God of Zero Cost

The air inside the dark limestone cave did not just smell of dust; it carried the cold, heavy weight of a wet grave.

Ethan stepped past the narrow fissure, his boots making no sound on the damp stone floor. The atmosphere inside the cavern was vibrating with a low, bone-deep hum that shook the marrow of his shins, a physical resonance that seemed to call up the restless phantoms of the past.

His eyes adjusted to the amber gloom, locking onto the far side of the rocky chamber.

The entire layout of this place feels different, Ethan thought, his fingers tightening around the leather strap of his sling. The mobs run much deeper now.

Low growls echoed out from the pitch-black stone recesses as three massive Rephaim hyenas materialized from the shadows. Their mangled, thick fur was heavily caked in the dark, greasy stains of oil, and their jaws snapped with a bone-crushing pressure.

The massive, Scarab Beetle Golem standing before him shuddered as crawled forward to block the path with its clay body.

The Rephaim hyenas closed the distance at terrifying speed. The lead scavenger leaped. Its jaws snapped.

Iron-reinforced stones ripped through the air as Ethan whipped his own sling in a lightning-fast arc. The kinetic impact was absolute. The dense projectile struck the leaping beast dead in the nefesh.

The pack's momentum violently buckled. The remaining hyena swerved. It sprinted down the left flank. Its yellow fangs bared to rip out Ethan's throat.

"Block."

The main clay beetle chassis lurched forward. Heavy leg pillars slammed into the loose gravel. The gap sealed.

The giant beast lunged with absolute brute force, driving its heavy paws and snapping jaws directly into the center of the golem's chest, the violent impact causing the outermost ceramic shell—the thin, brittle high-fired clay crust—to shatter instantly with a sharp, explosive crack.

The scavenger pressed its weight forward, expecting its teeth to pierce deep into the creation's inner vault. The teeth didn't hit a solid wall. The jaws plunged past the broken crust. They entered the hollow internal chamber beneath. They hit the raw, un-fired tar.

Got you, Ethan thought, a cold grin breaking beneath his linen wrap.

The thick, viscous black sludge violently suctioned around the hyena's snout and front limbs, creating an air-tight, glue-like vacuum trap that defied the beast's wild strength. The Rephaim scavenger whimpered. Its massive muscles strained. It tried to wrench its jaw free from the beetle's chest, but the heavy wadi tar held onto the flesh with an unyielding, high-friction grip. The beast was completely stuck flat against the clay frame.

Ethan stepped out from behind the beetle's flank. His leather sling already spun in a tight, whirring blur over his head.

He released the cord. The iron-reinforced stone left the strap with a low whistle, slamming dead center into the trapped scavenger's throat. The heavy metal projectile pierced through the beast, collapsing the form in a single, explosive crunch.

The internal chambers held up well, Ethan thought, looking down at the tar layers bleeding slightly through the outer cracked husk. MKII seems to works.

He kept his eyes locked on the remaining shadows, his fingers already reaching into his canvas bag for the next iron bullet.