Chapter 111: Outward
The next vine came from above.
It dropped like a whip from the hollowed skeleton of a signpost, arcing in fast. Jin slid beneath it, his feet skidding against the uneven concrete, one hand bracing against the ground. He didn’t stop. There was no point. If he paused, the momentum would break. And he needed every inch of it.
The city stretched ahead in uneven blocks of cracked glass and twisted metal. The monster’s steps grew quieter behind him but that wasn’t comfort. It was calculation. It wasn’t rushing.
It didn’t need to.
The vines were doing the hunting now.
Jin ducked beneath a collapsed archway, the air tight with heat and the lingering stink of scorched spores. Green glow bled faintly from the alleyways around him, twisting and writhing in slow, deliberate pulses. Like a heartbeat.
No. Like breath.
The ground to his left exploded upward concrete splitting apart as a bundle of vines shot out, sharp as spears. Jin kicked off the wall, flipping to avoid them. One grazed his side; it tore cloth but didn’t cut deep.
He hit the pavement hard, rolled to his feet, and slashed in a single motion.
The katana rang against the vine’s core and severed it clean through. The end spasmed wildly, thrashing in its death rattle.
Jin exhaled. "You’re adapting," he muttered.