Chapter 87 - Improvising
Outside, both Ethan and Owen froze.
An ear-piercing, distorted, inhuman screech echoed out from the pipes behind them.
Owen jumped away, immediately turning to the source.
The noise traveled through the streets, echoing far in the distance.
"Fuck!" he cursed, stomping his feet. "What the fuck was that?"
Ethan glanced back at the dark sewage pipe for a moment.
Then he turned back to the streets around them.
For a moment, everything went completely silent.
Then—
Another scream echoed out.
Closer this time.
And then, another.
And another.
Dozens of distant roars echoed through the streets.
Each from a completely different direction.
A chill ran down both of their spines.
Owen slowly turned his head.
"...You hear that?"
Ethan didn’t respond immediately.
His expression had grown dark.
"...Yeah."
The roars grew louder and louder.
Clearly, they were coming closer.
Owen let out a deep breath.
"Don’t get too close to me," he said. "I’m not confident I can keep you alive."
Ethan looked at him for a moment, his expression darkening even further.
But he nodded.
"I’ll manage."
He pulled a sword and shield from his back.
Owen planted his sledgehammer into the ground and cracked his neck with one hand.
The ground trembled slightly beneath them.
"Let’s get this going then," he said, smiling faintly.
He gripped his sledgehammer with one hand.
In a single motion, he raised it, pointing it towards the sky.
His jaw tightened, dark earth mana flowing into the ground around him.
Ethan took a step back immediately, his hairs standing on end.
"What are you doing?" he asked, panicked.
The ground slowly began to crack, chunks of stone loosening.
Owen turned to him, still smiling.
"Don’t worry about it."
Then—
The chunks of stone ripped themselves free, rising into the air around him.
One by one, they slammed into his body.
Shoulders, arms, chest, back... everywhere.
Layer after layer covered his body.
A low groan escaped him.
The cracks between the stones sealed instantly, dense earth mana binding everything together.
His frame expanded, growing larger with each passing second.
Even his sledgehammer became coated in thick, jagged rocks.
A low groan escaped Owen’s lips as the final pieces locked into place.
Ethan stared at him, his eyes wide.
"...?!"
He didn’t even know what to say.
A towering, armored figure with horns had completely replaced Owen.
Just then, the first creatures burst into view at the end of the streets.
Slowly but surely, dozens of twisted bone-creatures began to pour from between the buildings.
Some dragged their bodies across the ground.
Others sprinted forward on strange limbs.
A few even leapt across rooftops, letting out distorted screeches as they closed the distance.
Ethan’s grip tightened around his sword.
"...That’s a lot."
The creatures didn’t slow down.
As the first one jumped at Owen, the stone giant let out a wild roar.
He swung his sledgehammer down.
THUD!
It hit the creature in the middle of the air.
The sledgehammer kept going, slamming hard into the ground.
Blood and bone fragments splattered everywhere.
Even the street fractured, sending stones flying.
But the rest of the creatures didn’t stop.
Back inside the pipe, Theo hadn’t stopped fighting either.
He swung his umbrella towards another skeleton.
Its bones fractured immediately under the water’s pressure.
’Halfway,’ he thought, gritting his teeth.
He glanced back at the guard he’d slammed into the wall.
It hadn’t regenerated even with all this time having passed.
That made him realize what had been happening.
’From the beginning, it was only the host who could use magic,’ he thought, pushing forward. ’If I just keep it busy like this, that D-rank can’t regenerate.’
Another skeleton lunged towards him.
He snapped his canopy open and shoved it forward.
The skeleton stumbled backwards, colliding with three others.
Theo’s eyes locked onto the parasitic host again.
’I need to get to it faster,’ he thought, biting his lip.
Another spike shot up beside him.
He swung his umbrella down, opening the canopy.
CRACK!
The spike broke off against it.
At the same time, two skeletons lunged towards him.
Theo stepped away from one.
But the other wrapped itself around his legs.
His eyes widened for a split second.
Before another could jump on him, two lightning bolts formed beside him.
BOOM!
The skeletons shattered instantly.
Their bodies broke into tiny fragments, shooting everywhere.
Before he could even think, another bone shot out of the ground.
As he stepped back, he felt the sharp spike slice through two of his toes.
"Tch!" he hissed.
Theo stumbled back, nearly losing his footing before catching himself at the last second.
Yet attack after attack kept coming.
Some sliced across his skin, leaving thin lines of blood.
His breathing slowly grew heavier and heavier.
’I can’t keep doing this,’ he thought. ’They’re going to overwhelm me.’
His eyes flickered for a moment.
A way to deal with all the skeletons at once...
His mind raced.
Then—
His gaze snapped to the back of the tunnel.
The path was completely open and at the end... sewage water.
Theo’s grip tightened around his umbrella.
"Fine," he said through clenched teeth.
He formed two large thunderbolts beside him in an instant.
"If I can’t break through normally..."
The lightning crackled violently around him.
"Then I’ll improvise."
He fired off the two massive thunderbolts—
But not towards the parasitic host.
Instead, they soared through the tunnel, heading for where he’d come in.
They came to a stop just before the wall—
And began rotating rapidly around each other.
As Theo controlled them, he kept dodging and blocking to the best of his abilities.
Hit after hit came through, some even drawing his blood.
But he didn’t give up.
Slowly, the sewage water began flowing into the air.
Theo’s eyes lit up.
He gritted his teeth, continuing.
The water turned into a thick cloud, as the lightning crackled violently around each other.
A rumbling noise echoed through the tunnels.
Even the air began to tremble violently.
Theo exhaled quietly.
His eyes locked onto the host with a faint smile.
"Now..."