BOOM!
The ground cracked like shattered glass. A ripple of shockwave surged outward.
Isaac was flung back like a broken doll.
"Gahk!"
His back slammed against the earth. Blood sprayed from his lips.
"Korf—ha... ha..."
Each breath clawed at his chest. His vision blurred as a searing pain tore through every limb.
[HP: 42%]
"That… that shockwave took half my health?"
He groaned, bones creaking as he tried to push himself up. Nothing moved. Not a finger. Not a toe.
His body was paralyzed—broken from the inside.
The massive shadow loomed over him.
CRRrk—SSSSSSSHH
Looney slithered forward, gaping jaws open, saliva dripping between its pristine white fangs.
Isaac coughed and chuckled bitterly.
"Llyne was right. Those teeth are way too white..."
Blood poured from the side of his mouth.
"Shit... Can't move. Can't even blink without pain."
[WARNING! Your enemy's attack caused critical internal damage. HP will continue to drop.]
[WARNING! Your opponent's level exceeds yours significantly. Recommendation: Run.]
"…In this state?" Isaac smirked. "Right. Let me just grow wings and fly outta here."
[Congratulations. Your condition has met the requirement for Katana Skill: 'Lost Art.'] [Skill Cost: 0 MP | Effect: Fully restores HP and eliminates a single target regardless of level.]
His pupils contracted.
"Eliminates a single target… regardless of level?"
[Use skill: Lost Art? — YES / NO]
"Hell yes."
A blinding cerulean light erupted around him. It was as if the sun had ignited inside his lungs.
Looney shrieked—"KIIIIEEEKKKHH!!"—as the light pierced its many eyes.
The bones in Isaac's body shifted. Cracked. Snapped back into place.
Tendons reattached. Muscles reformed. His skin glowed faintly blue.
[HP fully recovered.]
Isaac stood. Calm. Renewed. Radiating silent fury.
He picked up his katana with reverence. His hands no longer trembled.
"You almost killed me, you damn tapeworm."
He lowered into a stance. Feet shoulder-width apart. Blade pointed down. Eyes shut.
"I won't miss."
Looney lunged—fangs gleaming, its roar shaking the forest.
Time slowed.
Isaac inhaled.
The katana began to glow, humming like a quiet storm.
He exhaled.
"Draw Cut: Lost Art—"
SWOOSH!
A flash. The air itself split. Looney froze mid-lunge, body stiff. A heartbeat passed—
—and then it fell apart, sliced clean in two. Dust disintegrated into the wind.
Gone.
No blood. No remains. Just silence.
Isaac opened his eyes.
"…Too clean. Too fast."
He blinked. Once. Twice.
The dust scattered, carried off by the breeze. Not even a bone left behind.
"…I don't even get a souvenir?"
Inside his mind, mental Isaacs were panicking, throwing charts and theories at each other like children in a riot.
He sighed, dragged a hand down his face, and whispered:
"I'm fine."
Then he sheathed his katana and bolted toward where Llyne and Rona had last gone.
[Llyne & Rona's Side]
[Time Remaining: 00:42:33]
I wiped the sweat off my forehead and gripped my scythe tighter.
Rona and I had been hacking at LM's tail for what felt like ages.
Clang! Thud! Slash!
The surface gleamed with zero scratches.
"…Ouuui… I give up."
I collapsed on my back, gasping.
Meanwhile, Rona was still going like a woodpecker with a sugar rush.
Rustle.
"Who's there?" I sat up and swung my scythe toward the noise.
Isaac emerged from the bushes, face deadpan. "Me, duh. What are you guys doing?"
I lowered my weapon and sighed. "Isaac, you're back. Where's Looney?"
He looked away. "…Disintegrated."
"What."
"Accident happened."
"Disintegration isn't normal."
"What do you want me to do? It turned to dust."
"Then sweep it up."
"I CAN'T. THE WIND BLEW IT AWAY."
"You know, in future, if I ever ruin your plan, replay this moment in your head."
"Come on, the past is the past."
"Wrong. Women store everything in RAM, and one day, we will access it."
