Chapter 20 — Midnight Protocol (Part 1/3)
Super Guardian
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The streets outside were long drowned in shadows by the time Zack stumbled into the crumbling shelter he called home.
The door creaked shut behind him with a weary groan, matching the stiffness in his bones. He didn't turn on the light — there was nothing left to see. Just the same cracked walls, the same peeling floor, the same silence that welcomed him like a bruise.
He let his body fall onto the bed like a dropped stone.
His limbs were sore. His gut twisted from hunger. His eyes fluttered shut. Tomorrow was another battle — school, quests, bullies... and still the long countdown to the weekend, when he'd finally sneak into the Holy Domain and test the one thing that gave him a sliver of hope — the Carbee Armor.
If he could last that long.
Sleep wrapped around him like a heavy chain. He drifted, slowly, the ache in his muscles melting into the void.
Then, the silence shattered.
A sharp tick echoed from the old wall clock as it struck midnight.
The system came alive.
[System Alert — Daily Cycle Complete.]
[Initiating System Event Countdown: 5... 4... 3... 2... 1…]
Zack's eyes snapped open — too late.
The room disappeared.
His body jolted, not upwards, not downwards, but elsewhere. His breath caught in his throat. Reality twisted like it had been gripped and wrung out.
He landed hard.
Cold rock scraped his shoulder. Damp air rushed over his skin.
Zack lay stunned for a moment, blinking against a soft, bioluminescent glow. His mind reeled — he was no longer in his bed. Not even on his street. This wasn't a dream.
He was inside the Holy Domain.
His pulse spiked.
"What the hell…?"
Jagged stone walls loomed around him, slick with moss and mist. High above, glowing fungi pulsed dimly, dripping moisture into the hollow of a dark cave. The air tasted metallic and old.
A cave.
This wasn't just a dream — this was a punishment. For ignoring his quest. For failing.
Zack cursed under his breath. Fear crawled up his spine like ice. He should've known better. The system never let anything slide.
[System Objective: Consume the Scaled Serpent's Egg.]
He blinked at the prompt.
"Eat... what?"
Then his eyes snapped toward the far end of the cave.
A narrow stream ran across the rocky floor, glinting like quicksilver in the dim light. Beyond it, perched on a raised ledge wrapped in coils of bone and ash, sat a strange, claw-shaped nest.
Inside it, three eggs — scaled, silver, and faintly pulsing with light.
Zack's stomach twisted.
There was no way this was simple.
He knew he wasn't alone down here.
This was the Holy Domain. Spirit beasts were always near the source of system objectives. Especially something as rare as a Scaled Serpent's egg.
He forced himself to breathe.
Then he reached out with his mind and summoned it — the only weapon, the only shield, the only thing that ever made him feel like more than just a punching bag.
Carbee.
A soft hum answered.
Then, in a shimmer of blue light, his Spirit Gear burst into being.
The Carbee Armor snapped into place over his body, piece by piece — sleek and metallic, colored a deep sapphire laced with streaks of chrome. Slim gauntlets curled over his hands. A segmented chest plate locked over his ribs. His boots clicked with soft hydraulic tension. On his back, two small wings folded tightly — bee-like, sharp-edged, not meant for flight, but beautifully crafted.
He felt different with it on.
Stronger. Sharper. Focused.
The cool metal against his skin grounded him.
He narrowed his eyes at the river. The air around it was too still. And the rocks beneath the water… they were off. Too smooth. Almost like scales.
Something was waiting beneath the surface.
And it wasn't friendly.
---
Zack crouched at the river's edge, eyes narrowed. Every instinct he had was screaming.
There was a spirit beast in that water.
He couldn't see it. Not exactly. But thanks to his [Perception] stat, the tiny cues leapt out at him — the unnatural stillness of the current, the faint ripple near the deeper bend, the cluster of fish bones along the opposite shore.
Something moved down there.
His heart thumped once, hard.
This wasn't just a cave.
It was a trap.
Zack exhaled slowly and opened his system panel, the glow cast across the water like a quiet beacon.
[Intelligence: 10]
[Perception: 5]
That was why he noticed things now. Details that most people missed. Tiny shifts in light. Movement in shadows. Patterns.
And patterns always told stories.
Like how the nest wasn't just far — it was placed just beyond a crossing point, where the river narrowed but deepened. The kind of terrain that forced a target to slow down.
A kill zone.
