The Broodmother's torso-mouth snapped shut with a sound like breaking bones.
Then it charged.
Its eight limbs moved in a blur, stabbing into the ground and walls as it vaulted forward with insect-like precision. The concrete cracked under its weight, dust and debris raining from the tunnel ceiling.
Kai met it head-on.
Steel screamed against bone. His sword bit into one forelimb, slicing deep, but the thing didn't slow. Another limb scythed toward his head—he ducked, rolling forward under its bulk. The stench was overwhelming up close: rotting meat, acidic bile, and something sweet like spoiled fruit.
He came up behind it, slashing for the joint where two limbs met. Acid hissed across his blade, eating at the metal.
[Weapon Durability: 68%]
Great.
"Renji! Left flank!" Kai shouted.
Renji obeyed instantly, vaulting onto a pillar of fused corpses and launching himself onto the Broodmother's back. His twin blades stabbed down, punching through the leathery hide. Black blood erupted, splattering his face and soaking his clothes.
The Broodmother screamed, bucking wildly. Renji held on for three seconds—long enough to carve another wound—before being flung across the nest. He hit a webbed wall and stuck there, coughing blood.
Broodlings swarmed from side tunnels, drawn by the scent of blood.
Aarav pumped his shotgun, blowing the first one's head into a mist of gore. Another leapt for his throat—he sidestepped, jamming the barrel into its chest and firing. The blast tore it in half, organs spilling in wet coils onto the ground.
Riko spun her machete in a tight arc, cleaving through two broodlings at once. Their heads hit the ground first, bodies collapsing seconds later. She was breathing hard now, sweat and blood mixing on her face.
"Kai, there's too many!" she yelled.
He didn't respond. Couldn't.
The Broodmother turned on him again, torso-mouth yawning wide. Inside, teeth churned like a meat grinder.
Kai lunged forward instead of back, plunging his blade into the fleshy gap between the plates of its chest.
Acid exploded across his arm and chest. His jacket dissolved instantly. The skin underneath blistered and smoked.
[HP: 28%][Adaptive Evolution engaged: Toxin resistance +6%]
Pain blurred into heat, then focus.
He shoved upward with all his strength, cutting deeper. The Broodmother shrieked, staggering back a step.
Lina's voice cut through the chaos. "Egg sacs! By the ceiling—kill them!"
Kai glanced up. Dozens of pale, pulsating sacs dangled from the nest's upper arches, each one twitching faintly. Inside, he could see the vague shapes of curled broodlings.
"Aarav, Riko—clear a path!"
They did. Aarav's shotgun and Riko's machete tore through the broodling swarm like a storm, leaving Kai a bloody corridor straight to the nest wall.
He leapt, grabbed a thick web strand, and climbed. Acid burned his hands where it had soaked into the fibers, but he didn't stop.
At the top, he swung his sword through the first egg sac.
Splshhh!
Hot fluid poured over him, slick with half-formed limbs and twitching mandibles. He cut another, and another—each one bursting like overripe fruit.
The Broodmother screamed again, spinning in place, its remaining limbs slashing at everything within reach. One caught Riko in the ribs, sending her flying into a pile of bones. She didn't get up.
"Riko!" Aarav roared, blasting another broodling apart before running to her side.
Kai dropped from the wall, landing hard. His knees buckled, but he forced himself upright.
[EXP +30][EXP +30][EXP +30]
The system notifications flickered too fast to read.
The Broodmother was moving slower now—wounded, bleeding black rivers across the floor.
But it wasn't retreating.
It was getting desperate.
It lunged again, this time not at Kai—but at Tara.
Lina stepped in front of her, firing three shots into the thing's torso. The bullets tore open more holes, but the Broodmother didn't flinch.
Kai sprinted, lungs burning, the tunnel floor slick under his boots.
He slammed into the Broodmother's side, driving his sword into the seam of its armor. Renji appeared on the other side, blades flashing.
Together, they carved deep, meeting in the middle. The Broodmother's torso-mouth shuddered, then split wider, teeth gnashing.
From deep inside came a sound Kai hadn't expected.
A heartbeat.
Slow. Massive.
And it was speeding up.
[Boss State Change Detected: Enraged Phase][All stats increased by 30%]
"Oh… shit."
The Broodmother roared, tossing both Kai and Renji like rag dolls. They hit opposite walls with bone-cracking force.
[HP: 14%]
The tunnel shook. Broodlings poured in from every side, ignoring the others, swarming toward the Broodmother as if to fuse with it.
It was… absorbing them.
Their bodies sank into its flesh, muscles bulging, armor thickening, the heartbeat pounding faster and faster.
Kai coughed blood, forcing himself up. His vision blurred, but he didn't look away.
The thing was no longer just a boss.
It was becoming something worse.
And they were running out of time.