Chapter 19
Error
The cryptid's roar echoed closer with every stride. The air smelled of iron, of rotten damp, and of something Laios didn't want to identify.
Suddenly, he made a decision.
He stretched an arm behind him while slowing down just enough for the burly man to pass him. The officer noticed the gesture but didn't ask; he kept running, trusting Laios knew what he was doing.
The monster lunged forward, poised to catch him in that moment of deceleration.
"Now!" Laios growled through clenched teeth.
His palm suddenly ignited, fire erupting, a wall of flame that devoured the hallway with a searing roar. The flames filled the corridor in seconds, an orange glare that consumed the gloom as if the entire passageway were burning.
The cryptid was swallowed by the fire mid-leap. Its twisted silhouette thrashed within the flames, and an inhuman sound—half roar, half wet crackle—shook the air.
The heat slammed into Laios's back, but he didn't stop. He regained speed, running to match the other two. He knew a wall of fire wouldn't be enough to kill that thing…
It took down Körper, it won't fall to this.
But even a few seconds' respite could mean the difference between being caught in the hallway and finding another way out.
The officer ran at the front, clearing the path at full speed. A half-transformed body blocked the way, curled against the floor, trembling as if still trapped between two states.
Without thinking, the officer jumped over it. At that same moment, a side door began to creak open slowly, its sharp screech freezing their blood.
"A survivor…?"
The thought flashed briefly,but there was no time for doubt.
"Or…not?"
"Sorry…" the officer murmured, his expression hardening.
He clenched his right fist, and immediately a green light emanated from his skin. The glow grew violently, enveloping him, until it took a defined shape: a translucent rectangle, like an ethereal frame fitted from his fist to his elbow.
He landed with the force of his own jump, channeling that energy into the motion. The inertia of the fall became an explosive impulse.
The punch landed with controlled brutality. A half-arc, direct, loaded with the energy of the impact and the rectangle's glow.
The blow shattered the door instantly. Wood and metal flew apart, and the sound that filled the hallway was a double roar: the structure breaking and, behind it, something fleshy bursting open.
A wet stench was released instantly, stronger than the decomposing bodies.
Laios and the burly man barely had time to cover their faces with their arms as splinters and dark droplets sprayed around them.
The officer didn't stop after the impact. He used the inertia of his spin and shifted left, opening space in the hallway. With that movement, he let the burly man pass him. Then he recomposed himself, resuming his stride without losing the rhythm of the escape.
The burly man advanced in great leaps, and in that instant he saw clearly what had been flung out with the door's remains.
On the floor, a four-limbed cryptid.
The twisted body writhed on the floor, still alive despite the devastating blow that had shattered it from within. It tried to rise, its limbs shaking spastically.
The burly man didn't hesitate. He jumped onto it with precision, already calculating the movement in mid-air.
His right leg came down with all his weight on the cryptid's head. A wet crunch accompanied the impact, deforming the skull under his boot. The monster still trembled, so with his left leg, he delivered a second blow that crushed it completely against the floor, breaking bone and flesh.
He didn't waste time looking back. He freed himself from the contact with a sharp push and resumed running.
The hallway filled again with the sound of the three running in unison. But behind them, the distorted roar of the six-limbed cryptid was already piercing through the wall of fire.
The grotesque sound of its body advancing reminded them that the real threat was still alive and closer than they wanted to admit.
The roar of the fire yielded abruptly when something tore through it.
From the wall of flames emerged the six-limbed cryptid. Its blackened silhouette dripped smoke, but it wasn't the smoke of burnt flesh. It was steam, as if the only thing the flames had consumed was the moisture soaking its body. Not a single visible wound.
Laios saw it and felt a knot in his throat.
What is that thing made of?
The monster accelerated, each movement faster than Laios could process. Its six limbs propelled it with impossible coordination, a twisted gallop that echoed like multiple footsteps in unison.
The officer led the race, with the burly man at his side, and Laios a little behind both. He could feel the creature closing the distance, the air changing rhythm with each lunge.
It's faster than I thought. Maybe we can't outrun it…
Laios gripped his sword hilt tightly, the muscles in his arm tensing to the point of cramping.
…but this is our terrain. We know this place better.
He looked up at the officer's back, who kept advancing without hesitation, as if every corridor was already mapped in his mind.
Your time to shine, Officer.
The burly man leaped forward, his right leg extended further than necessary. For a second he seemed to lose his balance, but in mid-air he contracted his leg with force and kicked backward, like a spring. The blow hit a half-dead cryptid crawling in the hallway, sending it flying violently.
Laios saw the living projectile coming toward him. Instinctively, he dropped his body, crouched, and almost slid on his knees to dodge it. The corpse passed grazing over his head, dead skin brushing his hair. As he jerked upright, he swallowed.
"That was close…" he murmured, breathless.
There was no time for more.
The six-limbed cryptid burst into the scene with a movement that seemed to mock its size. It intercepted the transformed body in mid-air, as if catching a ball thrown at full speed. With a brutal twist of its torso, it hurled it back like a spinning disc toward the three.
