The leader roared.
Not just a shout — a thunderclap that rattled the cave walls and sent loose pebbles tumbling from the ceiling. His eyes burned red like coals. His massive axe caught what little light reflected off the wet stone, gleaming faintly in the pitch black.
Then he charged.
The ground trembled under his steps. The axe rose high and came crashing down in a wide arc.
Satou moved. Instinct screamed louder than thought. He rolled aside as the blade slammed into the stone floor where he'd just been standing. The impact shook the cavern — spiderweb cracks crawled across the ground and dust exploded upward.
His cheek burned. The axe had grazed him on the way down, slicing skin. Blood trickled past his jaw.
"Too close," he hissed, breath ragged.
The leader wrenched his axe free with a growl. Satou's eyes dropped instinctively to the left knee — thin leather strap, the weak point his senses had already mapped. But the leader was closing the distance fast and there was no clean angle.
He had just enough mana for one shot. He couldn't afford to miss.
Satou inhaled, compressed what little mana remained in his throat, lined up the knee — and spat.
CRACK!
The leader shifted at the last second. The shard struck his chest plate instead and bounced clean off.
The scraping burn behind Satou's eyes flared — worse than before. His mana reserves hit the floor. 'That was it. That was the last clean shot. Fangs only from here.'
"Even your throat is armored?!" he muttered to himself as he ducked the next swing. "Fine — different approach."
The leader roared and swung again. Satou ducked, felt the wind rush past his skull, and darted forward — jaw snapping at the throat.
CLANG.
His teeth scraped hidden armor beneath the skin.
Satou pulled back fast. "You have got to be kidding me."
The goblin snarled and kicked. Satou flew back, tumbling across the stone floor. Pain cracked through his spine.
He pushed himself up, panting hard.
The fight dragged. One minute. Two. Five.
The leader swung relentlessly — massive axe cutting death through the air again and again. Every swing was sloppy and wild but carried enough force to end things instantly. Satou ducked, rolled, sidestepped, scraping by with inches each time. But every dodge cost something. His breath came sharper. His chest heaved harder. His legs trembled more with each passing second.
'I can't keep this up. If this goes on much longer I'll collapse before he does. Mana is gone. Stamina is almost there. I need a different way in.'
His eyes swept the ground — scattered weapons from the nine goblins he'd already put down. Rusted swords, bent spears, broken axes. He dashed and scooped one up.
The leader's axe whooshed down. Satou raised the rusted sword.
CLANG.
Sparks erupted. The sheer force cracked the blade in half — but it redirected the strike just enough. Satou slipped inside and swung at the leader's chest.
TING.
A dent. Small, but real.
'So that's it. Keep hammering until something breaks open. Then I use the fangs.'
The leader bellowed and swung again. Satou ducked low, the blade screaming past overhead. He slashed back. Another dent.
The leader grew wilder, movements turning to pure rage. He smashed his axe into the floor, into the walls, roaring like something that had forgotten how to think. Each miss shook the cave. Pebbles rained down.
Satou didn't stop. He grabbed a broken spear tip and hurled it.
THUNK. Another dent.
He snatched up a bent axe and swung with everything he had left.
CRACK. The armor split.
The goblin leader howled, spittle flying from his tusks.
Satou grinned through blood and sweat. "Got you."
He pulled the very last trace of mana from somewhere deep — barely a whisper, scraping the bottom of an empty well — lined up the crack his wolf senses had already confirmed, the exposed flesh beneath the broken plate, and spat.
CRAAAACK!
The shard drove straight through. The armor shattered around the wound.
"Finally!"
But before he could press the advantage, the leader's massive hand shot out like a vice and closed around Satou's torso.
BOOM.
His back hit the wall. The impact rattled his bones and pain exploded through his chest. Blood burst from his lips. His vision bleached white.
The leader grinned, red eyes burning brighter — savoring it.
Satou coughed, choking on blood. He staggered forward — then froze.
