Re-Awakened :I Ascend as an SSS-Ranked Dragon Summoner-Chapter 617: The great shepherd 2

The roar rolled through the forest like distant thunder, deep enough to vibrate in Noah’s chest, old enough to carry weight that made the air feel thick. It came from far away, maybe miles, but sound carried strangely in dense forest and whatever made that noise was large.

Everyone in the combined group froze. Reds, yellows, greens, all of them stopping mid-step to listen.

"What was that?" someone whispered.

"Sounded big," another recruit replied, their voice uncertain. "Really big."

The instructors were already moving through the crowd, hands on weapons, expressions alert but not panicked. Valen appeared near the front of the column, his scarred face showing calculation rather than concern.

"Everyone stay together," he ordered. "That was distant. Not an immediate threat."

But Noah had seen the quest notification. PROTECT YOUR FLOCK. Which meant whatever made that roar was absolutely a threat, just not yet. Not if he did something about it.

"I’ll scout ahead," Noah said, loud enough for nearby recruits and instructors to hear. "See what’s out there."

"Burt, wait—" Nami started, but Noah was already moving.

He didn’t run at full speed immediately. That would raise too many questions, create too much suspicion about abilities he was supposed to be hiding. Instead he moved fast enough to seem urgent, jogging into the trees ahead of the column, disappearing around a bend in the path.

Then, once he was out of sight, he really ran.

The forest became a blur. Trees passed in streaks of brown and green, undergrowth whipping past too fast to register individual plants. Noah’s enhanced speed carried him forward in bounds that covered maybe twenty feet per stride, his feet barely touching ground before launching again.

The roar had come from the north and slightly east, so that’s where he headed. His enhanced hearing picked up sounds the others couldn’t detect from this distance. Movement. Lots of movement. The rustling of something large, or many somethings, pushing through forest in a way that suggested neither stealth nor caution.

He covered maybe three miles in under two minutes, his breathing still easy, his muscles barely warmed up. The system’s enhancements made this kind of exertion trivial, his body capable of sustaining speeds that would exhaust normal humans in seconds.

The sounds grew louder. Closer. Noah slowed his approach, moving more carefully now, using trees for cover as he advanced toward whatever was making all that noise.

Then he saw them.

They emerged from the tree line ahead like a flood, dozens of them pouring out of the forest in a chittering mass of black carapace and thrashing legs. Each one was massive, easily the size of a compact car, their bodies covered in segmented armor that gleamed dully in the filtered sunlight.

The system notification appeared in Noah’s vision.

[BEAST IDENTIFIED]

[NAME: IRONSHELL RHINOCEROS BEETLE]

[RANK: CATEGORY 3]

Category 3. Noah felt his stomach drop slightly. These things were serious threats. In his timeline, Cat-3 beasts required coordinated teams of awakened humans to bring down safely. A single Cat-3 could devastate an unprepared group, and he was looking at what had to be at least a hundred of them.

’These are hatchlings,’ Noah realized, studying their movements. ’They’re huge, but they’re young. Moving in a swarm because they haven’t developed the territorial instincts adult beetles would have. Still dangerous as hell, but not fully mature.’

More kept coming. The horde seemed endless, beetles emerging from holes in the ground, from hollow trees, from burrows Noah hadn’t noticed until they started disgorging massive insects. They moved with single-minded purpose, heading south.

Heading directly toward where the recruit column was traveling.

’If this swarm hits the group, people die,’ Noah thought, his mind already running calculations. ’Instructors might save some, but not all. Not against this many Cat-3 beasts attacking simultaneously. The quest said protect your flock. This is what I’m supposed to stop.’

He stepped out from behind his tree, moving into the open where the lead beetles could see him.

The closest one noticed immediately, its antennae twitching, its massive head swiveling to track this new presence. It charged without hesitation, six legs propelling it forward with surprising speed for something so bulky.

Noah met the charge head-on. His fist came around in a straight punch that connected with the beetle’s armored head.

THUNK!

