Vernisha grabbed the creature’s face with her left hand, unwilling to let it die.

  Her hands glowed red. The small amount of healing she could still muster kept it from slipping away. With her hand still on it, the monster collapsed into black energy and was pulled into her palm.

  It hurt like hell, but this time it was bearable. She guessed it was because the thing was too weak to fight back now.

  She was exhausted. So tired. It was a strange kind of exhaustion, the kind that only came after using her healing skill.

  Vernisha collapsed forward, her body heavy.

  She could not heal anymore. She was too drained.

  If she tried to heal even a little more, she would run out of ether, faint, and risk dying.

  She knew that from experience. The last time, she had almost died trying to regenerate her legs after losing them to a boulder. That attempt had ended with cardiac arrest. Her second one. She had gotten lucky then.

  This time hurt so much.

  Her ribs were exposed. She was sure many of them had been ripped away.

  She needed more ether. But Jer-kal could not help.

  The pain was unbearable. She did not want to move. Did not want to do anything. But she could not stay there.

  Walking was not an option. Crawling was almost impossible.

  Then it hit her.

  She had a monster now.

  She sent it out. With a flash of black, it took form.

  That was not all.

  She could see through its eyes. Hear, smell, feel everything.

  That meant she could hear its thoughts too.

  Kill. Plunder. Take. Devour. Rip the guts. Feast on the muscles. Drink the blood. Play with the brain parts. Breed. Have a million descendants. Grow stronger. Become the strongest.

  Over and over, the thoughts echoed in her mind.

  It made her nauseous. The thoughts were so immersive that it felt like she had a second brain.

  If she was not careful, she could mistake those thoughts for her own.

  With the amount of blood she had lost, maybe that was the least of her concerns.

  The monster’s thoughts still buzzed in her head, but the will behind them was weak, drained.

  The red and purple blood she was lying in blurred more with every second.

  What could she do?

  She forced herself to think.

  She needed more ether.

  She was going to do something insane.

  She gave the order. Bring her the corpse of one of its brethren. Or the ether organ inside it.

  The monster near her struggled to move. Every shift sent pain tearing through her body, especially the stab wounds in its neck. Now that it was bound to her, they shared health.

  It hurt so much.

  Her breathing was heavy. Her body was too weak to move.

  She was so weak that controlling the monster felt almost impossible. But it was weak too. Maybe that balance was the only thing keeping her alive.

  Jer-kal was still fighting. Vernisha saw it through the monster’s eyes.

  Jer-kal was bloodied, but the Sharfeline was worse. Its tail was gone. Half its face was missing. Spider legs jutted from its body like spears.

  And still it moved. Still it tried to kill her.

  Breathing became harder. Vernisha could barely draw air into her lungs. Her chest tightened with every attempt. Gurgling sounds escaped her throat.

  Blood filled her mouth. She had not even noticed until now.

  Her monster tore into one of its siblings, ripping open the abdomen until it found a wrinkled, ball-like organ. It pulsed like a heart. The ether-processing organ.

  It brought it to her.

  She could not see it clearly with her own eyes, but she knew it was slick with blood and fat.

  She did not hesitate.

  She bit down on it. Luckily, she could not taste anything.

  She tried to chew. The flesh was too tough. Like trying to bite through rubber. She gave up and tried to swallow it whole.

  It would not go down.

  Shit.

  She forced her monster to shove the organ down her throat with its claw.

  There was only one problem.

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  She did not know if she would absorb the ether before she died.

  Her vision dimmed. Everything darkened. Fast.

  She tried to move her arm. There was no strength behind it.

  She ordered the monster to place her left hand against her back.

  It obeyed.

  She coated her hand with her healing skill. Only a little came out. She hoped the energy would stay active. That it would grow stronger once she lost consciousness, fueled by the ether in the organ.

  Hope.

  It had to work.

  It had to.

  Everything went black.

  Jim leapt to the side as Treecra’s leg pierced through the Sharfeline’s head.

  The giant crab of wood punched clean through it.

  The body collapsed. Purple blood pooled around the corpse.

  Something was wrong.

  Jim turned to Lo’jul. He asked if they were fighting weak clones.

  This was not the first one they had killed. The ground around them was littered with identical bodies.

  Lo’jul answered from atop his massive four-legged beast. It had the body of a dog, gorilla arms, and the head of a shark.

  Since when were clones this weak? It felt like fighting level one monsters.

  Jim asked what it meant.

  Lo’jul dismounted and walked to one of the corpses. His monster followed, clearly under his mental command.

  Its eyes glowed green.

  Lo’jul made an annoyed sound. It had some kind of active skill, but he could not tell what it did.

  Jim was starting to think it was a distraction.

  Lo’jul agreed. The creature wanted the villagers alone.

  They had fallen for it.

  It wanted to level quickly but knew it could not take them head-on.

  Jim clenched his jaw. He hated monsters.

  He hoped Jer-kal-thuli-mal was fine.

  She had to be.

  They needed to head back.

  Bahmos lay still on the dirt with Julus, Merkerthy, and Tom, not making a sound.

  They could hear everything around them. Thankfully, they had positioned themselves near Dreamy’s burial, far from the chaos.

  The villagers’ screams had faded significantly. There were still occasional cries, which likely meant the monsters were running out of easy targets.

  That probably meant they were next.

  Anxiety clamped down on Bahmos like a vice. Breathing became a struggle. Everything felt manual now. His body trembled uncontrollably.

  His thoughts kept drifting to Natasha. He had heard faint sounds from the carriage earlier. Humming, maybe. But once the screaming started, there was nothing. And he was sure she had not left it.

  The thought crept in, unwanted and cold.

  He might die here.

  The crunch of leaves cut through the silence.

