--
{'Summaries are ready, sir.'}
Nox's calm voice echoed in my skull.
But that calmness did absolutely nothing to dull the horror standing in front of us.
The countless eyes swiveling and blinking across the creature's writhing form stopped moving all at once. Then, in the same instant, they shifted.
Locked onto us.
Every single red iris fixed on our position.
The air seemed to die.
My breath caught. So did Aoki's.
A crimson shimmer flared at the edge of my vision as the interface snapped into place, projecting a bare-bones appraisal over the abomination.
****
-[Appraisal]-
Name: Vermillion Gestalt
Level: 3
Warning: Target appears to be corrupted
****
Corrupted?
—Whoosh.
Aoki moved.
She lunged past me, staying low to the tiles as her blades carved a silver wake through the air.
"Left flank!" she snapped.
The monster reacted instantly.
Its writhing mass convulsed and surged—not toward me, but straight at her. A living tide peeled off its body as hundreds of rats burst loose, teeth chittering as they flooded the infirmary floor in a screaming wave.
It wasn't fast.
But it carried crushing momentum.
I raised the shotgun.
BANG.
The blast punched a hole through the wave, vaporizing rats into a red mist of bone and fur. The tunnel collapsed as quickly as it formed, the living trampling the dead as they surged forward.
The creature shrieked, a raw sound of grinding metal
Something lashed at me. I watched as rat tails braided together mid-air, writhing bodies fusing as hundreds of tiny bones snapped into place, forming a solid, sickly green whip that pulsed with life.
"Shit—"
CRASH.
The floor buckled as the limb slammed down, pulverizing tiles into a fine white powder. I threw myself backward, barely clearing the impact as heat surged through my veins and adrenaline took hold.
Like a ghost, Aoki appeared from nowhere. She slid beneath the limb, blades flashing in twin arcs of silver as she tore into the gestalt's side, shredding rats and ripping chunks from its mass. The creature recoiled, its body rippling with rage.
More eyes bloomed across its surface.
Another whip lashed out, this one barbed with claws. It scythed across the floor, carving a line of destruction just behind her. She twisted into the strike, rolling through it as her daggers tore into the reinforced mass, bursting it open in a spray of greenish fluid and fur across the tiles.
Another swipe—faster.
It clipped her shoulder. Sparks flew as dagger met hardened tail. She gritted her teeth, pivoted with everything she had left, and carved a fresh gash along its side. Fused bodies tore loose, falling apart mid-air.
She dropped low again, spinning under the next lash and countering with a twin stab that ripped a section free. Rats hit the floor like broken marionettes, twitching as their red eyes faded.
The sickly glow inside the monster pulsed violently.
It roared, snapping its neck forward, maw splitting wide as jagged teeth closed in on her head—
BANG!
I fired again, blasting half its "head" into a ragged crescent. The gestalt recoiled, dragging the rat wave back into its mass as it pulled away. Aoki used the opening to vault back to my side. We watched, breathless, as the abomination began knitting itself back together.
"It's still regenerating," she muttered, chest heaving as she raised her blade again.
I tightened my grip on the gun. 'Nox, tell me something useful is in those summaries.'
{'Gene skill information should not be disclosed verbally. Your gene skill consumes a high amount of mana. Overuse may result in backlash,'} Nox replied, rapid and emotionless.
"Well, fuck me," I muttered through clenched teeth.
'Are you trying to tell me the flames are just for decoration? What kind of trash C-rank skill is this?' I cursed internally, frustration sinking deep into my bones.
Nox didn't respond.
I clenched my jaw, about to snap again, when Aoki took a hesitant step back. My focus snapped to her instantly.
Then I saw it.
My stomach twisted as the abomination began to change—its mass folding in on itself, rats compressing, merging, reshaping in ways that made my skin crawl.
In that moment, Nox's voice cut through my thoughts with a cold, mechanical precision, like a blade sliding between my ribs.
{'Hostiles incoming.'}
My heart slammed as the warning registered.
I snapped my gaze to Aoki. Her pupils were already blown wide in horror.
"Snap out of it. We take it down now," I barked. "Dump your stat points—three into speed, two into strength."
I didn't wait for a response.
I tore into a sprint toward the morphing gestalt, nerves pulled tight like live steel wires. "Mana level," I asked mid-run.
{'47%, sir.'}
I veered right, vaulting over a fallen infirmary bed as the gestalt's roar shredded the air, a guttural growl that shook the room to its bones.
It dropped to all fours, its mass convulsing, reshaping into something feral, multiple maws yawning wide as it lunged.
Time seemed to slow. Green claws etched through the air, slicing closer with terrifying precision.
I dove sideways, rolling hard as the rat-beast slammed into the wall instead, cracks spiderwebbing outward as dust rained down heavily.
The creature rose, unsteady but relentless. It let out a low bellow as more rats fused into its frame, bones popping into place as its jagged form completed itself.
I tried to raise the shotgun, but the weightlessness in my arms betrayed me. A quick glance confirmed the worst—the dust-caked gun lay meters away.
"Well, shit," I muttered, teeth gritted.
Hundreds of eyes locked onto me as the creature crouched like a predator, limbs compressing as rats screeched in anticipation.
'Fuck this. Last point—strength.'
{'Confirmed. Strength increased to 13.'}
The surge of the upgrade tore through me as it lunged again—faster, sharper, pure killing intent.
I planted my foot, steam hissing from my arm as hell detonated around my knuckles. Scarlet flames licked outward, streaking against the green tide of claws and teeth, turning the room into a twisted blur of color and motion.
Teeth gritted, body screaming in adrenaline, I swung.
CRACK-BOOM!!
My fist connected first. Bone shattered, flesh and fur tore, and flame erupted outward, obliterating the grotesque head in a violent burst of red and green. The remaining rats screamed as the force hurled the abomination backward, smashing it into the cracked wall. Dust and shards rained from the ceiling, the hole it blasted gaping like the mouth of hell itself.
I landed on my feet, chest heaving, heart hammering in sync with the fading echoes of the roar. The air smelled of fire, blood, and iron.