Chapter 202 A True Monster
A dreaded silence enshrouded the area.
The four overseers and Susan saw the grey goo wiggling as if trying to gain its shape. The line in the sky through which the grey goo fell disappeared and so did the system notifications. n.o.body could tell what was happening.
"Henry, come with me. We"ll check what that is."
"St..o...p" Even breathing had become an arduous task for Leon. His high perception, alarming him of the danger was making his nerves go haywire.
Satoru beckoned Henry and both of them headed toward the grey goo cautiously.
At the same time, the grey goo succeeded in forming a grey tentacle. The monster looked at its new limb and the cadets with fascination.
"Cadet Le-!"
Swosh-!
Thud- (x4)
The monster swung its tentacle, and the sound of four heavy objects falling to the ground followed. Soon accompanied by the noise of four headless corpses dropping.
The headless remains of the overseers didn"t turn into blue particles as they were supposed to. Blood flowed down from them, showing the cruel reality to Leon and Susan.
They were no longer safe from death.
The grey goo, the Abomination, smiled in glee and looked at Leon. It had no eyes, no mouth, no facial features, just a single ma.s.s of grey substance, yet Leon could tell that it was reveling in its first kill and looking for the next prey.
Swosh-
The tentacle extended in a split second and headed for Leon.
Before Leon could react the tentacle was in front of his eyes, a few inches away from blowing his head away, when a slender hand suddenly grabbed him and pulled him out of its path.
Booom-!
The tentacle hit the empty ground. The force behind it formed a 5-meter-deep crater and decimated everything in the near surrounding.
"Stop daydreaming." Susan"s words were slow yet heavy. A thin streak of sweat rolled down her creased brows. Gazing at the crater and destruction, Susan could tell. The monster had grown stronger by a few times in a matter of seconds and it was still growing.
Leon bit his tongue. The taste of iron and stinging pain brought clarity to his mind.
"Thank you" Thanking Susan from the deepest corners of his heart, Leon stood up. He stared at the Abomination and the Abomination stared back at him. "Can we leave the Dungeon?"
"No, and... I think we lost the extra lives too" Susan wasn"t sure of the last part but the corpses supported her theory.
Both of them were among the best warriors of their generations. They quickly overcame their fears and decided on a course of action.
"It"s strong, but it"s growing stronger. We need to defeat it quickly." Leon repeated his words in his mind. "It hasn"t gained its form! We need to defeat it now! We can do it!"
Crackle-
[Raikou]
Golden arcs danced around Leon. A giant skeleton appeared in the air behind him.
With a swift nod to Susan, he bolted ahead.
"Sixth Form: Empty Fade" Seven clones of Leon"s appeared and rushed at the Abomination from all sides.
As they got closer, the Abomination opened its tentacle and attacked. It destroyed two clones and they dispersed into thin air.
Fwosh-
Before the monster moved again, all the clones exploded into mist themselves.
"Fifth Form: Thousand Divine Slashes"
Crracckllleee-
Huge golden arcs flew and slashed at the Abomination. The Abomination stood like an impenetrable fortress and shook off the attacks, yet they were merely a decoy.
"Seventh Form: Deadline!"
The arcs of lightning converged on the blade of the katana. The sword tore through the mist and dawned at the Abomination.
The tentacle shot out in a flash.
"[Equinox Slash]"
Susan"s suddenly appeared from the mist, behind the Abomination, and slashed.
A white arc from one side and a golden arc from the other. The Abomination, with its intelligence of a child, staggered unable to decide on which attack to intercept with its single tentacle.
Booom-!
A huge explosion rocked the surroundings. The Abomination slid a few meters backward and stumbled. Dust and gravel flew into the air, diminishing the visibility.
The Abomination threw its head back and roared with all its might. The earth trembled and dust flew everywhere. It threw its tentacle in Susan"s direction.
"Susan!"
Leon bolted forward. He was confident Susan could dodge the tentacle with the warning. Each attack of the monster was enough to flatten them, yet he rushed at it!
The monster"s attacks were becoming faster each time it attacked. They couldn"t understand how it was growing stronger with the Tower"s restriction, but Leon kept running. With the tentacle going for Susan, this was his chance to attack.
The Abomination wiggled and an indiscernible change occurred. By the time Leon noticed the change, a new tentacle attacked him.
It was too late! Leon couldn"t dodge the sudden attack!
Clank- Clank- Clank-
Suddenly, a white figure flashed before Leon, accompanied by the clunking of chains!
"Take it, you grey s.h.i.t!"
Kaneki roared and swung his fists at the tentacle, at the same time, chains wrapped around Susan and Leon, pulling them away!
Bam-!
