POV: Vernisha

  Jim shot up with a serious expression. Without saying a word to Jer-kal, he drew his war hammer and summoned a pink shark-ray monster with a turtle shell, its skin covered in sharp, layered teeth.

  He mounted its back. “I’ll keep it away from here,” he said, glancing at Jer-kal. “You know what to do.”

  “Yes,” she replied, her voice low.

  With a swift movement, Jim took off toward the source of the sound.

  What if Lo goes after the monster too? I thought, anxiety creeping in.

  “It’s... It’s coming back!” someone cried.

  “Oh, we’re going to die!” another voice screamed.

  Panic erupted in the crowd as people scattered in all directions.

  Jer-kal clicked her tongue in frustration. “Don’t run!”

  But, of course, they didn’t listen.

  With a swift stomp, Jer-kal sent a massive cockroach monster, its lobster-like pincers glowing a deep brown, scuttling forward. The pincers plunged into the earth, digging furiously. The ground seemed to cry in response, dirt rising to form a protective barrier around the panicking crowd.

  “Let us out!” someone shouted.

  “You’re going to get us killed!” another voice yelled.

  The dirt wall, thin but strong, made breaking through impossible.

  Jer-kal turned to me, eyes narrowing. “Don’t worry.”

  "Yeah..." I mumbled.

  Minutes passed, and I anxiously scanned my surroundings, unwilling to let my guard down.

  Then, I spotted a bloodied knife near one of the houses. Someone must’ve tried to defend themselves earlier.

  I pointed at it. “That knife over there. I’m going for it.”

  “A knife won’t save you if it attacks, but okay. Hurry.”

  I ran toward the blade. Sure, I had a dagger, but there was no harm in having more than one weapon.

  The moment my fingers wrapped around the handle, the air grew hot. Where Jer-kal had been standing moments before, the ground was scorched.

  That same monster... it’s here again?!

  Jer-kal was equally confused. “Why is it here...?”

  I shouted, “If it's here, where is Jim?!”

  The monster emitted a garbled sound, its voice distorted: “Get... the shovel for the... apples... bathe the apples…”

  What?

  Jer-kel’s expression darkened. “Hide.”

  I nodded, rushing inside the house and slamming the door shut behind me.

  She darted toward her cockroach monster. The creature, now hurling rocks the size of soccer balls at the Sharfeline, landed several hits. Each strike made the monster roar in pain, but it didn’t stop there. In retaliation, it shot fireballs at the cockroach monster.

  Reaching her creature, Jer-kal kicked it, causing it to sink into her feet.

  Suddenly, the Sharfeline’s legs split open to reveal a vertical mouth lined with shark-like teeth, releasing a disgusting stench.

  I immediately vomited, my eyes watering from the overwhelming smell.

  Is that some sort of skill?

  Jer-kal slammed her foot into the ground, summoning a humanoid creature—an unsettling woman with the lower body of a massive black spider. Her upper body, disturbingly beautiful, had hair made of blue, writhing tongues that bled and danced in the air.

  It was a sight that chilled the bones.

  The spider-woman grinned, her legs elongating and shifting like living spears. They lunged at the Sharfeline with deadly precision. One leg pierced its shoulder; another sank into its stomach.

  Jer-kal ran after the Sharfeline, spear in hand. Its head swelled, growing three times its size, and its neck whipped toward the spider-woman like a lethal wrecking ball.

  The humanoid spider moved with surprising speed, blocking each of the Sharfeline’s deadly neck slams with her arms. Every impact reverberated with a sickening thud.

  Jer-kal gritted her teeth, her arm trembling. The damage to her creature mirrored in her own body—a cruel consequence of the bond between a Vlandos and their monster.

  Jer-kal swung her spear at the Sharfeline, its blade slicing deep into its neck.

  I turned away from the fight, looking at the knife and dagger in my hand. They weren't going to be enough.

  I needed levels. Power. Monsters under my control.

  My fingers trembled, but I suppressed my worries and turned back to the fight, looking through the hole in the wooden wall.

  The Sharfeline massive leg slammed into the spider-woman and tossed her aside. It then unleashed a blast of flame directly into Jer-kal's face.

  Jer-kal was thrown violently to the ground, skipping across the earth like a stone over water before crashing into a nearby tree.

  The Sharfeline charged a larger ball of flame and hurled it at her, repeating the attack over and over.

