The echo of the mana core cannon's roar still lingering in the air when the blast slammed into karhux's flank.
The behemoth let out a guttural bell9w that rattled the stone beneath Kairo's boots. Scales shattered, a deep, smoking gouge running down its side where the blast had punched through.
Kairo's pulse pointed in his ears."Finally...we hurt it."
Karhux's eyes narrowed into the glowing slots, the monster inhaled deeply, its chest expanding–light gathering in the back of its throat.
"Fire breath incoming!!" Shiri's voice cutting through the chaos, but Kairo was already moving, shoving another round into the cannons loading chamber.
"Not today!" Je slamed his palm on the release rune. The cannon screamed again, hurling its payload into karhux's face.
The explosion cut the breath short, detonating in a burst of smoke and aoarks. The beast staggered back, but when the dust cleared, its expression twisted–not in pain, but in rage.
With a deafening roar, Karhux lunged.
The tail came first–smashing one cannon into a heap of scrap metal. Its claws swept wide, cleaving through ranks of the ghouls, clearing them all out at once—except there was only one ghoul left now.
Kairo's heart sank. Every other unit...gone.
And Shiri–Kairo caught sight of him out of the corner of his eye–was clutching his side, a faint green liquid leaking through thron flesh. "I'm fine," the lizardman growled, though his movements were slow.
Kairo's gaze swept to the unconscious boy they'd found earlier. Still laying there. Still helpless. They couldn't reterat. Not now.
Karhux's massive foot thundered towards them, each step shaking the ground.
"Kairo..you only have one option left."
His eyes locked on the last scavenger ghoul–its pale, skeletal frame hunched, green eyes gleaming faintly. It looked at him, as if sensing his intent.
"...Go," Kairo whispered.
The ghouls darted forward, weaving between falling rubble and the massive claws that tried to swat it out of its existence. Karhux's fury focused entirely on it now, the air trembling with the sheer force of its roared.
Tje ghoul didn't slow down. It leapt over debries, said under a tail swipe, and scrambled up the ruined wall of a collapsed tower.
Kairo's eyes widened. The ghoul was.... glowing.
Its faint green shimmered grew brighter, like embers igniting into a blaze. Karhux finally caught it in its claws, slamming it into the ground with a bone-cracking force—but instead of going still, the ghouls light flared, this time a darker violet color, blinding ever kairo for an instant.
Something was happening, something new.
Kairo knew what was happening, and deep down he knew, it would change the tide of the battle.