Chapter 58: Near Collapse
The chamber quaked under constant assault, stone dust falling in sheets. Walls blackened, ceiling cracked, the air itself choking with soot. Two flaming monsters thrashed in fury, tearing the place apart with every roar.
The female Scorchclaw was breaking first. Taller than a man by half again, her frame sagged under wounds left by the humans. Panic clung to her spine, claws buried deep, body seated firm inside her fire. One hand stabbed with his dagger. The other ripped and fed. His teeth snapped bone, his laughter drowned by her howls.
She twisted and slammed herself into stone, raked at her own back with burning claws, desperate to dislodge him. He moved too fast. Smaller, sharper, born for this. Her mind fractured under the endless punctures, the tearing jaws. Stumbling, she drifted from the Fae-fire's glow.
The male was worse. Pain dug in with both arms, carving. The beast's eyes rolled white, its cries gone from rage to terror. The pain didn't matter anymore—it understood. Too slow, too late, but it understood. The broodling wasn't just feeding. He wanted inside.
The screams caught Seo-jin's attention for only a breath—
Whoosh!
He jerked back, raptorial leg carving the air where his head had been. Another slash, another lunge, each one close enough to kill if he slipped. He kept space. He knew a straight clash would break him.
[Name // Giant Mantis]
[Classification // Beast Aberration – Chimera Insect]
[Sex // Female]
[Level // 32]
[Rank // B]
[HP // 3140/3200]
[Mana // 140/140]
[STR // 52 A]
[VIT // 48 B]
[AGI // 34 C]
[INT // 20 E]
[WIL // 30 D]
He'd thought about fleeing when he first saw those numbers. Almost. He had to remind himself that stats were just numbers, he had no idea what the beasts multipliers were, if it had any.
Its rhythm was easy now. Three patterns. Blade sweep. Blade thrust. Bite. His agility matched well enough. He read the movements, redirected, made it waste swings. He had its focus.
But not once had it used a skill. No burst. No trick. Just basic hunting tools.
A cold thought hit. His pride began to twitch.
'It's taking it's time...studying me.'
Heat tore through his skull. Mocked. Judged. Dismissed.
"Fuck this."
Butcher's Wrath answered his call.
[4th Weapon Effect // Activated]
[Slicing → Bludgeoning / Piercing]
The cleavers warped. Steel pulsed, veins bulging under the surface. Blades collapsed into brutal iron heads, heavy and spiked, dripping bloodlight.
He spat at the insect.
"Be right back."
Then sprinted—not at the mantis, but at the bears. Time to set the next stage.
The Sentinels were breaking down. Flesh charred. Flames guttering.
[Name // Scorchclaw Sentinel]
[Sex // Female]
[Level // 25 // Rank C]
[HP // 206/1750]
[Mana // 13/80]
[Name // Scorchclaw Sentinel]
[Sex // Male]
[Level // 28 // Rank C]
[HP // 716/2240]
[Mana // 32/95]
Every swing, every breath of fire was nothing but fuel for his brood. He barreled at the male, eyes never leaving the female. Just needed her in sight for a few more seconds...
"Sorry, Panic."
[Desecrate // Activated]
[-5SM]
[Damage // 245]
The female dropped. The instant-kill didn't proc, so the corpse fed him.
[+359Exp // +4SM]
[Level // 13]
[Exp // 3013/3588]
[HP // 414/460]
[SM // 12/36]
System light burst from Panic. Level 8. Pain caught the glow, snarled, and dug harder. Half his torso now buried in the male's back, claws tearing, fangs sinking.
The bear's roars shook stone. Agony, terror, wild defiance, none of it mattered. It reared, trying to smash itself down, but the shadow over its skull froze it.
"Rend!"
[-2SM]
[+15% Bludgeoning / Piercing Damage]
B-Boom!
[CRITICAL // 145 Damage]
[125 Damage]
The ground shook. Skull split. Dust and blood sprayed.
B-Boom!
[117 Damage]
[122 Damage]
Again.
B-Boom!
[124 Damage]
[Critical! // 140 Damage]
And again.
[+414Exp // +5SM]
[Level // 13]
[Exp // 3427/3588]
[HP // 437/460]
[SM // 15/36]
Seven hundred seventy-three damage in seconds. The system burned confirmation through his skull. Light washed over Pain this time, his legs thrashing as he tried to rip himself free of the smoldering carcass.
The male's death cry gurgled out wet and broken, head reduced to paste. The chamber rang with claw-scrapes and meat tearing as Panic feasted and Pain still struggled.
No time to savor it. Azakh-Tur yanked the broodling up by the ankle, ripped him free, and ran with him dragging like a fresh kill.
"Panic! Ceiling!"