A small blast of air formed from the exchange of Kaneki and tentacle. Kaneki"s arms were blown away.
"[Water beam]" "[Seismic waves]" "[Lion Roar]" "" "" "[Steel Earth]"
Dozens of cadets appeared and attacked in unison.
A water pillar appeared beneath the Abomination with great force. Cracks tore the air apart and thundered at the monster. Magic spells and skills stunned it and the creature halted. A burning lance formed in the air and landed on top of it. Walls of steel appeared around the Abomination, confining it along with the explosion created by the combination of fire lance and water beam.
"Can you two explain the situation?"
Commanding the cadets, Cadmus questioned Leon. He sounded calm even in this situation, yet the sweat covering his forehead betrayed his tranquil appearance.
Cadmus had only been a few minutes away from the battlefield when the Abomination descended.
He was about to rush to the scene along with Satoru when the System notifications suddenly appeared. Cadmus didn"t know what was happening, but whatever it was, it wasn"t normal. That changed his course of actions.
Leaving things to Susan and Leon, both of who were stronger than the rest of the cadets combined, he rushed out of the blue dome and bought every cadet he could find. The only ones missing were Nathan and Lark.
"It"s an Abomination. We can"t go out of the dungeon until we kill it and dying before that will kill us." Leon shared his honest thoughts without an ounce of hesitation. In his heart, he was blaming himself for not taking extreme measures. Had he not doubted his dreams, maybe they still could have had a chance to escape this alive.
"I want to know how you know about the first part. But we"ll talk later..."
The dust settled down, revealing Kaneki, whose arms were in the process of regenerating and....
...a grey human.
The Abomination stood on two feet, with two limbs, a head without any facial features, and a completely grey figure. Hairs stood on Leon"s and Susan"s backs at the sight. This wasn"t the Abomination they knew. It had yet grown in a span of a few seconds.
Without a moment"s delay, the monster curled and wrapped its arms around its body, as if it was trying to shrink, trying to compress itself to its limit.
"Get away!" Leon bellowed.
The warning came too late.
Hundreds of spikes jutted out of the Abomination as it opened its figure with a snap. Growing endlessly in all directions in a few milliseconds.
Fchik-
The spikes returned to the monster"s body, but not the lives it reaped.
Leon watched in horror as it six cadets, who had attacked the monster, fell to the ground. Holes poked throughout their bodies.
Susan, Cadmus, and a few others had dodged the onslaught with the timely warning. But not everyone was so lucky. Four more cadets standing away had not been able to react on time.
Cough- Cough-
"f.u.c.k was that?"
Kaneki jumped back to the group, bleeding from the holes stabbed in his body. He had managed to protect his vital organs at the last second.
"Ruran, Sabrina, Kraun, take care of the injured!" Cadmus issued his next commands swiftly. "Kaneki, Susan, Leon, stand back and recover! Attack the instant the monster shows signs of repeating the same attack!" He was bleeding from the hole, punctured through his abdomen. The injury was the cost of saving Satoru, the one that had been following him. "Everyone else attack! Do not give it a chance to repeat the same attack!"
Cadmus downed a healing potion and bolted ahead.
As the commander, his job was to instill courage in others. The last attack of the Abomination instilled a deep fear in everyone"s heart. Cadmus knew he had to move first and only then will others follow.
Leon"s heart thumped as we watched the battlefield in a daze. His mind was hazy as he tried to recall the dream. He was missing something, something that made the Abomination much more dangerous than its current self.
Boom-! Boom-! Boom-!
A steel hammer, a lightning pillar, a roaring punch, and dozens of attacks flew at the Abomination.
The Abomination looked to be struggling under the barrage. Its body shook violently as it absorbed blows from all angles.
"It"s working!" Cadmus" shout flared the bravery in all.
The feeling of dread enshrouding Leon grew with each pa.s.sing second, with each pa.s.sing attack, the feeling of anxiety returned greater.
"It learns.." A soft whisper echoed in his mind. But Leon felt as if a dam had burst open.
"Stop! Don"t attack! It learns by watching!" His yells were drowned by ear-shattering explosions. "It"s learning from us! It"s learning from our attacks!"
He saw a glimpse of the Abomination. The Abomination was learning, absorbing knowledge from the attacks launched against it.
A thin outline of lips appeared on the monster"s face, stretching into a sickening smile.
"STOP!!"
Plop-!
A cadet exploded suddenly.
Plop-! Plop-!
The ones closest to the monsters detonated into a gory mist. In a split second, like an invisible wall expanding outwards, the cadets began bursting without delay.
The invisible wall reached the last line of defense in a single second. They tried to escape their escapable fate, but their struggles were futile.
"[Enchantment: Earth]"
...At least until a new variable appeared.