Nadine ran toward Myles with her crowbar clenched tight in her hands, but her hands trembled.
She knew that she had grown stronger than before, but against this nightmare she still felt weak. The thought burned in her chest and she cursed at her own weakness.
Still, she pushed the doubt aside for now because this wasn't the time.
She slowed her pace, keeping herself behind Myles while he crouched low, coughing blood into his hand.
His face was pale but she could see the tension and strength in his body. He wasn't finished yet.
Before she could step closer, Ryan appeared at her side. His hand grabbed her arm, stopping her.
Nadine turned to him and saw the despair in his eyes.
"Is there really no way to help her now?" His voice cracked, tears spilling down his face.
Her throat tightened, but she forced the words out. "She's not going back to normal."
Ryan froze at her tone.
Her eyes were sharp, her voice steady, even though sadness for Ryan also coiled inside her.
Ryan's teeth ground together, lips trembling. "I can't make myself kill her."
"I know," Nadine answered, her voice firm. "Myles and I will do it. We'll end this and free her from that misery."
Ryan's gaze shook, then hardened. He turned away and stepped back inside the ruined supermarket.
"Use the time to grab supplies," Nadine said after him. "You were a captain of this group of soldiers. You have to strengthen your heart for this."
She didn't wait for an answer. Her focus snapped back to the battlefield where Myles had already risen again and gripped his Fangblade.
The monster surged at him, claws slamming down and cracking the concrete. Black chitin crawled along its arms into armor.
BOOM!
CRACK!
Myles moved with grim focus. His body slipping past the strikes, his blade moving and counterattack. He sent slashes that carved lines of bleeding ichor, the air thick with its hiss.
But frustration started to claw at him. No matter how many cuts he landed or how deep the bleeding effect dug, the thing would not fall.
The Fangblade pulsed with hunger. Its power stacking with every hit, yet the monster's body held together and patching itself with writhing black tentacles.
What Myles didn't realize was how impossible this fight should have been. Any normal weapon would have been useless against that chitin, but his Fangblade that filled with dark power allowed him to wound it again and again. Plus Myles' ability and stats himself.
The nightmare lunged. Its massive hand crashed down, smashing the concrete floor.
Myles rolled aside, his boots skidding across dust and shattered tile.
In the same motion he rose and slashed at its arm, right where he'd hand attacked before.
This time the chitinious tentacles didn't return. The wound stayed open, ichor spilling freely.
Myles's eyes narrowed. "So it has a limit. That armor can't last forever."
The monster screamed again, letting out a guttural shriek that echoed across the ruins.
Myles cursed under his breath. That sound would draw more monsters around.
But then movement caught his eye.
Nadine had rushed into the fray. Her crowbar swung with brutal efficiency, crushing the skull of a lesser monster and mutated human that had been lured by the noise.
She didn't hesitate and moved with precision. Her crowbar dripped with black liquid.
Myles's lips curved into a grim smile. With her holding the horde at bay, he could give everything to this fight and trust his back to her.
His Fangblade pulsed in his hand, its veins of red burning brighter as though sensing his feeling.
Myles pressed forward. His blade flashing with every swing. He slashed again and again at the monster's arm, each of his attacks layering more of the bleeding effect.
The wound grew wider, flesh and chitin struggling to regenerate, but Myles refused to give it a chance.
With a final, brutal swing, the Fangblade carved straight through the joint he had been targeting from the start.
The monster's massive hand was cut away from its body and fell into the ground with a wet thud. Black ichor sprayed across the ground and the tentacles didnt regrow.
Myles didn't stop. His eyes burned with intensity as he shifted his assault to its right leg.
He hacked at the same spot again and again with relentless rhythm. The blade bit deeper with each attack and the bleeding was happening faster than the creature could heal.
The monster staggered. Myles drove the Fangblade one last time into the weakened joint, severing it completely.
The right leg buckled and the monster toppled to the side.
Seizing the chance, Myles leapt onto its chest with teeth gritted and plunged the Fangblade into its head many times. Each stab split chitin and bone, ichor spraying with every thrust.
Tentacles whipped around wildly and battered against him, scraping his arms and ribs. Pain exploded through his body but he didn't let go. He shoved past the writhing mass, his blade pushing deeper into the monster's skull.
Myles then drove the Fangblade straight through the tangle of chitinous in its head. The blade sank into the hilt, cracking through the last of its defenses and hitting its brain.
The nightmare thrashed, shrieking so loud the walls seemed to vibrate.
Its limbs jerked and claws clawed at nothing, tentacles whipped the air.
But the sound began to stop and the movements slowed.
Myles twisted the Fangblade hard.
The shrieking stopped. The tentacles went limp. The monster's body fell silent.
[You have successfully defeated a Rank B Mutated Soul: Chitinous Wailer]
[350 Exp]
[Level Up: 15]
Myles exhaled heavily, relief flooding him, but his grip on the Fangblade still tightened because the growls around him reminded him this wasn't over.
He rushed beside Nadine and they killed the other monsters with sharp and merciless movement until no more remained here..
Then together they slipped back into the supermarket and shoved the doors closed.
Ryan hurried to the window, his face pale. Outside, the monster's corpse twitched and the black tentacles shriveled, melting into steaming sludge, peeling away to reveal what was left beneath.
Nia's ruined grotesque body emerged.
—