Rise Of The Monster Slayer

Chapter 5: Awakened

The world had frozen.

Aren lay in the mud of the collapsed gorge. His ribs were shattered. His punctured lungs refused to draw breath. Above him, the Shadow Wolf Alpha hovered in mid-air. Its jaws were open wide enough to swallow his upper body. Drops of acidic saliva hung suspended between its fangs and his face.

The chime rang again. It echoed inside his skull.

[Beast Core System Activated.]

The monster blood soaking his clothes began to heat. It did not just warm to the temperature of a living body. It boiled. The violet blood of the lesser Shadow Wolves mixed with the blood of the dead recruits. It defied gravity.

The blood rose from the soil in thin tendrils. It swirled in the air above his chest.

[Emergency Protocol Initiated. Host body critically damaged. Vitals fading.]

[Extracting genetic material from immediate environment to stabilize Host...]

The tendrils slammed downward. They drilled into Aren's open wounds.

The pain was fire. Liquid fire poured into his veins. It replaced his blood. Aren's back arched off the ground. A raw scream tore at his throat. The heat surged through his failing nerves. It acted like a defibrillator. It forced his heart to beat. It kickstarted his lungs into a ragged breath.

He felt his shattered bones move beneath his skin. The system forced the jagged pieces of his ribs into alignment. The torn muscle fibers of his chest stitched themselves back together. Magic infused every fiber.

[Host Stabilized. Temporary physical enhancement granted for immediate survival.]

[Temporary Buff: Strength +5, Agility +5 for 10 seconds]

[Skill Unlocked: Shadow Burst (Novice).]

Time snapped back.

The Alpha's jaws clamped down. They aimed to crush Aren's skull.

He was no longer there.

Adrenaline drove him. The energy pulsed through his mended muscles. Aren kicked off the ground. The soil beneath his boots cracked. He launched backward. The Alpha's teeth snapped shut on air. The sound was a steel bear trap closing.

The beast blinked. Its glowing purple eyes widened in genuine surprise. It had expected the broken human to die. It had not expected the prey to move faster than a seasoned hunter.

Aren hit the ground rolling. His rusted sword lay buried somewhere in the mud. His buckler was shrapnel. He had no armor. He looked at the jagged cliff face to his right. A plan formed in his mind.

During the march through the gorge, his ears had picked up the sound of water. It echoed from the lower ravines. An underground river carved through the bedrock of the canyon. It ran deep in the darkness below.

The Alpha recovered. It let out a roar that shook loose stones from the gorge walls. It lunged. Its paws tore up chunks of soil. It closed the distance in less than a second.

[Warning: Host physical structure cannot sustain current enhancement. Temporary buff will expire in 10 seconds.]

"Ten seconds is all I need!" Aren screamed. His voice was raw.

He did not run away from the beast. He ran sideways toward the jagged edge of the ravine. He chose the void over certain death. The Alpha lunged. Its front claw swiped at his torso. A latent instinct bubbled up in Aren's mind. It guided him.

He triggered his new skill.

Shadow burst.

A pulse of dark energy exploded from his legs. The air distorted. He launched himself off the cliff. He dove headfirst into the abyss. The Alpha's claws sheared off the top of the stone ledge behind him.

Gravity took over. Wind tore at his clothes. The Alpha's howl echoed from above. It grew fainter as Aren fell into the darkness.

He fell for what felt like an eternity. The energy of the system faded from his veins. The pain of his healed ribs and stitched muscles returned. It threatened to pull him under before he hit bottom.

Then he hit the water.

The impact knocked the breath from his lungs. The underground river was a churning current. It gripped his body and dragged him under. The water was fast. It tossed him against submerged rocks.

Aren fought to stay conscious. His limbs were limp. The water numbed the burning pain in his chest. He was drowning. His lungs screamed. Dark spots took his vision.

He reached out. His fingers scraped the slimy walls of the tunnel. The current dragged him further. It pulled him deep beneath the wasteland, far from the gorge, from Darius's betrayal, from the Alpha.

His vision began to fade. His body went limp.

Then the river spat him out.

