Chapter 23

The Gorvak roared with all its strength and tore a massive chunk of earth from the ground, hurling it straight at us. The rock was enormous—if it landed, it would crush us completely. Kael swung with everything he had, smashing one of the spheres he’d created. The impact shattered the gigantic boulder into countless pieces before it could reach us.

While the dust and smoke were still hanging in the air, Kael launched another sphere directly at the monster. Blinded by the haze, the Gorvak couldn’t react in time. The projectile struck its stomach head-on—but it barely slowed the creature down.

“It has too much muscle,” Kael complained. “Breaking through it won’t be easy.”

The monster screamed again and hurled itself toward us. Kael and I split up, dodging in opposite directions. He kept firing projectile after projectile, but no matter how many hits landed, they did almost nothing. One shot missed the creature’s head, and in that instant I activated my trance, leapt into the air, and kicked the projectile mid-flight, redirecting it straight into the back of the Gorvak’s neck. When it hit, the beast finally reacted. The damage wasn’t severe—but it was proof that random blows weren’t enough.

“We need to find its weak points!” I shouted.

“That’s a lot easier said than done!” Kael snapped back.

The creature turned toward me, spotting me suspended in the air, and raised its massive arm to swat me aside. I couldn’t dodge while airborne. Another hit like that would leave me unable to stand.

“Don’t make this harder for me!” Kael yelled. “Home run!”

He struck another projectile, and it instantly crystallized, jagged spikes bursting across its surface. The attack slammed into the monster’s arm, and to my shock, the spikes grew larger as they pierced through the flesh. In seconds, its arm was riddled with gaping holes, blood pouring freely.

“It’s impressive that I was able to block a blow like that,” I said to myself.

“Be careful,” Kael warned. “I can’t use that attack often.”

I noticed his bat had already shattered. He was forming another one directly from the ground.

The Gorvak howled in pain, its wounded arm hanging uselessly. For a moment, I thought we’d crippled it. Then the gemstone set into its collar began to glow brighter. Its white fur darkened, turning crimson, and the injured arm twisted unnaturally as it regenerated. Flesh reknit itself, bone reformed, and the limb grew wildly out of proportion—so massive it could barely stand upright anymore.

“What the hell is happening…?” I muttered as panic crept in.

“Those damned nobles,” Kael said through clenched teeth. “They toy with life however they please.”

His words hit me hard. The nobles. Was this Cristal’s father? Another powerful family? It didn’t matter. Losing focus now meant death.

The monster charged again, swinging its warped, amorphous arm at us. We dodged, but the shockwave from its impact sent us flying.

“Damn it—we can’t even get close like this!”

At that moment, a dragon emerged between the buildings and roared at the Gorvak, immediately drawing its attention. Without hesitation, the Gorvak lunged at it with its amorphous arm, but the blow passed straight through, sending the creature crashing into the surrounding buildings. At the same time, swords began to rain down onto the Gorvak’s back, embedding themselves deep into its flesh.

Cristal appeared beside me.

“I’ll keep it busy. You run.”

“How are we supposed to run? We can’t leave you alone with that monster.”

“This is my fault. You have nothing to do with this.”

She was telling me to flee. For a moment, I expected to hear the voice in my head urging me not to run—but this time it didn’t appear. Not because I hesitated, but because running had never crossed my mind. I was afraid, yes, but I wasn’t going to flee.

“If you can distract it,” I said, “we can focus on attacking.”

Kael was already getting back on his feet.

“If you stay, you’ll die,” Cristal insisted. “All of you.”

She was right—the situation was dire. If I stayed, I would most likely die. Yet I felt I had to remain. I couldn’t fully explain what I was feeling, but I knew that if I ever wanted to become the person I dreamed of being, I couldn’t run. Otherwise, none of this would have been worth it. I would never reach the peace I longed for.

Without answering, I activated my trance again and charged the Gorvak. Kael understood immediately, bombarding the monster with projectiles to cover me while Cristal summoned more illusions.

With the creature distracted, I closed the distance. I grabbed one of Crystal’s swords, infused it with lightning, leapt onto the Gorvak’s back, and drove the blade in with all my strength. I ran along its spine, blood spilling freely as electricity tore the wound wider.

The Gorvak screamed so violently it lost its balance and crashed to the ground. But its regeneration was relentless. The wounds sealed, bulging outward, before erupting into sharp spines covering its body. Every serious injury only pushed it further from beast to abomination.

“It’s a damn monster,” Kael said, smiling—but it was fear, not joy.

“We have to keep attacking!” I shouted. “Its regeneration has to have a limit!”

I didn’t know if that was true. But believing it was the only thing keeping panic at bay.

We repeated the plan. Kael and Cristal distracted it while I attacked again—this time targeting its remaining healthy arm. I caught it off guard and drove the blade forward… only for a hard shell to form beneath its skin. The sword shattered on impact.

“What the hell?!” I yelled.

The monster turned toward me and raised its other arm to crush me, but I escaped just in time as the ground caved in where I’d been standing.

“It’s changing without even being wounded!” I shouted.

“It’s like it’s evolving,” Kael complained again as he kept firing useless projectiles.

That’s when it finally dawned on me—it wasn’t just evolving, it was adapting to our attacks. Spines along its back to stop us from striking from above. A massive arm to keep us at a distance. And now a hardened shell so our weapons couldn’t even pierce it. We couldn’t win like this. The longer we fought, the more trapped we would become.

“We need to—”

I didn’t finish.

The Gorvak stared straight at us, its mouth opening as an orange glow built inside. Fire. Too late to dodge.

A black shadow leapt between us and the flames. Blue fire burst forward, colliding with the inferno and dispersing it. Drust—Hina’s dog.

I turned and saw Hina barely standing.

“You have to run!” she screamed. “You can’t win against that thing!”

“We all run!” I shouted, looking at Kael and Cristal.

Cristal was already positioned to escape, but Kael and I were trapped in the creature’s focus. Drust was holding the flames back—but only for seconds.

We ran.

Halfway through my sprint, I heard it—air tearing itself apart. I turned just in time to see a tentacle lash out from the Gorvak’s shoulder.

Kael shoved me aside.

The tentacle caught him instead, hurling him into a nearby building like a broken doll.

The Gorvak was not going to let us escape.