Inside the mist, visibility dropped to almost nothing.
The corridor that had seemed narrow before was now swallowed by thick white fog. Every sound echoed strangely, making it impossible to judge the distance.
Henry slowed his steps and looked around, listening.
Then his Astral Sense activated.
The faint distortion in the mist sharpened. Through the fog he could make out movement that normal eyes would miss—massive shapes shifting behind the wall of white.
Something lunged.
A tentacle shot toward his left side, fast enough to snap bone if it caught him.
Henry reacted instantly. He jumped upward, the appendage slicing through the space where his leg had been a moment earlier. While still in the air he twisted his body, bringing the axe around with the spin.
The blade came down as he landed.
CHOP.
Steel bit deep into the thick flesh.
The tentacle split cleanly apart, the severed half slamming onto the floor and thrashing violently while dark fluid splattered across the tiles.
A shrill, alien scream tore through the mist.
The severed tentacle on the floor kept twitching while the massive creature somewhere deeper in the fog shifted angrily, dragging its weight against metal and concrete.
Henry exhaled slowly.
"Time to go all out," he muttered.
His eyes began to glow faintly blue.
'Phase Step.'
In the next instant he vanished from where he stood.
The creature's tentacles snapped toward the empty space he had just occupied, but he had already moved. He reappeared several meters ahead in the corridor, lunging toward the back door while more tentacles lashed out of the fog like spears.
He twisted his body as he moved. The axe flashing through the mist.
The ether markings along his arms pulsed brighter, and faint blue lines spread across the metal of the axe itself.
Tentacles lunged at him from every direction.
He spun through them, cutting them down one after another. The blade sliced through thick flesh while dark fluid splattered across the floor.
This is actually kind of exciting, Henry thought as another limb dropped beside him.
But the real problem appeared when he reached the end of the corridor.
The door.
It was almost completely covered by writhing tentacles.
Beyond them, the creature's enormous body pressed against the outside wall, its mass hidden inside the mist but clearly blocking the exit. The limbs twisted and curled around the doorway like living ropes.
Henry tightened his grip on the axe.
'Aether Burst.'
Blue light flared along the weapon.
At the same moment—
[Revenant Impact Activated]
He stepped forward and swung.
The axe cut through the air in a glowing arc, and the moment the blade struck the creature a shockwave of blue energy exploded outward.
The impact thundered through the corridor.
The creature's massive body convulsed as the energy tore through it. Tentacles snapped apart, and the bulk of the monster split open under the force, collapsing against the door with a wet, heavy crash.
The hallway shook as pieces of the creature dropped to the floor.
Henry lowered the axe slowly.
A faint notification appeared in front of him.
[Monster Eliminated: 30 SP Gained]
The corridor fell silent except for the sound of dripping fluid and the distant hum of the store beyond the hallway.
"Yep… this Ether mode is great," Henry muttered under his breath.
He glanced down at the axe in his hands just as the metal began to crumble. The blade cracked, then broke apart into fine gray dust that slipped through his fingers and scattered across the floor.
Henry stared at it for a second.
"Figures," he said quietly. "Normal weapons can't handle that kind of power."
Then his gaze drifted to the corridor floor.
Severed tentacles lay everywhere, thick coils of alien flesh scattered across the tiles, some still twitching faintly while dark liquid slowly pooled beneath them.
Henry exhaled.
"And these monsters give a bunch of points too," he added quietly.
Compared to ghosts or werewolves, these creatures were on an entirely different level. Most people wouldn't last even a second if one of those tentacles caught them.
Henry turned toward the back door.
Despite the mess around him, the door itself was still intact.
He walked forward and shut it firmly, locking the heavy handle into place.
Beyond the metal door the mist shifted outside, but nothing tried to force its way in again.
From the other side of the corridor,
"Henry?" David called out nervously. "Are you okay?"
They had heard everything.
The crashing sounds, the screeching, even the shockwave that had rattled the walls.
Ollie stood beside him shining a flashlight into the mist.
Both men looked tense, clearly expecting something terrible to come out of the fog.
Then Henry stepped through it.
He walked calmly out of the mist.
"Problem taken care of," he said.
Behind him the fog began to thin.
As the corridor cleared, David and Ollie finally saw the floor.
They both froze.
The hallway looked like something out of a horror film.
Long pieces of severed tentacles—some several meters in length—were scattered across the tiles. Dark fluid oozed across the floor, and deep slash marks were carved into the walls.
Both men swallowed hard.
What kind of monster needed that many limbs?
And more importantly—
What kind of man walked out of that fight without a single scratch?
*****
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