Chapter 28 — Depths of the Inner Hive
The tunnels widened as the trio moved down the sloped passage.
No light entered this far—only the faint red glow from mineral veins buried in the chitin.
The air was hotter, the ground firmer, and every sound echoed twice.
Shin glanced ahead. "This level feels different."
Alicia gave a short nod. "Stronger signatures. Multiple."
Vaibhav exhaled slowly. "Prepare."
They stepped into a circular chamber—large, open, hard-walled.
The attack hit instantly.
From six different branching tunnels, six Transcendent beasts surged out at once. Their bodies were broad and fire-veined, claws trailing molten sparks, pressure heavy enough to warp the air around them.
There was no chance to reposition.
They fought where they stood.
The first beast lunged at Vaibhav, jaws opening wide enough to bite stone. Vaibhav stepped in, palm already rising.
Heavenrend Impact.
The strike slammed directly under the beast's jaw.
Compressed force ripped upward through its skull.
The beast dropped with a violent shudder.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+5 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
A second beast swung a molten claw at Alicia.
She slid back and raised her hand.
Ethereal Divide.
The attack rebounded, forcing the beast's own strike into its neck.
Its body hit the ground with a dull, heavy collapse.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+3 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
Two more charged Shin together.
Shin's foot pressed lightly against the ground.
Voidstride Step.
His body blurred—short, sharp movements that cut the distance and angle instantly.
Both beasts swung where he had been, their strikes hitting empty space.
He reappeared behind them, sword-type beast spirit fully summoned—hot, fire metal curving forward.
Starvein Flash.
The blade moved once.
Straight.
Clean.
Silver traces hung in the air—thin lines marking Shin's exact cutting paths.
Half a breath later, the delayed slashes detonated.
Both beasts fell apart.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+4 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+2 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
The fifth beast jumped from above, descending toward Alicia like a collapsing furnace.
Vaibhav reached it first.
His fist drew back, muscles locking, energy veins tightening.
Starbreaker Fist.
The impact detonated inside the beast's torso.
A crater burst outward from the point of contact.
The creature hit the floor in pieces.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: Inferno-Hide Juggernaut]
[+4 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
The last beast hesitated, then rushed Vaibhav and Shin together.
Shin didn't wait.
He cut through it before it completed the second step.
A single vertical Starvein Flash line split its body clean.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+3 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
Silence returned.
Molten blood pooled across the ground, cooling in uneven streaks.
A faint metallic smell lingered.
Vaibhav wiped blood from his cheek. "Again… some of the life force is slipping away."
Alicia looked sharply at him. "To the center?"
Vaibhav nodded once.
Shin smirked faintly. "Where else? This place is one big stomach."
The ground vibrated—a pressure shifting through the stone and chitin.
A sound rose through the tunnels.
Heavy. Numerous.
Eight more Transcendent beasts forced their way toward the chamber, their roars filling the space.
Shin stepped in front of Vaibhav and grabbed his shoulder.
"We aren't killing all of these yet. Hold them."
Vaibhav tightened his stance. "Got it."
The next wave crashed against them.
Vaibhav and Shin absorbed the hits, knocking beasts back, keeping them from flooding the chamber.
Alicia darted behind the fallen bodies, blade already out.
She tore into the first corpse, extracting a large blue shard.
Then the next.
Then the next.
Shin parried a descending claw with a short sweep of his sword spirit.
Vaibhav shoved two beasts back with a double-arm shock.
Alicia worked faster.
Three shards.
Four.
Five.
Six.
She stood.
"Done! Move!"
Shin shoved the nearest beast aside with a burst of force.
The trio sprinted toward a narrow side passage—too tight for the Transcendent beasts to enter at once. The creatures slammed into the entrance but couldn't fit through.
Inside the alcove, Alicia handed out shards.
"Eight total. Four for Shin, two for me."
Shin absorbed his first. Blue light sank instantly into his arm.
> [+4 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — 1st Shard
The second dissolved.
> [+3 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — 2nd Shard
The third pulsed violently before melting.
> [+6 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — 3rd Shard
The fourth flickered, then vanished into him.
> [+4 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — 4th Shard
Alicia absorbed her two carefully.