The wound he'd opened. The crack in the armor, the flesh beneath torn and bleeding —
Gone.
Regenerated.
His heart dropped. "No. No way. He has regeneration too?!"
The leader roared in triumph and slammed his chest as the wounds knit themselves shut. His muscles swelled, glowing faintly in the dark.
Satou's knees trembled. Cracked ribs. Blood running down both arms. Every breath a small agony. Mana completely empty. Stamina running on fumes.
But he laughed anyway. Hoarse and broken and sharp.
"Fine. If you've got regeneration there's only one way I can kill you. My fangs. And I just need one good opening."
The leader swung again. Satou ducked under it, feet slipping on the bloody floor, vision spinning. He charged anyway.
"NOW!"
He leapt — jaws snapping forward —
CHOMP.
His fangs drove deep into the goblin's exposed neck, straight through the gap the shattered armor had left. The Devouring skill — the SSS-rank ability the gods had buried inside him — pulsed as the poison flooded through his bite directly into the leader's bloodstream.
The leader screamed — a guttural roar that shook the cavern. His body thrashed violently.
Satou clung on and didn't move. Venom pumped steadily into the goblin's veins.
The leader panicked. He rammed his back into the wall.
BAM. Satou's already-cracked ribs screamed. Blood spilled from his mouth.
He rammed again.
CRUNCH. His spine lit up white-hot.
Satou coughed blood. His vision darkened at the edges. But his jaw stayed locked and his fangs only sank deeper.
'Don't let go. Don't let go. This is the only way. If I let go — I'm dead.'
The leader smashed into walls, into stone pillars, into the ceiling. The cave thundered with every impact. Rocks fell. Dust choked the air.
Satou's body broke piece by piece. Cuts split open. Bones cracked further. But his jaw did not move.
Minutes passed. Or maybe longer — he stopped being able to tell. Pain blurred into a distant, throbbing numbness.
The leader's movements slowed. His roars weakened. His muscles twitched without purpose. His swings turned sluggish.
Then his legs buckled.
His eyes dimmed.
He fell.
The ground shook as his massive body collapsed and went still.
Satou rolled off and hit the wall, sliding down it slowly. His body was wrecked — bleeding, broken, barely held together. His breaths came shallow and wet, blood rattling in his throat.
The leader didn't move.
Satou coughed weakly, blood staining his teeth, and laughed.
"Hah... told you... I don't... let go."
With trembling hands he tore a chunk of flesh from the goblin leader and forced it into his mouth. He chewed slowly, nearly choking, the bitter taste burning all the way down.
Just one bite. That was all his body had left.
Then —
DING.
[SSS-Rank Skill — Devouring — Activated]
[Skill Acquired: Regeneration]
Warmth flooded through his veins like sunlight hitting cold stone. His wounds sealed. His cuts closed. His ribs snapped back into alignment one by one. His breathing steadied and deepened.
He looked down at his hands as the strength returned to them.
"...Hahaha." The laugh started quiet. Then it grew. "Hahahahahaha! NOW this — this was worth it!"
His voice filled the cave. Manic. Triumphant. Alive.
Satou stood — still battered but healing fast, his eyes catching faint light in the dark.
Then his vision flickered.
The cave walls warped, bending and twisting like shadows melting at the edges. The taste of iron flooded his mouth again, thick and heavy. His legs trembled.
"What...? No, I just healed—"
Dark spots swarmed across his sight. His heartbeat pounded in his ears, louder and louder until it swallowed everything else. The world spun hard.
Satou reached for the wall to steady himself — missed — and stumbled sideways.
His knees buckled.
"...Tch." A weak grin pulled at his lips even as his body gave out beneath him. "Guess... even monsters need rest..."
His eyes rolled back.
He hit the bloodstained ground with a dull thud and didn't move.
The Regeneration skill continued working in the silence — slow, steady pulses of warmth moving through his broken body. Healing him while he lay unconscious on a floor soaked in the blood of ten dead goblins.