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Vir had seen much during his time in the Ash. He’d even visited the lost city of the gods, and had witnessed all the terrors that lurked deep within. In fact, he’d bet that aside from Cirayus and perhaps a select few other demons, there were none who had fought as many Ash Beasts nor ventured as deep as he had.

Which was why, when the writhing black mass screeched from below, it terrified him in a way that only City Enders such as Wyrms and Prana Swarms could.

This was neither, and yet just as fearsome. For what stretched beneath Vir as he Leaped was an enormous creature that had neither arms nor legs, but jet-black, oily tentacles. Dozens of tentacles that each a dozen paces long. Each as thick as tree trunks at their base. The creature’s torso resembled no animal, but rather a misshapen hemispheric dome with bumps and black protrusions all along its surface.

Its main body was easily fifty paces in diameter.

Vir hung midair. Time slowed as Haste activated, allowing him to digest the inexplicable sight.

There were no buildings in this part of the city, having all been subsumed by the abomination long ago. All that was left was a pit—or crater. Barren and empty, save for the creature and the hundreds of minions that surrounded it.

These smaller Ash Beasts lacked the forms Vir was used to. Or at least, they’d been changed so drastically, Vir could barely identify them. Some resembled Phantomblades, but where those had oblong turtle-like shells, these were misshapen and deformed, like poor replicas.

Like the gigantic monster, their hides were inky black, and slopped off as they shambled, bumping into one another repeatedly.

It was all Vir had time to take in before he fell. Slow at first, then faster.

Directly into the middle of the swarm of demented beasts.

Blade Launch arced out in front of Vir, cutting a path through the minions.

Somehow sensing danger, they parted to allow it through.

They’re intelligent, Vir noted. They had moved not like a mob of individual creatures, but as one entity with multiple bodies.

Vir took the opening and sank into the ground, leveraging their shadows to sink fully into the Shadow Realm.

There, he took a moment to compose his thoughts. He knew too little of these beasts to understand what it would take to defeat them. He suspected he had to defeat them if he wanted any hope of retrieving the weapons and armor that littered the floor of the pit.

It was evident that some great battle had been waged here long ago—perhaps against this very beast. If so, the body count spoke volumes about its strength. This was not a foe to be underestimated.

Which prompted Vir to ask just how the prisoners were supposed to deal with this monster? Even if their collars had been fully disabled—which they wouldn’t have been, not without Vir’s efforts—the beast was far outside their means.

From the shadows, Vir could see the utterly gargantuan amount of prana that filled the creature. Even the minions were stronger than they ought to have been, given the ambient density.

No, the prisoners would’ve had no chance.

Half must die.

The late Overseer’s words repeated in Vir’s head. No wonder the prison camps had been so heavily guarded. Vir had thought it strange he wasn’t allowed to talk to the other, more veteran encampments, despite being able to wander around his own without issue.

These monsters weren’t new. From the way they’d destroyed—or consumed—the nearby terrain, they’d been here a while. Which meant the Overseer knew.

And that meant this ‘training’ was really a ‘culling’. Only the strongest, most capable Warriors had a chance of fleeing with their lives.

This wasn’t a mission to procure weapons. It was a slaughterhouse designed to eliminate all but the very best.

Vir couldn’t feel chills while in the Shadow Realm, but he felt like someone had applied ice onto his mind, nonetheless. That, and a sour taste in his mouth.

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If true, the Chitrans had no recourse. They would pay, and pay dearly. Yet now was neither the time nor the place to sentence the Chits for their crimes. He had to find a way to deal with these monsters. To ensure they would never harm another demon again.

Easier said than done. Right now, Vir knew too little. He needed more information about these foes.

Snaking his talwar out of a nearby shadow, he swung at a deformed beast. As expected, its high prana density acted like armor, allowing black leathery hide to deflect the blow.

What surprised Vir was not that his attack had failed, but rather that all nearby minions reacted instantly the moment his talwar swung. Even in the time-slowed world of shadows, Vir could see them repositioning, preparing to combat this new threat.

Vir hurriedly withdrew his arm, freezing time once more. There was no doubt about it. They moved with collective intelligence. How, Vir couldn’t begin to guess.

Extending his arm out through another shadow, he imbued his talwar with Prana Blade. This time, his swipe did connect, bisecting the beast with barely any effort. It crumpled to the ground, dead.

Opting to keep his arm extended this time, Vir watched as the beasts moved. This time, they didn’t flee, but responded with strikes of their own.