The whistle of the corpse cutting through the air made Laios's skin crawl. He felt the pressure of death right behind him, as if the projectile's shadow had reached him before the impact.
The corpse spun, heading straight for his back.
But, moments from hitting him, the living projectile veered off, even with all its momentum. As if an invisible force shoved it aside, it fell in a curve, crashing vertically into the floor. The impact made the hallway rumble, and the bones inside the body cracked along with the floor.
Laios turned just enough to understand what had happened. Behind him, he stared, incredulous, his heart hammering against his chest.
The burly man watched with tense calm, his hand extended toward the air. With a simple gesture of his fingers pointing downward, he had diverted the corpse in full flight, smashing it into the floor as if it weighed tons.
Laios couldn't help but smile, even while running.
"Blessed telekinesis!"
There was no time to celebrate. The officer, without looking back, raised his hand and pointed right before making a clean break around the corner of the hallway. The burly man followed immediately, and Laios quickened his pace to not fall behind.
The turn led them to a narrow staircase of dark wood and metal railings.
They didn't hesitate or slow. The officer went first, leaping five steps at a time, almost flying with the force of his legs. The burly man imitated him and Laios followed behind,
ascending in similar jumps, boots pounding the wood with a clamor that resonated through the entire structure. The echo of the cryptid's roar wasn't far behind.
The monster hadn't lost sight of them. Every second counted.
The three reached the next floor with a clatter of footsteps echoing in the stairwell. As soon as they emerged, the officer didn't hesitate: he instantly turned left and the other two followed, trusting his instinct.
The hallway was narrow, but at the end stood a heavy double door, with dark iron fittings and thick wood. The officer crossed his arms in an "X" over his chest and, in an instant, the green light enveloped him again. The translucent frame reappeared, adjusting over his arms like a luminous armor.
With a contained roar, he unleashed the blow.
The impact blasted the wood apart. The two doors shot out like projectiles, crashing into the furniture inside the hall with a dry roar. Splinters scattered through the air.
Without stopping, the three entered the hall.
The space was wide, with high ceilings, and at first glance it was clear it had been a meeting or banquet hall. Long tables and chairs were scattered throughout: some still in good condition, aligned as if someone had tried to preserve order, and others overturned or shattered into piles of broken wood.
The floor was spattered with dry and recent stains, red and dark, spreading under inert bodies. Corpses. Dozens of them. Some had been dragged, others lay in impossible poses, as if they had died mid-transformation or combat.
The smell of two types of blood hit them immediately.
Laios felt his heart hammering in his chest, not just from the race, but from what it meant to have entered that hall.
And behind them, the echo of the six-limbed monster approached, breaking the hallway with every stride.
As they crossed the hall, Laios couldn't stop his gaze from straying from the path. The air was thick with dust and stench, and every broken table, every mutilated body hit him hard in the memory.
How badly this all ended… he thought, a knot in his throat as he ran. The place was reduced to a cemetery after the transformations. A shame. The welcome for the voyage had been so good, so promising as a first mission for the academy graduates.
His eyes fixed for an instant on a young face, half unrecognizable from mutation, and he forced himself to look forward. He couldn't stop, he kept running.
The officer led the way with firm steps, the burly man kept the pace, and Laios stayed behind, feeling the echo of the cryptid approaching from the hallway.
The great hall stretched out like an open field, the corpses and destroyed furniture forming obstacles they dodged with long strides.
At the far end, on the other side, stood another double door, this one painted an intense red that stood out against the stained walls. A single exit.
The three focused their run toward it, aligned, with the urgency of those who know the monster would catch them if they hesitated for a single second.
A great crash thundered behind them, making their bones vibrate with every step.
That thing is so loud, Laios thought, clenching his jaw with a forced smile. He didn't know if he was laughing from nerves or dread.
Suddenly, a shadow ahead moved toward them; something passed over their heads.
One of the long tables, intact, flew through the air like a projectile and passed them. The three watched it, incredulous, as it landed in front of them and smashed into the floor with a deafening crunch, simultaneously shattering into pieces.
The impact sent splinters flying.
The officer reacted first: he threw himself sharply to the left, rolling over his shoulder, unable to recover his rhythm. He slammed into a destroyed table, losing his balance momentarily. He managed to recover, but hit a body and fell. Carried by the speed, he bounced twice more, crashing against table fragments and bodies.
The burly man, in contrast, handled it directly; a powerful jump catapulted him over the broken table, but the pieces bothered him, hitting him in mid-air and causing him to lose all balance, falling onto some fragments on the other side, not to mention a large piece landing on top of him.
Laios… wasn't so fast.
His boots screeched against the floor as he braked abruptly in front of the destroyed table. His heart hammered in his chest as he glimpsed his companions, and in that instant something burned in his instinct, a fierce shout in his mind:
Error!
There was no time to think. He stretched his leg back, turned immediately, unsheathing the looted sword. He raised the blade in a guard, interposing it in front of his body just as a dark shadow rushed toward him.
The air pressure changed; a wet roar enveloped him.
The monster was less than a meter away. And its outstretched arm attacking… even closer.