Chapter 143: A Clash Of Titans
Watching Azakh-Tur clash with the Silver Ape alpha, it wasn't hard to see how humanity collapsed so fast. Strip away excuses and history and what stood there was an extinction event with fists. No army. No plague. Just this.
Every collision tore the air apart. The ground buckled under impacts like solidity was optional. Concrete folded. Steel screamed and tore. Whatever this place had once been, even "ruin" no longer applied.
A few steps back and forth wore a shallow track into the dirt as Min paced, eyes locked forward, jaw clenched hard enough to ache. Every instinct in her body screamed to move.
"He'll win. I know it."
Lynn's reassurance missed its mark. Min wasn't afraid. She was burning. The stat surge sang in her blood, begging to be spent, and being sidelined while something else slaughtered was torture. Watching instead of killing soured everything.
John cracked open his cask and took another long pull of dwarven ale. After a sharp exhale and a spreading grin, he shook his head at her, amused more than concerned.
Split-jaw understood better. He sighed and spoke without looking away from the fight.
"I found my ceiling a long time ago. Still remember being young though. Angry. Thought I was invincible. Miss it sometimes. Don't worry, Min. You'll get your turn once he's done."
He nodded toward the knot of Silver Apes hooting and beating their chests on the far edge of the field.
"Why wait?"
Slims lifted his repeater, squinting down the line, only for a hand to crack against the side of his head. Split-jaw barked as he swatted him down.
"Idiot. Who asked you? Sit the fuck down. There. Sit."
Kicking at loose dirt, Slims dropped onto the arm of a dead ape and muttered under his breath.
"You're all missing something."
The new voice pulled every head around. Even Min turned. Off to the side stood Snare, staff grounded, gaze fixed on his father as if the battle were a lesson written in blood.
Min hadn't dealt with this broodling much. Aside from the night at the dwarf stronghold, they'd barely exchanged words. She only knew he mattered.
Her irritation bled through.
"Fuck off, imp. I don't—"
The sound cut off in her throat. Air shifted at her back. She turned on instinct, muscles coiling, almost struck—then locked in place.
Panic stood inches away, too close to have missed, head tilted as if measuring her.
For once, his mouth held no grin. Panic studied her in silence, then tipped his head further.
"What'd you call him?"
She knew this one. Too well. Ever since the Wire Dogs, she'd watched him closely. He was always laughing. Always sharp with delight. The stillness in his face now, the flat weight in his voice, told her one thing clearly, whatever came next mattered.
She didn't get the chance to answer.
"Assume ignorance, Brother. We'll extend her the courtesy of misunderstanding."
Panic's head angled another degree. His eyes thinned as they tracked Min, cold and exact.
"We are not imps. We are broodlings."
His voice cracked.
"BROODLINGS!"
She felt the shift. A line crossed. And being who she was, Min handled it the only way she ever did.
"Broodlings, imps—what's the fucking difference?"
Her lip curled.
"And sneak up on me again, I'll cave your skull into your fucking stomach."
Three reactions followed. Snare closed his eyes and exhaled through his nose. Panic's grin snapped back into place, bright and eager, the image of his own head buried in his gut clearly entertaining him.
Pain did neither.
Heat bloomed at her back.
Min turned slowly and found the one thing on the field she hesitated to challenge. More than Seo-jin. More than the alpha. The fire demon advanced, massive frame rolling forward, maw parted just enough for ash and heat to spill out in slow breaths.
"Human."
Behind him, lesser flames flared. Broodlings ignited in answer, their fires climbing as Pain's fury bled outward.
He halted a step from Min. Heat rolled outward in waves, forcing Lynn, John, Split-jaw, Slims, and the rest of the humans to retreat until their boots scraped stone and their lungs cooled.
Only Min held her ground.
They stood nearly even in mass, Pain taller only by the sweep of his horns. The broodling's voice rumbled low, molten and dense, flames crawling along Surtur's Tooth slowing as if listening to him.
