Chapter 123: The First Breach
Daeho’s fist connected like a falling meteor, sending a shockwave through the air that cracked the earth beneath the monster’s rooted stance. The impact rattled buildings down the block. For a moment, it looked like the strike had worked, the amalgamated mass of bark and vine buckled slightly, vines whipping wildly in the air.
Then one of the glowing vine-limbs snapped forward with sudden speed.
It slammed into Daeho’s side with a sound like a battering ram crashing through steel. His massive form launched backward, carving a trench through the pavement before slamming into the side of a parking structure. Dust exploded from the point of impact.
But when it cleared, he stood.
Unmoved.
Not a scratch on him.
He rolled his shoulders once, cracking his neck.
"Now that," he muttered, grinning wide, "felt like something."
The others didn’t wait.
Jin dashed in first, moving low and fast. His katana gleamed in the half-light, still crackling faintly from the heat of the last exchange. He swept beneath a curling vine and slashed upward, slicing through a whip of greenery before it could grab him.
To his left, Areum moved like a dancer, each motion fluid, blades of glass forming at her fingertips and flinging out like shards from a storm. They embedded into the monster’s outer vines, slowing their movements as they refracted what little light remained in the smoky sky.