The howl rippled across the courtyard again—low, guttural, echoing off shattered walls.
Not loud, but deep.
Predatory.
Ethan tightened his stance, scanning the shadows between broken pillars and overturned benches. The air smelled of smoke, blood, and something feral—wet stone and sulfur.
Ash hovered in front of him, rotating slowly.
[MONSTER CLASSIFICATION: LOW-RANK]
[TYPE: FERAL WARPED BEAST]
[PRIMARY THREAT: SPEED + PACK COORDINATION]
"How fast?" Ethan asked.
[FASTER THAN YOU.]
He sighed. "Of course."
Lena stood beside him, gripping her metal pipe with both hands. Her body trembled slightly, but her eyes remained steady.
"Stick close," Ethan murmured. "They'll swarm if they get the chance."
Lena nodded. "I'll watch your back."
A low growl rolled through the air.
Ethan's fingers twitched instinctively, trying to summon the strange weightless pressure of Null Strike—but nothing came. The evolution had burned through him during the Administrator's fight. It wasn't something he could call upon freely.
Not yet.
"Don't rely on it," he muttered to himself. "Not unless you want to explode your own hand."
Ash chimed:
[CORRECT. YOUR BODY WOULD LIKELY SHATTER.]
Ethan groaned. "Ash, I swear—learn timing."
Before Ash could reply, movement flickered in the corner of Ethan's vision.
He whipped his head to the left.
A creature skulked atop the remains of the fountain—wolf-like in silhouette but wrong in the details. Its limbs bent at odd angles, muscles bunched too tightly beneath obsidian-black fur that shimmered like smoke. Its eyes glowed a dull violet.
A second beast crawled from behind a broken vending machine.
A third slunk from the shadow of the collapsed dorm.
Five total, just as Ash predicted.
"Stay behind me," Ethan said.
"No," Lena whispered, planting her feet. "Beside you."
He didn't argue.
The pack spread out, advancing in a semicircle—heads low, fangs glinting.
Ash hovered above them.
[TACTICAL ADVICE: DO NOT LET THEM FLANK YOU.]
"No kidding," Ethan muttered. "Any chance you can zap them or something?"
[NO.]
"Then stop giving commentary!"
The lead beast lunged.
Ethan reacted instantly—his Micro-Calculation passive firing like a spark across his nerves. The creature's trajectory slowed in his perception, its muscles coiling, its jaws opening—
Ethan pivoted right.
The beast sailed past him, jaws snapping shut an inch from his arm.
He swung his forearm upward, striking the creature's snout with a brutal palm heel. The beast yelped, skidding across the ground.
"Nice!" Lena shouted—and had to duck as another beast leapt for her throat.
Ethan moved without thinking—
Phase Shift hummed—
He flickered forward, grabbing the beast mid-lunge and yanking it away from her.
Pain shot through his shoulder—the creature was heavier than it looked—but he slammed it into the ground and stomped its neck.
Bones cracked.
The beast twitched once, then stilled.
Lena gasped for breath. "Thanks—"
"No time!" Ethan barked.
Three beasts remained.
And now they were angry.
Two charged him at once, one from the front, one circling behind. The third remained back, watching—waiting for an opening.
Classic pack tactics.
Ethan's heartbeat steadied.
He stepped forward to meet the first, slipping under its jaws and driving his elbow across its face. Teeth flew as it tumbled sideways.
The second beast leapt for his spine—
—but Lena intercepted it with a wild swing.
Her metal pipe connected with a sickening thud, knocking the creature off balance. She hit it again before it recovered, then again—each strike shaking her arms.
The pipe bent horribly.
"Lena!" Ethan shouted.
"Still good!" she yelled back, breathless, gripping the warped weapon like a lifeline.
Ethan turned back to the first beast—
—and it tackled him before he could react.
His back slammed into cracked pavement, air blasting from his lungs. The beast's jaws snapped inches from his throat. Violet drool splattered onto his cheek, steaming as it made contact.
Ethan gritted his teeth and shoved upward. Muscles screamed. The creature snarled, claws digging into his chest.
The pack leader—the one that had been waiting—approached, a low rumble vibrating in its chest.
Ethan felt its predatory focus like a cold knife.
Not good.
Not good.
He twisted hard to the side, throwing the beast off him just enough to scramble upward. It snapped at his ankle—he kicked, sending it tumbling.
But the leader was already in motion.
It dashed forward, faster than the others, violet energy rippling across its fur like lightning.
Ethan braced—
"Ethan!"
Lena's voice cut through the chaos.
She flung her bent metal pipe—
—hitting the leader square in the side of the face.
The beast's head snapped sideways. It skidded across the ground, stunned.
Ethan didn't waste the moment.
Aggression Overdrive flickered—painful, unstable, but present.
He seized it.
Energy surged through him.
He sprinted, closed the distance—
Gripped the pack leader's jaw—
And slammed its head into the pavement.
Once.
Twice.
A third time.
On the fourth slam, the skull cracked.
On the fifth, it shattered.
The beast went limp.
Silence rippled across the courtyard.
Ethan staggered back, chest heaving.
Two beasts still writhed weakly—broken but not dead. The third one Lena had beaten lay motionless.
Ethan approached them cautiously.
[RECOMMENDATION: FINISH THEM.] Ash chimed.
Ethan grimaced. "Do I have to?"
[YES.]
[INCOMPLETE KILLS ATTRACT STRONGER CREATURES.]
"Okay, okay…"
He picked up a jagged chunk of concrete and did what needed to be done.
When the last beast stopped twitching, Ethan dropped the stone and stepped back, wiping blood and dirt from his hands.
The courtyard was silent again.
Lena approached him slowly. "Are you okay?"
"I'm… yeah." He paused, then corrected himself. "I'm not okay. But I'm alive."
"You did great," she said.
Ethan looked at her—her trembling hands, her bent weapon, her soot-smudged cheeks.
"You did better," he said quietly.
She blinked, surprised.
A soft smile touched her lips.
Then Ash floated between them.
[GOOD NEWS.]
Ethan raised an eyebrow. "You have good news?"
[YES.]
[YOU LEVELED UP.]
He froze. "Wait—I can level?"
[YES. DURING NON-STANDARD SYSTEM INSTALLATION, YOU SKIPPED LEVEL 1. YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 2.]
"Is that… good?"
[NO. IT IS UNIMPRESSIVE.]
"ASH."
[BUT.]
The cube flickered brightly.
[YOU ALSO GAINED NEW EVOLUTION OPTIONS.]
Ethan perked up. "Evolution options?"
**[YES. TWO CANDIDATES AVAILABLE:
MUSCLE REINFORCEMENT (PHYSICAL PATH)
ELEMENTAL IGNITION (FIRE PATH)
]**
Lena's eyes widened. "Ethan… you can choose your direction."
Ethan exhaled slowly.
Physical strength.
Or elemental awakening.
Both powerful.
Both useful.
But he had to choose.
Lena stepped closer. "Think carefully. Whatever you choose now will shape how you fight."
Ash hovered eagerly.
[CHOOSE.]
Ethan looked around at the ruined courtyard, then down at his trembling fists.
His decision was formed, sharp and clear.
He opened his mouth—
A monstrous roar echoed from the distance.
Louder than the previous beasts.
Deeper.
Hungrier.
Ash pulsed red.
[WARNING: A STRONGER MONSTER IS APPROACHING.]
Ethan clenched his jaw.
"Fine. I choose—"