Chương 37: Heavy Fight

The rotten green hand shot straight toward Lloyd. — Damn it! Lloyd poured every ounce of strength into his legs and threw himself to the side, barely managing to dodge the attack. The enormous palm slammed into the ground with a deafening crash. The entire chamber trembled as though the blow had struck the very foundation of the dungeon itself. The stone walls groaned and cracked, while a rain of pebbles and thick dust poured from the ceiling.

A massive wave of green slime erupted into the air before crashing back down in heavy, sticky droplets. They landed with sickening splats on the stone floor, Lloyd's clothes, and even his face. The stench of decay grew even stronger. It felt as though the air itself had become a thick mixture of rotting flesh, swamp water, mold, and death. Every breath burned his lungs, while the foul taste of decomposition had long since settled in his mouth.

"One hit... and I'm dead..." Without the slightest pause, the monster raised its second arm. Lloyd stared at it in horror. — Are you kidding me... The gigantic hand came crashing down with terrifying speed. Despite its enormous size, it moved so quickly that all Lloyd could see was a blurred streak of green. He tensed his legs until his muscles felt ready to tear apart and leaped away at the last possible moment. The hand smashed into the floor only inches behind him.

Another earth-shaking impact echoed throughout the dungeon. Fresh cracks raced across the stone floor while fountains of green slime burst into the air. Before Lloyd could even catch his breath, several more arms were already rising above him. They came crashing down one after another without giving him even a second to recover. The explosions of impact merged into one endless roar. It sounded as though dozens of colossal hammers were relentlessly pounding the earth. Every strike unleashed a violent shockwave.

The air trembled, the walls answered with heavy echoes, and chunks of stone continued falling from the ceiling. Somewhere in the distance, ancient pillars collapsed, their cracking blending with the monstrous thunder of each impact until the entire dungeon became one endless nightmare. Lloyd darted between the attacks without thinking. His body moved entirely on instinct. Jump. Dash. Roll across the slippery floor. Jump again. Each time, the massive palms slammed down only inches away from him.

He could feel the pressure of the rushing air whipping past, making his jacket snap and his hair fly wildly. Even when an attack missed him, the force of the impact alone was enough to throw him off balance.

"Well... I got lucky. He's simply too big. It's hard for him to hit such a small target. But..." Another hand crashed down right beside him. Lloyd avoided the strike itself, but the shockwave hit him instantly. The air turned into an invisible wall. It hurled him several meters away. He slammed shoulder-first into the stone floor, rolled several times through the thick green slime, and somehow managed to force himself back onto his feet. The slime clung to his clothes, seeped beneath his collar and into his gloves.

It was sticky... and strangely warm. It felt less like mud and more like the blood of some living creature. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"But if that bastard lands even one hit... I'm finished." Lloyd breathed heavily. Every inhale burned his chest. His heart pounded so violently that its rhythm drowned out even his own thoughts. Sweat streamed down his face, instantly mixing with the green slime. By now, he couldn't even tell whether his body was covered in sweat or the remains of rotting corpses. Hunger twisted his stomach with painful cramps. He hadn't eaten in far too long. His throat was so dry that his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth.

Every breath scraped through his lungs like scorching sand. His legs gradually grew heavier, his muscles trembled, and dark spots began appearing more frequently before his eyes. The monster, however, showed no sign of exhaustion. The enormous mountain of rotting corpses slowly shifted, as though it were not made of dead bodies but of a single living organism. New arms constantly emerged from the mass while old ones slowly disappeared back inside. Here and there, a half-rotten human head crawled out.

Its empty eye sockets stared directly at Lloyd. Its jaw slowly opened as though the corpse wanted to scream, yet all that poured from its mouth was thick green slime. Moments later, the head vanished once again among the countless bodies. The entire mountain never stopped moving. Hundreds of human arms appeared and disappeared throughout the writhing mass. At times, dozens of them stretched outward at once, clawing aimlessly through the air before sinking back into the decaying flesh.

Something inside was constantly shifting, as though hundreds of corpses were endlessly changing places, flowing over one another in an eternal cycle. Green slime streamed downward without end. It dripped from above, smashed heavily against the floor, gathered into puddles, and gradually flooded the entire chamber. The stone floor had long since disappeared beneath a thick layer of green sludge. Every step was accompanied by a sickening squelch.

His boots sank into the slime as though they were being swallowed by a swamp. Every dash demanded more effort than the last. He could feel himself becoming slower. Only slightly. Almost imperceptibly. But it was enough. Every second drained more of his strength. Every jump demanded more effort than the one before it. He knew he couldn't keep this up forever. If his speed dropped even a little more, he wouldn't dodge the next strike. And then... It would all end with a single blow.

During another desperate leap, Lloyd's eyes caught the monster's arm as it rose from its latest attack. His gaze narrowed. Deep cracks spread across the enormous hand. Thick green slime slowly seeped from them. Several fingers could no longer withstand the strain. They snapped off with a sickening crunch and crashed onto the ground.

"Could it be... It has the same body structure as the monsters I fought before? If that's true... this becomes much easier. But..." He slowly raised his head toward the towering mountain of fused corpses before him. It stood well over ten meters tall, its grotesque shadow swallowing nearly half of the chamber.

"The previous monsters were about my size. Smashing them wasn't that difficult. But how am I supposed to kill something this gigantic?" The clock counting down to his death had long since stopped measuring minutes. Now... It counted seconds. And at that very moment, an idea suddenly flashed through Lloyd's mind.

"Well... This might actually work..."