"B-But I'm not sure yet though!" Eli stammered, his words spilling fast, almost tripping over themselves.
"There are… there are a lot of gates, and different common monsters per class of dungeon, so we— I… I could just be overthinking things. No, I'm definitely just… overthinking things."
But even as he said it, forcing the words like a shield, his chest tightened.
Some part of him knew he wasn't.
Because as he'd told Midas, he had memorized every recorded monster catalogued by the Association. He knew them, inside and out. And these things—their bloated, pulsing bodies and that parasitic feeding—didn't match anything.
Well… they did resemble monsters. But not quite. Not in the way they were supposed to.
Because leeches weren't technically dangerous… not until someone tried to tear them off. They weren't predators. They weren't obstacles.
'Right? …Right.'
Kairo's voice broke through, calm, steady, the sound like stone grounding the air.
