My Infinite Investment System

Chapter 19: Claim Jumpers II

The creature dragged the district shield user into the wall while Ryan spent thirty-five stored units on perception before the man’s legs disappeared.

[Reinvest: Perception]

[Accrued Return: 100 -> 65]

[Duration: 18 Seconds]

Gold left the spear and reached Ryan’s eyes before the next charge.

The enhanced view separated the creature’s hooked forelimbs, the unstable stone around its tunnel, plus a narrow joint opening whenever it pulled backward.

"Nia, catch the plate rather than him," Ryan said, with Opening Position toward the wall.

"Mika takes the joint," Ryan continued, "the ranged team holds fire until his body clears the tunnel, because every attack before that turns the person we are extracting into part of the target."

The district captain looked at the E-rank giving orders from behind the wall. "My team follows me," he said with his cleaver raised.

"Then order something useful before your shield disappears," Ryan replied with the joint inside his enhanced perception, "your rank does not improve his position, while another argument gives the creature time to pull him beyond Nia’s reach."

Nia struck the trapped plate from below, so its reinforced face crossed the tunnel mouth while the creature pulled.

Mika crossed behind her without spending Lightning Step, drove the ordinary baton into the exposed joint, then released before moving stone caught her wrist.

The ranged hunters fired after their teammate cleared the opening.

Both bolts entered the opening Ryan had called through the feeder’s shoulder.

[Protected Opponent: Verified]

[Formation Command Accepted]

[Accrued Return: 65 -> 87]

The creature released its prey and broke through the wall, with two smaller ore-feeders behind it as the chamber floor split around the vein.

Every route toward the sealed corridor shifted, so extraction became a problem the registered survey did not acknowledge.

"Shared exit, cameras remain active, ownership waits until daylight," Ryan said while keeping the spear between the captain and the certified sample, "agree now or explain why your formation tool trapped eight hunters underground."

The captain checked his injured shield user before answering the proposed terms.

"Shared extraction," he said, "no evidence is seized from either team, claim position remains disputed, nobody uses the emergency to manufacture surrender, footage stays intact for registry review, plus every survivor keeps carried equipment."

"We have a deal," Ryan replied, with the spear across the broken floor.

Nia rebuilt the centre with the rival shield user beside her and assigned him the left half without discussing which team held authority.

Mika controlled the open flank while Ryan let the district captain’s cleaver occupy the right, where its reinforced edge could split the larger creature’s armour.

Their temporary arrangement survived its first full charge with less than one shield length remaining.

’The agreement had lasted through exactly one impact,’ Ryan thought, with his eyes on the creature’s shoulder, ’which was still longer than most vendor promises.’

Ryan valued the ore-feeders as they moved, but found no core in the smaller bodies.

A control pulse travelled from the large creature through the chamber formation.

Killing one body would not end the cycle, but breaking the keyed instrument could interrupt their coordination.

"Your survey key is controlling them," Ryan told the captain with one hooked limb diverted, "remove it while we hold the chamber."

"Removing it destroys the proof that our guild accessed this formation first," the captain said with his eyes on the vein.

"Keeping it destroys the people carrying your proof," Ryan replied.

The captain refused to move, so Mika used an ordinary step through Nia’s cover and reached for the instrument herself.

A smaller feeder dropped from the ceiling before she crossed half the distance.

Ryan committed twenty-five stored units to point acceleration before the falling body reached Mika’s exposed lane.

[Reinvest: Point Acceleration]

[Accrued Return: 87 -> 62]

The accelerated spear struck beneath the creature’s jaw before it completed its turn and carried the body past Mika into the wall.

Gold vanished from another shaft section while the impact reopened pain around Ryan’s ribs.

[Clean Interception: Verified]

[Accrued Return: 62 -> 76]

Mika reached the instrument, but the rival ranged hunter moved for the certified sample at the same moment.

The captain tried to hide the signal behind his cleaver.

"Leave the sample," Ryan said without turning, his point toward the largest feeder.