  By the time it was done, all I could see was fire—no sign of Jer-kel. But there was no way she would die so quickly.

  "Get... pints... food... dying..." the Sharfeline rasped, its voice seeping from the grotesque mouth in its stomach.

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  It turned its focus on me through the hole in the wall I’d been staring at, then grinned.

  My heart pounded as dread washed over me.

  The Sharfeline tore open its own abdomen, spilling blood into thick, grotesque sacs. From these sacs, smaller versions of itself began to emerge—wriggling and struggling to free themselves.

  They were red sharks with four limbs, no taller than a dog—about the size of a husky—and without tails. But their eyes gleamed with a strange, primal intelligence.

  Twelve of its newly born offspring rushed toward the barrier Jer-kel had conjured. Their glowing bodies crackled with energy as they hurled themselves at the wall one after the other.

  The wall trembled under their relentless assault, holding for a moment longer. At first, the monsters’ attacks seemed to backfire; each forceful blow made them cry out, as if they were the ones in pain.

  But as cracks spidered across the surface, I realized the truth: they were unyielding. Every blow chipped away at the wall, pushing it closer to its breaking point. After ten more brutal impacts, the wall split in half; five additional hits, and the structure crumbled entirely.

  The villagers watched in stunned silence, their faces etched with fear as the small creatures advanced slowly, moving with a predatory deliberateness—like hyenas closing in on their prey.

  Even if I wanted to help…

  I had to get out of here. The Sharkfeline knew where I was and would come after me.

  I kicked the door open, ready to run, when in the corner of my eye I spotted a newborn staring at me.

  Oh, shit.

  I quickly reached for my knife, my heart pounding.

  Before I could react, it lunged at me—swift as a dart. I suddenly felt a heavy blow on my shoulder.

  Then came pain, blood, and more pain.

  The newborn monster had torn a large chunk from my shoulder. I slashed at its face, but it parried my dagger with its claws. In the next instant, its claws sliced halfway through my wrist.

  It aimed for my neck, but thank God, Jer-kel’s humanoid spider intercepted it with one of her super long legs. The creature struggled, clawing at her leg, but she steadily dragged it toward her mouth. She managed to fit its entire head inside before ripping it off and chewing it like a snack.

  Thank God… wait, something feels off.

  The headless newborn monster fell to the ground.

  Jer-kel stood hunched forward, the flames around her having died down, leaving her face badly burned. She stared at the ground, her movements stiff—like a zombie that had just regained consciousness.

  This is bad.

  I applied a healing touch to my shoulder and wrist, and the pain eased slightly.

  I needed greater control over it. I stared at my hand, at the flickering red aura surrounding it.

  Heal. Stay stable. Please...

  That didn't help... Then I thought, hell with that. Obey me... Now.

  The flickering aura slowly but steadily became stable and brighter, allowing me to heal my wrist at a much faster rate than ever before.

  Ridiculous... All I needed to do was to conquer it?

  I turned my attention back to the battlefield

  Something wasn’t right. Jim and Lo were missing. Had the creature used some trick to deceive us? Or did the tear in its abdomen mean it had already spawned offspring to keep them occupied?

  I glanced at Jer-kel again; both she and her humanoid spider were acting strangely.

  I didn't know what was going on, but I was happy that the spider wasn't rampaging.

  I wanted to help, but how? Healing her would only kill her—she wasn’t a monster.

  Screams pierced the air—not from her, but from the villagers, who were being slaughtered by the newborns. They weren’t eating them; they were tearing them apart in a frenzy, their fiery claws rupturing heads, shredding stomachs, and biting off necks.

  Hell, they even turned on each other, stabbing their comrades in the back—either to secure kills or for no apparent reason at all.

  They were truly monsters—embodiments of pure evil.

  Natasha had never described them like this. She’d always warned me to avoid them, portraying them as natural disasters that delivered justice for our sins. But this was something else. She must have been out of her damn mind.

  Two of the monsters fought over the body of a toddler, pulling her in opposite directions like some sick game.

  Then there was a tearing sound, and no one cried for her as her parents—who had tried to defend her—lay headless at her side.

  I felt sick. And even worse, I felt disgusted with myself, because not only couldn't I help, I didn't want to risk myself trying.

  While all this chaos unfolded, I hadn’t just stood there, watching. I’d sneaked into an open house, hiding behind the window. Running away was pointless since I would be easily targeted. Which begged the question, what could I really do other than hide?

