Divine Milking System-Chapter 89 | An A-Rank Clear, An F-Tier Relationship

Twenty-five.

Jesus Christ.

The rainforest erupted around us again. Trees. Vines. Humidity. The smell of rot and something metallic underneath.

But this time it was different.

The plants moved. Not swaying. Moving. Vines reached toward us like fingers. The undergrowth shifted and writhed.

"Environmental hazards means the terrain is hostile," Misato said calmly. "Don’t touch the red plants. They’ll paralyze you. Yellow plants spray acid. Blue plants explode."

"Great." Jordan sounded ready to cry. "This is great. I’m so happy to be here." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

The first howl came from directly above.

I looked up.

Crawlers clung to the tree branches. Their eyes glowed in the dim light filtering through the canopy. Five of them. Maybe six.

"Above!" I shouted.

They dropped.

All at once. A rain of teeth and claws and fury.

Misato’s clones materialized. They intercepted three mid-air. Grabbed them. Slammed them into the ground.

Two more came straight for me.

I raised my spear. Braced.

The first Crawler hit my spear point center mass. The momentum carried it forward. The blade punched through fur and muscle and burst out the creature’s back.

HOLLOW CRAWLER ELIMINATED

The second one landed on my shoulder. Its claws dug into my tactical suit. The neural feedback sent pain shooting down my arm. Twenty percent intensity. Enough to hurt. Not enough to cripple.

I spun. Hard. The Crawler lost its grip and flew off. It hit the ground rolling.

Belle’s crossbow bolt caught it between the eyes.

HOLLOW CRAWLER ELIMINATED

"Nice shot," I said.

Belle didn’t respond.

More howls. Coming from everywhere. The remaining Crawlers burst from the undergrowth in a coordinated assault.

Jordan’s shadows erupted from the ground. They caught four Crawlers mid-charge. Wrapped around their legs. Pulled them down.

Naomi stepped forward. Both hands raised. Energy coalesced around her palms. Brighter than before. Bigger.

She fired.

The Wave Motion blast was twice the size of the copper-rank version I could produce. It screamed across the clearing and detonated in the middle of the pinned Crawlers.

The explosion sent all four flying in different directions.

HOLLOW CRAWLER ELIMINATED

HOLLOW CRAWLER ELIMINATED

HOLLOW CRAWLER ELIMINATED

HOLLOW CRAWLER ELIMINATED

Ten down. Fifteen to go.

"They’re adapting," Misato said. "Spread formation. Don’t cluster."

The remaining Crawlers didn’t charge. They circled us instead. Staying just out of range. Testing our defenses.

One darted forward. Quick. Low to the ground.

I thrust with my spear. The Crawler twisted. Dodged. My blade cut air.

The creature lunged for my throat.

A clone intercepted it. Grabbed it by the scruff. Threw it into a tree trunk hard enough to crack wood.

HOLLOW CRAWLER ELIMINATED

"You’re slow," Misato’s clone said. "Faster thrusts. Less wind-up."

"Noted."

Three Crawlers broke formation simultaneously. They rushed Belle from different angles.

She fired once. Twice. Three times. Each bolt found a target.

But the third Crawler was still coming. The bolt had caught its shoulder instead of its head.

It leapt.

Belle dropped her crossbow. Drew her tactical knife. Met the creature mid-air.

She drove the blade up through its jaw and into its brain.

HOLLOW CRAWLER ELIMINATED

Belle landed in a crouch. Blood splattered across her face. She looked up at me. Those amber-brown eyes cold and hard.

"Don’t just stand there. Fight."

Right.

Fighting.

I gripped my spear and charged the nearest Crawler.

The creature saw me coming. Tried to dodge.

I feinted left. Thrust right. The blade caught it in the ribs. It howled.

I yanked the spear free. Brought it down again. This time through the skull.

HOLLOW CRAWLER ELIMINATED

My arms were already getting tired. Wave Motion had drained my stamina earlier. Now I was fighting with maybe seventy percent of my normal energy.

Which wasn’t much to begin with.

