I jumped back as stones pelted my cloak.

"What the hell did you do, Renner?!" I shouted.

Straight from a nightmare, an egg-like monster taller than Devon and ten times as wide rolled through the rubble and grinned. Bloody teeth glistened, and strands of gummy flesh dripped down as the monster stared with milky eyes.

Renner whistled and slammed his staff, causing another explosion of mana to erupt and coat the monster. "Keep them away from me!"

He ducked behind the monstrosity as a forceball slammed into its side. Its shell cracked, but red mush sprang from the wound and filled in the gaps, pushing it away like an overcooked egg.

Before I could run, it spun and bulldozed through the castle, knocking me outside. I rolled to my feet and shot out a fireball. It bounced off its shell and disappeared behind the curtain of rain.

"Cain! Left!" Alice shouted.

I rolled. A wave of frost coated the ground. It reached the demonic egg, but it rolled through and used the slick ground to speed itself up. Alice swung her axe, but it clipped her shoulder and carried her off the cliff.

"Alice!"

I jumped down as my claws sharpened.

Purge! Hunt!

The monster spun around, and I chopped downward. Stone cut through shell before the flesh repelled me and squished. I dug in my claws into the shell and held on even as it strained against me. Suddenly, it opened its mouth wide and hurled.

Flesh crashed against my chest and pushed me into a wall of a house. The stone cracked behind me. My bones threatened to break.

No!

Flames exploded. An emerald inferno burned away the wood and blackened the surroundings. The monster roared and charged. I released a torrent, but it continued to spin, and I there wasn't enough space to dodge.

My arm snapped, and I broke through the living room. I crashed through the debris and slammed my axe down, halting my momentum.

A woman screamed, and I turned to see her clutching her children. They clung to her dress and stared with wild eyes. I grit my teeth and pushed through the pain.

I stood up and threw my axe. It cut a line across the shell, sending bits into the ash. As it bounced off, I activated the rune in my hand. The axe sailed through the air and carved deep, this time across its eye.

Raaaaaaagh!

It began to spin in place, and I bent my knees.

Come on!

It launched forward. But instead of facing me, it veered and rushed at the family.

"No!"

I shot a fireball, and Freki dashed out—but I couldn't reach it!

A forceball exploded ahead of it, and the shockwave launched it high into the air, past the confines of the roof and out the building. Freki grabbed the mother's dress and the kids' shirts before pulling them away. Their screams joined the wall of noise from the city. But Freki dragged them behind a building and away.

I turned as Alice crashed beside me, fully transformed. Her claws were broken but regenerating.

"Incoming," she growled.

The monster created a crater and crushed the house beside it. By now, people fled in terror, screaming at the top of their lungs. The entire town was in chaos. A fire burned in the distance, coming from the Baathan district, while rocks were catapulted through the air to our right.

Alice rushed forward, and I followed. But the monster hurled fleshy vomit, and pieces of shell fell away. Red, slime-covered tentacles expanded from the fleshy core; the shell exploded before she could swipe her claws, and a wall of meat bashed her aside. She shredded the appendage and dug her feet into the dirt.

She tried to stand, but tentacles batted her sides as she ripped them apart. I condensed the flames. Mana rushed into my palm, and I extended my arm. The pulsating mess pushed Alice against a building and I released.

The fireball whistled.

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Another pulse, the flesh intercepted and created a wall of flesh.

Raaagh!

Meat cooked; pink turned black char. I rushed ahead and chopped, cutting away the flesh and widening the hole. A giant milky eye cried pink tears inside the meatball before it screeched and sent me flying.

I rolled next to Alice as she grabbed the tentacle and pulled. Strands ripped apart, and she roared as she tossed it behind her.

"We need to-"

Crimson lightning blinded the sky.

Boom!

Spots clouded my vision. I blinked them away and stared at the rising monstrosity. Flesh convulsed as lightning danced along its limbs. The central ball contracted, and the eye split into two. I raised my arm and shot another fireball, watching it melt through the flesh and continue toward the center. But a tentacle intercepted and slammed against itself, smothering the fire.

Come on! What is this thing?!

Instead of burning away, the monster grasped the limb and ripped it off, tossing it aside as the meat became a bubbling paste.

Beside me, the ice on Alice's arms extended past her claws, creating blades that glistened in the crackling flames. She grunted, and steam wisped as the air around her froze.

"Attacking," she snarled.

She jumped, and I rushed forward. A tentacle barreled towards me, trying to slap me away, but I ducked and chopped. The severed limb hit the dirt, and I continued my charge.

Alice hacked away, cutting at the ever-expanding wall. She left behind frozen spots that cracked and broke off as steam rose above us. Claws met flesh, carnage continued as shreds of gore splattered the ground.