Isaac gulped like a child caught red-handed in front of the principal.
"But still," he muttered, eyes narrowed toward the resting giant. "Why's LM not hostile?"
"Oh, just a misunderstanding. LM was constipated."
Isaac blinked. "…What."
"It ate crystals. Lots. Didn't digest well."
"That thing eats crystals?"
"Apparently."
"…So all this was just bad timing with a bloated worm?"
"Yup."
He stared at the monster with the thousand-yard-stare of someone rapidly reevaluating all life choices.
"I can't believe my ears. But now LM understands you guys?"
"We did a show for it, then it understand."
Isaac's expression flattened. "Unbelievable. Do you think if you cut off its tail, it'll solve the constipation?"
"If you don't try, you'll never know."
"What a waste of time."
"It's better than swimming in its anus just to unplug it."
"You mean you guys haven't tried that?" Isaac scoffed.
We bickered while Rona—blissfully focused—slammed her staff down onto LM's hardened tail.
CRACK.
"Isaac! Lil! A hole!" she shouted.
I rushed over. "Really? Let's hack some more." I turned to him. "Help us. Don't just stand there like an idiot."
Isaac groaned, rolling up his sleeves like a man about to scrub a toilet. "Why am I always roped into these things…"
We slashed and stabbed, each blow reverberating up our arms. The tail was tougher than steel, but cracks were forming.
Sweat dripped from our brows. LM shivered with every strike, body trembling under us like a ticking bomb.
SHLUNK!
With a final chop, the tail came off—neatly severed.
RUMBLE.
The ground shook.
A tremor spread outward, deep and low, like something ancient waking up.
We dropped to the dirt instinctively.
"What's going on?" Isaac shouted, eyes darting.
"I don't know! Do you think I know just because I've lived through this crap?!"
Then came the sound.
A loud POOT! echoed.
It echoed like an unholy trumpet.
Then—
SPLAT!
Something launched out of LM's anus and exploded across Rona and me in a wave of glistening… matter.
The world froze.
Then—
"PFFFFFT—!!"
Isaac collapsed onto his knees, laughing so hard he almost choked.
I rose slowly, trembling like a character from a horror movie.
"PTOOH! PTOOOH!" I spat, tasting death and betrayal. "I HAVE DUNG IN MY MOUTH."
And Rona?
She was munching.
"RONA!" I yanked her out. "STOP THAT. SPIT IT OUT."
Isaac gagged in the background. "Worm dung is… technically nutritious."
"DON'T ENCOURAGE HER!"
Then Rona pulled something from her mouth—gleaming, jagged.
A crystal.
I froze.
"A crystal?" My eyes lit up. "CRYSTALS!"
I turned to Isaac with unholy glee. "Help me dig through the poo."
Isaac stumbled backward like I'd proposed murder. "No. NO. Over my dead—"
"You're such a clean freak."
"That's why I sanitize every five minutes!"
"Your hands are dry as sandpaper! Here, come moisturize with this!" I lunged with a fistful of mystery sludge.
"NOOOOO—!" Isaac turned and sprinted.
I tackled him to the ground, pinning him in a glorious, muddy triumph.
He screamed like a dying opera singer.
"Oui… all my misfortune was for this moment." I grinned down at his despair.
PING.
A familiar chime rang out. A glowing screen snapped into the air.
[Congratulations! You survived the 'Survival Trial' with minutes to spare. Also, Looney has been… disintegrated.]
Isaac avoided our gaze.
[Ah, poor Looney. Alas, every creature's fate is carved in stone. Yours just got moved up.]
Silence. Heavy. Awkward.
[Moving on! Game Three is under construction. Estimated completion: 10 days. Rest up, my little bunnies. You'll need it.]
Isaac hesitated. "Mr. James… how many survivors are left?"
The screen paused. Then flickered into a devilish grin.
[Oho? Feeling heroic? Want to save some poor skull-crushed bunnies? Just say the word. I'll send you right in.]
We all shook our heads violently.
[Good. Sleep tight.]
Snap.
The screen vanished.
So did the ground beneath us.