time they met in Emeraldwood.

"You look like you’ve been busy."

"You could say that."

Rhydian glanced at the scorched place where the chimera had fallen, then back at Kai.

"I sensed its energy the moment I entered the city. Same signature as the one from the forest"

"Yeah, i figured"

Kai adjusted his hood, suddenly aware of Elias standing close on one side and Dexter watching quietly from a few steps away.

"The Guild sent me. Investigation mission. People have been disappearing. Artifacts carrying the same kind of energy have been moving through the city. We followed the trail to this exchange."

Rhydian’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"So it’s spreading."

"Looks that way."

A short silence settled between them. It was not uncomfortable. It carried the weight of the last time they had stood together, the forest, the original Mistfang Tyrant, the quiet understanding that had formed in the aftermath. Rhydian’s gaze flicked briefly to Elias, then to Dexter, then returned to Kai.

"You’ve picked up interesting company."

Kai almost smiled.

"That’s one way to put it."

Rhydian’s mouth curved.

"You holding up?"

The question was simple. The way he asked it was not. It carried the same quiet concern he had shown when they parted ways after Emeraldwood, the unspoken recognition that Kai was walking a harder road than most people realised.

Kai met his eyes.

"I’m managing."

"Good." Rhydian’s voice dropped a little. "Try to keep managing. The world doesn’t need you getting yourself killed in a place like this."

Elias shifted beside Kai, close enough that their shoulders almost touched. Dexter remained silent, ears angled forward, watching the exchange with unreadable golden eyes.

The two remaining Guild members stood further back, still trying to process everything they had witnessed.

Rhydian looked once more at the destruction around them, then at the merchant still pinned to the floor by Elias’s dagger.

"I assume that one has answers."

Elias’s smile was thin.

"He’s going to."

Kai nodded.

"We need to move before the city teams arrive and start asking questions we don’t want to answer yet."

Rhydian stepped back, giving them space.

"Then don’t let me keep you. I’ll find you later. We should talk properly when things are quieter."

There was something almost warm in the way he said it. Kai loved it, he needed the warmth anyways.

Kai held his gaze for a second longer.

"Yeah. We should."

Rhydian turned toward the ruined doorway. Before he left he glanced back once more.

"Try not to chase any more upgraded forest monsters without calling for backup next time."

Then he was gone, disappearing into the smoke and the night the same way he had arrived.

Kai stood still for a moment, the echo of the conversation settling in his chest. The System delivered one final note as the last traces of Rhydian’s signature faded from range.

[Allied high-tier signature has left immediate area.]

[Previous cooperative status remains active.]

[Recommendation: Maintain contact. Subject possesses relevant combat data and regional knowledge.]

Elias’s voice pulled him back.

"Old friend?"

Kai started walking toward the pinned merchant.

"Something like that."

Dexter fell into step on his other side, quiet for once. The awkwardness between them had not vanished, but the shared fight had dulled its edge for the moment. .