  “Don’t… my… run…”

  Vernisha gasped.

  She inhaled sharply and immediately coughed up blood.

  She was alive.

  It had worked. Somehow, it had actually worked.

  A crooked smile tugged at her lips. She almost laughed. The thought crossed her mind that other monsters could have come for her while she was unconscious.

  She had gotten lucky.

  Her back scraped against the ground. There was pain, but there was flesh. She could move. Weakly, but she could move.

  She was mostly intact.

  The ether-processing organ she had consumed must have been packed with ether. For a moment, she wondered if her own EPO could have ruptured inside her.

  Whatever the case, she was alive.

  Now she needed to find Natasha and get out.

  Running into the open would be suicide.

  She did not know the odds of Natasha being alive. She had no choice but to hope they were good.

  Vernisha moved carefully and peered through a gap in the wall.

  Jer-kal was still fighting the Sharfeline.

  Both Jer-kal and her monster were in terrible shape.

  The bodies of newborn monsters littered the ground nearby. Vernisha did not know if Jer-kal had killed them or if the Sharfeline had sacrificed its own young to empower itself.

  It did not matter.

  She needed to heal Jer-kal’s monster fast and run, if she even could.

  If Jer-kal fell, Vernisha would be next.

  If she was spotted, she would not last long. No amount of healing would save her from losing her head.

  She called her monster over. It struggled to move. She healed it. The healing was weak, but it was enough to make it act like a tired soldier instead of something close to death.

  She needed to save the rest of her strength for Jer-kal’s monster.

  She did not think she had enough.

  Then she realized she might.

  She tightened her grip on her knife and whispered for it to go.

  Mon sprinted forward, weaving across the battlefield. It moved between corpses, tearing open abdomens and swallowing ether-processing organs. Then it returned to her.

  Vernisha focused inward, asking the system what its skills were.

  The knowledge settled into her mind.

  Flame claws.

  Strong charge.

  Fire spit.

  Level eight.

  Mon slipped back into the house through the hole it had made earlier. It approached her and vomited up the EPOs it had consumed.

  She could not believe she was about to do this.

  She was not sure if the gods of this world answered prayers, but she silently begged them anyway. She hoped her stomach would hold.

  She held her breath, picked up two EPOs, and started eating them like meatballs.

  It was awful.

  The texture. The taste. It felt like chewing rotting dog meat.

  She fought the urge to vomit. Her eyes watered. Her hands shook.

  Outside, the Sharfeline roared and slammed its claws down at Jer-kal. The humanoid spider leapt in front of the attack.

  The claws tore into it. Both it and Jer-kal grunted in pain.

  Vernisha cursed under her breath.

  She shouted for Mon to distract its mother.

  Mon rushed forward just as the Sharfeline prepared to breathe fire. It slashed at the monster’s legs with flame claws. Under normal circumstances, the attack would have barely scratched it. But the legs were already deeply wounded.

  The Sharfeline kicked back, misjudging the target. It thought it was something larger.

  It missed.

  Vernisha bolted from cover as fast as she could. She hoped the Sharfeline was confused by its offspring attacking it.

  In truth, it probably no longer considered Jer-kal a threat.

  Jer-kal could barely stand.

  Something nagged at Vernisha.

  Why had Jer-kal not used her fairy to heal?

  Then she remembered. The fairy had run out of ether.

  The ether-processing organ only absorbed ether from the air. The air here was terrible.

  Jer-kal spotted her.

  Shock crossed her face. Then panic.

  She gestured sharply for Vernisha to leave.

  Vernisha ignored it.

  She would leave once she was sure Jer-kal would survive.

  She reached her and felt Jer-kal grab her shoulders. Probably to tell her to get out. Instead, Vernisha shoved three EPOs into her hands and told her to use them for the fairy.

  Healing the humanoid spider directly would have been dangerous. Natasha had warned her about that. The last thing she needed was for Jer-kal to realize what she could do.

  If there had been no chance of survival, she might have risked it. But she was not there yet.

  Jer-kal stared at the EPOs, stunned. Vernisha was surprised she even had time to react.

  Then Jer-kal nodded and thanked her.

  She pointed at her humanoid spider and told Vernisha to bring her to Shtyui.

  So that was its name.

  Vernisha grabbed Jer-kal and pulled her along.

  Jer-kal looked startled.

  She commented on Vernisha’s unnatural strength.

  Vernisha hoped she would assume it was coincidence.

  She brushed it off, mentioning working out, and asked if Jer-kal’s friends were coming.

  She should have had Mon level them up. But at least it was enough to distract the wounded Sharfeline.

  Jer-kal said they were probably dealing with the children. She said she would call them.

  Vernisha did not notice a communicator. Jer-kal went quiet, likely using a monster skill.

  They reached Shtyui. The creature barely stood.

  Jer-kal approached and told it it had done well.

  She tapped it with her foot.

  A flash of white erupted. Through Mon’s eyes, Vernisha saw the Sharfeline stop attacking and turn toward them.

  Jer-kal summoned the fairy.

  Instantly, the fairy went from unharmed to bleeding from its nose and mouth. It writhed in agony.

  Jer-kal apologized and handed it the EPOs.

  The fairy devoured them with razor-sharp teeth and swallowed. A bulge slid down its throat and vanished.

  The Sharfeline roared and charged.

  The sound drew Jer-kal’s attention.

  Vernisha seized the moment. From the blind spot, she touched the fairy and poured everything she had into healing it. Enough to stop the bleeding. Enough to get it standing.

  Jer-kal gasped.

  Her eyes widened as she turned toward Vernisha.

  Confusion flickered across Vernisha’s mind.

  The air whistled.

  She saw claws closing in, aimed directly at her neck.

  Understanding hit her all at once. She was about to die