  My heart raced in my chest. My hands were slick with sweat, and blood wasn’t the only thing dampening my clothes. My whole body was soaked in fear.

  I hadn't pissed myself, but with how terrified I was, I wouldn't be surprised if I lost control.

  Fuck my life.

  I gripped my dagger tightly, but what good was it? I couldn’t even touch one of those monsters.

  If I stayed here...

  One of the monsters stopped chasing the villagers and began sniffing around, moving closer to the house I was hiding in.

  Shit!

  I dropped to the ground, covering my nose and breathing through my mouth.

  It didn’t see me. It didn’t see me... but it can smell me.

  I trembled as I heard it mumbling to itself, “My... daughter... Dad! San... I am... Mammy...”

  It was fusing words it’d heard, trying to make sense of them.

  It was getting closer. Fuck.

  The only thing special about me was my healing ability. But I was still just a vlandos. Maybe now was the time to use everything that came with being one.

  Augment speed.

  Insufficient modification points. Please gain more levels to earn modification points.

  Please bind with a monster to gain levels.

  Fuck!

  I gripped my dagger tighter and crawled toward the kitchen, glancing at the pots hanging by the counter. I threw the non-enhanced knife to the side and grabbed a frying pan, hoping to use it as some kind of shield—even if it could only take one hit.

  A normal pan and an enhanced dagger. That was all I had.

  I could hear Jer-kel fighting the sharfeline outside. The noise of their struggle drowned out the footsteps of the newborn approaching.

  I was anxious. Terrified.

  I needed a plan. I didn’t need to kill it—I just needed to—

  The wooden walls shattered.

  “Don’t... kill... see!”

  Shit!

  The newborn lunged at me, its tongue lashing out while its twisted smile widened into a grotesque grin. It was too fast—far too fast!

  I wanted to close my eyes, but I couldn’t; not if I wanted to survive. I swung the frying pan upward, using it to shield my neck. Still, its claws shredded through the metal as if it were paper. At the same moment, my dagger traced a low arc toward its stomach.

  It struck.

  The creature recoiled in shock, staring at my dagger embedded halfway into its belly. In a burst of rage, it bellowed, “QUA!” and slashed at me. Its claws raked across my chest, unleashing a torrent of blood.

  Then, its tail coiled around my arm and swung me through the air, hurling me against the ceiling. My nose cracked—pain radiated instantly. I crumpled back to the ground, gasping for air.

  And then I saw it: the very claw that had torn into my chest began to heat, its surface transforming into searing fire. I dropped the pan and clutched my chest, desperate to regenerate the flesh stripped from my bone. Every ounce of my strength drained away under the strain.

  The monster surged at me again, its mouth and stomach stretching open like the jaws of a ravenous lion. I was about to raise my arm to protect my face when, at the last second, I thought: fuck that. I slapped its face just as its filthy tongue lunged for my shoulder. The tongue coiled around my arm like a snake, intent on tearing it apart.

  It wasn’t as if I had slapped it without reason.

  Then came a flash of black—a burst of energy that erupted from within me. The creature dissolved into dark particles that were sucked into my left palm. I panted, my heart pounding in disbelief. “Ha... it worked,” I thought, a moment of triumph flooding through me.

  But then, searing pain shot through my hand. It felt as if lava were coursing through my veins. Against my will, another surge of black energy erupted, and the monster reformed—its reappearance accompanied by even more agonizing pain. It twitched violently. I couldn’t let it kill me.

  I acted quickly, exploiting its disorientation. Grabbing the creature by the neck, I slammed all my weight onto it. It crashed to the ground, and I hovered over it, driving my blade in with relentless force—once, twice, over and over.

  “Die. Die. Die!” I screamed as it shrieked, its claws tearing at my back and sides. Blood poured from my wounds, yet I could not stop. Every stab was a desperate bid for survival—even as I teetered on the brink of death.

  Clutching it with my left hand, I summoned another burst of black energy from my palm. I gasped as blood trickled down my back and legs, the pain building like a storm, until a brutal, bone-crushing agony struck my hand. The monster flung itself back, but I seized the moment to drive my blade in again.

  I continued to stab it with everything I had.

  My life depended on it. And it clawed, desperately, because its life depended on it.

  It thrashed, violent and erratic, like a creature on its last legs. My vision swam as it grew weaker with every strike, each movement slower than the last.

  And then... nothing. Its body went limp beneath me.