The sky above Northreach seemed to be weeping. A thunderstorm raged mercilessly, turning the dry earth of the castle's front courtyard into a sea of thick, cold mud. Lightning flashed occasionally, illuminating the silhouette of Iron Hearth Castle, which looked old and fragile amidst nature's fury.
However, the thunderous roars in the night sky were less terrifying than the sounds coming from deep within the earth.
DUM... DUM... DUM...
The vibrations were rhythmic, heavy, and drew closer with every second. Each thud felt like a direct blow to the heart of anyone listening. The castle's foundations trembled, dust fell from the gaps in the stonework, and the water in the mud puddles rippled wildly.
On the main bridge—the only access to the castle gate—Sir Riven Sudrath stood tall and alone.
He wasn't wearing his usual golden pride-armor that he often used to show off. Tonight, he wore his old combat gear. A set of black steel armor filled with scratches and dents—a silent witness to the dozens of battles he had survived.
Rainwater drenched his hair and face, masking the cold sweat beginning to drip. In his left hand, a massive iron Tower Shield, as tall as a man, was firmly planted in the mud. In his right hand, his signature Battleaxe was gripped so tightly that his knuckles had turned white.
"Hold your positions! No one retreats!" Riven bellowed. His voice was hoarse, struggling to pierce through the roar of the wind and rain.
Behind him, atop the fortress walls, Captain Garrick and the remaining Iron Mercs stood ready, their faces deathly pale. Their hands trembled as they held their bows. They were war veterans, but the vibrations they felt from the ground this time were different. This wasn't the tremor of a cavalry charge. This was the vibration of something much, much larger.
Behind the castle windows, which were barred with thick wood, Grimm, the family's loyal old steward, was trying to calm Raveena and Raphael. The children were crying in fear, clutching Grimm's legs tightly as the oil lamps in the room swayed, nearly falling.
"Big brother Riven... Big brother Riven is all alone out there..." Raveena sobbed.
"Master Riven is strong, young lady. He is our wall," Grimm whispered, though his eyes never left the back of his young master outside.
"Whatever comes out of that hole..." Riven muttered to himself, his eyes locked on the mouth of the Mithril Mine in the distance. "Don't let it touch the gate. My family is behind me."
And that was when the nightmare began.
The massive, half-meter-thick wooden seal covering the mouth of the cave exploded into a thousand pieces.
BLARRR!
Sharp wooden shards flew in all directions like bullets. Dust and black smoke spewed out, mingling with the falling rain.
From within the gaping darkness of the cave, two points of crimson light ignited. Cold. Emotionless.
Then, the creature crawled out.
The Obsidian Crawler.
It wasn't an animal. It wasn't a creature of flesh. It was a mechanical nightmare from an ancient era.
Its shape resembled a giant centipede, twenty meters long. Its body was composed of ancient, rusted black steel plates and chunks of granite that ground against each other with a bone-chilling sound.
KREK... KREK...
It had dozens of legs, each one a sharp metal blade that stabbed into the ground, piercing the rock. And the most terrifying part was its head. No eyes, no nose. Only a vertical mouth with a high-speed metal Grinder jaw.
WIRRRRR...
The sound of the rotating engine sounded like the screams of a thousand spirits. The stench of burnt oil and ozone stung the nose, overpowering the smell of wet earth.
"Insane..." Garrick whispered atop the wall, his bow hanging limp. "Arrows won't do a thing against that walking tank! It's a literal iron fortress!"
The monster screeched—a high-frequency metal scraping sound that made ears ring painfully—and then lunged forward.
Its target was clear. The sensors in its head didn't detect human flesh as a threat, but they detected a massive amount of pure metal.
The Armory behind Riven.
If the monster hit the warehouse, the castle would collapse, and everyone inside would be buried.
"HEY, YOU OVERGROWN CATERPILLAR! COME FIGHT ME!"
Riven's shout thundered. He struck his iron shield with his axe rhythmically.
KLANG! KLANG! KLANG!
The sound of clashing iron caught the monster's attention.
The eyeless head paused for a moment. Its vibration sensors picked up the challenge.
It turned slowly, its gears clicking, and then its massive body glided, charging toward Riven at a speed that was nonsensical for a creature of that size.
"Come at me, you bastard!"
Riven took a defensive stance. He widened his legs, digging his iron heels deep into the mud. He activated the small amount of orange Aura he had recently learned—strengthening the muscles in his shoulders and legs to their absolute limit.
The next second was a brutal physical collision.
BRAMM!
The impact was like a fully loaded truck slamming into a concrete wall.
The monster's steel head slammed into Riven's shield with twenty tons of force.
Riven's bones shrieked. His muscles felt like they were about to snap.
The ground beneath Riven's feet shattered instantly. His body wasn't thrown back, but he was dragged. Riven's feet plowed through the knee-deep mud, creating a long trench ten meters long.
"ARGHHH!" Riven roared in pain.
Fresh blood sprayed from his nose due to the immense pressure. Fine cracks began to appear on the surface of his great shield.
"Support! Fire! Protect the Commander!" Garrick shouted in a panic.
A rain of spears and arrows launched from the top of the wall. Hundreds of projectiles pelted the monster's back.
Ting! Ting! Tak!
It was futile.
The weapons bounced off the monster's steel hide like pebbles thrown at an iron wall. Not a single scratch.
The monster was enraged that its momentum was halted. It raised the front of its body high, five meters into the air. Its grinder jaw spun even faster, ready to crush Riven from above like a giant sledgehammer.