> [+5 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — 1st Shard
[+2 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — 2nd Shard
Shin flexed his fingers. "Alright. That's enough to push forward."
Alicia nodded.
Vaibhav adjusted his stance, eyes on the blocked passage behind them.
The beasts on the other side roared, scraping at the chitin.
They weren't done.
The moment their breathing steadied, the three stepped back into the main chamber.
Heat pressed against them.
The walls pulsed harder now—faster, rhythmic, almost anticipatory.
Nine Transcendent beasts waited.
Their bodies were thicker than the previous wave, their hides harder, flames leaking from the cracks between their armored plates. The instant the trio reappeared, the beasts roared and advanced.
Vaibhav summoned the armor-type Transcendent beast spirit he had earned earlier — Inferno-Hide Juggernaut. A plated shell formed across his shoulders, chest, and arms—heavy, dark, dense. Each breath made the plates shift with a metallic grind.
Shin called out his sword-type spirit again. The long curved blade materialized with a controlled shimmer. Alicia's mutated armor spirit — Flame Titan Monarch — flickered over her form—angular crystalline plates moving like scaled light.
The beasts charged.
Vaibhav slammed forward to intercept the first. His fist locked, muscles tightening down his arm.
Titanbreaker Pulse.
The strike sent a shockwave bursting outward.
The beast's ribcage cracked inward with a concussive thud.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+5 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
Another Transcendent lunged low, claws dragging molten sparks across the floor. Vaibhav met it with a downward smash.
Earthrend Hammerfist.
His fist struck the top of its skull, and a tremor shot through the ground in a branching fissure.
The beast dropped instantly, limbs twitching once before going still.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+4 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
Two more rushed Alicia, one from each side.
Her barrier unfolded sharply.
Ethereal Divide.
The beasts' attacks rebounded into each other, their own force slamming back against them, staggering them.
Before they recovered, she pivoted and struck the nearer one across the throat with a precise cut of condensed energy, dropping it cleanly.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+3 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
Shin slipped past a wide, sweeping claw by vanishing into a short step of displacement.
Voidstride Step.
His afterimage took the blow while he reappeared at the beast's flank.
His blade drew a tight arc.
Silver trails hung.
Half a breath later—
Starvein Flash.
The delayed slashes detonated, carving directly through the creature's torso.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+4 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
Three remained.
They advanced together.
Shin moved first, folding the distance in a blink. His sword flickered—one vertical line, one diagonal, one horizontal. The slashes didn't activate immediately. The beasts lunged at him—
Then all three lines erupted.
Chests split, flames leaked from their ruptured cores, and the bodies collapsed nearly in sync.
Vaibhav caught the last one trying to rise. He twisted its head with his armored forearm and drove it down.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+5 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
Only one beast was left.
It turned on Alicia.
She didn't step back.
Her armor pulsed as she raised both hands.
Energy condensed into a dome of hard light, spikes jutting out like crystal thorns.
Packbreaker Shell.
The beast leapt onto it.
The spikes pierced its underside.
Alicia dropped the barrier instantly, stepped in, and delivered the final cut straight through the beast's core.
The body fell apart.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: Emberhowl Titan] — Alicia
[+3 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
Silence settled again.
Steam lifted from the corpses, the scent of scorched chitin hanging thick.
Alicia immediately knelt and cut open the fresh kills.
Transcendent shards—blue, dense, still warm—fell into her hands.
She absorbed them one by one.
> [+6 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — Shard 1
[+5 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — Shard 2
[+3 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — Shard 3
[+4 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — Shard 4
[+4 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — Shard 5
Shin absorbed his own four without hesitation.
> [+7 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — Shard 1
[+4 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — Shard 2
[+5 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — Shard 3
[+3 Transcendent Power Points Gained] — Shard 4
Vaibhav exhaled, loosening his stance.
The armor spirit dispersed from his body in fragments of fading light.
The ground trembled beneath them—slow, deep, rhythmic.
Warning them.
Promising more.
Alicia straightened, her new beast spirit settling into her aura with a sharp, molten pulse.
Shin lifted his sword spirit again.
Vaibhav looked toward the tunnel ahead.
They weren't done.
Not even close.