The monster's massive hand moved with a speed no body that large should possess. Its tree-thick arm swung toward Glenn's head. Air was shoved aside by the force of its motion. There was a soft boom before the impact even happened, like a small explosion from muscles tightening.
Clive saw every detail with a calmness that came not from his mind, but from his altered body. His new senses slowed the world around him. He saw the long, curved black claws. He saw the dark scales cracking faintly as the monster's muscles tensed. He saw faint blue veins pulsing beneath the skin, carrying energy from the core inside the creature's chest.
The movement was perfect. Lethal.
And Glenn was not fast enough.
Dilos lunged from the right. His sword sliced through the air and aimed directly at the monster's wrist. A trained strike, precise and clean. But the creature did not dodge. It did not slow. It took the slash directly on its scales. Dilos's sword shuddered from the impact. Only a small spark burst out. The blade bounced off.
The attack meant nothing.
And Clive was still one step too late.
The monster's hand slammed into Glenn's shoulder.
The sound was loud. Not like flesh. More like thick wood breaking. The impact made the entire corridor tremble. Glenn's body was thrown like a cloth doll. He crashed into the stone wall with brutal force. The stone cracked. Dust drifted from the ceiling. Glenn rolled to the ground, his left arm dragging lifelessly.
He tried to get up. He could not. His right arm hung crookedly. His shoulder had been knocked out of place. His eyes widened, not in pain, but in the silent realization that his body no longer obeyed him.
A leader normally rigid and composed now lay helpless on the floor.
Someone from his group screamed his name. A broken sound. Panicked. The formation that had been tight just moments ago began to collapse.
Two small monsters leapt from the ceiling. Quick movements. Claws aimed at the throat of one of Glenn's members. Dilos slashed one of them midair, splitting it apart. But the second monster managed to land. Its claws raked across the man's back. Skin tore. Blood burst out.
Screams filled the air.
Dilos forced his voice to stay firm. "Formation. Do not break."
But it was too late. The first crack had already opened. Panic seeped fast. Everyone glanced at Glenn. Seeing their leader fallen made clear thinking impossible.
By that time the large monster had lowered its arm.
It turned. And its eyes locked onto Clive.
Clive stepped forward. There was no time to think.
He placed himself between Glenn and the monster. The creature's cold breath touched Clive's face. The stench of metal and rotten flesh mixed together, piercing all the way into his throat.
"Dilos. Protect Glenn." Clive raised his sword. The muscles in his arm tightened. "I will hold the front."
There was a brief moment where Dilos studied Clive's expression. Then he nodded once.
"Understood. Hold as long as you can."
Clive did not respond. His body was already moving.
The monster lifted its chin slightly. A small movement, but in the narrow corridor it felt like a mountain shifting. The blue light in its chest pulsed slowly. It flowed through the scales, creating faint ripples of color. The creature looked alive from within, as if its body was a giant vessel holding back pressure that wanted to explode outward.
It attacked.
Its right leg stepped forward. A low sweeping kick. The movement was too fast. Clive leaped backward. The wind from the kick shook dust across the floor. The stone cracked when the creature's foot struck the ground.
Clive landed. He did not wait. He counterattacked. A quick thrust toward the abdomen. His blade sliced through the air, aimed precisely at the gap between scales. But when it touched the skin, the blade slipped. Only a pale scratch appeared. No blood.
The monster's skin was hard. Layered. Perhaps as hard as stone.
The monster swung again. Its left arm. Clive parried. The impact stung his arm. The vibration shot from his wrist to his shoulder. There was a brief heat, then his altered body adjusted. No excessive pain. Only pressure.
Clive stepped back. His eyes moved fast. He studied the monster. Searching for an opening. There was none. Scales covered everything. Even the joints were shielded by hardened layers.
Behind him, the battle worsened.
Ted was holding off two small monsters at once. His shoulders rose and fell rapidly. His breathing was harsh, like air being forced out of exhausted lungs. Each swing of his sword slowed by half a second more than before.
Zorilla kneed another monster. Its skull cracked, but an attack from the side twisted Zorilla's body. He staggered back two steps, legs unsteady. His jaw clenched tight to hold in the pain.
Dorde stood on one weakened leg. Blood flowed down the lower half of his pants. He tried to jump, but his knee refused. He struck the monster's head with the pommel of his sword, but the swing was dull, too weak.
One of Glenn's members was slipping. His back torn from shoulder to waist. The wound gaped open, blood flowing like water spilling from a cracked container. His breath hitched. His ears rang.
Time.They were running out of time.Clive felt it in his own chest, like the pulse of the core inside him changing rhythm.
The large monster advanced again. Its towering body filled almost all of Clive's vision. Each step seemed to press the stone corridor inward, making the space feel smaller, as if the walls themselves shifted under its weight.
