Chapter 176: We lost that Earth power user

Caiden and his group had been staying in this valley after leaving the cave. Their daily life settled into a routine of hunting for food, sleeping, and escaping the beasts they couldn’t fight.

Today was a bit different. He sensed the strange tension in the air; the beasts were restless, and the lively valley fell deadly silent, as if everything were going into hiding.

"Something isn’t right today. Those long-necked beasts should be by the stream, but we’ve been hunting rabbits all morning and haven’t seen a single one... it’s as if all the beasts have gone into hiding." One of them muttered, unease flickering beneath his baffled expression.

The three others sitting across from him were quiet, their hearts filled with unease at the stifling quiet around them. They had no response to his words and could only hope that, whatever happened later, they would be able to escape safely.

Caiden stood atop a tall tree, scanning the surroundings for anything unusual, but found nothing. His brows furrowed deeply. They were in the dark about what was happening, while the beasts had already gone into hiding to survive whatever was coming.

He climbed down the tree and was about to tell everyone to hide, believing they should follow the beasts’ lead, when the earth beneath his feet trembled and a deafening roar echoed through the valley.

Caiden dropped to his knees, clutching his ears as blood began to seep through his fingers. A violent tremor tore through the ground, hurling him backward into the tree he had just descended.

The others weren’t faring any better; they were flung in different directions. One wasn’t lucky and slammed his shoulders into a boulder. The roar drowned out the sickening crack of a broken bone.

Caiden happened to look up at that moment and met a yellowish, giant slit eye in the sky. He froze; a wave of terror shook his very soul, and he hoped the monster didn’t see him, or he was finished.

The eyes flickered in another direction for a moment, then turned toward where Caiden stood. It saw a golden boulder beside the tree and looked away with disinterest.

Meanwhile, Caiden, in the boulder, was sweating. He held his breath and trembled as a gaze fell on him, and didn’t relax until he could no longer feel it.

Unfortunately, the others weren’t as lucky. One of them, his face bloodied from slamming into a rock, wobbled to his feet, disoriented by the pain—right in the eye’s line of sight.

The eye shifted back, revealing the monster’s full form. Jagged, rocky scales ran along its spine and tail, and its body was a grotesque fusion of mismatched beasts.

The behemoth threw its jaws open, yellow fangs glinting in the sunlight as it inhaled deeply. A violent suction followed—wind roaring into its lungs as trees were torn from the earth, rocks ripped loose, and animals that failed to hide were dragged screaming into its maw.

The man with the bloodied head was startled by a pulling force; the wind blew against his hair as it pulled him upward, and he quickly grabbed hold of a tree, but the roots loosened, and he was carried along with it.

"Help! Please, someone, pull me down!" he yelled into the loud wind, terror gripping his heart as he cried out for help while being sucked along with the trees.

He froze in disbelief and terror when he caught sight of the monster out of the corner of his eye, his face drained of colour and his eyes dimmed.

’It’s over.’ These words flickered in his mind, and his eyes welled with tears.

He flew into the dark maw of the monster’s mouth, and the monster clamped its jaws shut with a crunch and swallowed.

Caiden watched it all from the tree, his body trembling as he realized why all the beasts had gone into hiding today.

The rest were lucky to be hiding behind huge boulders in other areas, far from the wind’s suction.

The monster still wasn’t full; its yellowish eyes darted around, searching for its next prey.

The surrounding area was deadly silent, except for the monster’s heavy breathing.

The stalemate stretched on for two minutes, each second dragging like an agonizing year to Caiden.

His body was soaked with sweat and deadly pale, his heart thumping loudly in his ears.

The pressure in the air lifted as the monster’s presence vanished. He slumped weakly to the ground in relief.

The golden rock encasing him cracked and shattered, falling away to reveal Caiden’s figure. He stared blankly at the sky.

A wave of shock and fear etched into his pale, sweet, soaked face.

’I’m not sure a dungeon hunter can bring down this monster.’ The thought flickered through his mind, and his heart sank.

The dungeon hunters were above the dungeon conquerors, the strongest of all dungeon raiders, able to face unranked monsters deep in the dungeon’s abyss or on the last floor.

’I hope I don’t encounter this kind of monster again... I wouldn’t be as lucky as I was today.’

Caiden sat up shakily, his limbs still weak from the fright he had experienced.

He brushed dust and grass from his clothes, swayed briefly, then steadied himself and walked on. He intended to search for any survivors.

He was lucky he hadn’t been caught in the area of the powerful suction; otherwise, he would have been dragged in along with that man.

The remaining three men emerged fearfully from their hiding place, their faces permanently etched with terror.

The barren land and shattered trees made it painfully clear they weren’t dreaming: something far more terrifying than anything they had ever faced had been there only moments ago.

"We lost that Earth power user," a man said as he stumbled toward them, a trickle of blood sliding down from his forehead to his chin.

The other two men fared no better; their bodies were riddled with injuries of varying severity. One had a stick driven through his palm, but his mind was consumed by fear, numbing him to the pain.

They all lowered their heads, silently bidding farewell to the earth user in their minds.

A moment passed, and someone broke the silence, asking in a trembling voice.

"We... should leave here quickly. What if that... monster?" He felt his words trail off, his tone hushed at the mention of the word ’monster’, terrified that if he called it any louder, the monster would suddenly appear and kill them all.

His words made one of them look around nervously before nodding in agreement, wishing nothing more than to leave as fast as possible.

"We won’t leave today. The monster might still be in the area, and we might encounter it," Caiden explained, thinking it unwise to leave this valley.

Here, they knew how to navigate the beasts, hunt for food, and find shelter. Out there, they knew nothing—and with that monster lurking, it would be no different from rushing to their deaths.

"But are we sure the monster wouldn’t return..." one of them weakly refuted, unsure which decision was the right one.

Caiden remained quiet, mentally and physically exhausted, unable to explain further. He walked to the stream to wash up before returning to his cave to rest.

The man who had been ignored could only watch helplessly as Caiden’s retreating figure disappeared. He didn’t dare venture out alone, and seeing no one was making a move to leave, he conceded to their unspoken decision.

Caiden was the strongest on their team and practically their leader.

Everyone scattered in different directions, bathing by the stream and returning to their caves to treat their injuries and rest—though none of them could sleep, their eyes were wide open, watching as the sun set and the sky darkened into night.

....

Grace laid out a blueprint prepared by a team of engineers. One section detailed the walls, which would be reinforced with steel and concrete to prevent any threats from breaking in.

"We need more resources. We’ve found a coal mine on this island, but we still lack iron ore, fuel, and other essentials," one of the engineers said, eyes fixed on the blueprint.

"Let’s work with what we have for now and begin construction. I’ll assign a team to locate iron ore and steel. First, clear the trees in this area..." Grace said, pointing to sections of the blueprint as she outlined the plan.

They planned to designate the three connecting islands as outer, inner, and centre cities.

It was a massive undertaking that would take years to complete, but it would become their foothold—a home for humanity on the surface of the Earth, surrounded by monsters and other creatures.

Grace was busy overseeing the construction, and the administrators were each taking on their posts and responsibilities to see through.

Everyone in Oasis City had to put in effort to build the city.

Tents were scattered around, with makeshift wooden huts, smoke swirling in the air, carrying the smell of roasted meat and cooked meals.

Occasionally, the laughter and chatter of children rang out as they played around the tents.

The atmosphere held a serene sense of peace and liveliness as everyone combined their strengths to build their new home.