At last, I stopped punching Garon—after who knows how long of beating him until my hand was shattered and grotesquely deformed.
I stood there for a few moments, staring at his unconscious body, limp like a doll broken from the inside.
"I’ve wasted too much time here," I muttered as I prepared to move again.
I cast one last glance at the girl frozen in the corner, then dashed once more toward the center.
I ran at full speed to make up for the lost time, even avoiding the monsters in the corridors and ignoring them—except for the few I couldn’t escape from.
Until I finally reached the end.
At last, I left the tunnels behind and found myself in a vast, circular arena.
Along its edges were the exits of many other tunnels leading here, while at the center lay a creature sleeping peacefully on the concrete floor.
But its rest didn’t last long. The moment I stepped inside, it opened its eyes and rose swiftly, as if some force had awakened it against its will.
It was a third-rank monster.
Standing on four limbs, nearly four meters tall, its massive muscles bulged beneath gray skin, while its three tails lashed the ground like whips. Its long jaw dripped with saliva, yearning to swallow me whole in a single bite, and its six eyes locked onto me as if I were nothing more than a light snack.
It took a step toward me, the ground trembling slightly under its weight, then opened its mouth and unleashed a deafening roar.
Everyone in the tunnels probably heard it.
Saliva sprayed from its jaws, and in the next instant it charged at me, its steps shaking the earth.
Essence surged through my body, reinforcing every muscle, as a thin layer formed over my swords.
The monster reached me with its jaws wide open—but I was already moving.
Its head smashed into the spot where I had been, shattering the floor.
As for me, I slid beneath it and slipped between its legs, carving a wound under its belly with my sword. But it wasn’t deep enough—it failed to pierce the thick layers of its hide.
The moment I emerged from beneath it, one of its tails greeted me, lashing out like a whip. I raised my swords to defend.
But the monster was stronger than I had expected.
Its tail slammed into my blades, numbing my arms, as my body was flung toward one of the walls like a small ball.
I twisted myself in midair, and instead of crashing with my back, I struck the wall with my leg. Cracks spread across it as I dropped to the ground.
Of course, the monster didn’t just stand there watching me land.
It was already in front of me, swinging claws that looked like a cluster of swords.
My leg muscles tightened as I launched myself sideways to avoid the strike.
As soon as I moved, its claws tore through the wall, slicing through concrete like butter, while its thunderous roar filled the arena.
My swords moved swiftly, carving another wound along its other leg—but it didn’t faze it. If anything, it only enraged the beast further.
It raised a limb and swung it with insane speed. I had no time to dodge, so I raised my swords to block.
Its claw struck my blades, sending a violent shock that made my bones shudder and twisted my insides.
My body was launched at terrifying speed to the opposite end of the arena, only stopping when I slammed into the wall.
Metal shards fell to the ground in front of me...
One of my swords had shattered and was now unusable.
"Damn it," I cursed under my ragged breath.
Monsters were always stronger than humans at the same rank, and this one seemed to be at the upper limits of its rank.
It felt stronger than the version in the game—or maybe the game had seemed easy because of Elliot’s strength.
In fact, Elliot hadn’t been the first to reach this place in the game. Other teams had arrived before him, only to be crushed by this monster.
Until the hero came and ended it.
I tossed the broken sword aside and gripped the remaining one with both hands.
The monster reached me again, swinging its claws. I dodged and carved wounds across its body, but none of them were truly dangerous.
Its tails boxed me in and lashed me like whips, and if I survived that, its limbs would strike me and send me flying all over the arena.
I smiled, blood dripping from my body, as its jaws opened wide in front of me.
"Let’s do something crazy."
I held the sword in one hand and gathered all my essence into the other, forming a compressed sphere of essence in my palm.
The moment its jaws reached me, I stepped back just enough for its mouth to snap shut in front of me without touching me. At the same time, I stabbed my sword into the area beneath its jaw, causing the blade to lodge there...
But I didn’t let go.
The monster raised its head high, dragging me with it as I clung to the sword. It opened its mouth and howled in pain—and at the same time, I shoved my other hand into its mouth.
The instant it felt my hand inside, it snapped its jaws shut.
I felt its teeth pierce my arm, tearing flesh and crushing bone. My arm was nearly severed entirely, and the only thing keeping it attached to my body was my regeneration.
At the same time it was biting down on my arm, I was regenerating it and compressing every last drop of essence into the sphere.
The monster shook its head violently, trying to tear my arm apart and devour it.
I smiled at it.
"You want to eat it?... Then go ahead."
In the next instant, I detonated the essence sphere inside its mouth—containing every remaining drop of essence in my body.
Before I could even hear the explosion...
Before I could see the result...
I felt my body hurled backward at insane speed, smashing into the wall with my back hard enough to shatter bones.
As for the monster, its head exploded in a bloody mess, spraying chunks of flesh and blood across the arena before its body crashed to the ground.
I pushed my broken body out of the crater I had made in the wall.
I could barely stand again... who knew how many bones I had broken.
My vision warped as I staggered toward the monster’s corpse.
I looked at my arm—or what remained of it.
Everything from the elbow down was already gone.
I stumbled step by step toward the corpse until I reached it.
I placed my hand on it and began absorbing the essence from its lifeless body.
I felt my essence reserves rapidly replenishing.
I redirected it toward my severed arm, which began to regenerate and grow anew.
It took a few minutes to absorb enough essence for my arm to return to normal.
I didn’t stop—I continued absorbing essence and healing my wounds.
Then I felt several presences entering the arena.
I turned my head to see a few teams staring at me... among them were several of my own teammates.
I smiled and greeted them.
"Don’t you think you’re a little late?"