Chapter 69 – The Crystal That Ran
The mud moved.
Not like before.
Wilkens noticed it first—not because it was loud, or sudden, but because it felt wrong. The glow he'd seen earlier wasn't there anymore, not in the way light usually behaved. It wasn't scattered or hidden beneath layers of earth.
It was deliberate.
Focused.
"Stop," Wilkens said quietly.
Jean-Daniel halted at once, one hand tightening around the handle of his warhammer. Rolo froze mid-step, one foot half-sunk into the mud.
"What is it?" Rolo whispered.
Wilkens didn't answer right away. His helmet hummed, the green crystal embedded at the front warming as his vision shifted again—colors bleeding into the world like spilled paint.
White flared in clusters.
Green pulsed behind broken walls.
Blue flickered deeper in the streets.
And then—
The Purple glow once again.
Clear. Sharp. Too clear.
Wilkens' breath caught.
"It's closer," he said. "And it's… wrong."
Jean-Daniel followed his gaze, eyes narrowing. "Wrong how?"
"The crystal," Wilkens replied. "It's not inside the beast."
Rolo frowned. "What do you mean not inside?"
Wilkens swallowed. "It's exposed. Like it's part of the outter body."
They didn't have time to question it further.
The ground ahead of them exploded.
Mud erupted upward in a violent spray as something massive tore free from beneath the street. Broken concrete slabs were flung aside like toys, water sloshing violently as the creature rose.
It was a rhino.
A mud rhino.
Its body was enormous—easily twice the size of the other beasts they'd fought so far. Thick plates of hardened earth layered over its muscles, each step cracking the ground beneath it. Its horn was wide and blunt, more like a battering ram than a blade, caked in dried mud and stone.
And its left eye was
Gone.
In its place, embedded deep into the socket, pulsed a purple crystal, glowing steadily, watching them.
Rolo sucked in a sharp breath. "That's not normal."
Jean-Daniel felt the weight of it immediately.
This wasn't something you rushed.
Behind the giant, more movement followed.
The mud rippled again.
Smaller rhinos burst free—shorter, leaner, but fast. Their bodies were less armored, crystals glowing faintly beneath the surface of their hides.
White.
Green.
Blue.
Too many.
Wilkens counted quickly. "Twenty. Maybe more."
Jean-Daniel didn't hesitate. He stepped forward, planting his boots firmly into the mud.
"I'll take the big one," he said.
Rolo glanced at him sharply. "You sure bro?"
Jean-Daniel rolled his shoulders, his chest piece pulsing faintly. "You two clear the rest. Don't let them flank me, that's all I need from you two for me to beat it."
Wilkens nodded. "We'll draw them out."
The crystal-eyed mud rhino snorted, a deep, rumbling sound that vibrated through the ground. Mud slid off its shoulders as it pawed at the earth, preparing to charge.
Then everything moved at once.
The smaller rhinos surged forward in a wave, hooves tearing through mud and water. Rolo reacted instantly, flames bursting from his palms as he sent a wall of fire across their path.
The mud hissed and steamed.
Wilkens vanished in a flash of lightning, boots crackling as he reappeared behind the first rhino, daggers slicing into exposed joints. Fire flared as the blades bit deep, and the beast collapsed with a wet thud.
Another charged.
Rolo stepped in, flame spiraling around his arm as he drove a heated strike straight into its skull. The impact shattered hardened mud and bone alike.
"Left!" Wilkens shouted.
Rolo ducked just as a rhino barreled past, missing him by inches. Wilkens reappeared again, lightning snapping as he redirected, driving his dagger into the beast's spine.
They moved together without thinking—Wilkens scouting and calling positions, Rolo responding with controlled bursts of fire, covering angles Wilkens couldn't reach fast enough.
Jean-Daniel barely registered it.
The A-Rank mud rhino charged.
The impact was catastrophic.
Jean-Daniel brought his warhammer up just in time, bracing himself as the rhino slammed into him like a runaway truck. The force drove the air from his lungs, boots carving deep trenches through the mud as he struggled to stay upright.
He snarled and swung.
The hammer slammed into the rhino's shoulder, sending a shockwave through its body—but it barely flinched.
The purple crystal pulsed brighter.
The rhino retaliated, swinging its massive head sideways. Jean-Daniel crossed his arms just in time. Something cracked—maybe armor, maybe bone—and white-hot pain tore through his side as he was flung aside like a broken shield.
He crashed through a half-collapsed wall, mud and stone raining down around him.
Jean-Daniel groaned and forced himself back up.
"Damn it…"
The rhino turned slowly, its single crystal eye locked on him.
It stomped forward.
Jean-Daniel planted his feet and focused.
The chest piece pulsed again.
Then something changed.
The mud around him began to move.
Not splash.
Not slide.
It rose.
Thick layers of wet earth tore free from the ground, spiraling upward and slamming against his body. His armor thickened rapidly, plates stacking and reinforcing, growing bulkier, denser.
The warhammer in his hands vibrated violently.
Mud surged along its handle and head, expanding it, reshaping it. The weapon grew larger, heavier, spikes of hardened earth jutting from its blunt surface.
Jean-Daniel stared at it, breath hitching. "What the—"
The rhino charged again.
Jean-Daniel roared and swung.
The impact was deafening.
The hammer connected with the rhino's head in a brutal sideways arc. The shockwave flattened nearby debris, mud exploding outward in all directions.
The purple crystal shattered free from the rhino's eye, spinning through the air.
The beast screamed—a raw, panicked sound—as it stumbled, crashing into the street.
Jean-Daniel staggered, breathing hard.
Behind him, Wilkens and Rolo finished off the last of the smaller rhinos, bodies collapsing into the mud one after another.
Wilkens turned just in time to see the purple crystal fall.
Jean-Daniel started walking toward it.
Then—something shifted beneath the mud.
One of the pretending dead rhinos twitched.
Rolo didn't have time to react.
The beast surged upward, slamming into him at full speed.
Rolo barely managed to raise his arms.
The impact sent him flying.
He hit the ground hard, skidding through mud before coming to a stop on his back, breath knocked clean out of him.
The rhino didn't stop.
It pivoted instantly and charged again—straight toward Jean-Daniel.
"JEAN-DANIEL, WATCH OUT!" Wilkens screamed.
Jean-Daniel didn't turn.
He saw it in the reflection of the crystal's fading glow.
He closed his eyes.
Mud surged over his body as he hardened his armor, muscles bracing instinctively.
The impact never came.
Silence followed.
Jean-Daniel opened his eyes slowly.
The street was empty.
The rhino was gone.
The purple crystal was gone.
Jean-Daniel blinked. "Where… where did it go?"
Wilkens stared at the empty street, face pale.
"It… it took the crystal," he said quietly. "And ran."
The mud settled.