The impact jarred his arm, feedback traveling up through his shoulder. The beetle stumbled, its charge disrupted, but it didn’t go down. Its carapace had absorbed most of the force, the armor doing exactly what armor was supposed to do.

’Regular punches won’t cut it,’ Noah thought, watching the beetle recover and prepare to charge again. ’The exoskeleton is too thick, too reinforced. I need something that can actually penetrate.’

More beetles were converging on his position now, drawn by the commotion. Maybe a dozen of them forming a loose circle, cutting off retreat routes, their mandibles clicking with sounds like bones breaking.

Noah jumped straight up, his leg strength launching him maybe fifteen feet into the air. He twisted mid-flight, orienting himself above the beetle that had charged first, pulling his fists together overhead.

He came down like a meteor, both fists driving into the beetle’s back in an axe handle strike that carried all his weight and momentum.

CRASH!

The beetle’s legs buckled, its body driven into the ground hard enough to crack soil and send up clouds of dust. But even that devastating impact didn’t kill it. The creature thrashed, trying to right itself, its armor cracked in places but still mostly intact.

’Even my strong attacks won’t punch through easily,’ Noah thought, drawing his fist back while standing on the beetle’s back. ’Void energy would obliterate it. But I can’t use it right now. I need something else. Something I actually have access to.’

Then it clicked.

Vital Point Technique.

He’d spent three weeks mastering force concentration, learning to compress all his power into fingertip-sized impact points. The technique was designed for dragon scales, but the principle should work on any armor. Find the weak points, concentrate the strike, penetrate where dispersed force would fail.

Noah’s fist came down in a sharp straight punch aimed at the crack his axe handle had created.

The concentrated force drove through the damaged armor like a spike through thin wood. His fist penetrated maybe six inches deep, reaching vital organs beneath the protective shell.

*Kuaarrrk!!*

The beetle’s screech was sharp and pained, its legs spasming once before going completely limp. The system notification appeared immediately.

[+35 XP]

’That’s what I needed,’ Noah thought, pulling his fist free. ’Vital Point Technique works. Now I just need to do that a hundred more times.’

The other beetles charged as a group, clearly viewing him as a threat now that he’d killed one of their swarm. Noah moved before they could surround him, his speed carrying him clear of their pincer formation.

He landed on another beetle’s back, rode its momentum for half a second while drawing his fist back, then drove a concentrated punch through its head armor.

CRACK!

The exoskeleton shattered where his fist hit, the focused impact creating a hole maybe an inch across that went straight through into the beetle’s brain cavity. It died instantly, collapsing mid-charge.

[+35 XP]

Noah rolled off the falling corpse, came up beside another beetle, pivoted on his back foot and delivered a roundhouse kick that concentrated all the rotational force into his heel. The strike caught the beetle’s leg joint where armor plates met, the weak point between segments.

The leg snapped completely, torn free from the body in a spray of ichor. The beetle listed sideways, balance destroyed, exposing its softer underbelly.

Noah’s follow-up punch went straight through the exposed area, concentrated force creating a fist-sized entry wound that reached the creature’s heart.

[+35 XP]

More beetles were coming, the horde converging on his position now that he’d proven himself a threat. Noah counted maybe forty in the immediate area, with more still emerging from the trees behind them.

He moved constantly, never staying in one place long enough for them to coordinate attacks. His enhanced speed made him faster than anything they could manage, his movements appearing as blurs to the beetles’ compound eyes.

A beetle lunged from his left. Noah twisted mid-stride, his torso rotating to let the mandibles pass inches from his ribs, his fist already coming around in a concentrated hook that caught the creature’s head joint. The armor cracked, the head twisted at an unnatural angle, internal structures severed.

[+35 XP]

Another charged from behind. Noah heard it coming, the heavy footfalls giving away position and timing. He dropped low, letting momentum carry the beetle over him, then sprang upward in a jump that put him on its back. Both fists drove down in coordinated strikes, one-two precision hits that cracked armor and pulped organs.

[+35 XP]

The fight settled into rhythm. Noah stopped thinking in terms of individual beetles and started treating the swarm as a single flowing problem that required continuous solution. His battle IQ, honed through hundreds of combat encounters across his timeline, analyzed patterns automatically.

