SSS-RANK: Super Extraction System-Chapter 23: [ 23] A Hunter’s Fury

Chapter 23: [ 23] A Hunter’s Fury
The explosion of Jinx’s core had silenced the room, but only for a moment.
As the dust settled, a sound rose from the corner where Rhino stood. It was a low, guttural growl that vibrated in the chest, climbing rapidly into a roar of pure, unadulterated hatred.
"YOU... KILLED... HER!"
Rhino didn’t look human anymore. His [Berserker Rage] had fully taken hold. His skin, already hardened by his [Rhino-Hide] ability, darkened to the color of charcoal. jagged spikes of rock burst through his armor at the shoulders and elbows. His eyes were gone, replaced by glowing white slits of fury.
He didn’t reload his shotgun. He threw it aside.
He charged.
Three Arachne Weavers that had survived the EMP blast skittered toward him, clicking their mandibles. They were massive, lethal predators.
To Rhino, they were tissue paper.
He slammed into the first spider with the force of a wrecking ball. The impact sound was wet and crunching. He grabbed its front legs and ripped them out of the sockets. He didn’t stop. He grabbed the screaming creature by its head and drove his knee into its face, shattering its carapace.
"DIE! DIE! DIE!"
He tossed the carcass aside and lunged for the next one.
Leon watched him for a split second.
He felt the rage too. It burned in his stomach. Jinx was gone. The bright, annoying, brilliant girl who had rigged the traps and cracked jokes was dead.
But unlike Rhino, Leon didn’t explode.
Leon’s expression went blank. His eyes darkened, the pupils dilating until they were almost entirely black.
"Iron," Leon whispered.
His Shadow Servant materialized from the floor, sensing its master’s intent. The blue flames in Iron’s eyes flared violently.
"Kill them all."
Leon vanished.
[ SHADOW GLIDE: ACTIVE ]
He moved faster than he ever had before. The grief didn’t slow him down; it stripped away his hesitation.
He reappeared behind a Weaver that was trying to flank Rhino. The spider raised a scythe-leg to stab the giant in the back.
It never landed the blow.
Leon severed the leg mid-swing.
The spider shrieked, spinning around. Leon was already inside its guard. He drove his shadow-steel dagger up through its mandibles, into the brain. He twisted the blade.
[ YOU SLAIN A SPIDER! ]
[EXPERIENCE GAINED!]
Dead.
"Keep moving," Leon commanded himself.
He flowed across the battlefield. Rhino was the hammer, smashing everything in his path with brutal, reckless abandon. Leon was the scalpel, cutting the tendons, blinding the eyes, silencing the threats before they could scream.
They worked in terrifying unison. Rhino would knock a spider down, and before it could recover, Leon or Iron would end it.
A Phase Spider materialized on the ceiling, preparing to spit venom at Justin, who was guarding Jinx’s body.
Leon saw it.
He threw his dagger.
The blade flew through the air, coated in a faint black aura. It took the spider in the cluster of eyes. The creature fell, dead before it hit the ground.
Leon didn’t retrieve the dagger immediately. He sprinted to a bloated Weaver, one of the Venom spitters.
It turned to face him, its sac pulsing. It sprayed a jet of black neurotoxin.
Leon didn’t dodge.
He raised his left arm the one already burned by the venom in the previous chamber. The corruption in his veins pulsed, recognizing the poison.
[ SYSTEM ALERT ]
[ ARACHNE TOXIN DETECTED ]
[ ADAPTATION COMPLETE ]
[ RESISTANCE ACQUIRED: NEUROTOXINS (MINOR) ]
The venom splashed against his arm. It burned, yes, but it didn’t melt the skin this time. It felt like warm water.
Leon smiled. It was a cold, mirthless thing.
He lunged through the spray. He grabbed the Venom Weaver by the neck.
"My turn," Leon whispered.
He drove his hand directly into the spider’s venom sac.
He didn’t pull away. He absorbed.
