Nex staggered deeper into the wreck of the lab, the echo of his footsteps swallowed by the metallic groan of the structure. He kept going until the tunnel curved just enough to hide the entrance, then leaned against the cold wall.
His legs gave out. He slid down until he was sitting on the metal floor, chest heaving. Every breath burned. His ribs felt like they'd been smashed in, and the cut on his cheek still dripped warm blood.
I could've died.
The thought hit harder than the beast's blows. One mistake, one second slower, and his head would be rolling in that cursed stream.
He shut his eyes for a moment, trying to breathe past the pain—
—and froze.
Something warm pressed against his back. Not the cold metal wall. Not the stale air. Warm.
Slowly, he turned his head.
The wall behind him wasn't just metal anymore—it was… wet.
The flickering light overhead revealed streaks running down the silver panels. Thick. Black. Blood.
It covered everything. The ceiling, the walls, the floor around him. It dripped from vents and pooled in dents on the ground. Some of it still twitched, as if alive, pulsing faintly like it was breathing.
The stench hit him next. Rot mixed with metal. It clawed down his throat, making his stomach twist. He saw what looked like pieces of… something. Bone fragments. Shredded flesh tangled in cables.
Nex pushed himself forward, his boots splashing in the black sludge. It clung to his soles like tar. Every step made a sticky, sucking sound.
The metal corridor ahead seemed to pulse faintly in time with the blood's movements, like the whole place was infected.
And somewhere deep inside, something made a low, wet breathing sound.
Nex followed the faint light deeper into the Research Vault, the door sliding halfway open with a grinding screech. The smell hit him first—thick, metallic, and sour, the kind that clung to the back of his throat.
The room was colder than the halls, lined with hanging carcasses. Some were chunks of monsters—massive claws suspended from hooks, wings folded and pinned like grotesque trophies, scales still wet with fresh red blood.
Others… weren't just monsters.
In tall, cracked glass cylinders floated twisted shapes—human bodies fused with beast parts. One had a wolf's arm grafted to its shoulder, the claws curved and blackened. Another's face was stretched unnaturally, jaws widened to fit a serpent's fangs.
Red blood swirled lazily in the preservation fluid, stark against the black blood Nex had seen outside.
On a table in the center of the vault, papers were scattered, some soaked in dried crimson. Nex brushed them aside until a few were clear enough to read.
"Stage Three integration: subject did not survive. Monster tissue rejected, causing violent mana destabilization. Recommendation—direct mana threading through nervous system before grafting."
Another page, smeared with fingerprints, read:
"Success rate improves when donor monster is alive during extraction."
Nex's stomach twisted. The handwriting on the last note was hurried, shaky.
"Specimen 12 shows no rejection. Black mana output… uncontrollable. Containment failing."
A loud drip echoed from somewhere behind him, the sound sharper now. Nex turned, eyes scanning the shadows between the hanging bodies. For a second, he thought he saw something twitch inside one of the glass pods—then the flickering lights made it look still again.
His hand tightened on his weapon.
This wasn't just a vault. It was a graveyard for experiments… and maybe, not all of them were dead.
Nex moved deeper into the vault. The light strips along the ceiling buzzed weakly, some sparking, casting everything in a sickly white glow. The air stank of old blood, chemicals, and something sour—like rotting meat sealed too long.
More papers littered the floor. He crouched, lifting one that was stiff with dried blood.
"Stage Five: human-to-human grafting tests show 43% survival rate. Limbs remain functional but exhibit uncontrollable spasms. Subjects report intense hunger, often for raw flesh."
Another was even worse.
"Mana infusion directly into bone marrow results in increased regeneration… but mental collapse is unavoidable within seven days."
The words blurred for a moment as his stomach churned. He forced himself to look away—then immediately wished he hadn't.
On the far side of the room, beyond the monster carcasses, were human remains.
Some were laid out on metal tables, skin pale and stretched tight, limbs missing. Others were not whole—arms hanging from hooks by thick wire, heads sealed in glass jars with mana tubes running into their neck stumps. The eyes in a few of them were still open, clouded but fixed in a lifeless stare.
One wall had shelves stacked with spines, each tagged with neat handwriting. The notes beside them listed mana affinities, ages, and even battle ranks.
Nex's throat tightened. He gritted his teeth, trying to push the disgust down, but the image was burning into his mind.
A larger paper lay on a desk, almost like a research blueprint. In thick ink, someone had drawn diagrams of a human torso with monster organs sketched inside.
"Goal: replace human core with beast core. Increase mana density x10. Mental stability irrelevant if power is achieved."
He swallowed hard, feeling a bitter taste coat his tongue.
This place wasn't just about studying monsters.
It was about breaking humans apart and putting them back together with something else.
And whoever worked here… didn't care if they screamed while it happened.
A droplet of blood—fresh—hit the floor near his boot. Slowly, Nex tilted his head up. Somewhere above, beyond the hanging limbs, something was moving.