He broke the surface. He gasped. Air filled his lungs. He flailed. His hands found a slope of smooth, wet gravel.

With the last of his strength, Aren dragged himself out of the river. He collapsed on the shore of the dark cavern.

He coughed up river water. He trembled. He was alive. He had survived. He had taken a leap into the dark and lived. The adrenaline crashed. The agony of his injuries took over. He could not move. He could not keep his eyes open.

As consciousness slipped away, the purple text of the system appeared one last time.

[Host has entered a secure subterranean zone.]

[Commencing Metamorphosis Phase 1. Complete neuromuscular paralysis engaged. Do not resist.]

Aren's body locked. A stiffness seized every muscle. He could not move a finger. He could not turn his head.

As he lay paralyzed on the gravel, a sound echoed from the darkness nearby.

A wet clicking sound. Like mandibles snapping together.

Dozens of glowing red eyes ignited in the dark. They formed a circle around his paralyzed body.

Aren lay in the freezing mud of the collapsed gorge, his ribs shattered into dozens of jagged pieces, his punctured lungs flatly refusing to draw breath. Directly above him, the massive Shadow Wolf Alpha hovered in mid-air, its jaws opened wide enough to swallow his entire upper body. Drops of thick, foul-smelling, acidic saliva hung suspended in the space between the beast’s fangs and Aren’s face, frozen by whatever terrifying, unnatural force had just violently hijacked Aren’s consciousness.

The chime rang out again, echoing directly against the inside of his skull.

[Evolution System Activated.]

Suddenly, the ambient monster blood soaking Aren’s threadbare, mud-caked clothes began to heat up. It didn't just warm to the temperature of a living body; it boiled. The glowing, violet blood of the lesser Shadow Wolves that had been slaughtered near him, mixing with the blood of the unranked recruits who had been torn apart, began to defy the laws of gravity.

The blood rose from the muddy soil in thin, glowing tendrils, swirling in the frozen air above his chest.

[Emergency Protocol Initiated. Host body critically damaged. Vitals fading.]

[Extracting genetic material from immediate environment to stabilize Host...]

The floating tendrils of violet and red blood abruptly slammed downward, drilling directly into Aren’s open wounds.

The pain was beyond human comprehension. It was as if liquid fire had been poured directly into his veins, replacing his blood. Aren’s back arched violently off the ground, a silent, raw scream tearing at his throat. The intense heat surged through his failing nervous system, acting like a violent magical defibrillator. It forced his dying heart to beat, kickstarting his collapsed lungs into drawing a ragged, agonizing breath.

He could feel his shattered bones moving together beneath his skin. The system was repairing him; it was forcing the jagged pieces of his ribs into alignment through a brutal biological imperative that completely ignored his agony. The torn muscle fibers of his chest stitched themselves back together in seconds, infused with the dense, volatile magic of the monster blood.

[Host Stabilized. Temporary physical enhancement granted for immediate survival.]

[Temporary Buff: Strength +5, Agility +5 for 10 seconds]

[Skill Unlocked: Shadow Burst (Novice).]

Time snapped back into its normal, terrifying pace.

The Alpha’s massive jaws clamped down with the force of a falling guillotine, aiming to crush Aren’s skull into fine powder. Only Aren was no longer there.

Driven by an explosion of adrenaline and a terrifying surge of unnatural energy pulsing through his newly mended muscles, Aren kicked off the ground with a force he had never possessed before. The rocky soil beneath his boots literally cracked under the pressure. He launched himself backward, the Alpha’s razor-sharp teeth snapping shut on empty air with a sound like a steel bear trap closing.

The giant beast blinked, its glowing purple eyes widening in genuine, profound surprise. It had expected the weak, broken human to die. It hadn't expected the pathetic prey to suddenly move faster than a seasoned, magically enhanced elite hunter.

Aren hit the ground rolling. He didn't have a weapon; his rusted sword was buried somewhere deep in the mud, and his iron buckler had been reduced to useless shrapnel. He didn't have armor. But as he looked at the sheer, jagged cliff face to his right, a desperate, completely insane plan formed in his mind.