I joined the fray and when a tentacle came from her side I lunged and stopped it. It crushed the air from my lungs, but I held my ground and dug in my heels. My claws sank in and set it alight, weakening the strands before I ripped it off.

"This isn't working!" I shouted as gore splashed against my hood.

It tightened around my head and covered me from the rain of goop and blood that spilled out. Above us, thunder boomed, and lightning flashed, striking somewhere in the city. It's power created a minor quake beneath us, shaking bits of stones free from the nearby buildings.

I hacked off another limb and blinked as water spilled down my cheek. The rain became a heavy drizzle that soon pelted my back. Thanks to the cloak, I could barely feel it, but the ground turned muddy, already slick from blood and paste, made even slurrier by the disturbed earth.

Alice roared, and a wave of frost blasted out. My flames burned the ice away, but she punched and kicked through the frozen wall. It exposed the eyes before another pulse spawned more flesh and forced her back.

"Running low!" she growled. "Burn through, I'll tear it apart!"

Another limb smashed into my ribs, and bones cracked. Pain shot through my side. I winced and gritted my teeth.

"Screw you!" I yelled as I tore into the tentacle.

Another came to reinforce it, but black jaws snapped and pulled it into the ground. The limb came free, stumped, and severed as Freki rose from my shadows.

"Freki. Get the eye. We got this."

Freki dived, and I braced as Alice slammed into my shoulder. She bit down and tore through the monster while I supported her. She took down one, then two, and released a wave of ice that froze the area in front of her.

Hunt! Hunt! Hunt!

Shut up! Not the time for this!

My core surged and burned my insides. Steam rose from my skin and created a dense cloud around us.

My flames sizzled, burning my blood. I felt weak, the next limb I could barely grip, so I cut off the surge of electric fire rampaging through my veins. I tore into the tentacles and fended them off as Alice destroyed the wall with a kick.

Suddenly, the limbs stuttered.

"Now!" she shouted.

I spun and extended my arms. Flames rushed from my fingers to my neck. Burning away the rain. Fire cascaded and roared to life, bathing the area orange as it rocketed for the wall. Flesh writhed and condescend but melted under the assault.

Flesh dripped and became ash; the winds whipped it away as layer after layer burned. As the eye exposed itself, Freki dived, raking his claws across one of the milky monstrosities before he sank into the ground.

I cut the flames, and Alice charged. She punched through the remaining eye and slashed upward. Goop rained, and she reversed momentum. Claws met meat and lacerated the monster's flesh.

Raaaaagh!

It spasmed. The tentacles retracted, rushing together.

"Behind you!"

She hunkered down and shoved her second arm in as Freki appeared behind her and was smashed into the dirt. Rage burned as the connection stuttered. My arms cracked, and my ribs snapped back into place. I jumped in and bodied the other appendages.

Raaaagh! Raahgaaaa!

Her arms sank up to her elbow, and she grunted. Alice reached past her shoulders and pulled away. Ripping the flesh, tearing the strands, the monster drowned out the rain as it desperately tried to stop her.

Not happening,

Flesh tore, and the rain washed away the eye-goop, leaving behind bleeding pits that spilled paste onto the mud below. It writhed in pain, a quivering mass.

Alice roared as her muscles bulged. For a moment, the monster paused and then the tearing strands thinned.

Raagh-

Her arms came free and ripped the monster into two. Lightning flashed, bathing the world in white. She flung the pieces aside as the tentacles dropped.

I cheered and stomped on the one that had wrapped around my arm before ripping it off and kicking it away.

"Haa haa! Hell yeah!" I cheered.

Alice reverted her shift and dropped to her knees, panting. She spat out some blood before looking up. The corners of her mouth lazily pulled upward and she laughed.

"We're not done. Need to stop Renner," she coughed.

I helped her up, and she donned her hood. She spat and ground the remains of the eyeball against her boot.

"Let's go."

She turned, but a high pitch whine raised the hairs on the back of my neck. Before I could shout a warning, Freki knocked her aside as lightning struck. The world turned red as the electricity tore through his form. The connection shattered, and I screamed in pain before the shockwave bowled me over. I ground my teeth and pushed through the energy coursing through me. The ground smoked, and Alice raised herself and pushed up.

Freki was gone. Wisps of black sizzled away.

Where the lightning struck, flesh bubbled and formed into a new ball, sprouting limbs the size of my hand. An eyeball split along the tiny meatball, and the monster screeched as its mouth reformed.

Raaagh!

"By the gods! Wha-what's that!"

I turned, and a man stood there paralyzed, his mouth quivering. I smelled urine and glanced at his knees as they shook in soaked pants. Before I could yell at him to run, the monster jumped.

Crunch!