Eli's blood ran colder than what was already spilling from his body.
'Seventy-two percent… eighty-six percent…'
His trembling hand clutched at Kairo's sleeve, knuckles white despite the slick crimson smearing his grip. His yellow eyes shook, not from pain this time—but from dread.
'We're… we're not making it out of this, are we? Is it because of this monster, or…'
His gaze snapped upward, catching the monstrous outline writhing against the cavern's ceiling. The octopus loomed larger than life, its many glowing eyes pulsing like cruel lanterns of inevitability.
'Or is it because of that? Because of the SS-Class monster head?'
His throat constricted violently. He couldn't breathe, couldn't scream—the air refused to obey. His panic tore through his chest instead, raw and feral.
'System—what am I supposed to do?! What the fuck are we supposed to do to survive this?!'
But there was nothing.
