As the colossal halmaw approached Lamina, the city was gripped by terror. Its immense size and menacing appearance filled everyone with dread. Ozano, the chief engineer, stood among his colleagues, his face etched with regret. He had warned them of the impending danger, but his pleas had fallen on deaf ears.
"This is what I feared," he said, his voice barely audible over the roar of the approaching monster. "If only the typhoon detector had been functioning, we could have prepared."
Ozano explained the Halmaw's vulnerabilities. While they were formidable opponents, they were susceptible to sunlight and lacked the ability to survive on land for long periods. If they were kept exposed to the sun and prevented from reaching the city, they could be defeated.
With a heavy sigh, Ozano turned his attention to the malfunctioning detector. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to the device's failure than a simple mechanical breakdown.
Meanwhile, in the Capitol, the situation was rapidly deteriorating. The elite officials, fearing for their own safety, had fled the city, leaving the citizens to fend for themselves. The newly hired Seekers, armed with their moonstone weapons, were doing their best to protect the city. Drepo, rallying the civilians, led them to safety, but the relentless onslaught of Halmaw was overwhelming.
Despite his lack of experience, Drepo fought valiantly, defending the city with unwavering courage. But even his determination was not enough to stop the tide of monsters. Many fell victim to the Halmaw's attacks, and Drepo watched helplessly as his friends and fellow citizens were lost.
As the colossal Halmaw drew closer, Ozano and his engineers prepared their secret weapon: the Lunar Breath cannon. This ancient device, powered by the energy of the moon, was capable of dealing devastating damage to the Halmaw. However, it had not been used in over seventy years, and there was no guarantee that it would still function.
The city was on the brink of destruction. The Halmaw's tsunamis had flooded seventy percent of Lamina, and the monstrous creature was closing in. The Seekers, fighting desperately to hold the line, awaited the engineers' signal.
Drepo, exhausted but determined, joined the battle once more. He fought alongside his fellow Seekers, their courage fueled by their love for their city. As the colossal Halmaw approached, the engineers fired the Lunar Breath cannon. To their relief, it worked, but the damage it inflicted was not enough to stop the creature.
The Halmaw retreated, its retreat slowed by the injuries it had sustained. The citizens of Lamina, their spirits lifted, followed the retreating monsters, driving them back into the sea. The storm began to subside, and the city was finally safe.
The once-thriving city of Lamina was left battered and broken in the wake of the colossal Halmaw's assault. Though the monsters had retreated, the city was a shadow of its former self. Streets that had been filled with the buzz of daily life were now flooded, debris strewn across the landscape, and buildings lay in ruin. The air hung heavy with the smell of saltwater and destruction.
Ozano, standing at the heart of the devastation, could not bring himself to celebrate the victory. The Lunar Breath cannon had worked, but the cost had been severe. Lives had been lost, and the city had come perilously close to annihilation. Worse still, the engineers confirmed that the Lunar Breath would require a month to fully recharge before it could be used again. This left Lamina vulnerable—if the Halmaw returned within that time, there would be no way to stop them.
But Ozano wasn't ready to leave the city defenseless. He called for volunteers to embark on a critical mission: to gather more moonstone, the rare substance needed to reinforce the Lunar Breath cannon and strengthen the Seekers' weapons. Unlike previous assumptions that moonstone could be found in the northern mountains, recent intelligence confirmed that the precious fragments lay buried deep within the sunken lands of Becu, a perilous and flooded region to the south, long considered a forbidden zone due to its treacherous waters and unstable terrain.
Drepo, despite his exhaustion, immediately volunteered. His courage and determination during the siege had already inspired the people of Lamina, and he felt a deep responsibility to continue fighting for the city's future. Alongside him, four other Seekers from Unit 4 stepped forward, forming a small but determined group. However, this was no simple task—the sunken lands of Becu were filled with ancient ruins and submerged dangers, not to mention the unpredictable sea creatures that lurked beneath the waters.
Understanding the scale of the mission, Units 6 and 7, two of the most experienced Seeker teams known for their survival skills in hostile environments, also volunteered to join Drepo and Unit 4. With their combined strength and knowledge, the three units, twenty eight Seekers in total, set out on their mission.
At dawn, the group departed Lamina, heading south toward Becu's flooded, mysterious terrain. Their goal was clear: retrieve as much moonstone as possible to strengthen the city's defenses before the next wave of Halmaw could strike. The journey into the sunken lands was fraught with uncertainty, and the Seekers knew that many who had ventured into Becu's depths never returned.
As the Seekers plunged into the unknown, Ozano turned his attention to rebuilding Lamina's infrastructure. But his mind remained restless. The failure of the typhoon detector still gnawed at him—was it simply neglect, or was there something more sinister at play? As the days passed, the weight of the city's future rested not only on the success of the Seeker teams, but on Ozano's ability to ensure the defenses would be ready for whatever came next.
Lamina waited with bated breath, praying for the safe return of Drepo and his comrades. The siege had ended, but the war for survival had only begun. As the Seekers ventured deeper into the deadly, submerged ruins of Becu, they knew they held the key to Lamina's fate in their hands. If they failed, the next Halmaw attack would be the city's last.
Far from the bustling preparations and hopeful prayers, hidden in the shadows of a crumbling building, a figure stood watching. Their face was obscured by the dim light and the remnants of debris, but the faint curve of a smile played on their lips, unreadable and unsettling. The figure lingered a moment longer, then vanished into the ruins, leaving behind only an eerie sense of foreboding that clung to the air.