Chapter 73: Defeating the Monster Again
The silence that followed the explosion was deceptive.
Inigo stood atop the M777 howitzer, his heart hammering in his chest, smoke still curling from the cannon’s barrel. Around him, the cave was scorched black. The crater where the demon had stood glowed with residual heat. Wheeler stood nearby, quiet for the first time, its twin barrels lowered as if it too believed it was over.
Lyra managed a shaky breath. "Did we win?"
"No, we didn’t just yet," Inigo replied, he could say for sure as he knew when enemies would be killed. It will be flashed from his system.
Then the earth rumbled.
A tremor, deeper than before, pulsed through the stone floor. Elira stirred from where she lay against the wall, her bruised eyes widening. Serina gripped her staff weakly. Wheeler’s sensors twitched, red lights flashing again.
"No..." Serina whispered. "It can’t be..."
The crater erupted.
A molten claw burst from the rubble, followed by a snarling roar so deep it shook the very bones in their bodies. Obsidian muscle and glowing runes reknit themselves. Fire leaked like blood from fractured armor. The beast rose again—reformed, enraged, and worse than before. It towered taller now, its horns longer, its form more twisted by the magic that tethered it to the dungeon’s corrupted heart.
"You’ve got to be kidding me," Inigo breathed. "That killed anything else ten times over."
Serina’s voice shook. "I told you—it’s bound to the dungeon. The core keeps resurrecting it. Until we sever that link..."