The hunter closed one armoured hand around the certified case and pulled it from the survey cradle.

Mika could take the instrument or stop the hunter, but protecting both objectives had become impossible from her position.

Neither objective received Lightning Step while Mika crossed toward the injured hunter.

Mika crossed to the injured district shield user when another feeder broke through beneath his damaged leg.

Pink current removed the creature from him, then returned her behind Nia’s shield before the chamber could close around her.

[Emergency Budget Spent: Lightning Step 1 / 1]

[Opponent Life Preserved]

[Accrued Return: 76 -> 100]

Every body camera captured the choice while the rival hunter carried Ryan’s sample toward an exit that remained sealed.

"Your agreement lasted seventy-three seconds," Ryan said to the captain with Opening Position reset inside the fractured floor, "the next one begins after your weapon leaves your hand."

The captain attacked before his injured shield user finished objecting to the broken extraction agreement.

His reinforcement had fallen to forty-three percent, yet desperation shortened the recovery pause Ryan had been pricing.

Two cleaver strikes forced the spear toward the floor while the third turned for Nia instead of Ryan.

Nia caught the reinforced edge and lost the outer layer of her new shield.

[Anchor Damage Recorded]

[Accrued Return: 100 / 100]

Ryan shifted forty units into perception while the captain’s failing reinforcement plus the large creature moved behind him.

[Reinvest: Perception]

[Accrued Return: 100 -> 60]

Enhanced perception showed the cleaver’s reinforced edge dim before its owner recognised the failure.

Opening Position narrowed from the whole chamber to one route between Ryan’s point and the captain’s recovery hand.

The next swing entered that route, so Ryan trapped the unreinforced wrist guard beneath his shaft before he rotated the cleaver into the creature charging from behind.

Its hooked limb struck the broad blade and broke the reinforcement along the exact line Combat Valuation had marked.

Ryan allocated the remaining sixty units to point acceleration as the broken recovery line entered his spear range.

[Reinvest: Point Acceleration]

[Accrued Return: 60 -> 0]

The black spear passed through the broken cleaver guard, pinned the D-rank captain’s sleeve against the formation wall, then shattered the keyed instrument behind him without entering flesh.

Coordination vanished from the ore-feeders after the keyed instrument broke.

Nia drove the large creature sideways while both ranged hunters fired through its exposed control joint.

Mika called the core pulse from behind its neck, so Ryan got one ordinary thrust after every stored advantage had been spent.

The ordinary spear point entered the exposed seam after every stored advantage disappeared. The result proved Ryan’s technique remained dangerous when the gold lines reached zero.

Nobody released formation until the sealed corridor unfolded behind both teams.

Both teams faced daylight with injuries, active cameras, plus one sample case still held by the rival hunter.

"Put it down," the district shield user told his teammate with his damaged leg beneath him.

"They pulled me out after we activated the trap," he continued, "we are not stealing their sample while the footage uploads, and if our claim survives, it survives the full record rather than whatever remains after we cut away the rescue."

The hunter returned the case before registry medics met them aboveground.

Extraction remained disputed after the case returned.

The private view settled the rank-gap fight through numbers Ryan could finally use.

His silence lasted through the full treatment.

[Multi-Party Extraction Verified]

[D-Rank Captain Defeated]

[Return Credits Awarded: 160]

[Return Credit Balance: 20 -> 180]

At treatment, the district captain refused to look at Ryan, though his guild filed before either team completed medical release.

Nia turned the registry notice toward them with one hand still wrapped from the shield impact.

{Competing Discovery Claim Filed}

{Survey Date: Three Weeks Before Clearing Incident}

{Claimant: District Route Development Guild}

Ryan opened the attached four-page survey beside three hours of body-camera footage and found the digital creation time eleven hours after the original clearing review, which left the rival claim with paper, a deadline, plus no credible history.

The date stayed wrong in the filing.

He saved the metadata before the pain reached his ribs again.

"They lost the chamber," Ryan said with the timestamp beside the claim, "now they are trying to move the date."