“Whoa.” Minks stared at Eisen. “That didn’t sound like something a gentleman would say.”
He leaned closer, voice low. “I agree with the method, but did you think it through? Even if we pull it off… won’t Phantom Forge know anyway?”
“I did.” Eisen kept his eyes on the valley below. “From Peyton City to here, we didn’t see a single signal base station. That means Phantom Forge’s link to its soldiers isn’t real-time. There has to be delay. If we kill the Hyena before it transmits, move the wreckage, and fake some tracks… even if Phantom Forge gets suspicious, it’ll be led in the wrong direction. The Sunflower stays safe.”
“Beautiful.” Minks grinned. “You’re smarter than you look, Eisen.”
“In theory, yes.” Eisen’s tone stayed cautious. “But we’ve to kill it instantly. And I don’t have confidence. We do this together.”
“No problem.” Minks rolled his shoulders like he was warming up. “Just tell me how we’re cooking this dog.”
“We get in front of it,” Eisen said. “Find a spot to ambush.”
…
They used the existing trail to calculate the Hyena’s path. Minks ran back to the ground-effect bike and returned with the Stardust blade. Then the two of them headed northwest at a fast jog and climbed a low ridge. If the math was right, the Hyena would pass through the canyon below in a little over ten minutes.
The problem was the canyon was too wide.
Their only weapons were Eisen’s poorly practiced Flashcutter and the Stardust blade. There was nowhere close enough to hide, and at distance they had no ranged firepower. If the Hyena walked down the center line, they’d lose the element of surprise—and might get themselves killed instead.
Eisen scanned both sides of the valley again and again, but couldn’t find a good position.
Minks, however, pointed across the gap.
“Look. Eisen. What about that?”
A small ledge jutted out from the opposite slope, only five or six meters above the canyon floor—like a miniature cliff. Near its edge sat a boulder that had to weigh three or four tons. The whole mountain face was cracked with wind erosion, and the boulder looked ready to tip at any moment.
“We might not even have to fight,” Minks said. “We push that rock, let it fall… You tell Phantom Forge it was an accident, and it might even believe you.”
“Good idea,” Eisen said, nodding. “But only if the dog decides to walk under the cliff instead of using all that open space.”
Minks shot him a look. “You’re kidding, right? I was just complimenting you.”
He pointed at Pinecone.
“We’ve got him.”
Pinecone stood up on his hind legs and patted his chest like, Leave it to me.
…
Decision made, Eisen and Minks hurried over while the Hyena was still out of sight and climbed onto the ledge.
A few minutes later, the Hyena appeared around a bend…
“It’s here,” Minks whispered. “Get ready.”
They tucked behind the boulder and peered through the uneven edge as the Hyena wandered toward the middle of the canyon. The closer it got, the tighter Eisen and Minks’s nerves wound.
At roughly one hundred meters out, the Hyena stopped. It scanned the area, then—just like before—shot a probe into the ground.
Whatever Pinecone did, the Hyena reacted immediately. It snapped its head toward the cliff.
Eisen and Minks jerked their eyes away and pressed behind the boulder, not daring to breathe.
The canyon went silent. Only the Hyena’s approaching footsteps remained.
Both of them braced their hands against the boulder, ready to shove it the instant the Hyena walked under the ledge.
But the steps stopped—still more than ten meters short.
Eisen and Minks exchanged a panicked glance.
The Hyena studied its surroundings for a full half minute, then drove the probe down again.
At that distance, Pinecone was instantly exposed.
A series of mechanical clicks sounded. The Hyena snapped open into combat mode—deploying a twin-barrel machine gun from its back and a front shield plate.
Pinecone sensed the danger and burst out of the sand, sprinting for the far side of the cliff.
The machine gun spat flame.
The Hyena charged after him in long, heavy strides.
As it passed, Eisen and Minks pushed together and sent the boulder tumbling.
The ground shook with the impact—
But their timing was off.
The Hyena was too fast. When the rock hit, it missed by a hair—landing only ten centimeters from the Hyena’s rear leg.
The Hyena flinched and looked up.
And locked eyes with Eisen and Minks, who were staring back in horrified disbelief.
The machine gun swung toward them.
Eisen jumped down without thinking and grabbed the barrels with both hands.
The gun fired—its first rounds slamming into Eisen before the spray went wild.
The Hyena fought to break free. Eisen clung to the barrels with one hand and wrapped the Hyena’s body with the other, and the two of them rolled together in a tangled, grinding knot.
Then—click.
The weapon actually came off its mount. Eisen froze for a split second.
The Hyena didn’t.
Freed, it lunged and bit down.
Its “teeth” were high-hardness alloy. Its jaw opened like a crocodile’s and snapped shut with brutal force—an ugly melee weapon all on its own.
It clamped onto Eisen’s head and shook hard.
Eisen’s mind flickered like a system stutter. With his vision blocked, panic hit. He instinctively reached up to pry the Hyena’s jaws open.
In the struggle, a shout cut through.
“Let go—now!”
Eisen didn’t process it until Minks yelled it a second time. Then he yanked his hands back.
Ping—
Sparks burst across the Hyena’s head. A few crisp, metallic cracks followed, and Eisen suddenly felt the pressure vanish.
“Done! Hah!”
Eisen didn’t even understand what had happened. He reached up and pulled the Hyena’s head off.
As his vision cleared, he saw Minks pointing at the now-headless body, laughing like a maniac.
“Look, Eisen!” Minks crowed. “I got it! I killed it!”
Pinecone reappeared from somewhere and bounced around the wreckage in excited circles.
Eisen stared at the jagged cut at the neck.
“Nice work,” he said, half stunned. “Thank you.”
“No problem!” Minks beamed. “I should’ve recorded that. I’ll show Dorian and Wyatt. I can take down Phantom Forge’s soldiers too—haha!”
Eisen tossed the head aside and pointed at the Hyena’s optic lenses.
“I don’t know what they’ll think,” he said bleakly. “I only know this: Phantom Forge saw both of us perfectly.”
Minks’s grin vanished.
He stared at the Hyena’s eyes—they were still lit. Only after a moment did they finally dim.
Minks swallowed.
“We’re exposed.”