The steam pressure building beneath Gharok's muscles reached its absolute boiling point. The eight-foot-tall monster thrashed around like a fish tossed onto dry land, right up until his main arteries could no longer withstand the temperature of the blood being boiled alive inside him.BOOM!Gharok's body exploded.It was not a fiery explosion, but a deeply sickening biological one. Bone fragments, shreds of cooked internal organs, and gallons of black blood sprayed in every direction like a storm of shrapnel.That rain of boiled flesh and thick liquid drenched the forest, soaking Roy's face, coating Henry's armor, and splashing onto Ivan and Faried. The stench of sulfur, mixed with the metallic tang of blood and cooked meat, instantly choked the air, enough to make the stomach of anyone with an ounce of sanity churn violently.The thousands of blood droplets that had been orbiting Roy suddenly lost their magical power. The crimson beads dropped simultaneously into the muddy puddles wi

The glowing green flames of the Beast Men hunting territory were a terrifying memory from two nights ago. Faried had forced them to crawl through a narrow, jagged ravine filled with freezing mud just to bypass the deadly perimeter. Now, on the fourth day of their miserable escape, they were completely trapped inside a suffocating, damp cave hidden behind a waterfall of weeping vines.The air inside the narrow crevice smelled like wet dirt, stale sweat, and rotting blood.Ivan sat propped against the jagged rock wall. He held a dead, hard-shelled forest beetle between his dirty fingers. He stared at the insect for a few seconds before tossing it straight into his mouth. He chewed loudly. The sickening crunch of the beetle's shell echoed in the cramped space."Tastes like crunchy dirt," Ivan muttered, swallowing hard and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Hey, Henry. There are plenty of these little bastards crawling near the entrance. Eat one. It is a premium Aethelgard steak

The massive, heavily armored body of the Beastman commander slid off Ivan. The dead monster crashed against the cave floor, leaving a thick, disgusting trail of black blood smeared across the dirt.Ivan pushed himself out from under the heavy corpse, gasping violently for air. His entire body was shaking uncontrollably. He wiped the monster's blood from his eyes and looked past the dead commander, staring wide-eyed into the pitch-black depths of the cave.The glowing crimson eyes in the darkness did not blink.Footsteps echoed. Slow, deliberate, bare feet stepping onto the freezing stone.Step. Step. Step.The sound was not loud, but it carried an unnatural weight that made the air in the narrow cavern feel impossibly heavy. It was a suffocating pressure. It was the exact kind of primal, paralyzing terror a prey animal feels when a true apex predator enters the room.Roy Jecoriah walked out of the shadows.Ivan felt the breath complet

Henry dropped heavily to his hands and knees. He vomited violently into the freezing mud. There was absolutely nothing left in his stomach to throw up, so the giant youth just gagged on thick, bitter yellow bile. He coughed, his massive chest heaving as tears of pure physical revulsion streamed down his pale face. The stench radiating from the mutant deer carcass was like a physical blow to the head. It smelled of rotting eggs, wet decay, and stagnant swamp water."I cannot do it," Henry choked out, wiping his mouth with a trembling, dirty hand. "Faried, look at it. The meat is literally gray. It is crawling with white maggots. That is not food. That is pure poison."Faried did not flinch. The rational youth knelt in the mud right next to the rotting carcass. His blistered, acid-burned skin made him look like a walking corpse himself, but his eyes remained entirely cold and calculating."Maggots are pure protein, Henry," Faried stated flatly. He used his dull hu

The heavy acid rain finally ceased. It left behind a thick, freezing fog that clung to the damp forest floor like a ghostly blanket. The four survivors walked slowly through the deep, muddy trenches left by the massive wooden wheels of the slaver caravan. Henry was supporting Ivan. Faried kept his dull knife ready. Roy walked at the very front. His right arm was tightly wrapped in a dirty, blood-soaked rag, completely useless and throbbing with a dull, burning ache. But his glowing crimson eyes were locked straight ahead. He was no longer following the physical tracks in the mud. He was following the violent, magnetic pull echoing deep inside his own heart. "How far ahead do you think they are?" Ivan asked, leaning heavily on his wooden crutch. His breathing was terribly ragged. "At least an hour," Faried answered quietly. "But we are not trying to catch them, Ivan. We are just using the path they cleared. Stay alert. Slaver caravans usually leave rearguards to trap anyone stupid e