Re-Awakened :I Ascend as an SSS-Ranked Dragon Summoner
Chapter 322 - 322: Knight's grace equipped

"Lucas!" Noah called out, not taking his eyes off his opponents. "Status report!"

"Engaged with two contacts! Diana's got one slowed but not stopped! We need to wrap this up—more pods incoming!"

'Five total contacts now deployed. Tactical situation degrading rapidly.'

The dying Harbinger was trying to stand, its hands still pressed to its throat but its eyes burning with determination to take Noah down with it. The fresh one was circling around to Noah's left, trying to set up a pincer attack that would leave him nowhere to dodge.

'Classic pack tactics. Force the prey into a kill zone, then attack from multiple angles simultaneously.'

Noah's mind raced through his options. Void Blink could get him out of the immediate trap, but it would only delay the inevitable—he needed to eliminate threats, not just avoid them. Null Strike would take one of them down permanently, but the energy cost would leave him vulnerable if more pods were still incoming.

The wounded Harbinger stumbled as it tried to coordinate with its fresh companion, the void energy eating away at its throat finally taking its toll. Noah didn't waste the opening.

He launched himself forward with enhanced speed, Excaliburn cutting through the air in a perfect arc. The dying creature tried to raise its arms in defense, but the mythic blade passed through flesh and bone like they were made of smoke. The Harbinger's head separated from its shoulders in a spray of black blood, its body collapsing backward onto the crystalline surface.

[Essence Harvest Activated: +284 Void Energy Absorbed]

The remaining Harbinger's eyes widened with something approaching shock. These creatures were used to their regeneration keeping them alive through impossible injuries—seeing one of their own die permanently was clearly unsettling.

"That's two down," Noah muttered, turning to face his remaining opponent. "Your turn."

The scarred Harbinger circled him warily, its predatory grace now tempered with genuine caution. This one had learned from watching it mate die—it wasn't going to make the same mistakes.

Above them, Nyx's roar echoed across the battlefield as the Red Death Dragon engaged another Harbinger that had emerged from the fourth pod. This creature was attempting to use hit-and-run tactics, striking at Nyx's flanks before leaping away to avoid retaliation. But the dragon's aerial superiority was absolute—every time the Harbinger landed, Nyx was already repositioning for another devastating dive.

The dragon's claws raked across alien hide, leaving deep furrows that refused to heal properly. Nyx's Fear Aura was affecting the creature's coordination, making its movements sluggish and predictable. When the Harbinger tried another leap attack, Nyx caught it mid-air with his massive jaws.

The sound of crushing bone echoed across the landing pad as Nyx's teeth found their mark. The dragon shook his head once, violently, then released the broken Harbinger to fall lifeless to the ground.

"Jesus Christ," one of the EDF soldiers breathed. "Is that thing truly on our side?"

"That's Eclipse's dragon!" Sergeant Mills shouted. "The SSS-ranked Re-Awakened! I heard..."

"Focus on the fight!" Noah cut him off, but he couldn't deny the surge of confidence that rippled through the EDF ranks. Morale was a weapon all its own, and right now his team needed every advantage they could get.

Lucas was engaged in a deadly aerial dance with two Harbingers, his lightning-wreathed form weaving between their impossible leaps with ease. Electricity crackled around his right arm as he formed it into a concentrated drill of pure energy, the lightning spinning faster and faster until it became a coherent beam of destruction.

He dove toward the lead Harbinger, the lightning drill screaming through the air. The concentrated energy punched through the creature's chest with a sound like tearing metal, boring a hole straight through its torso and out the other side. Black blood sprayed in all directions as the Harbinger's massive frame convulsed once, then went still.

But the second creature was already moving, using its fallen packmate as a springboard to launch itself at Lucas with devastating force. Its fist caught him square in the ribs with a sound like breaking thunder, sending him hurtling through the air to crash into a crystalline formation fifty meters away.

"Lucas!" Noah started toward his teammate, but his own opponent chose that moment to attack.

The scarred Harbinger came in fast and low, trying to use its reach advantage to land a crippling blow before Noah could bring Excaliburn to bear. Its massive fist whistled through the air where Noah's head had been a split second before.

Noah's enhanced agility carried him backward in a flowing motion, Excaliburn already coming up in a defensive arc. The void-touched blade caught the Harbinger's follow-up strike, parrying the creature's claws and opening a line across its knuckles that immediately began bleeding black.

The Harbinger jerked its hand back, staring at the wound with the same expression of shocked concern Noah had seen from the others. These things simply weren't used to injuries that didn't heal. Yet amazingly, they should know him from within their ranks now. They exhibited hive minds that suggested they had prior knowledge of him, hence why they prioritized taking him out first.

"Getting the picture yet?" Noah asked, adjusting his grip on the mythic blade. "You can actually lose this fight."

The creature's response was a snarl of pure fury as it pressed its attack with renewed desperation. But desperation made it sloppy—it overextended on a wild haymaker that Noah easily sidestepped, leaving its flank exposed for a perfect counter-strike.