Riven looked up. His face was soaked with rain and blood.
He knew his shield—and his arm bones—wouldn't be able to withstand that vertical strike.
"Sorry, Mom..." Riven whispered.
He released his shield and rolled to the side, exactly one second before the attack landed.
DUAR!
The stone bridge where Riven had just been standing was obliterated into a crater. Shards of stone flew everywhere like a grenade explosion.
The shockwave threw Riven's body into the air.
THUD.
Riven slammed hard against the castle gate wall. He fell sprawled in the mud. His helmet was dented, his temple torn, and his vision blurred. His breath felt tight, as if his lungs were being crushed.
His battleaxe was thrown far out of reach.
The world spun. The sound of rain seemed to fade away.
Only one sound remained clear.
WIRRRRR...
The monster turned slowly. It "saw" the helpless Riven on the ground.
It crawled closer. Slowly. Savoring the moment. Its sharp legs stabbed into the ground on either side of Riven's body, trapping him.
"Dammit..." Riven tried to get up, but his legs were numb. His right hand trembled violently and refused to move.
"I... haven't even given Mom a grandchild yet..."
The monster opened its grinder mouth wide, ready to devour Riven and his armor into metal scraps.
The heat from the monster's engine hit Riven's face. The smell of death.
Riven closed his eyes, resigned to his fate.
However, fate had other plans.
Suddenly, the night sky above the castle split open.
ZIIING!
A giant Blue Circle of Light opened in the middle of the storm, banishing the darkness and freezing the raindrops in mid-air.
An Emergency Teleportation Gate.
From within the blinding light, a small shadow shot down like purple lightning.
"STAY AWAY FROM MY BROTHER, UGLY!"
Lady Rhea—still wearing her luxurious blue party gown, now torn at the thigh—landed right on the monster's back.
With an acrobatic movement that was both beautiful and deadly, she drove her two Mithril daggers into the gaps between the steel plates on the monster's neck. A narrow slit that could only be seen by her eagle eyes.
CRASH!
The monster screeched, its long body thrashing wildly, trying to throw Rhea off its back.
"NOW, FATHER!" Rhea shouted the signal.
From the same gate of light, another figure descended slowly.
Duke Lucian Sudrath.
He didn't fall. He floated down, supported by dense Mana pressure.
A Blue Wolf Aura enveloped his entire body, causing the raindrops around him to instantly evaporate into steam.
The greatsword in his hand glowed brightly, extending into a massive blade of light five meters long.
Lucian's eyes glowed blue. The gaze of a father seeing his child being harmed.
"SUDRATH TECHNIQUE: MOUNTAIN SPLITTER!"
Lucian slammed his sword down vertically onto the monster's head.
SLASH!
The sound of metal being sliced rang out loud and clean.
The ten-centimeter-thick steel hide was split in two like hot butter under a knife. A thick green liquid—a mixture of oil and synthetic blood—sprayed out like a fountain.
The circuits inside the monster's body exploded, creating a shower of sparks that was both beautiful and terrifying.
BOOM!
The giant carcass collapsed to the ground, twitching violently for a few seconds as its legs clawed at the air, before finally going still. Completely dead.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Even the storm seemed to pause for a moment to respect that power.
In the muddy ground, Riven opened his one swollen eye.
His vision was still blurry, but he could see the silhouettes of his Father and Sister standing gallantly atop the monster's carcass. Like a painting of legendary heroes.
Behind the monster's remains, another gate of light opened on the ground (Ground Gate).
Sir Rianor, Sir Roland, Duchess Aurelia, and Elara came running out.
Roland immediately fell to his knees and threw up on the grass—long-distance teleportation sickness was no joke. But no one paid him any mind.
"RIVEN!"
Aurelia's scream broke the silence.
The elegant woman, who usually obsessed over cleanliness, ran through the mud. She didn't care that her expensive silk gown was ruined or that her high heels had snapped.
She threw herself down beside Riven, immediately cradling her stepson's bloodied and mud-caked head to her chest.
"Oh my god, son! Riven! Are you still alive?!" Aurelia cried hysterically, her hands trembling as she touched Riven's face and shoulders, checking every inch of his body. "Where does it hurt?! Answer me!"
Riven winced slightly as his wounds were touched, but a wide and sincere smile spread across his battered face.
"Everything hurts, Mom," Riven whispered weakly, his voice barely audible. "You guys were two seconds late... luckily, Riven's face is still handsome."
Aurelia laughed through her tears, hugging Riven even tighter. "You naughty boy! You idiot! Why did you fight it alone?!"
Rianor walked over. He adjusted his glasses, which were drenched from the rain. He stared at the monster's carcass with a cold and analytical gaze, hiding his relief.
"Mechanized-type Ancient Monster. It feeds on Mithril ore. No wonder it attacked the armory," Rianor muttered, touching the monster's still-smoking steel hide.
"Save the science for later, 'Nor," Duke Lucian interrupted. He stepped down from the monster's carcass, sheathing his still-glowing sword. His harsh face looked incredibly relieved to see his eldest son still breathing.
Lucian knelt next to Riven, patting his son's healthy shoulder.
"Good job, son. You held out long enough," Lucian said proudly. "Now rest. Get Riven inside. Call Grimm. We need to treat his wounds."
Riven closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of his mother's embrace and the presence of his family. The pain in his bones was slowly replaced by a sense of security.
They were home. The lions had gathered back in their den.