[Status: Quest Active - The Purge of Alistair]
[Current HP: 250/250]
[Hunger: 45/100]
Sir Alistair the Purge did not walk like an adventurer. He didn't check corners with a shield raised or whisper to his companions. He marched with the rhythmic, terrifying certainty of a clock counting down to midnight.
The incense from his belt—a thick, sickly-sweet white smoke—swirled through the corridor like a living thing. Wherever it touched, the dungeon's "hidden" things shivered. I watched from the rafters as a wall-slime disintegrated and a concealed trap-door forced itself open, its mechanism clicking helplessly under the holy influence.
"Abominations," Alistair's voice was like grinding stones. "Return to the void."
I felt the smoke tickling my own hinges.
[Warning: Holy Incense detected.]
[Effect: 'Deceptive Stillness' efficiency reduced to 0%.]
[Detection Imminent.]
My wood groaned. It was a physical effort to stay attached to the ceiling. The incense didn't just smell bad; it felt like acid on my blackened oak skin. I couldn't stay here. If he looked up, he'd see a Level 10 Stalker Mimic hanging like a ripe fruit.
I reached into my internal inventory. I grabbed a single, tarnished gold coin—the very first coin I'd looted from that Rogue in Chapter 1.
*Flick.*
I didn't use *Coin Shot* with full force. I just flicked it. The coin clattered onto the stone floor twenty feet behind the Paladin.
Alistair stopped. He didn't turn his head; he turned his entire body. His glowing hammer, *Truthbringer*, hummed in anticipation.
"Greed," Alistair muttered, his visor glowing with a faint blue light. "The first sin of the Mimic."
He didn't walk toward the coin. He slammed his hammer against the floor.
*BOOM!*
A wave of holy energy rippled through the stone. I felt the vibration travel up the pillar and into my legs.
[HP: 242/250 (Vibration Damage)]
"Okay, he's a zonewrecker," I thought, my legs tensing. "Time to go."
I didn't drop behind him. I skittered forward along the ceiling, passing directly over his head at top speed.
*Klak-klak-klak-klak!*
Alistair's head snapped up. "A Stalker? On the First Floor?"
He didn't wait. He reached into a pouch and threw a handful of glowing salt.
[Skill Detected: Purifying Salt]
[Effect: Reduces Agility by 20% on contact.]
I felt the grit hit my rear legs. My movement slowed. It felt like I was running through molasses. I dropped from the ceiling, landing heavily on my four legs, and sprinted down the hallway toward the West Wing—the direction of the Ogre's Den.
"In the name of the Light, halt!" Alistair roared.
He moved with terrifying speed. For a man in full plate, he was an Olympic sprinter. He wasn't running; he was *lunging*—short, explosive bursts of speed powered by the light in his boots.
I banked a hard right into a narrow service tunnel. My smaller size gave me the advantage here. I scrambled over a pile of crates, knocking them over to create an obstacle.
*CRASH.*
Alistair didn't go around the crates. He swung his hammer and turned the wood and iron into toothpicks.
"You cannot hide, beast!" he shouted. "I can smell the rot in your hinges!"
[Hunger: 40/100 (Sprinting burns calories)]
I was losing ground. The salt was still weighing down my legs. I needed a distraction, and I needed it now.
I rounded a corner and saw a group of Lesser Skeletons standing aimlessly. They were fodder, but they were *my* fodder.
[Skill Activated: Tongue Lash (Sweep)]
I didn't eat them. I used my tongue like a whip, catching three Skeletons by their ribcages and hurling them backward toward the pursuing Paladin.
It was like throwing toothpicks at a tank. Alistair didn't even slow down. He walked *through* the Skeletons, his hammer shattering them into white dust without a second thought. But the split second he spent clearing the path was enough for me to reach the "Hall of Mirrors."
The Hall of Mirrors was a transition zone. Dozens of polished silver surfaces lined the walls, designed to confuse intruders.
I didn't hide behind a mirror. I used *Object Morph*.
[Mimicry: Object Morph – Wall Mirror]
I flattened myself against the wall, my wood stretching into a frame, my internal acid-slicked silver lining becoming the "glass." I held my breath.
Alistair burst into the room. He stopped, his thurible swinging. The white smoke filled the hall, reflecting off the mirrors.
He looked at the mirrors. One by one, he began to smash them.
*Shatter. Shatter. Shatter.*
"I know you are here," Alistair whispered. He was getting closer. He was three mirrors away from me. "I can hear your hunger. It's a hollow sound."
Two mirrors away.
One mirror away.
He stood in front of me. He looked into the "glass" of my body. For a second, he saw his own reflection—a warrior of light, covered in dust, his hammer glowing.
But I wasn't a perfect mirror. My reflection was slightly distorted. My "glass" was a dark, purple-tinted silver.
Alistair's eyes widened behind his visor. "There you—"
I didn't wait for the hammer.
[Skill Activated: Ambush Leap (From Wall)]
I exploded off the wall. I didn't try to bite him—I knew his armor was enchanted with *Holy Thorns*. Instead, I used all four of my legs to kick him square in the chest-piece.
*CLANG!*
It was like kicking a mountain. But physics was on my side. The force of the jump propelled me backward into the shadows of the next corridor, while Alistair stumbled back into the shards of the mirrors he'd just broken.
[Alistair is Stunned for 1.5 seconds.]
"Klak-klak!" I chirped in triumph.
I didn't stay to gloat. I sprinted. The Ogre's Den was just two corridors away. I could smell the stench of the Floor Boss—manure, raw meat, and unwashed giant.
"Just a little further, Shiny," I thought, my legs burning with effort. "I've got a very big friend I want you to meet."
Behind me, Alistair let out a roar of pure, righteous fury. The blue light of his hammer flared so bright it illuminated the hallway like high noon.
"YOU WILL BURN!"
I skittered faster. If I was going to die, I was going to make sure I did it while the Boss was watching.
[XP Gained for 'Daring Escape': 200 XP]
[Level: 11 (Progress: 45%)]
I reached the massive, bone-encrusted doors of the Floor Boss chamber. They were slightly ajar. I squeezed through the gap, my steel claws clicking on the massive piles of bones inside.
In the center of the room, the Giant Ogre—a ten-foot-tall wall of muscle and tusks—was gnawing on a cow's leg. It looked up, annoyed by my intrusion.
"RAAAARGH?" the Ogre grunted.
"Don't look at me, Big Guy," I thought, skittering into the darkest corner of the room and activating *Deceptive Stillness* behind a pile of skulls. "Look at the guy with the glowing hammer."
The doors behind me were kicked open with the force of a thunderclap.
"ABOMINATION! YOUR END IS—" Alistair stopped.
He looked at the Ogre.
The Ogre looked at him.
The Ogre dropped his cow leg. He reached for a club the size of a tree trunk.
"I suppose," Alistair said, his voice dropping to a calm, deadly whisper, "I shall cleanse two monsters today."
I watched from the shadows, my lid clicking softly. *Fight, fight, fight!*
[Hunger: 30/100]
[Status: Spectating.]