"You insult us, you insult the Broodfather."
"Hey—let's all take a breath."
Lynn cut in, palms raised, voice tight.
"I'm sure Min didn't mean it like that. Shouldn't we be watching the fight?"
No one moved. Pain didn't shift. Min didn't blink. The space between them stayed loaded and ready to break.
Min's agitation bled off as she sized him up, eyes tracing horn, chest, flame. Her grin crept in despite herself. Stronger than her, sure—but the question burned.
By how much?
"Your name's Pain, right?"
The people who knew her flinched. They recognized that tone.
Pain's lip curled. Smoke hissed from his maw.
"It is."
"Good."
She laughed, sharp and pleased.
"Pain's exactly what I was hoping for."
She swung.
No flourish. No skill trigger. Just raw force. And hit nothing.
Her momentum carried her past as Pain turned away, attention snapping elsewhere. Min staggered, face flushing as she spun back.
"Hey—what the fuck are you—?!"
Her words vanished under the surge...Silver Apes roaring, broodlings shrieking in answer, and Lynn's scream slicing through it all.
Following their gaze, she caught it at the last instant, Azakh-Tur's arm smashing into the ground, the Silver Ape alpha hammering his body down again and again, concrete bursting beneath each impact.
Her aura flared—
"Fuck—help him!"
She broke into a sprint and stopped cold as Pain stepped into her lane, blade lifted, point leveled at her throat.
"You are not permitted."
Panic drifted in beside him, swaying, dragging his knife along his cheek until blood beaded.
"Broodfather said stay. Sit, human."
Snare slipped between them with careless ease and faced Min, bloodlight seeping from his eyes.
"We are linked at all times. If he commands it, you move. Until then, remember where you stand, Min. All of you. Every word, every breath reflects on him. Watch yourselves. Wait. If you don't—"
His gaze hardened.
"—the brood will correct you."
"He's going to die! Move—"
"Not bad!"
Azakh-Tur's voice cut her off.
Her eyes snapped past the broodlings. Thought emptied out as she saw the alpha jerk its arm back, fingers gone, blood spraying as it reeled.
"The Broodfather does not die—"
Snare spoke calmly.
"Not to something that weak."
The certainty in his tone, the light in his brothers' eyes, it clicked for Min. This wasn't loyalty. This was devotion sharpened into something worse. Nothing she said would break it. Unless she planned to fight every one of them, she was done.
So she watched, jaw tight, fury crawling back in.
Through settling dust and broken stone, Azakh-Tur hauled himself upright. He tipped his head back and vented a long, steaming breath. Across from him, the alpha roared, clutching its ruined hand, backing off a half step.
[That was too close. You need to heal. Command the brood to—]
'No. Not this time.'
He shut it down. No feeding. No cover. He would end it alone.
His gaze flicked to the UI. He grimaced, snatched up a severed finger, and tore into it, jaws working as [Feed] kicked back in.
Cold settled in his chest. He straightened as the ache drained from his face.
'Easy, it's okay. I'm fine. Not angry. We'll try something lighter next time.'
The chill lingered. Azakh-Tur took it as acknowledgment and turned back to work.
[HP // 267/1350]
[SM // 34/51]
[Feed // Active]
[+67 HP every 5 sec]
[Time Left // 25 sec]
[Demon Will // Active]
[+30% Pain Reduction / +7.5% Health Regen]
[Hellfire // Active]
[+20 Physical Damage / +10% Attack Speed]
[Spider Step // Active]
[+25% Movement Speed]
[Time Left // 64 sec]
Buffs stacked. Armor reinforced strength and vitality while he tested angles, pushed timing, tried new patterns. Speed favored him. Size favored him. With [Wall Crawler] and reach control, staying outside the beast's kill zone had felt trivial.
That comfort cost him.