Zack stood slowly and studied the nearby stones. The river's edge here was craggy, wet — impossible to cross silently or quickly. The perfect place for something to strike from below.
But the nest… It was too pristine. No debris. No scratches. No sign of disturbance.
Which meant… no one had reached it yet.
Or no one had left after trying.
He swallowed hard.
The spirit beast was likely territorial — hiding in the depths, defending the eggs. It hadn't struck yet because he hadn't crossed the invisible line. Not yet.
He needed a plan.
Smart options:
1. Distraction. Find a way to create noise upstream — something to lure the serpent away. Then move while it's investigating.
2. Bait. Toss something across the river, disturb the water deliberately, and time his movement based on the beast's reaction speed.
3. Environmental use. He had Carbee's wings — not for flying, but they gave off a hum when activated. Maybe the vibration could send shockwaves or interfere with the beast's senses.
4. Observation. Use [Perception] to watch closely for movement patterns. If the beast had a patrol rhythm, he could exploit the timing.
Zack's mind moved fast. Each idea sparked from the last.
He glanced around and found a loose stone. About the size of his fist. Perfect.
He threw it hard into the far left of the stream — away from the nest.
Splash.
The water exploded.
A blur of black-and-silver muscle shot upward, jaws snapping open — teeth like glass daggers.
Zack froze.
There it was.
A scaled serpent — sleek, aquatic, and mean-looking. Long body. Fins like razors. Glowing eyes.
It crashed back down, vanishing into the water without a trace.
"Fast. Real fast," Zack muttered. "But it reacts to movement… not presence."
He wiped sweat from his brow.
If he was going to get that egg — he'd need to get creative.
---
The water had gone still again. But now Zack understood the rules.
The serpent only attacked when it saw movement. Not sound. Not scent. Just the twitch of a body in the wrong place at the wrong time.
So… the path was clear.
Zack stepped back into the shadows and began searching the cave walls, looking for anything—roots, stone columns, overhead ledges—that could offer a route above the river. Something it couldn't see.
Then he spotted it: a jagged outcrop running along the upper part of the cave wall, just above the river. It was narrow, brittle-looking, but maybe strong enough to hold his weight if he stayed low.
It wasn't much, but it was hope. And hope had teeth.
"Alright," he whispered, activating his Carbee Armor.
A shimmer of blue energy coursed over his limbs as metallic plates snapped into place across his body, forming a sleek shell of armor that glowed faintly in the dark. The bee-wing motif flickered at his back—more decorative than functional, but still beautiful in its own strange way. Its design looked like a cross between ancient samurai and something bio-mechanical, the color shifting between ocean blue and steel.
Lightweight. Flexible. Cool as hell.
Zack felt stronger just wearing it.
He moved, slow and steady, climbing up onto the ledge. The armor's grip responded well, boots finding traction on slick stone. His breathing was quiet now, controlled.
Step by step, he crept above the water, eyes darting between the glowing river below and the nest on the far side.
The serpent didn't surface.
Not yet.
His muscles burned, but he kept going.
Halfway across, a rock crumbled beneath his boot. It tumbled down, striking the water with a faint plop.
Zack stopped breathing.
He looked down.
Nothing.
Seconds passed.
Still nothing.
Then — movement.
But not from the water.
From the eggs.
Zack reached the end of the ledge, crouched low, and stared at them.
Three eggs. One cracked open.
But it wasn't empty. Inside was a tiny, twitching serpentling, still curled and dripping with birth fluid.
He stared at the system prompt as it blinked alive:
[Quest Objective: Consume the Scaled Serpent Egg]
[Warning: High Risk]
[Reward: Unknown]
Zack clenched his fists.
It was insane. Eating a serpent egg in the middle of a hostile environment? While its mother was just meters away?
But this was what the system wanted. Growth didn't come free.
And if the Holy Domain respected anything... it was risk.
He took a breath, reached forward—and chose the smallest egg.
"Please don't wake up," he muttered.
The shell was warm to the touch, leathery rather than brittle. With trembling fingers, he peeled it open and consumed the glowing yolk inside.
It burned his tongue.
Like fire. Like ice. Like lightning.
[You have consumed a Scaled Serpent Egg.]
[You have gained a new Trait: Poison Resistance (Level 1).]
[You have gained 1 Mod Point.]
Zack's body shuddered.
He had no idea what this meant yet. No time to celebrate.
From the water... came a hiss.
Oh no.
The serpent had noticed.
And now the hunt had begun.
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