[ SYSTEM ALERT ]
[ ABSORBING TOXIN SOURCE... ]
[ NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: VENOMOUS STRIKE (LV. 1) ]
[ DESCRIPTION: Coats the user’s weapons or physical attacks in a corrosive shadow-toxin. Causes paralysis and tissue decay on contact. ]
Leon pulled his hand back. His fingers were dripping with glowing green slime. But the slime turned black as it touched his skin, absorbed into his shadow aura.
He slashed his hand across the spider’s throat. The wound sizzled and turned black instantly, the flesh rotting away in seconds.
The spider collapsed, dissolving into a puddle of corruption.
"Clear!" Justin shouted from the back.
Leon stopped.
The room was silent again, save for Rhino’s ragged breathing.
The giant stood in the center of the carnage, surrounded by twitching spider legs and crushed carapaces. His rock-skin was fading, leaving him bruised and bleeding, but he didn’t seem to notice.
He was staring at the wall where Jinx lay.
Leon walked over to the carcasses of the Weavers he had killed.
He felt nothing for them. No pity. No triumph. They were just batteries. Fuel for the next fight.
He extended his hand.
"Extract."
The shadows tore free from the dead spiders. They swirled into Leon, feeding the hunger in his core.
[ SHADOW ESSENCE: +35 ]
[ CURRENT ESSENCE: 62/100 ]
He didn’t manifest them. He didn’t need spiders. He consumed them to refill his mana reserves.
Justin watched him from across the room. The veteran was reloading his revolver, his eyes fixed on Leon.
He had seen Rhino break. He had seen men go berserk with grief before. It was loud and messy.
But Leon...
Leon was quiet. The shadows around him seemed to be getting deeper, darker. They clung to his legs like loyal dogs. The way he moved, the way he harvested the souls of the monsters... it wasn’t human. It was predatory.
He’s changing, Justin thought, a chill running down his spine. The Monarch is waking up.
Rhino walked slowly back to where Jinx lay. He dropped to his knees. The rage drained out of him, leaving only a massive, crushing sorrow.
He reached out and gently touched Jinx’s hair. His hand, which had just crushed a monster’s skull, was trembling.
"She... she saved me," Rhino whispered, his voice thick. "She blew her core for me."
Justin put a hand on Rhino’s shoulder. He didn’t say anything. There was nothing to say.
Leon stood apart from them.
He looked at his hands. They were stained with black blood and green venom.
He felt a strange hollowness in his chest. He should be crying. He should be screaming like Rhino. Jinx was his teammate. She had trusted him.
But the emptiness inside him was vast and cold. It swallowed the grief before it could form tears.
Is this the price? Leon thought. To wield the darkness, do I have to lose the light?
He clenched his fists. The [Venomous Strike] flared, coating his hands in a sinister black aura.
"We can’t stay here," Leon said. His voice was flat, cutting through the mourning.
Rhino looked up, anger flashing in his eyes. "Give us a minute, damn it!"
"Kain won’t give us a minute," Leon said. He pointed to the door. "He’s waiting. If we stop now, Jinx died for nothing."
It was cruel. It was harsh.
It was true.
Rhino stared at Leon. He wanted to hit him. He wanted to smash that cold, emotionless face.
But then he saw Leon’s eyes.
They weren’t empty. They were burning with a focused, terrifying intensity. Leon wasn’t unfeeling. He was focusing every ounce of his pain into a single point.
A weapon.
Rhino took a deep breath. He reached down and took Jinx’s dog tags from around her neck. He put them in his pocket.
"You’re right," Rhino grunted, standing up. He picked up his shotgun from where he had thrown it. It was bent, useless. He tossed it aside and cracked his rock-hard knuckles. "I don’t need a gun for this."
"Justin," Leon said. "We’re going down."
Justin nodded. He looked at Jinx one last time, whispering a silent prayer, then turned his back on the dead.
"Lead the way, Leon."
Leon walked to the ornate door at the end of the hatchery. He felt the presence of Kain pulsing on the other side.
The vampire lord was smiling. Leon could feel it.
Smile while you can, Leon thought, the shadows swirling violently around his feet. Because I’m bringing the night with me.
He pushed the door open.