Clive jumped left.His breath cut through the air.
The monster's claw scraped across his chest, tearing cloth. His shirt ripped like paper. His skin was grazed. A flash of heat bloomed like a falling ember before turning into a cold sting as the blood stopped before it could drip. A small wound, but enough to remind him that being slightly slow meant death.
The battle flowed like an hourglass being forced to flip again and again.
Five minutes.Ten.Fifteen.
In the first minute Clive moved like a body newly awakened from a deep sleep. His breathing stable. His back muscles flexible. His joints responsive. The core's energy moved slowly but steadily, like a heated metal wheel spinning in his center.
By the tenth minute his breath changed. Not heavy. Not ragged. But there was a slight tug at the end of every exhale, as if his lungs rejected air that was not cold enough.
His abdominal muscles tightened with each motion. His calves burned. Sweat formed on his palms behind the sword's grip.
By the fifteenth minute his body worked harder than it should. Still fast. Still strong. But each dodge had a tiny delay. Small, yet real. His fingers tensed as he gripped. His arms began to grow heavy. The core energy inside him did not decrease, but its flow shifted. Faster, but no longer stable.
In front of him the monster kept moving without change.Not panting.Not slowing.Not weakening.
Its red eyes brightened, glowing like embers fed fresh air.
Then a voice appeared.
Inside his head.
Not from outside. Not through his ears.It rose from the deepest part of his body, from the same place as the pulse of his newly awakened core.
"He is weak under the left rib."
Clive narrowed his eyes. His breath caught for half a second.The temperature of the air around him shifted. Or maybe his body did in response to the voice.
The voice was not human. Or rather, a voice he had heard before, now using human language.
"Where the light pulses. Stab precisely there."
Clive looked at the monster's chest. The blue light throbbed slowly beneath the ribs. But on the left side, just under the scaled plating, there was a darker patch. Like a shadow trapped behind the thick skin.
Is this a trap.
He did not ask aloud. It only crossed his mind.But the voice answered.
"You want to live. Listen to me. Or die."
The tone was flat. Not threatening. Not pleading. Simply stating consequences.
Clive held his breath. He did not move. His body waited, judged, studied every detail of the monster's motion. Searching for any sign of trickery. But the creature did not change. Its eyes remained red. Its breathing heavy and steady. Its focus locked onto Clive, uncaring for anything behind him.
Behind him, things worsened.
Ted was pushed back two steps, nearly hitting the wall. His shoulders shook. Zorilla struck a monster beside him but his own body swayed. Blood dripped from his temple, sliding down his jaw. Dorde stayed upright only because Zorilla caught his wrist. He would have fallen if Zorilla had been one second slower.
Enough.Clive made his decision.
He would not wait until someone in his group died.
He moved around the monster. His steps low. His breath controlled but fast. His leg muscles tightened each time his boots struck stone. The monster followed, rotating its massive body with stiff but steady movement. Each step it took pressed the air, like a heavy object sweeping through the corridor.
Clive feinted. He stepped right. Lowered his sword as if preparing to stab its leg. The creature reacted. Its massive hand rose to strike back.
In that instant Clive pushed off the right wall. His heel struck stone. His body lifted. He shot upward.
Cold air slapped his face.He aimed his sword at the creature's head.
The monster reflexively raised its arm to shield its eyes.
Clive twisted his body midair. His motion sharp, fast, forced. He changed the angle. His blade dropped toward the monster's left side.
Right beneath the rib.
The tip went in. It did not bounce. It did not slide. It pierced the hard scales and ripped into flesh.
There was a wet sound.Then a faint crack, like a small bone snapping within.
The monster screamed. A shrill sound that pushed the air out of the corridor. The vibration reached Clive's ribs. The blue light in the creature's chest shook. Flickered. Unstable.
Clive pulled his sword free.Black blood burst out. Hot. Producing a thin acidic steam. The corridor instantly filled with a thick, rotten stench.
The monster staggered. Its movements became jerky, halting, no longer smooth. Its red eyes widened, shaking.
Clive knew.He had struck it correctly.
The voice returned.
"Good."The tone changed slightly. There was a faint satisfaction."But that was only the opening. He has two cores. One in the chest. One in the belly. The chest is only bait. The one in the belly is the source. Pierce again."
Clive froze.His heart stopped for a moment before thudding again, harder.
Two cores.
He had not even considered the possibility.
The monster growled. The light in its chest flickered wildly, like a flame battered by strong wind. But in its belly, beneath layers of flesh and scale, there was a faint glimmer. A small light. Hidden. Waiting.
Take his core, the voice whispered. The tone grew lower. Softer. Certain.He has two. One for you.
Then the voice shifted.Quieter.Deeper.Closer.As if speaking directly from within Clive's spine.
One for me.