Chapter 64 - 63: First Blood in Eldilon
The towering grass parted slowly.
At first, only the tips bent beneath an unseen weight. Then the movement spread deeper into the ancient field, carving a path toward the sea of newly arrived survivors.
Whatever was approaching wasn’t rushing.
It walked with the quiet confidence of a predator that had never needed to fear its prey.
Thousands of eyes remained fixed on the swaying grass. No one spoke nor did they move.
The creature emerged one deliberate step at a time.
It stood well over eight feet tall, its broad frame wrapped in overlapping charcoal scales with a dull metallic sheen. Four powerful limbs ended in curved black claws that dug effortlessly into the earth, while a thick tail swept behind it, flattening the grass with every sweep. Its head was vaguely reptilian, yet disturbingly wrong, with rows of jagged teeth protruding from a mouth far too wide for its skull. Along both sides of its neck, narrow slits opened and closed in a slow rhythm, almost like gills drawing invisible breaths.
Its pale yellow eyes swept across the enormous crowd.
Not with confusion.
With recognition.
The silence lasted only a heartbeat longer.
Then someone screamed.
The sound shattered the fragile stillness.
Panic spread through the field like wildfire.
Thousands of survivors surged in every direction at once, each person convinced that a different path offered the best chance of survival. People collided shoulder first, stumbled over one another, and fell beneath the feet of those too terrified to stop running.
A little girl cried as her small hand slipped free from her mother’s grasp. "Mama!"
Her voice disappeared beneath the roar of the crowd.
Nearby, a gray-haired man stumbled after being knocked from behind. Before he could push himself back up, another wave of fleeing survivors nearly trampled him.
A young stranger broke away from the crowd without hesitation.
Ignoring the danger closing in, he grabbed the elderly man’s arm and hauled him back onto his feet. "Come on!" he shouted. "Move!"
The old man could barely keep pace, but the younger man refused to let go.
Not everyone chose courage.
Only a short distance away, another monster burst from the edge of the forest with startling speed.
A middle-aged couple froze.
The woman reached instinctively for her husband.
Instead of pulling her to safety, he shoved her toward the charging creature.
"No!" She stumbled forward, horror replacing disbelief as the man turned and fled without looking back.
The monster pounced. It’s massive claws swept through the air with terrifying force.
The woman’s scream ended almost as soon as it began.
Elsewhere, a mother threw herself over two young children, wrapping both arms around them as another creature charged across the field. She squeezed her eyes shut, expecting the impact that never came.
A broad-shouldered man carrying nothing more than a length of broken steel pipe intercepted the monster instead.
The pipe struck the side of its head with a loud clang.
The creature barely reacted.
It turned toward its new target.
The man managed one frightened step backward before the monster’s claws tore through his chest.
He collapsed instantly.
The mother stared in stunned silence, clutching her children even tighter as tears streamed down her face.
All around them, desperate acts unfolded one after another.
A teenage boy refused to leave his injured sister behind, dragging her across the grass despite the monsters closing in.
Two complete strangers worked together to pull trapped survivors from beneath the crushing crowd.
Others abandoned friends and family without a second thought, driven by nothing except the desperate instinct to survive.
The beautiful field that had seemed so peaceful only moments ago descended into complete chaos.
Alexander never joined the stampede.
His eyes remained locked on the monsters emerging from the forest.
One.
Then three.
Then six.
Each moved with unsettling coordination, spreading across the clearing as though herding the panicked survivors instead of simply chasing them.
His hand settled around the grip of his dagger.
His expression hardened almost imperceptibly.
These creatures were different.
The infected had been dangerous because of their numbers.
These monsters didn’t need numbers. A single one possessed enough strength to slaughter dozens of people by itself.
Aurilion’s rules no longer applied.
Alexander stepped in front of Cassandra without taking his eyes off the advancing monsters.
"Stay behind me." His voice was calm, carrying none of the panic consuming the field around them.
Cassandra swallowed hard, her fingers instinctively resting over her stomach. She wanted to argue. She wanted to tell him they should run with everyone else.
But one look at the creatures charging through the grass told her there was nowhere safe to run.
The nearest monster changed direction. Its pale yellow eyes locked onto them. Then it accelerated. The ground trembled beneath its weight. It wasn’t moving like the infected. There was no clumsy stumbling. No mindless charge.
Every stride was powerful and deliberate, its four muscular limbs driving it across the field with frightening speed. Thick scales overlapped across its body like natural armor, each one reflecting the morning sunlight with a dull metallic sheen. Jagged teeth protruded from a mouth that stretched almost from one side of its head to the other, while curved claws dug deep furrows into the earth each time they struck the ground.
Alexander’s breathing slowed.
The distance was roughly twenty meter and it was closing fast.
