BOOM— BOOM— BOOM—!
The thunderous echoes of destruction shattered the oppressive silence of the subterranean necropolis.
Amidst the skeletal remains of a civilization long dead, a lone figure blurred across the crumbling rooftops.
Ash leaped from one decaying spire to another, his movements a desperate dance of survival.
He wasn't alone.
From the stagnant air itself, a massive, scaly tail or a set of obsidian claws would materialize without warning, slashing through the space he had occupied a microsecond before.
Whoosh—!
Ash twisted his body mid-air as a claw whistled past his ribs, the sheer wind pressure tearing at his already tattered clothes.
The strike slammed into a stone balcony behind him, pulverizing it into a cloud of grey dust.
He had been playing this lethal game of cat-and-mouse with the invisible lizard for over two minutes, yet he hadn't landed a single blow. His body was screaming.
The injuries from his battle on the surface were taking their toll; the adrenaline was masking the pain, but it couldn't hide the reality of his shattered shoulder.
Every jolt sent a white-hot spike of agony through his nerves, dulling his instincts and slowing his reaction time.
He still hadn't reached the city center.
Far in the distance, the silhouette of a dark castle loomed under the amber glow of the miniature sun.
'The Core has to be there. It's my only bet.'
If he didn't find it soon, the medicine would wear off, and he would be nothing more than a feast for the predators.
Suddenly—
Whoosh—!
A massive tail whipped out from the right, faster than before.
'I can't dodge this!'
In a split-second decision, Ash crossed his arms and raised the shaft of his silver spear to block.
BOOM!!!!--
The force was cataclysmic. Ash felt his bones groan under the weight of the impact. He was sent plummeting downward, smashing through the roof of a nearby building with a deafening crash.
"Kuh... hah... hah..."
Ash lay amidst the rubble, his vision swimming in a haze of red and grey. His head throbbed as if a hammer were beating against his skull.
His clothes were little more than rags now, leaving his skin maps of bruises and lacerations.
Only the reinforced gloves given to him by Hearth remained intact.
Without the medicine coursing through his veins, his internal organs would have been liquified by the fall.
Tap— Tap— Tap—
A rhythmic, haunting sound approached. From the shadows of the broken wall, a dark, swirling silhouette emerged.
It was Cranel.
"I must applaud you,"
Cranel said, his voice smooth and disturbingly calm.
"To withstand Crea's hunt for this long... you truly are a remarkable specimen."
The creature stopped five meters away.
On his signal, the gargantuan lizard slowly bled back into reality, its emerald scales shimmering as it crouched beside its master.
Cranel patted the beast's head, his faceless mask turned toward Ash.
"As a reward for such a fine performance, I suppose I should enlighten you before the end. It is quite lonely down here, you see. Crea is a loyal companion, but a terrible conversationalist. It is a rare privilege to have a guest with whom I can share my... achievements."
Cranel gestured vaguely to the ruins around them.
"First, this city. Truthfully, I do not know its name. It existed long before we were cast onto this island. Years ago, when I was still a mere human tasked with tending the village orchards, I followed a stray rat and stumbled upon this place."
A sense of feigned nostalgia seemed to radiate from the shadow.
"I intended to tell my comrades, but then I found the archives. The documents left behind in the Great Cathedral."
He turned back to Ash, his voice rising with a twisted sort of joy.
"This place was a fortress for an ancient cult of divinity. And within those scrolls, I found the secret to ascension. A way to discard this frail, rotting flesh and grasp the power of a god."
Ash watched him, his breathing shallow and heavy.
"I hid this city from the others. I watched as they grew old. I watched as their joints stiffened and their minds faded. And when they finally died... I went to their graves. I dug them up, one by one. I harvested their remains to fuel the ritual that granted me this form."
'Disgusting,' Ash thought.
A cold shiver that had nothing to do with the temperature ran down his spine.
This monster had desecrated the bodies of his own friends and family just for a taste of power.
"Hey, hey, don't look at me with those judgmental eyes," Cranel mocked, sensing Ash's revulsion.
"Who could resist the call of the sublime? Their corpses were wasted in the dirt; I gave them purpose. They should be grateful to be a part of my greatness."
"But the original hundred were not enough. I needed more. For eleven generations, I watched the village grow. I waited for them to die, and I harvested the crop. By the twelfth generation, I decided they had served their purpose. I sent the rats to finish them, but the vermin were incompetent. So, I went up there myself with two Aberrations to oversee the final harvest."
Cranel let out a long, theatrical sigh.
"But one escaped. Alberto. As a mercy to the last survivor, I allowed him to bury the dead and write that little diary of his. Once he was finished, I took his own blade and drove it into his heart. A clean death. A reward for his hard work."
"I am a saint, truly."
Ash remained silent, sitting amongst the shattered stone.
His face was a blank mask, his eyes hollow, but deep within that void, a primal, murderous thirst was beginning to boil.
Cranel, bored by the lack of a reaction, patted the lizard again.
"Enough talk. Kill him, Crea."
The lizard lunged, its massive claw raised high to crush Ash into the earth. Ash looked up, watching the obsidian talons descend.
BOOM—!
The impact shook the building, kicking up a blinding screen of dust. Crea slowly retracted its claw, expecting to see a red smear on the floor.
But there was nothing. No body. No blood.
"Where did he go?" Cranel's head snapped left and right.
'Could it be ?'
He looked up. High above, silhouetted against the burning orb of fire, was a tiny, dark speck.
It was Ash. While Cranel had been gloating, Ash had downed another vial of the medicine.
He had funneled every ounce of artificial strength into his legs, launching himself a hundred meters into the air with a force that even a Semi-Predator couldn't track.
In the air, Ash pulled his right arm back, gripping the silver spear in a perfect throwing stance.
He had only one thought left in his mind. 'Kill this bastard!'
With a roar that tore from his throat, he threw.
Swishhhhh!!!!!--
The spear broke the sound barrier, becoming a streak of silver lightning aimed directly at Cranel's chest.
Cranel's instincts flared, and he threw himself backward just as the weapon hit.
BOOM!!!!!--
The spear slammed into the ground with the force of a missile, cratering the stone in a ten-meter radius and sending shockwaves through the street.
"Hah... a close one," Cranel muttered, his voice shaking with a hint of genuine fear. He regained his composure quickly, sneering upward.
"Did you think a simple throw could—!"
WHAM—!
Before he could finish, Ash descended like a falling star. He slammed his fist into Cranel's faceless mask with the weight of his entire descent.
'This is for Alberto! And for every soul you desecrated!'
The punch sent Cranel hurtling through the air, smashing through the stone wall of a nearby building.
BOOM—!
Whoosh—!
Ash's intuition screamed. He twisted his body violently to the side as Crea's tail whipped through the space he had occupied.
He didn't stay to fight.
He knew the medicine was pushing his heart to the breaking point. If he didn't reach the castle now, he would collapse and never wake up. He turned and sprinted, his boots cracking the pavement.
Suddenly—
"KEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!"
A horrific shriek erupted from the distance, echoing through the cavernous city.
Ash's eyes went wide. He looked back toward the tunnel he had first emerged from.
'Impossible, It can't be here.'
A familiar, nightmare silhouette—2.8 meters tall with a single, massive arm—stepped into the amber light.
The shadow monster from the surface had found him.
It locked its gaze on Ash, its single arm twitching with hunger.
"KEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!"
It lunged forward, moving with the speed of an arrow, a third player entering the theater of death.