His arm flexed, swung, and hurled Pain like a spear into the stone above.
The mantis thundered after him, its shadow swelling. Azakh-Tur glanced back, checking. Pain clung to jagged slag with one claw, wild-eyed but alive. Good enough.
"Hurry the fuck up, Grimm."
The chamber was massive, too much ground, too much firelight. His eyes snapped across the expanse, hunting for the faintest blue flicker...but nothing yet.
The mantis stopped playing. It was done observing.
Its human-insect head reared back, mandibles tearing wide. Mana bled, sound ruptured. A tidal scream burst out, shredding the air.
It hit like a hammer.
[!! WARNING !!]
[Stun // 5sec]
His body locked. Muscles tore under the vibration. Blood ran from his ears. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe—only watch as the beast lunged and closed its mouth around him.
[-156HP]
[Demonic Will // Stack 1]
[Pain Reduction +6% / Health Regen +1.5%]
[HP // 281/460]
[SM // 15/36]
Mandibles punctured, skin ripping open. He was lifted high, rag-dolling as it thrashed him side to side.
[Grapple Damage // -34HP]
[Grapple Damage // -25HP]
The stun snapped.
"Let go, bastard!"
[-3SM]
[SM // 12/36]
[Bone Oath // Activated]
[Cooldown // 1 Hour]
Pain surged as he focused down, jaw locking.
[-12HP]
[HP // 269/460]
[Jaw Bone // Fractured]
[Healing Disabled // 90 Seconds]
CRACK!
Bone split. Mandible shattered. Two cries—one demon, one beast—split the chamber. Azakh-Tur ripped himself free, crashing hard into stone.
He staggered up. A claw hammered down, shaking the floor. He dove clear, dirt and stone exploding where he'd stood.
'Grimm!'
His jaw hung broken, flesh dangling, another dive, another claw swipe splitting the air at his back. His pulse drowned the world, every dodge cut too close.
Attack. Attack. Attack. The mantis never stopped. He barely kept ahead, slipping past the storm by inches.
'Why the fuck did I trust that useless little shit?! System! New plan, give me something!'
He rolled into an overturned railcar, chest heaving. Metal groaned as the roof dented under a strike, but it held long enough to steal a breath.
[Recommendation: Flee. User cannot pierce carapace. Damage output insufficient.]
'Fuck you! I'm not—'
A sudden tug in his chest cut him off. Grimm.
The roof split open. Steel screamed. Azakh-Tur tore free, dodging a stabbing foreleg. His feet hit stone, already sprinting toward that pull.
'About fucking time!'
The mantis shrieked behind him. Its limb dragged the railcar up like kindling.
Shadows swelled across the floor in front of him, glancing back, eyes widening...he dove.
CRASH!
The railcar obliterated the spot he'd stood. Rock and sparks rained down.
He burst from the dust cloud, body pumping, eyes glowing red. The ceiling swam into focus as he scanned furiously, then he saw it.
Blue light. Grimm. Hopefully exactly where he needed.
His mind snapped through the link, command sharp as a blade.
'That one! Fast!'
The broodlings stirred, he could feel them moving to position. The trap was ready to set.
He'd killed Hellfire a while ago, the drain wasn't worth it. Soulmass thin. Only Fiendskin and Rotflow off cooldown. Feed spent. Regen crawling.
Almost ready.
The thought made him grin even as his body staggered. Behind, the mantis barreled through steel and stone like a derailed engine, every step a quake.
Just as he started to vault a mound of twisted rails, a tingle hit his spine, not heat. Worse. Instinct snapped. He whipped Butcher's Wrath into the pile, uses the force to wrench himself sideways.
The air split where he'd been. Rails severed clean in half.
[Beast skill logged. Suggest User keep focus on target.]
His jaw clicked as another tick forced his jaw bone back into place.
"No shit—!"
The air screamed again. One swipe missed. The next carved through him.
[-220HP]
[HP // 78/460]
[SM // 15/36]
[Demonic Will // Stack 2]
[Pain Reduction +12% / Health Regen +3%]
He could only keep running.
His bicep dangled, half-severed, meat yanking with each stride. Even dulled, the pain lit his nerves like fire. Bloodlight spilled, his teeth bared.
'How long?!'
'Soon, boss!'
'Not ready!'
He snarled. Couldn't expect more from them. The tingle hit again, closer. He twisted and raised Butcher's Wrath.
CLANG!
Impact hurled him back, body skipping across stone. Ribs cracked. Vision blurred. He skidded to a stop, breath rasping.
[-12HP]
[HP // 66/460]
Skills drained. Health gone. One more slip and he was finished.
But as he blinked through the haze, the blue glow above burned through the dust. Relief slid in sharp as hunger.
"Made it."