"SPREAD OUT!" Marcus's voice echoed through the tunnels. "Search every passage! Use your Beasts!"
Sunny turned a corner. The tunnel split into three directions.
He took the middle path. Random. No plan. Just survival.
A screech came from above. He looked up.
A massive bat swooped down. Leather wings. Red eyes. Fangs dripping saliva.
[BLOOD BAT DETECTED!]
[LEVEL: 15]
[DANGER: HIGH]
Sunny dove to the side. The bat's claws missed him by inches. It crashed into the water and immediately took flight again.
"Target spotted! Middle tunnel!"
More voices. More Beasts.
Sunny ran faster. His body wasn't built for this. Level two stats. Weak muscles. Poor endurance. He wouldn't last much longer.
Another tunnel split. He went left. Then right. Then straight. Trying to lose them. Trying to create distance. But they were faster.
A wolf-like creature bounded around the corner ahead of him. Gray fur. Glowing yellow eyes. Teeth like knives.
[STEEL FANG DETECTED!]
[LEVEL: 18]
[DANGER: HIGH]
It lunged. Sunny had no choice.
"Void Slime!"
The mark on his arm glowed. Black mist poured out. The Void Slime materialized in front of him. Its six red eyes locked onto the wolf.
The Steel Fang bit down on the Slime's body. Its teeth sank deep.
But the Slime was toxic. Poisonous. The wolf yelped and released its grip. Foam formed at its mouth. Its movements slowed.
The Slime activated Mana Drain. Its body wrapped around the wolf's head. Draining. Weakening. But more Beasts were coming. Sunny could hear them. Dozens of them.
"We need to move!"
The Slime released the wolf and bounced after Sunny. The Steel Fang collapsed in the water. Poisoned. Not dead, but out of the fight.
Sunny kept running. His mind raced. He needed an advantage. Something. Anything.
The Void Slime was level eight. Strong for him. But weak compared to the level fifteen and eighteen Beasts chasing him.
He needed to fuse again. Level it up. Make it stronger. But he only had one Beast. He needed two.
He needed to find another monster. Fast.
A soldier appeared ahead. Young. Scared. He raised his spear.
"Stop! In the name of—"
Sunny didn't let him finish. He shoulder-charged the soldier. The man stumbled back and fell into the water. Sunny kept running.
More tunnels. More turns. The sewers were a maze. But the soldiers knew them too. They were closing in from all sides.
A snake dropped from a pipe. Green scales. Venomous fangs.
[SEWER SERPENT DETECTED]
[LEVEL: 12]
[DANGER: MODERATE]
It struck at Sunny's leg.
The Void Slime intercepted. Its body stretched and blocked the fangs.
The snake's venom mixed with the Slime's toxic body. Both creatures recoiled.
But the distraction cost time. Precious seconds. Behind him, the Blood Bat from earlier caught up. It screeched and dove.
Sunny ducked. The bat's claws scraped his back. Pain exploded. Blood soaked his shirt.
[HP: 34/50]
He stumbled but kept moving. The Void Slime bounced after him. The bat circled for another attack.
This was it. He was going to die here. Hunted like an animal. Killed for something he didn't do.
No. Not again. He refused to die like this.
Sunny's eyes scanned the tunnel desperately. Looking for anything. Any advantage. Then he saw it.
A flicker of light. Blue and purple. Dancing in the air near a crack in the wall.
A butterfly.
[GLOW MOTH DETECTED!]
[LEVEL: 3]
[DANGER: MINIMAL]
It was tiny. Delicate. Its wings glowed with soft bioluminescence. Completely harmless. Completely useless in a fight.
But Sunny's mind clicked.
Level three. Easy to catch. Easy to tame. And he needed a second Beast right now.
The Blood Bat screeched and dove again.
Sunny made his decision. He changed direction. Toward the butterfly.
"Are you insane?!" A soldier shouted from behind. "He's going deeper!"