There was no obvious blind spots and its strength, durability and weaknesses were all unknown.
His grip tightened around the dagger as the monster lunged. Alexander moved at the last possible instant.
Instead of retreating, he stepped diagonally toward its flank, narrowly avoiding the swipe of claws that carved through empty air where his chest had been a heartbeat earlier.
His dagger flashed.
Steel met scale.
A harsh scraping sound echoed across the field.
The blade slid across the creature’s hide, leaving behind nothing more than a shallow white scratch.
Alexander’s eyes narrowed.
Not enough.
The monster twisted with astonishing speed, its tail whipping toward him.
He dropped into a roll.
The heavy tail passed inches above his head before smashing into the ground behind him with enough force to send dirt and shattered stones flying in every direction.
He regained his footing immediately.
It was durable.
Too fast.
Earth’s infected had relied on numbers.
This thing relied on raw power.
The monster didn’t pause after missing.
It pivoted and charged again.
Alexander adjusted his stance.
Weight balanced.
Eyes fixed on its shoulders instead of its claws.
The shoulders would move first and then the attack followed.
The creature swung.
Alexander sidestepped again, letting the claws tear through empty air before driving his dagger into the softer-looking skin beneath its forelimb.
This time the blade penetrated.
Barely...
Dark emerald blood seeped around the wound.
The monster roared. Not in pain but in irritation.
Its massive forelimb slammed sideways before Alexander could fully withdraw.
The impact struck his shoulder like a speeding vehicle.
Pain exploded through his arm as he was hurled several meters across the grass.
He rolled instinctively, using the momentum to avoid breaking anything, before digging his boots into the ground and forcing himself upright.
His shoulder throbbed violently.
Luckily nothing was broken.... He was just bruised.
He flexed his fingers once.
Still usable.
Nearby, terrified survivors watched with wide eyes.
"He’s fighting it..."
"Is he insane?"
"He can’t win!"
A man gripping a kitchen knife suddenly rushed toward another monster with a desperate yell.
The blade snapped against its scales.
The creature caught him before he could retreat. Its claws tore through him effortlessly.
The crowd screamed.
Alexander didn’t look away from his own opponent.
Distractions got people killed.
The monster lowered itself again, muscles tensing beneath its armored hide.
This time Alexander didn’t move immediately.
He watched.
Its chest expanded.
The narrow slits along both sides of its neck opened slightly.
Then closed... Again and again
It was breathing.
Every attack.
Every exertion.
The strange openings widened before narrowing once more.
Alexander’s mind locked onto the observation.
It was not armor.
It looked like exposed tissue.
His eyes remained fixed on the creature.
There.
The monster lunged again.
Alexander sprinted toward it instead of away.
The sudden decision seemed to confuse the creature for a fraction of a second.
Its claws descended.
Alexander dropped beneath the attack, sliding across the grass as the claws sliced through the air above him.
His dagger shot upward toward one of the gill-like slits.
The blade pierced the opening.
The monster shrieked.
A sound unlike anything he had ever heard.
But the strike hadn’t gone deep enough.
As Alexander tried to pull back, the creature jerked violently.
A sharp crack rang out.
His dagger snapped near the middle of the blade.
Only the broken half remained in his hand.
The monster stumbled backward, shaking its head furiously as emerald blood streamed from the shallow wound.
Alexander rose without hesitation. A broken blade was still a blade.
The creature charged one final time.
Its jaws opened impossibly wide.
Alexander waited for the creature to close the distance.
Five meters.
Four.
Three.
Now.
He pivoted sharply, planting one foot against a half-buried boulder protruding from the earth. Using the elevated footing, he launched himself upward just enough to avoid the snapping jaws.
For a single instant, he was level with the monster’s neck.
Its gills flared open as it roared.
Alexander drove the broken blade forward with every ounce of strength he had.
The jagged steel disappeared deep into the exposed slit.
The monster convulsed.
Dark emerald blood erupted from the wound, splattering across Alexander’s jacket and soaking the grass beneath them.
The creature staggered several more steps.
Its claws gouged deep trenches into the earth.
Then its enormous body crashed onto the field with a thunderous impact that seemed to shake the ground itself.
Silence spread outward from where it had fallen.
Alexander remained where he was, breathing steadily despite the ache radiating through his shoulder.
His eyes stayed on the creature.
Waiting.
It never moved again.
Around him, the fleeing survivors gradually slowed.
One by one, stunned faces turned toward the fallen monster.
A man lowered the metal pipe he had been clutching.
A woman stared with trembling lips, scarcely believing what she had witnessed.
Even the people who had been running moments earlier found themselves standing still.
The impossible had happened.
One of the monsters had died.
And the first person to prove they could be killed stood quietly beside its corpse, gripping nothing more than the broken remains of a dagger stained with emerald blood.