In front of Luke, two massive yellow eyes stared him down. Slitted pupils like blades. The scent of the city mixed with something heavier, something rotten. The stench of the serpent. It was the reek of old blood, wet moss, and damp earth.

[Frankzaroth, the Great Serpent (Beast Lord) - Lvl 83]

Its body was as thick as a freight train, scales black and uneven like scorched iron plates fused together. It didn't move. It only watched. Judging. Calculating. Tasting.

Luke barely breathed.

Then came a crack.

It moved.

Luke threw himself to the ground, instinct taking over. Even then, those eyes were still there. Cold. Alive. Following his every inch. The mouth opened. Two long fangs, maybe even bigger than him. Drool spilled from between its teeth, and the roar that followed was like an avalanche detonating in a tunnel. A blast of wind came with the saliva, the force throwing Luke backward.

It came for him. Fast. Too fast. Its massive body whipped across the ground like a giant cable, crushing everything in its path. Luke activated his Dash, leaping skyward. He landed on a rooftop and immediately sprinted forward. He had to get deeper into the capital. Away from open ground. Out of the serpent's range. He didn't stop. Dash after dash, his body blurred with speed, leaping from one building to the next.

Of course this would happen. Just my luck!

Behind him, the serpent roared again, demolishing everything in its pursuit. Buildings crumbled under the weight of its body as it slid violently down the street. Smaller beasts were scattering in every direction. Luke didn't care about them, and apparently, neither did they. They were running on pure instinct.

He hurled himself through the window of a massive, half-ruined structure. The place had once been some kind of tower, an old office building maybe, and now echoed with every quake of the serpent closing in behind him.

"WE'RE GONNA DIE! WE'RE GONNA DIE!" Artemis screamed in panic.

"SHUT UP!" Luke shouted, vaulting through another shattered window and sprinting across the next rooftop.

By now, Charlie had returned to his soul. She was too slow to keep up. He crashed through the remains of an upper floor, an old office covered in cobwebs, dusty furniture, broken cabinets. His heart pounded in his chest. He could feel the serpent moving outside, slamming into the streets below, shattering stone as it hunted.

He passed by a row of tall windows, and there it was. The serpent. It had found him. It stared into the building, massive eyes locked onto him like a predator eyeing a wounded animal. Webs snagged his arms as he ran. He slashed them away with a kukri, only to hear a high-pitched screech. A spider launched at him from the ceiling, fangs bared.

"Shit!" Luke twisted mid-run, flinging a kukri into one of its legs.

Then the impact came. The entire floor collapsed as the serpent's head slammed into it. Its jaws burst through the wall with terrifying force, devouring steel, wood, and concrete in a single bite. Right where he was headed. The thing had calculated that. It was thinking. Hunting. Planning.

He saw it chewing through rubble like it was biting into brittle crackers, never looking away. Eyes still locked on him. No hesitation. Luke bolted in the opposite direction, sprinting across what remained of the ruined floor.

A Lord. A damn Lord. What are the odds I'd run face-first into one just hours after stepping foot in this place?!

The entire building began to shake. Outside, the serpent's roar echoed through the ruins, warping the air itself. Luke sprinted down the hallway toward the far side of the floor, but when he reached the window, his heart sank. No way out. A massive coil of the serpent's body blocked the opening like a living wall. Then the sound changed. A deep, guttural crack, as if the world itself was about to snap in two.

"Oh no... don't tell me it's doing what I think it's doing," Luke muttered, scanning the room. The ceiling creaked. The walls shuddered. The sound intensified with every second.

The serpent had coiled itself around the entire building. And now, it was squeezing.

The walls began to groan. The ceiling above collapsed in chunks. Debris rained down from every angle. Luke bolted into another room, but every window he found was blocked. Segments of the beast's body wrapped tightly around the structure, suffocating it from all sides.

"Shit! I'm gonna get crushed in here!"

The building swayed again. The floor shook beneath his boots. One of the serpent's coils smashed through a wall, forcing its mass inward, warping the support beams. Luke spotted an opening in the ceiling, an upper floor, partially caved in. He leapt, grabbed onto the broken edge, and scrambled upward. His breath came fast. Behind him, the building cracked louder. On the next floor, a window. Unblocked.

No hesitation. He sprinted toward it and dove straight through, shattering the glass with his full weight. He landed hard on a slanted rooftop, rolled, slid, and barely caught himself before toppling off the edge. Rising to his feet, he looked back and saw it.

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The serpent's full body had wrapped around the building, tightening like it was strangling prey. The structure groaned, bent, and finally gave way. It collapsed in on itself with a roar of stone, steel, and dust. The creature let out a triumphant bellow.

Luke didn't waste a second. He turned and ran. But the beast saw him. Something rained down from above. Chunks of stone, shattered beams, debris flying like cannonballs. He glanced back and saw the serpent's tail sweeping through the ruins, flinging rubble like it weighed nothing.

