Chapter 11 CHAPTER ELEVEN

Adrian moved before fear could freeze him.

The moment the silver-eyed man tightened his grip around his throat, Adrian drove his elbow backward with everything he had. Bone cracked loudly, but the thing behind him barely reacted, instead, the fingers around his neck tightened harder. His feet left the ground, air vanished from his lunq0gs instantly. The silver-eyed man leaned closer beside his ear. “You can feel it, can’t you?” Adrian slammed the back of his head backward violently. This time the grip loosened slightly,Enough. He twisted free and stumbled across the ruined chamber while dragging in a sharp breath. His vision blurred for a second before stabilizing again.

The silver-eyed man stood motionless near the broken pillars, black blood dripping slowly from his split lip.

Then he smiled again. Dante was already moving.

The massive sword tore through the air with brutal force, smashing directly toward the man’s head. The silver-eyed figure raised one mutated arm instinctively.

The collision exploded through the chamber.

Stone shattered beneath them.

The impact forced the silver-eyed man backward several steps before he suddenly lunged forward again with terrifying speed. Clawed fingers ripped toward Dante’s throat, Dante caught the attack with one arm.

Blood sprayed instantly. But he didn’t retreat.

He grabbed the creature’s wrist and slammed his forehead directly into its face hard enough to break bone. The silver-eyed man staggered backward.

Dante followed immediately. The sword came down again, and again.

  Each strike tore through pillars and ancient stone while the silver-eyed man barely avoided being split apart. The chamber shook violently as centuries-old ruins collapsed around them. The woman grabbed Adrian roughly and pulled him behind fallen debris just as another shockwave blasted across the room. “What are those things?” she shouted. Adrian wiped blood from his mouth while staring at the battle ahead. Dante fought like a man used to killing monsters. But the silver-eyed thing fought like something born for it. The creature suddenly caught Dante’s blade mid-swing.

Its mutated fingers dug directly into the steel. Then it twisted, the massive sword cracked.

Dante’s eyes widened slightly. The silver-eyed man drove his knee into Dante’s stomach hard enough to launch him through another pillar. This time Dante stayed down for a second, the creature turned slowly toward Adrian again. Its damaged face began healing immediately while flesh shifted unnaturally beneath the skin. “You really don’t remember anything, do you?” it asked softly. Adrian’s chest tightened.

“What are you talking about?” The silver-eyed man stepped forward slowly. “The Nest reacts to you because part of it already belongs to you.”

“That’s bullshit.” “Is it?”

The creature pointed toward Adrian’s arm.

Black veins had spread farther beneath the skin.Adrian froze, He hadn’t noticed.The veins pulsed faintly like living things. The silver-eyed man smiled wider. “You’re evolving too quickly.” The hunger suddenly returned.

Violent. Adrian nearly dropped to one knee as pain twisted through his stomach. His entire body burned from the inside while strange whispers crawled faintly through his mind, Consume, adapt, Grow.

The silver-eyed man watched calmly. “There it is.”

The woman stepped backward uneasily.

Adrian heard it. That hesitation again.

That fear. Dante suddenly exploded out of the rubble behind them. The broken half of his sword pierced directly through the silver-eyed man’s chest.

Black blood erupted everywhere. The creature looked down slowly at the blade sticking through its body.

Then laughed quietly.“You survivors never learn.” Its mutated arm suddenly expanded violently. Bone spikes burst outward through flesh before slamming directly into Dante’s side, He grunted sharply. The silver-eyed man twisted around and threw him across the chamber again. This time Dante crashed hard enough to crack the ancient wall behind him. Adrian moved instinctively. He grabbed the fallen axe from the floor and charged, The silver-eyed man noticed immediately.

But Adrian wasn’t aiming for him, He swung the axe directly into one of the weakened stone pillars beside the creature.

The already damaged support shattered completely.

The ceiling above groaned loudly. The silver-eyed man looked up just as enormous chunks of stone collapsed downward,the ruins exploded into dust and debris.

Adrian grabbed the woman and threw both of them behind cover as the chamber shook violently.

A massive cloud of dust filled the air,Silence followed.

Then coughing. Adrian slowly pushed himself upright.

Pain shot through his ribs immediately.

The woman beside him looked equally battered.

Across the chamber, Dante dragged himself out from broken stone while gripping his bleeding side tightly. But the silver-eyed man was gone, or buried. Nobody moved for several seconds, then a low sound echoed through the ruins, laughing, soft at first, then louder.

The broken debris near the collapsed pillar suddenly shifted. A clawed hand emerged slowly from beneath the rubble. Black veins crawled violently across the pale skin while silver eyes glowed through the dust.

The creature stood again. Its body looked worse now.

Less human.

One side of its face had split apart completely, exposing moving black tendrils beneath the flesh.

And yet it was still smiling. “You finally acted on instinct,” it whispered toward Adrian, the Nest outside suddenly screamed again, not one voice, thousands.

The entire underground ecosystem roared violently at once. The silver-eyed man slowly looked upward.

Then his smile disappeared for the first time.

“Oh,” he murmured quietly.

Something massive moved above the ruins.

And whatever it was even he looked dangerous