One bottle of wine was not enough to burn the monster, so William resorted to throwing bottle after bottle at the creature in his bag.

"Uncle Butcher, there's more!" William shouted urgently.

Sensing the urgency of the situation, Carl joined in to assist.

Three cleavers and a meat cleaver levitated above the monster's head, shattering the wine bottles that William and Carl had thrown.

The highly flammable white wine in William's bag spilled and ignited, the flames rapidly spreading across the monster's body.

The creature writhed in agony, and its remaining tentacles rose in a futile attempt to extinguish the fire. But Alex wouldn't give it that chance.

With precision and determination, the boning knife stabbed the few remaining tentacles, while the peeling knife followed suit, swiftly severing all of the monster's appendages.

The monster swung its three remaining legs as it attempted to escape its fiery torment. Alex leaped into action with his bone-chopping knife, targeting the joints and swiftly severing two of them.

The last remaining insect leg was impaled at the joint by the bloodletting knife, rendering it immobile. Deprived of all means of attack, the monster lay on the ground, writhing in pain, torn between attempting to extinguish the flames on its body and the struggle for relief.

"William, William..." In the midst of the flames, the monster slowly lifted its charred face, its jagged mouthparts pressed against the ground.

"William, help me, help me."

"You're not my mother!" William roared with anger.

"I am your mother, I am!" The monster wriggled as it tried to inch closer to William. "I raised you for eighteen years. I was your mother."

"Hurry... save your mother, your mother is in pain, save your mother!" Eighteen years... The monster's words ignited a furious rage within William. His teeth clenched in a strange mixture of emotions.

"Yes, you did raise me for eighteen years. But that also meant I was separated from my biological parents for 18 years!"

"It was you, you monsters, who kept me from my birth parents for eighteen years!" "I don't even know who my real parents are, and I don't know what they look like!"

Carl placed a reassuring hand on William's shoulder, his gaze fixed on the monster on the ground. "Don't get lost in anger here. I think deep down, you know why you want to keep William."

"You know who my real parents are, don't you?" William shouted hysterically.

"Tell me, who are my real parents? Where are they? Are they still alive?"

"William, don't go over there," Carl warned, pulling William away from the monster. "William... William..."

The monster's voice grew weaker, and soon, it lay motionless on the ground.

"Is she... dead?" Lucy asked, her gaze averted, unable to bear the sight of the monster's charred remains.

"Dead," Carl confirmed, noting that the monster's heart had ceased to beat.

"Ah!" William raised his head and let out a primal shout, as if he needed to release the pent-up frustration and anguish within him.

"We've survived," William declared, taking a deep breath. After venting his emotions, his heart was filled with a glimmer of hope.

"We've survived the monster, for once!"

Indeed, for William, who had faced death repeatedly, this victory over the monster was a significant milestone, even if it was just the beginning.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

However, as William reveled in the moment, Carl's expression suddenly changed.

A faint, almost imperceptible sound reached Carl's ears, and he instantly realized the source—it was the monster's heartbeat.

"No! It's not dead!" Carl shouted urgently, but before he could react, the monster began to stir.

The monster's charred facial features turned to ashes, scattering on the ground. Its jagged mouthparts pressed into the earth.

With a surge of strength, the monster sprang up, jaws wide open, aiming to bite William with its razor- sharp mandibles.

Inexplicably, William seemed frozen, unable to react to the imminent threat. By the time he snapped back to reality, the monster was mere inches from him.

In that moment, all he could think was, "I can't die!"

Defeating a monster was no easy feat, and the brief euphoria had given way to the harsh reality that danger still loomed.

William felt his body heat up, and just as he thought the monster was about to strike, it froze in mid-air. William's confusion deepened. It wasn't just the monster that had halted; everything around him had frozen in time.

The knives suspended in mid-air, Carl's open mouth in the midst of shouting, Alex poised with his bone- chopping knife, Lucy frozen in panic, even the fallen leaves in the distance—all were motionless.