During the grueling, terrifying march through the gorge, his sharp ears had picked up the rushing sound of water echoing from the lower ravines. There was an underground river carving through the bedrock of the canyon, buried deep in the absolute darkness below.

The Alpha recovered from its momentary shock and let out a furious, deafening roar that shook the loose stones from the gorge walls. It lunged, its massive paws tearing up chunks of soil as it closed the distance in less than a second.

[Warning: Host physical structure cannot sustain current enhancement. Temporary buff will expire in 10 seconds.]

"Ten seconds is all I need!" Aren screamed, his voice raw, raspy, and entirely unrecognizable to his own ears.

He didn't run away from the beast. He ran horizontally toward the steep, jagged edge of the ravine to his right. He was choosing the unknown void over certain death. As the Alpha lunged, swiping a front claw the size of a longsword directly at Aren’s torso, Aren felt a strange, latent instinct bubble up in his mind, guiding his actions.

He triggered his newly unlocked skill.

Shadow Burst.

A violent pulse of kinetic, dark energy exploded from his legs. The air around him distorted as he launched himself off the edge of the cliff, diving headfirst into the abyss of the ravine just as the Alpha’s massive claws sheared off the top of the stone ledge where he had been standing a millisecond before.

Gravity took over. The wind roared viciously in his ears, tearing at his clothes and hair. The furious, frustrated howl of the Alpha echoed from the ledge above, growing fainter as Aren plummeted deeper into the suffocating darkness of the chasm.

He fell for what felt like an eternity, the temporary, life-saving energy of the System already fading rapidly from his veins. The agonizing pain of his rapidly healed ribs and freshly stitched muscles returned with a vengeance, threatening to pull him into unconsciousness before he even hit the bottom.

Then, he hit the water.

The impact knocked the remaining breath completely from his lungs. The underground river was an icy, violent, churning current that immediately gripped his broken body and dragged him under the surface. The water was incredibly fast, tossing him mercilessly like a ragdoll against smooth, submerged rocks.

Aren fought to stay conscious, his limbs feeling fatigued and completely unresponsive. The freezing water numbed the worst of the burning pain in his chest, but he was drowning. His lungs screamed for oxygen, his vision spotting with dark stars in the water.

He reached out blindly, his desperate fingers scraping against the slimy, rocky walls of the underwater tunnel. The current dragged him further, pulling him deep beneath the Wasteland, far away from the collapsed gorge, Captain Darius’s betrayal, and the furious Alpha.

Just as his vision began to fade completely to black and his body finally went limp, surrendering to the depths, the violent river spat him out.

He broke the surface of the water, gasping violently, inhaling massive mouthfuls of cold, damp cavern air. He flailed his arms wildly, his hands finally finding purchase on a slope of smooth, wet gravel.

Using the absolute last ounce of his rapidly fading strength, Aren dragged his battered, broken body out of the freezing underground river and collapsed onto the shore of the dark subterranean cavern.

He coughed up lungfuls of river water, his entire body trembling violently from the freezing cold, the physical trauma, and the sheer shock of the encounter. He was alive. He had survived. He had survived the Alpha. He had taken a leap of faith into the dark and lived. So as the adrenaline finally crashed completely, leaving his body empty, the sheer agony of his injuries took over. He couldn't move a single muscle. He couldn't even keep his eyelids open.

As consciousness began to slip away into the dark, the glowing purple text of the System appeared in his mind one last time.

[Host has entered a secure subterranean zone.]

[Commencing Metamorphosis Phase 1. Complete neuromuscular paralysis engaged. Do not resist.]

Aren’s body locked up completely, a terrifying, absolute stiffness seizing every muscle in his limbs. He couldn't move a finger. He couldn't turn his head. He was a prisoner in his own flesh.

As he lay helplessly paralyzed on the cold gravel, unable to see anything in the cavern, a sound echoed from the darkness nearby.

It was a wet, , clicking sound. Like massive mandibles snapping eagerly together.

Dozens of glowing, blood-red eyes suddenly ignited in the absolute darkness of the cavern, forming a terrifying, tightening circle around his paralyzed body.