The Glow Moth fluttered away from the noise. Toward the crack in the wall.
Sunny lunged. His hands closed around the delicate creature. Its wings tickled his palms. It struggled weakly.
He forced his mana into it. Quick. Desperate. No time for finesse.
[DING!]
[GLOW MOTH TAMED]
[BEAST ADDED TO SYSTEM]
[SLOTS AVAILABLE: 2/3]
The moth dissolved into light and formed a mark on his wrist. A small glowing symbol. The Blood Bat was three meters away. Diving. Fangs bared.
"System! Fuse the Void Slime and Glow Moth! Now!"
[DING!]
[FUSION INITIATED]
[VOID SLIME + GLOW MOTH]
[WARNING: LARGE LEVEL DIFFERENCE MAY RESULT IN REDUCED FUSION EFFECTIVENESS]
[PROCEED? YES/NO]
"YES!"
Both marks glowed. Black and blue light exploded from his arms. The Void Slime materialized in the air. The Glow Moth appeared beside it.
They began to merge. The Blood Bat hit them mid-fusion. Its claws raked through the swirling energy. The fusion process shuddered.
But it didn't stop. The Slime's body absorbed the moth. Wings formed. Delicate. Translucent. Black with glowing blue edges.
The six red eyes remained. The toxic green mist inside intensified.
Light flashed.
[DING!]
[FUSION COMPLETE]
[NEW BEAST CREATED: VOID WING]
[LEVEL: 6]
[RARITY: UNCOMMON]
[ABILITIES INHERITED:]
[- MANA DRAIN (FROM VOID SLIME)]
[- TOXIC BODY (FROM VOID SLIME)]
[- FLIGHT (FROM GLOW MOTH)]
[- LUMINESCENCE (FROM GLOW MOTH)]
[WARNING: FUSION LEVEL DECREASED DUE TO LARGE LEVEL GAP]
[PREVIOUS LEVEL: 8 → CURRENT LEVEL: 6]
Sunny's heart sank. The fusion had made it weaker. The Glow Moth was too low level. It had dragged the average down.
But there was no time to regret. The Void Wing materialized fully. It looked like a flying Slime with moth wings. Black body. Six red eyes. Glowing blue wings that left trails of light.
The Blood Bat screeched and attacked.
"Void Wing! Dodge!"
The new Beast obeyed. Its wings flapped. Fast. Agile.
It dodged the bat's claws easily. Then it flew circles around the creature. Faster. More maneuverable. The bat was stronger. Higher level. But the Void Wing could fly better.
"Acid Shot!"
The Void Wing compressed its body. Shot a glob of black acid at the Blood Bat.
Direct hit. The acid burned through the bat's wing. The creature screeched and fell into the water.
[DING!]
[VOID WING GAINED EXPERIENCE]
[LEVEL UP: 6 → 7]
Sunny heard more soldiers coming. More Beasts. The entire tunnel system was converging on his position.
"Void Wing! Grab me!"
The creature flew down. Its body wrapped around his torso. Sticky. Firm. The wings flapped.
Sunny's feet lifted off the ground. Slightly. Just a few centimeters.
Not enough. The Void Wing was level seven. Too weak to carry a full human. But it could help.
Sunny ran. The Void Wing flapped. Together, they moved faster. His feet barely touched the ground. The Beast was reducing his weight. Assisting his movement.
A tunnel opened to the right. Water flowing fast. A drainage channel.
Sunny didn't think. He jumped. The current grabbed him. Pulled him downstream. The Void Wing stayed attached, helping him stay afloat.
Behind him, soldiers shouted. Beasts roared.
But the water was too fast. Too powerful. Even their trained Beasts couldn't keep up.
Sunny was swept away. Into darkness. Into the unknown.
The last thing he heard was Marcus's voice. Distant. Furious.
"Find where that drainage leads! He can't have gone far!"
But Sunny was already gone. Carried by the current. Into the deep sewers beneath the city.