The entire world had fallen into eerie silence, as if time itself had come to a standstill, with the sole exception of William.

Before he could make sense of the situation, William's body began to shake uncontrollably. He felt an overwhelming sense of dread, and his heart raced.

The sensation of suffocation gripped him, causing his consciousness to blur. His legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground.

In that instant, everything returned to normal. "William!" Carl called out urgently from behind.

William's sudden fall had thwarted the monster's last-ditch attack.

"Animal!" Alex roared, his bone-chopping knife raised high, and he brought it down on the creature's neck, severing its head in an instant.

"William! How are you? Are you alright?" Carl rushed to William's side. William remained silent, his mind reeling, and he gasped for breath.

"No injuries," Carl finally confirmed after examining William's neck, letting out a sigh of relief. "How did you react so quickly just now?" Carl pondered, looking back at the scene. Even with his heightened senses, he couldn't comprehend what had transpired.

He vividly remembered the moment when the monster lunged and was about to sink its jaws into William's neck. Yet, in the blink of an eye, William had ended up on the ground.

Carl continued to watch William, but he couldn't discern how William had evaded the monster's attack. "The monster... the monster..." Arthur, who had regained consciousness, suddenly stood up from where he had fallen earlier. He appeared to recall the events leading up to his fainting.

"Monster! William, Carl, run!" Arthur shouted, but when he looked in the direction of the commotion, all he saw was the mutilated remains of the monster and its detached head.

"The monster... dead?" Arthur hesitated for a moment before noticing Alex approaching. "Are you... alright?" Carl inquired, still surprised by Alex's presence.

"I'm fine," Arthur replied, shaking his head.

He glanced at Alex nearby and asked, "Who is this, Uncle?"

Arthur was unfamiliar with Alex but noticed the blood-soaked bandage around his waist. "Uncle, you're injured!"

Arthur was about to inspect Alex's injury, but as he raised his leg, a boning knife suddenly materialized in front of him. Simultaneously, knives flew before William on the ground, Carl at the side, and even Lucy's lifeless body. Each knife was poised threateningly, and the message was clear: any sudden movement could lead to instant death.

"What are you doing?" Carl asked, his brow furrowing with concern. Alex remained silent, his gaze icy and unwavering.

Gradually, William regained his composure as he lay on the ground. His mind became clearer, and he

began to breathe more steadily. When he saw the knife suspended before his eyes, he realized that the man who had defeated the monster was indeed a fugitive.

In that tense moment, the feeling of security that had briefly settled in William's heart was abruptly disrupted once more.

Alex advanced towards William with an eerie calmness, his eyes still reflecting the earlier bloodlust. Blood from his waist wound had soaked through the bandage, tracing a morbid path down his leg, transforming him into a nightmarish apparition.

"What's your connection to this 'alien'?" Alex's chilling voice pierced the air.

William pondered for a moment. Just because Alex had killed the monster didn't mean he wouldn't harm them. To a fugitive like Alex, the distinction between killing people and monsters might be insignificant.

"This monster..." William's voice was tight, and he reluctantly admitted, "It was my captor."

"They treated me like livestock, fattening me up for the slaughter. I had planned to escape tonight while they slept, but this monster discovered me and pursued me."

Alex remained silent, his gaze locked onto William's eyes, searching for any sign of deception.

William didn't flinch, meeting Alex's gaze with unwavering determination. He was not ready to die. After defeating a monster, he couldn't bear to return to his former life because of Alex's actions.

As William recounted his ordeal, Alex suddenly lurched and collapsed onto the floor. His fall sent the suspended knives clattering to the ground.

"Is he... dead?" Arthur's voice trembled with fear.

"No," Carl shook his head, indicating that he could still hear Alex's faint heartbeat. "He's not dead; he just passed out due to blood loss."

Carl helped Lucy to her feet, urging, "Let's leave before he regains consciousness." "Leave?" Arthur looked surprised. "Are we just going to abandon him?"

He glanced at the unconscious Alex on the ground and continued, "If we leave him like this, he'll die here."