’They charge straight, no feinting, no tactical awareness beyond basic pack coordination. Carapace is strongest on the head and back, weakest at the joints and underbelly. They’re fast in short bursts but can’t change direction quickly. Use their momentum against them. Stay mobile. Concentrate every strike.’

He moved through the horde like a dancer through a choreographed routine, each movement flowing into the next. Duck under mandibles, strike the exposed joint. Leap over a charging beetle, come down on another’s back with concentrated force. Pivot away from a pincer attack, redirect one beetle into another, use the confusion to land killing blows on both.

[+35 XP]

[+35 XP]

[+35 XP]

The notifications became background noise, appearing and dismissing automatically as Noah’s kill count climbed. Ten beetles. Twenty. Thirty. Each one required precise application of the Vital Point Technique, finding the vulnerable spots and delivering concentrated strikes that could actually penetrate Cat-3 armor.

’I’m getting faster at this,’ Noah realized, watching his own movements with the detached awareness of someone fully in the zone. ’Each kill teaches me something. Where the weak points are, how much force is actually needed, which angles work best. I’m adapting in real time.’

A beetle caught him with a glancing blow from its horn, the impact hard enough to have broken ribs on a normal person. Noah felt it, acknowledged the hit, incorporated it into his next movement. He used the momentum from the impact to spin into a devastating elbow strike that drove through the attacking beetle’s eye socket.

[+35 XP]

More kept coming. The horde seemed endless, fresh beetles emerging from the forest to replace the ones Noah killed. But he was making progress, bodies piling up around him in a growing circle of death.

Forty beetles down. Fifty. Sixty.

Noah’s breathing was still controlled, his muscles warm but not strained. The enhanced endurance from his system meant he could sustain this pace for hours if necessary. Good thing, because the horde showed no signs of stopping.

Then something changed. The beetles’ behavior shifted, the mindless charging becoming more hesitant, the swarm starting to flow around Noah’s position rather than directly at him.

’They’re learning I’m dangerous,’ Noah thought, watching the pattern shift. ’Or something’s directing them. Hive mind? Pack intelligence? Either way, they’re adapting.’

That’s when he heard it. Another roar, deeper than the first, coming from further north where the densest part of the forest created near-darkness even in daylight.

Something massive moved between the trees, its bulk making the ancient trunks look small by comparison.

The mother beetle emerged into the clearing like a walking fortress. She was easily three times the size of the hatchlings, maybe the size of a small house, her carapace darker and thicker and showing the scars of decades surviving in hostile wilderness. The horn on her head was massive, easily six feet long and wickedly curved.

The system identified it immediately.

[BEAST IDENTIFIED]

[NAME: IRONSHELL MATRIARCH]

[RANK: CATEGORY 3 - ALPHA VARIANT]

’Alpha variant means enhanced stats,’ Noah recalled from his knowledge of beast classification. ’Stronger, faster, tougher than standard members of the species. This thing is probably strong enough to fight veteran dragon knights and have a decent chance of winning.’

The matriarch roared again, the sound shaking leaves from nearby trees, and the remaining hatchlings scattered. They didn’t run far, just created space, forming a loose circle around the clearing where Noah stood among their dead siblings.

Message received. This was between him and the mother now.

The matriarch charged with speed that belied her massive size, her six legs driving her forward like a living battering ram. The ground shook with each impact of her feet, dirt and stones flying up in her wake.

Noah didn’t try to meet the charge. He dove aside at the last possible second, letting tons of armored beetle thunder past, feeling the displaced air actually push at him from proximity.

The matriarch’s momentum carried her maybe thirty feet before she could stop, her mass too great for quick direction changes. She wheeled around, surprisingly agile for something so huge, her compound eyes tracking Noah’s movement.

He studied her while she repositioned. The armor was incredible, thick plates overlapping in patterns that left almost no gaps, decades of growth creating layers upon layers of protection. Her legs were tree trunks, her mandibles could probably bite through steel, and that horn could impale him completely if she landed a solid hit.