The ape snapped a coil of hair around his arm. It cinched like wire. The limb parted clean. Shock bought the alpha a heartbeat, enough to snatch him midair. After that came impact. Then more impact. Memory smeared until he tore free with one arm and slipped the hold.
He hauled himself over the crater's lip where he'd been planted. His stump crawled and burned as flesh knitted back into shape.
Watching the ape bare its teeth, a thought surfaced.
"Did you just eat my fucking weapon?"
He didn't get the chance to figure it out. The beast surged forward.
But he was ready.
[-12 SM]
[SM // 22/51]
[Black Pit // Activated]
[-30% Speed / Radius 4m / Duration 30 sec]
The earth beneath the alpha bled into shadow. Its charge dragged. Momentum died mid-step.
A grin split Azakh-Tur's face as he surged in.
Missing an arm meant nothing. Not now. He wasn't slipping twice.
Roars slammed into the ruins. Stone buckled. The ground trembled as the clash reignited.
He moved like a live wire, skittering across the ape's frame, claws finding purchase in its armored coat. To him it felt level, predictable. His mace rose and fell, crushing bone, punching through hide, tearing meat open in wet bursts.
The alpha couldn't track him. It thrashed, slammed itself down, rolled through rubble, but every move only opened more flesh. Wounds layered fast. Blood sprayed and pooled, turning dust into slick mud.
Those watching drifted closer without realizing it. Curiosity. Hunger. Dread. Even the remaining apes felt it. The fight was collapsing toward its end.
Blows stacked. Damage numbers bled across his vision. Azakh-Tur tore free a strip of ear with his teeth, chewed once, then flexed as his arm finished knitting. He reached instinctively, ready to call Butcher's Wrath—
—then didn't.
"Let's try."
The words tore out of him, eager with intent as crimson system light flooded his right hand.
His new shotgun manifested.
[+5 STR]
[+6 VIT]
[+4 AGI]
[+3 INT]
[+5 WIL]
Power surged through him. Strength climbed to fifty-three, enough to haul three hundred tons without strain. His arm swelled as he drove the mace into the alpha's shoulder, muscle and bone answering the motion as one.
[+623 Damage Dealt]
The armored fur split apart. Meat caved inward, the joint collapsing under the blow. In the same motion, he brought Thunderwake Doublet up and leveled it at the wound, both barrels aligned.
[-10 SM]
[SM // 9/51]
[Twin Thunder Discharge // Activated]
[+60% Piercing Damage / Target stunned for 0.5 sec]
[Cooldown // 20 sec]
Thunder detonated twice. Lightning tore through the same ruined socket.
The alpha howled. Its arm tore free and fell, the stump charred black, flesh cauterized so completely no blood spilled.
The recoil flung Azakh-Tur backward. Air ripped past him as he flew, and he locked the lesson in place. Never fire this thing mid-air again. He hit hard, boots carving trenches through broken stone before he bled off the momentum and dropped low, legs coiling to spring.
[It's activating that ability again.]
The warning came just as the alpha's aura thickened. Mana crawled along its fur, every strand beginning to glow.
Then Azakh-Tur saw where its eyes were fixed.
Not on him.
"Run!"
The warning tore out anyway. Pointless, but instinct demanded it. They wouldn't clear the radius in time. Maybe Min. The rest wouldn't. It wasnt because he cared. But losing assets on his first hunt would be a mark against him, and he refused to wear it.
He couldn't reload with Butcher's Wrath in hand. Desecrate wouldn't cover the spread. Soulmass was bleeding low, and the beast still had too much life left in it. It's health pool ran too deep.
One chance.
He launched.
The ground where he stood detonated behind him.
'Shit!'
He wasn't going to make it.
'Now, bud! They're gonna die!'
Min slammed her shields together, already pivoting. The humans broke to run. The broodlings moved faster, the three commanders blurring ahead of the rest.
The alpha's aura erupted.
Cold flooded Azakh-Tur's chest—
And the world shifted.
Grimm finally moved.