He sprinted faster, feet barely touching the ground. His hand gripped one of his kukris tight, channeling stamina into the blade. The serpent surged forward. It moved like a living thunderbolt. Fast. Fluid. Monstrous. Luke spun mid-run and hurled the kukri straight at its face. The blade whirled through the air and bounced off its scales like a pebble off steel. No damage. It clattered uselessly to the ground.

Luke activated Magnetic Return, and with a sharp click, the kukri zipped back to his hand. Running wouldn't work. It was too fast. So he did the only thing he knew how to do. He attacked. Jaw clenched, he poured stamina into both kukris. His eyes locked on the beast. Adrenaline roared in his veins.

"STOP! YOU'RE INSANE! WE'RE GONNA DIE!" Artemis screamed from the necklace.

Luke didn't respond. He charged the monster head-on.

The serpent lunged.

He activated Dash, dodging by a hair's breadth. Then jumped, spinning in the air like a human spear, and flew toward its face. Its jaws opened, wide and wet with froth. Luke spread his cloak midair and, at the last second, drove both kukris between two massive black scales.

Nothing.

The blades vibrated like they'd hit a living fortress. He ran along the beast's body, barely keeping balance as it twisted beneath him. He had to reach the base of the skull. There might be a gap there. A weakness.

But the serpent threw itself sideways, slamming into a ruined tower. The impact launched him. He crashed into a metal beam, spun, tumbled, and skidded across the floor of a broken balcony. Groaning, he tried to rise. Mind reeling. Vision spinning. The serpent's tail whipped through the ruins again, spraying debris like shrapnel. A chunk of stone slammed into his shoulder, knocking him off balance.

Then came the strike. Its head cut through the air like a missile. Drool dripped from those mountainous fangs. Yellow eyes locked on target. Luke dove backward at the last second. The jaws snapped shut right in front of him, splintering the floor, devouring rubble and tearing a trench through solid stone. He didn't look back. He ran. Through broken halls, through shattered doors, through whatever was in front of him. Glass, stone, wood — it didn't matter. He had one goal now. Survive.

The monster sank its fangs into what remained of the building, chewing through the concrete like it was made of paper. Luke braced to move but didn't get the chance. The tail came like a living guillotine, slicing through the wall of the house and destroying everything in its path like a furious chain of falling dominoes. The impact hit him full force. His body was flung through the air and slammed into a stone archway. The structure cracked on impact, groaning as if about to give way. He dropped to the ground. Blood streamed down the side of his face, painting a red smear across his skin. His lungs burned. His vision blurred. But he stood.

"Yeah... it's way out of my league in terms of strength," he muttered, letting out a dry laugh that sounded more like desperation than humor.

"OH REALLY, GENIUS?!" Artemis screamed. "I'VE BEEN SAYING THAT SINCE THE START!"

Luke didn't answer. He sprinted toward a half-collapsed building and dove inside. Barely had time to catch his breath before the serpent smashed through half the wall, shoving its massive snout in to grab him. He bolted up a broken staircase, leaping over gaps and crumbling steps. He burst through a window, climbed to the rooftop, and from up there, tried to take control of the chaos.

He inhaled sharply. With a quick flick of his arm, he hurled one kukri, the blade charged with raw force. As it spun through the air, he activated one of his skills.

[This entity cannot be marked with Assassin's Mark]

His brow tightened. The ability failed. Without the mark, he wouldn't be able to track the serpent if he turned his back. No vision. No indicator. Nothing. The kukri struck its back and bounced off harmlessly. He recalled the blade with a magnetic pulse. It snapped back into his hand.

The serpent raised its head and let out a piercing roar toward the sky.

"You know what? Screw this. I'm out!" he said, turning around, already mapping a way out. He ran. Activated Dash. Slid down a sloped path of broken rooftops, trying to widen the distance between them.

But when he looked back one last time, he froze. The Beast Lord's massive body was coiling. Its scales tightened like compressed springs.

"No... no, no, no."

The creature launched. A serpent the size of a building shot into the sky like an organic missile. Luke stood frozen for a heartbeat, staring in disbelief as that colossal thing flew through the air. And then it found him. Its yellow eyes gleamed.

"You've got to be kidding me…"

The impact hit seconds later. The monster landed right in front of him, crashing down on the structure he'd been running across. The building collapsed in a cloud of stone and dust. Luke, acting purely on instinct, threw himself sideways at the last possible moment, barely avoiding being crushed. He tumbled hard into a narrow street.

Then he saw it. He was surrounded. The serpent's tail snaked along both sides, coiling around the road like a living wall. Its body twisted through the alleyways, tightening around the buildings, sealing off every escape. He spun, desperate. Everywhere he looked — scales. Muscle. Living barricade.

From above, the serpent's head emerged slowly, deliberately. Fangs bared. Drool dripping in thick strands. There was no roar this time. No rush. It was smiling.

Luke felt ice crawl down his spine. He couldn't win this. Not in a direct fight. The monster was faster. Stronger. With more reach. And absurd durability. Now it was playing with him. Every inch of this street belonged to it. Every path. A dead end.

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