’Regular Vital Point Technique might not be enough,’ Noah assessed. ’The weak points are smaller, better protected. I’ll need multiple concentrated strikes in the same location to actually penetrate deep enough to cause critical damage.’

The matriarch charged again, learning from the first attempt, already angling to compensate for Noah’s likely dodge.

Noah jumped straight up, launching himself over the beetle’s back, his fist already coming down in a concentrated strike aimed at the joint where her massive horn connected to her skull.

CRACK!

The impact drove his fist maybe two inches into the armor, creating a small penetration point. Not deep enough to reach anything vital, but a start.

The matriarch thrashed, trying to shake him off, but Noah was already gone, landing in a roll that put distance between them.

She turned faster this time, her intelligence showing in how she cut off his escape angles, forcing him toward the ring of watching hatchlings.

’She’s smart,’ Noah realized. ’Trying to use the hatchlings as obstacles, limit my mobility. Can’t let myself get cornered.’

He feinted left, then burst right when the matriarch committed to intercepting. Her bulk worked against her, momentum carrying her past while Noah circled around her flank.

His fist drove into the same armor breach he’d created before, concentrated force punching deeper, widening the hole.

CRACK!

Four inches deep now. He could feel softer tissue beneath the armor, could sense he was getting close to something vital.

The matriarch’s response was immediate and violent. She reared up on her back legs, her front legs flailing, trying to crush Noah beneath her weight when she came back down.

He rolled clear, came up running, circled wide to get positioning.

The matriarch was limping slightly now, favoring the leg nearest where he’d breached her armor. The damage was affecting her mobility, creating an opening.

Noah exploited it ruthlessly. He came in low and fast, targeting the wounded area, his fists driving concentrated strikes in rapid succession.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

Three hits, each one punching deeper, the hole in her armor widening to maybe six inches across, almost completely through the protective layers now.

The matriarch shrieked, the sound different from her earlier roars, pain and fury mixed together. She spun with desperate speed, her horn catching Noah’s shoulder and sending him flying.

He hit the ground hard, rolled with the impact, came up on his feet despite the jarring hit. His shoulder ached but nothing was broken, the enhanced durability keeping him functional.

’Almost there,’ he thought, watching the matriarch turn toward him. ’One more good series of strikes should do it.’

They charged simultaneously, both committed now, no more testing or circling.

Noah twisted in mid-air as he closed the distance, his body rotating to present a smaller target while his fist cocked back for maximum force. The matriarch’s horn passed so close he felt the displaced air, missed him by maybe inches.

His fist came around in a devastating hook that caught the breach point perfectly, concentrated force driving straight through the last layer of armor into the soft tissue beneath.

Then he didn’t stop. Still in motion, his other fist came around, drove into the same spot, punched deeper.

Left, right, left, right, a rapid combination of concentrated strikes that hammered the same point over and over, each one penetrating further, creating a tunnel through armor and flesh that reached toward vital organs.

The matriarch staggered, her legs buckling, her massive body listing to the side.

Noah pulled his arm back one final time and drove a concentrated strike straight through the breach into what had to be her brain cavity.

The matriarch went completely still. For a moment she just stood there, a monument to ancient strength and survival instinct. Then slowly, almost majestically, she toppled sideways.

BOOM!

The impact when she hit the ground sent vibrations through the forest floor, scared birds from distant trees, marked the end of a creature that had probably lived for decades.

[+35 XP]

[ALPHA VARIANT DEFEATED - BONUS XP AWARDED]

[+150 XP]

Noah stood over the corpse, breathing slightly harder now, his fists aching from the repeated concentrated strikes. He looked at the breach point he’d created, studied the damage pattern.

Tiny holes. Dozens of them clustered together where his concentrated strikes had punched through armor, creating what looked almost like someone had used precision drilling equipment. Each hole was barely wider than his fist at the impact point, but they went deep, tunneling through layers of protection to reach the vulnerabilities beneath.

The remaining hatchlings were scattering now, their leader dead, their swarm mentality broken. They fled back into the forest, disappearing into burrows and hollow trees, no longer a cohesive threat.