Naomi fired again. Another massive blast. It caught two Crawlers and sent them tumbling through the undergrowth.

HOLLOW CRAWLER ELIMINATED

HOLLOW CRAWLER ELIMINATED

Five left.

The remaining Crawlers howled. Then they did something I wasn’t expecting.

They ran.

"They’re retreating?" Jordan lowered his hands.

"No." Misato created two more clones. "They’re regrouping."

The Crawlers circled back around. They moved through the trees. Faster now. Coordinated.

Then they all charged at once. From five different directions. A perfect pincer.

"Cluster up!" Misato shouted.

We moved. Back to back formation. Weapons out.

The Crawlers hit us like a wave.

I stabbed. Kicked. Used the spear shaft to block. One of them got past my guard. Its claws raked across my chest. The tactical suit absorbed most of it but the neural feedback still hurt like hell.

Jordan’s shadows grabbed two of them. Slammed them together.

Naomi blasted another at point-blank range. The creature disintegrated.

Belle fired her last bolt. Then switched to her knife. She moved like Misato. Fast. Brutal. Throat strikes. Eye gouges. Nothing clean or pretty.

Misato and her clones tore through the rest.

The last Crawler went down under three simultaneous kicks.

ALL HOLLOW CRAWLERS ELIMINATED

SIMULATION COMPLETE

TIME: 4 MINUTES 54 SECONDS

SQUAD PERFORMANCE: A-RANK

The rainforest flickered and died.

We stood in the empty dome again. Everyone breathing hard. Covered in simulated blood that would vanish when we removed our suits.

Sato’s voice came through. "Well done, Foxes. You adapted. Covered each other. Survived. That’s an A-rank clear on a D-rank scenario. Most first-year squads can’t pull that off."

I looked around. Jordan was bent over. Hands on his knees. Gasping for air.

Naomi stood straight. Her staff planted in the ground. Staring at nothing.

Belle wiped simulated blood from her face. She met my eyes for half a second. Then looked away.

Misato dismissed her clones. "Good work. All of you. Next time, don’t forget your fucking weapons."

She walked toward the exit without waiting for a response.

The rest of us just stood there in the artificial light of the dome.

"I’m going to sleep," Jordan announced. "For twelve hours. Maybe fifteen. Maybe forever."

He stumbled toward the exit.

Belle holstered her crossbow. Checked her ammo pouches. Did everything except acknowledge my existence.

Then she followed Jordan out.

That left me and Naomi.

Alone in the dome.

She still wasn’t looking at me.

"Naomi."

"We should go." Her voice was quiet. "Garrett’s class starts in forty minutes."

"Can we talk?"

"About what?" She finally turned. Those pink eyes that usually looked at me with warmth now just looked tired. "About how you spent last night with Belle? About how I sat in my room staring at the ceiling knowing exactly what you were doing? About how I agreed to this and now I hate myself for agreeing?"

"I’m sorry."

"Stop apologizing." She gripped her staff tighter. "You told me this would happen. You were honest about needing other sources. I said I understood. And I do understand. Logically. Intellectually. I get it."

"But?"

"But understanding something and being okay with it are different things." She started walking toward the exit. "I’ll see you at breakfast."

"Naomi, wait—"

"I need space, Jace. Just. Give me space."

She left.

I stood alone in the empty dome. Surrounded by concrete and projection nodes and the faint smell of ozone from the simulation tech.

The system interface popped up unbidden.

LIFESPAN: 6 DAYS, 14 HOURS

DEVOTION: NAOMI (89%) BELLE (42%)

ACTIVE QUESTS: MIDNIGHT FOXES (TOP 5)

Everything looked good on paper. I was surviving. Building my network. Stealing abilities. Getting stronger.

But the two women who mattered most right now both hated me.

And I had about six hours before I had to sit through classes pretending everything was fine.

Yeah.

This transmigration thing was going great.

I unsynced my spear and put it back on the rack in storage. Then I walked out of the simulation bay into the early morning California air.

Time to go shower and pretend I wasn’t a complete piece of shit for a few hours.