The shriek of tearing wind cut across the battlefield.
Massive tentacles crashed down.
Not blind attacks.
It was the monster's furious counterattack.
Dane accelerated instantly.
The engine inside his armor roared, driving his body sideways through dust and blood.
A tentacle slammed down exactly where he had been standing.
BOOM!
Earth and stone exploded.
The ground trembled beneath his feet.
He slipped past it.
Twisted his body.
Skidded sideways.
But the moment he avoided the first strike—
Another tentacle lunged from his blind spot.
Faster.
More savage.
Dane clenched his teeth and triggered acceleration again.
The armor shrieked.
The power-assist mechanisms strained to their limit.
He dodged.
Barely.
Then the next strike came.
And another.
And another.
Gigantic tentacles rained down one after another, every blow aimed straight at his life.
The battlefield turned into a storm of lethal strikes.
While his body moved on instinct—
A parameter flashed inside the armor interface.
Dane glanced at it.
His heart sank.
Crystal energy.
The indicator bar had already dropped nearly halfway after that last shot.
And that wasn't all.
Every burst of acceleration.
Every evasive maneuver.
The armor's propulsion system devoured more energy.
And at the speed he was moving—
The remaining power was draining even faster.
"Damn it…"
Dane's breathing grew heavy.
The armor slowed.
Just one beat.
A fleeting moment.
But on a battlefield—
One beat was already too much.
BOOM!
A tentacle struck him.
The impact slammed straight through the armor.
Dane was sent flying like a cannon shell.
His body shot across the battlefield.
Then—
CRASH!
He hit the ground hard.
Mud and dirt burst into the air.
The air was knocked from his lungs.
Dane's chest heaved violently.
His breathing came in ragged gasps.
His ears rang from the collision.
But he didn't allow himself to stay down.
Dane forced himself up immediately.
Tried to stand.
His muscles trembled beneath the armor.
A massive shadow swallowed his vision.
Another tentacle was crashing down.
"Damn it!"
Dane roared.
The armor suddenly felt unnaturally heavy.
As if something were dragging him down into the ground.
Energy warnings flashed red across the interface.
He gritted his teeth.
Poured every ounce of strength into his muscles.
Forced the armor to move.
The assist joints screeched under the strain.
But he was no longer as fast as before.
The tentacles above writhed.
Twisting, as if mocking him.
The prey before them no longer had the strength to run.
The next strike was coming.
Dane knew it clearly.
If that strike landed—
He would be badly wounded.
Right then—
A line of steel figures rushed in.
A row of armored knights stepped in front of him.
No hesitation.
No delay.
They shouted:
"Protect the boss!"
"Everyone!"
"Convert the armor's energy into cannon rounds!"
"Fire!"
"Fire everything!"
"Don't hold back!"
Their arms shifted.
Armor plates opened.
Integrated arm-mounted cannons deployed from their forearms.
Faint flashes burst from the barrels.
Volley after volley of dim energy rounds shot forward.
But the firepower was too weak.
Almost like tiny stings.
A tentacle swept sideways.
BOOM!
One massive swing.
The entire formation was blown apart.
Armored suits slammed into each other.
Some were hurled into the air.
Some crashed into the ground.
Some were crushed outright.
Dane froze.
His eyes widened.
These kids…
Why haven't they retreated?
One armored knight was flung over Dane's head.
His body spun through the air.
Then he fell right in front of Dane.
THUD.
The helmet split open.
Fragments of metal shattered away.
Revealing a very young face.
Blood covered half of it.
He struggled to breathe.
His chest trembled.
Before collapsing—
He forced his hand toward Dane.
His fingers trembled.
"Boss… run…"
The voice was weak.
Almost swallowed by the noise of the battlefield.
Then his body went still.
The outstretched arm dropped onto the cold ground.
It didn't move again.
Blood slowly seeped from the cracks in the armor.
It dripped onto the ground.
His eyes were open.
Empty.
Staring straight at Dane.
Dane's expression darkened.
A flame began to burn in his eyes.
They were his soldiers.
Familiar faces.
Men he trained every day.
He remembered it clearly.
The laughter in the barracks.
The smell of sweat on the training field.
The drills that pushed them to exhaustion.
The joking curses.
The pats on the shoulder.
All of it flashed through his mind.
Dane clenched his teeth.
His jaw ground tight.
He turned his head.
Looked toward the writhing tentacles.
Screams were still echoing across the battlefield.
He roared:
"Stop!"
"Stoooooop!"
But nothing stopped.
Every sweep of a tentacle—
Left more blood behind.
And limbs torn apart.
Dane's eyes went blank.
He looked down at the scattered pieces of broken bodies.
His hands trembled.
Smoke seeped from the seams of the armor.
Dane's hands lit up.
Energy gathered.
Two blades of light formed in his palms.
In an instant—
Dane vanished.
A streak of blue lightning tore across the battlefield.
Straight toward the heart of the tentacles.
The tentacles lashed out immediately.
Massive slabs of flesh swept through the air.
But—
SHRAK!
A flash of light.
One tentacle was severed.
A mist of blood burst out.
Dane roared:
"PAY FOR THEIR LIVES!"
Dark red tentacles twisted together.
Forming a massive net.
As if trying to trap the beast charging toward them.
But—
The net was torn apart again and again.
The twin blades of light became the beast's fangs.
Slashing.
Ripping.
Cutting.
Tentacles tried to coil around him—
Dane crushed them apart.
Some were torn into chunks.
Some were minced to pieces.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
His armored suit slowly turned crimson.
The hunter—
Had now become the prey.
The tentacles lashed wildly.
The air exploded with every swing.
But they struck only afterimages.
Dane was moving too fast.
Suddenly—
He appeared in the distance.
Both hands raised.
Light gathered violently.
An energy spear formed between his palms.
The power compressed so tightly that the air itself began to tremble.
Dane threw it.
The spear ripped through the air.
BOOM!!!
A massive explosion shook the battlefield.
Fire and blood blasted outward.
Then Dane vanished again.
Charging straight back into the fight.
He didn't realize—
While moving at that insane speed—
His armored suit was starting to crack.
Thin fractures spread across the metal plating.
And blood…
Was leaking from inside.
---
Far away—
On the roof of a ruined research building.
Concrete lay shattered.
Twisted steel bars jutted from the collapsed roof like broken bones.
Wind slipped through empty window frames.
A faint whistling echoed through the abandoned structure.
Three figures in black stood at the edge of the roof.
Motionless.
Like shadows nailed to the gray sky.
From that vantage point—
The entire battlefield lay beneath their feet.