Attacks of this caliber couldn’t hurt Vir. Not with Prana Armor. He’d been planning on defending with his extended arm when he felt their presence. Metaphysical weight that made these seemingly benign attacks all too lethal.

Warrior Chakra.

Chakra wasn’t like prana, which was invisible to most demons. No, Chakra announced its presence to even the most untrained. Babies nearby would cry, and even demons who’d never held a weapon in their life would understand that death approached.

Vir hastily retracted his arm, sinking back into the protection of the Shadow Realm.

He was too late. Almost instinctively, a burst of Prana Darts fired from his body in all directions. Several struck the blob-monster, altering its paw by the smallest sliver.

The deformed beast’s swipe passed harmlessly by, though it came with a speed Vir hadn’t expected.

That was too close. If Prana Armor had failed… Vir didn’t even want to know.

Cirayus had once described sustaining a Chakra attack as being partially killed. Not physically, but in existence. It was a pain that would never heal—not without the Heart Chakra. A wound that affected every aspect of one’s life.

Vir silenced his rising panic and formulated a new plan. He had to rid this place of these abominations as quickly as possible. He had to be efficient, and he couldn’t allow them to launch even a single attack against him. While Prana Armor might give him a thin margin of safety, he couldn’t rely on it. Not when his soul was at stake.

Just before his time in the Shadow Realm ended, Vir exited.

The momentum he’d carried into the shadows launched him back out, turning him into a living weapon that cleaved through a half-dozen minions before he’d come to a stop.

For while they might be able to move as a group, it’d do them little good without time to react.

The instant his lethal prana rushed out, he Blinked, hurling three Blade Launches in three different directions. Aiming was of little concern—with so many foes around, he could hardly miss.

Prana blades speared through two-dozen minions each, leaving a Y shape of corpses crumpled around Vir.

For the briefest of moments, Vir felt that this fight may not be as difficult as he’d thought.

He was, of course, proven wrong.

The moment the Ash Beasts had been torn asunder, a terrible shriek pierced the air. Vir spun to find its source, only to frown in confusion.

For every beast he’d killed, new ones were already emerging. Not from the ground, or even from outside the pit, but from the dome of the tentacled monster. They appeared from the top and scrabbled down its inky hemispherical body, rejoining its allies.

That was a problem, but Vir didn’t have the time to dwell on it, for there was another, more pressing, issue.

Until now, the great beast’s tentacles had remained inert, undulating in the air high above the pit. Now, they flew into a frenzy. Some even smashed the ground nearby, though the monsters avoided it as deftly as they’d avoided Vir.

It’s not just the monsters. The tentacles are also connected, Vir realized, dodging another Chakra-laden trunk-sized appendage. Due to their lack of accuracy, it’d taken him a moment to notice, but the tentacles had been aiming for him.

Between the tentacles, the Chakra-wielding mobs, and the main body that birthed new foes, Vir had his hands full. Worse—his prana was running low.

Vir darted toward the nearest minion and drained its prana, then moved for another, finding he had to leverage Blink’s full speed to place his palm on the Ash Beast’s inky flesh.

He drained this one in a similar fashion and went for a third. This time, however, he found a Warrior Chakra-laden slash waiting for him. Aborting his attack, Vir focused on another nearby beast, but met with the same response.

They’re learning, Vir thought with both frustration and amazement. They were learning that he was weak to Chakra attacks.

Suddenly, a tentacle slammed down from above, and this time, it too carried Warrior Chakra, forcing Vir to give it a wide berth.

Sinking into the shadows, he re-evaluated his options. Since the enemy moved and thought as a single entity, it had lacked the normal blind spots. Since Vir had to physically touch the beasts to drain them of Ash Prana, that posed a significant hurdle. He could still easily dispatch them at a distance, but that would eventually drain him. And with each enemy he killed, a new one took its place.

Vir briefly considered killing as many beasts as he could to force the main body to drain its own reserves, but quickly abandoned that idea. The three minions he’d consumed had barely refilled his reserves. He’d be the one to run dry first, and then he’d truly be exposed.

Where is it getting the prana?

Creating fully grown Ash Beast abominations out of thin air had to have consumed an immense amount of it.

Think, Vir. What else can you do? What’s its vulnerability?

Vir looked out at the beast’s main body in the distance. Could it be so simple?

The massive hemispheric blob couldn’t move—at least, not that Vir had seen. Which meant it must’ve had protections. But did it have protection against someone draining its prana?

Vir surged out of the shadows and lunged for the main body. He’d hoped for a small sliver of opportunity to attack—a window before the mob readjusted to his tactics.

He’d been wrong.

Grakking Ash!