SSS-Rank Talent: Super Upgrade System-Chapter 90: Welcome Party!

They were not facing one man and two women. They were facing an S-Grade Berserker, a powerful A-Grade Healer, and a monstrous, elemental wolf that looked like it had crawled out of their worst nightmares.

"Oh," the scarred leader whispered, his voice trembling. "I think... I think we made a mistake."

The battle, if one could call it that, was a brutal, one-sided lesson in the dangers of underestimation.

The six ambushers, who moments ago had been full of greedy confidence, were now facing a perfect storm of berserker fury, divine healing, and elemental horror.

Ayra, empowered by her [Tyrant’s Mantle] and shielded by Lia’s [Aegis of Life], was an unstoppable force of nature.

She waded into the terrified thugs, her great-axe a whistling whirlwind of destruction.

"BOOM! KRA-SHUNK!"

Her first swing sent two of the ambushers flying, their crude weapons shattering against her incredible strength.

The ground trembled with every impact.

The wind shrieked as their bodies were thrown through the air, crashing into the fiery-leafed trees with sickening crunches. They didn’t get up.

Lia, her serene expression never changing, provided perfect support.

A ribbon of emerald light from her A-Grade staff, her [Mending Stream], constantly flowed around Ayra, instantly healing the few minor scratches that managed to get past her defenses.

Her A-grade healing was so potent that Ayra was effectively fighting as if she were invincible.

But the true terror for the ambushers was Nyx.

The Wolf, now fully unleashed, was a sight to behold. It was a blur of motion, a terrifying dance of opposing elements.

Its fire-wreathed head breathed a torrent of searing flames, turning one of the thugs into a screaming torch before he could even raise his sword.

"BOOM!"

The wolf turned on another thug, baring its fangs with a low snarl.

In a flash, it lunged, claws and teeth tearing through flesh and bone.

The man’s scream was brief, cut off as the beast ripped him apart with savage force.

The leader of the ambushers, the man with the scar, watched his team get dismantled in seconds.

His legs trembled, and his so-called courage vanished. "Run!" he screamed, his voice hoarse with panic. "Run for your lives!"

He turned and bolted, scrambling into the forest. The two remaining thugs, their faces pale with horror, dropped their weapons and followed him, their only thought to escape the crimson-haired demon and her monstrous wolf.

Ayra roared in frustration. "Cowards! Get back here and face my axe!" She started to give chase, but Daniel held up a hand.

"Let them run for now, Ayra. We have what we came for."

The fight was over in less than a minute. Ayra stood panting, her berserker aura slowly dimming, a look of satisfied fury on her face.

Lia calmly dispelled her healing aura. Nyx, her two heads looking very proud, trotted back to Daniel’s side and transformed back into her smaller, more manageable Shadow Wolf Pup form, though she still radiated a faint aura of both intense heat and chilling cold.

"Well," Ayra said, wiping a splash of blood from her cheek. "That was a decent warm-up.

Though they were disappointingly squishy."

"They were ruthless, but not particularly strong," Lia added, her gaze sweeping over the fallen. "It’s a grim reminder of how desperate some recruits have become in this place."

Daniel nodded, then began the familiar task of checking the corpses.

"Let’s see what our welcoming party had on them." As he expected, he found a total of six golden Yang Cards, two from each of the dead ambushers, likely their only real treasures. He also collected their meager supplies.

The other three had gotten away with whatever they were carrying. "Six Yang Cards," he announced.

"Two for each of us. A good start." He then used his SSS-Rank [Soul Assimilation] on the three corpses, the process swift and efficient with his Tier 2 talent.

The essences were weak, barely providing a blip on his stat screen, but every little bit helped.

As he finished, his [Aura Sense+] tingled again. He frowned, focusing his perception.

He could feel dozens of other life signatures, all human, moving rapidly towards their location from all directions.

They were far away, but they were definitely closing in.

"More company," he said grimly. "A lot more.

They must have been attracted by the sound of our fight, or maybe the opening of the tunnel is drawing every scavenger in the area."

Ayra hefted her axe again, a hopeful look on her face. "More of them? Excellent! Maybe this time we’ll get a real fight!"

Lia looked more concerned. "Daniel, even with our strength, we cannot fight dozens of other Awakened at once.

They would overwhelm us with sheer numbers and attrition."

"Lia’s right," Daniel agreed. "We can’t fight the whole Yang region. We need to retreat and find a more secluded spot. We need a plan."

He looked at Ayra and Lia, who were now mounted on Nyx in her large form. "We’ll need to move fast. And quietly, if possible."

He looked towards the vast, open plains that lay beyond the forest, and then towards a huge, shimmering lake in the distance, Yang Lake.

He remembered the data from the Academy archives. Yang Lake was home to some of the most powerful beasts in the region, including one particularly large, territorial creature that even the most powerful teams avoided.

A plan began to form in his mind, a risky, dangerous plan. He grinned. "I have an idea," he said to his teammates.

"Our new friends seem to be very good at tracking us. Let’s lead them on a little chase.

A chase right to the front door of something much bigger and much angrier than they are."

They set off, with Daniel running ahead at an incredible speed thanks to his [Hyper-Sonic Phantom Step], easily out-pacing Nyx and her two passengers. freēwēbηovel.c૦m

He could feel the large group of pursuing Awakened behind them, their energy signatures a chaotic mix of greed and aggression.

They were being tracked, and he was going to lead them straight into the jaws of a monster.

This was going to be fun!