Chapter 138: Like the Bloater
Chief Varros paused only for a heartbeat before leaping back into the fray, feet sliding across the cracked stone as he studied the monstrous twin-tentacled humanoid. Every one of its movements was unpredictable and savage, but also strangely sluggish—as though its body fought against itself. Calien and Erik kept close to the walls, eyes fixed on Varros as they followed every subtle motion of his blade.
"Watch carefully," Varros told himself under his breath. "Every part of this thing is a weapon."
He surged forward again.
He struck at one of its reaching arms, feeling the impact jar up through his wrist as though he’d hit a block of iron. The blade barely left a scratch, and the monster countered instantly, slashing at him with a broad tentacle covered in sickly, pulsating suckers. He dived beneath it and kicked off a cracked pillar, twisting mid-air to carve a bright silver arc across its shoulder and down the back of its arm.
Calien and Erik nodded as they saw the blow land perfectly.
Still, the monster moved as if unfazed, as if whatever injuries he inflicted failed to register at all.
Chief Varros hit the ground and spun, lifting his blade into guard as the creature roared, tentacles lashing across the hall like whips. Sparks flew as one tentacle scraped against his knife and threw him briefly off balance. The beast towered over him, mouth gaping in a jagged sneer as its tumor-like growths glistened along its torso.
"Keep watching!" Calien urged Erik, hands tightening on his knives. "Look at how Chief moves."
"Every cut is so smooth," Erik replied breathlessly. "Even though it looks impossible to damage this thing, he’s not wasting a single strike. It’s like—"
"—he’s testing every angle," Calien agreed. "Exactly like what Nolan showed us."
And sure enough, Chief Varros moved again.