The old Noah would have never been able to do this. But with his increased agility, making this evasive maneuvers was like buttering bread.

Excaliburn opened the Harbinger from shoulder to hip in a diagonal cut that sprayed black blood across the landing pad. The creature staggered, both hands going to the massive wound as void energy prevented it from closing.

Across the battlefield, Diana had found her rhythm against the fifth Harbinger. Her momentum nullification was creating dead zones around the creature's strike points, turning its devastating speed into clumsy, telegraphed attacks. Every time it tried to build momentum for a leap or a crushing blow, her ability would kick in and leave it moving like it was fighting through thick syrup.

The fact that it moved at all made her realize how much of monster these things really were.

Her ravager gun barked repeatedly, each shot precisely timed to exploit the windows her power created. The energy blasts were eating away at the Harbinger's tough hide, leaving smoking craters that refused to regenerate properly.

But even as she maintained the upper hand, Diana was showing signs of strain. Using her ability on something as massive and powerful as a Harbinger was draining, and Noah could see her movements becoming more labored with each passing second.

The EDF soldiers had formed defensive lines around the evacuation corridors, their various abilities creating overlapping fields of fire. A pyrokinetic officer was laying down suppressing fire with controlled flame bursts, while a telekinetic was using debris as projectiles to harass any Harbinger that tried to break away from the main engagement.

Lyra's voice carried across the comms, coordinating the evacuation with military precision. "All civilians to emergency shelters! Priority evac for wounded and non-combatants! Military personnel, maintain defensive perimeters!"

The tactical situation was stabilizing, but Noah knew it wouldn't last. Harbingers were adaptive creatures, and the longer this fight went on, the more they'd learn about human tactics and abilities.

His wounded opponent was trying to circle around for another attack, but the massive cut across its torso was slowing it down considerably. Black blood pooled beneath its feet with each step, and Noah could see the life fading from its too-human eyes.

'Time to end this,'

Noah feinted left, then exploded forward with void-enhanced speed. The Harbinger tried to react, but it was too slow, too weakened by blood loss and void corruption. Excaliburn's point found the space between its ribs, punching through scale and muscle to pierce through it's chest before he pulled out and went for a decapitating cut. No chances taken, he'd learnt not to take half measures.

The creature's eyes went wide with shock, then dim with death as it collapsed forward onto the mythic blade.

[Essence Harvest Activated: +342 Void Energy Absorbed]

"That's three," Noah said, pulling Excaliburn free with a wet sound.

But even as he spoke, the sound of tearing metal drew his attention to the largest crater—the one created by the sixth pod. The vessel was opening slowly, deliberately, with the confidence of something that didn't need to hurry.

What emerged made Noah's blood run cold.

The Harbinger that stepped from the smoking wreckage was massive, easily half again as large as the single-horned variants they'd been fighting. Two curved horns jutted from its skull like polished obsidian, and its hide bore the scars of countless battles. But what truly terrified Noah was the cybernetic arm that had replaced its left limb—a clear indication that this creature had survived encounters that should have been fatal.

This was a veteran of wars beyond the stars, a creature that had faced weapons designed to kill its kind and lived to adapt. The cybernetic limb sparked with alien energy as it flexed mechanical fingers, each digit ending in claws that could punch through starship armor.

"Oh, shit," Lucas said, pulling himself from the crystalline debris with electricity crackling around his frame. When he saw the two-horned creature, his expression hardened with recognition. "Noah, that's—"

"A Two-Horn," Noah finished, his voice grim. "Just like Cannadah."

The massive Harbinger's eyes swept across the battlefield, taking in the tactical situation with cold intelligence. When its gaze fell on Noah and Lucas, the creature's scarred features pulled into what might have been a smile.

[Brothers in Arms Buff: Damage Amplification +35%, Damage Resistance +25%]

[Void Forge: Knight Grace - Full Deployment Initiated]

Noah was not taking any chances at all.

Noah's void-infused armor materialized around him in flowing segments, each piece locking into place with mechanical precision. The Knight Grace set adapted to his movements instantly, the form-fitting plates moving like a second skin while void energy wisps danced along the edges.

"Just like old times," Noah said, falling into a combat stance beside his teammate.

Lucas rose into the air on wings of controlled lightning, electricity wreathing his entire frame as he prepared for the fight of his life. "Except this time, we know what we're dealing with."

The Two-Horn Harbinger began walking toward them with measured steps, each footfall leaving deep impressions in the crystalline surface. This wasn't the desperate aggression of a creature fighting for survival—this was the confident approach of an apex predator that had found worthy prey.

In its cybernetic hand, a weapon materialized—a blade forged from the same alien metal as its mechanical limb, crackling with hostile energy that made the air itself recoil.

Noah adjusted his grip on Excaliburn, the mythic blade's hunger intensifying as it sensed the approaching threat. His Knight Grace armor hummed with protective energy, void wisps dancing along its edges like living shadows.

This wouldn't be like the others.

This would be a real fight.

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