Noah looked around at the battlefield. Beetle corpses everywhere, maybe a hundred of them scattered across the clearing and into the surrounding trees. Each one marked with the signs of Vital Point Technique, concentrated strikes that had cracked armor and reached vital organs.

’The recruits would never have survived this,’ Noah thought, looking at the sheer number of bodies. ’Even with instructors helping, this many Cat-3 beasts attacking at once would have caused casualties. Probably a lot of them.’

He started walking south, back toward where he’d left the column. His clothes were covered in ichor and dirt, his hands stained with beetle blood. He needed to clean up before returning or the evidence of what he’d done would be too obvious.

The sound of running water reached his ears before he saw a stream. A small creek cutting through the forest, clear water flowing over smooth stones, the kind of natural feature that made good landmarks.

Noah knelt by the water and began washing. The ichor came off easily enough, dissolving in the current, carried away downstream. His clothes were harder to clean, the stains having set into fabric, but he did his best.

By the time he finished, he looked more or less presentable. Wet in places, his clothes showing signs of rough activity, but not obviously covered in the remains of a hundred dead beetles.

He continued south, moving at a normal pace now, letting time pass so his absence would seem reasonable for a scouting mission.

***

The column was still together when Noah found them, all three colors clustered in a defensive formation, instructors positioned at the perimeter, clearly on high alert after hearing the distant combat sounds.

Nami spotted him first. "Burt! Are you okay? What happened?"

Noah shrugged, trying to look casual despite having just massacred a hundred Cat-3 beasts. "Scouted ahead like I said. Saw some movement to the north, heard a lot of noise, but whatever it was moved off. Didn’t seem like an immediate threat to us."

Werner pushed through the crowd, his expression suspicious but also relieved. "You were gone for over an hour. We thought something got you."

"Just being thorough," Noah replied. "Wanted to make sure the path ahead was clear."

Valen approached, his scarred face showing careful assessment. "And is it? Clear?"

"Seemed fine when I checked," Noah said, which was technically true. The beetles had been cleared. Very thoroughly.

"Alright," Valen said after a moment. "Everyone stay alert. We’re going to continue to the split point, then colors separate to assigned territories. Stay together, work as teams, and don’t do anything stupid."

The column began moving again, the earlier tension not quite dissipated but manageable now. Noah walked with the general flow, not drawing attention, just another recruit following orders.

As they walked, he leaned close to Werner, his voice low enough that only the red leader could hear.

"While I was out there," Noah said quietly, "I saw something to the northeast. Couldn’t get close enough to check properly, but it looked interesting. Might be worth investigating once we split off."

Werner’s eyes sharpened with interest. "What kind of interesting?"

"The kind that might give reds an advantage," Noah replied. "Just a hunch. Could be nothing."

He pulled away before Werner could ask more questions, leaving the seed planted, trusting the other recruit’s opportunistic nature to do the rest.

The column reached the split point an hour later, a natural junction where paths diverged toward different territories. The instructors directed traffic, yellows heading east, greens going west, reds taking the northern route.

Noah stayed with the reds, his positioning natural enough that nobody questioned it. Werner was already organizing people, assigning scouts, planning hunting routes.

"Burt," Werner called, gesturing him over. "Show me where you saw that interesting thing."

Noah led the red group northeast, retracing his path from earlier, taking them on a route that would eventually reach the clearing where the beetle massacre had occurred.

It took maybe forty minutes of hiking through increasingly dense forest before they reached it.

The smell hit first. Death and ichor, the distinctive odor of massive quantities of beast corpses decomposing in humid air. Several recruits gagged, covering their noses.

Then they saw the bodies.

Beetle corpses everywhere, scattered across the clearing like someone had fought a war. The massive mother beetle dominated the center, her house-sized bulk impossible to miss, the breach in her armor showing those strange clustered holes.

Complete silence fell over the red group as they took in the scene.

"What the hell?" someone whispered.

"There’s dozens of them. Hundreds maybe."

"What could do this?"