Chapter 10

...⚠ Warning:...

...This chapter contains scenes of injury and distress. Reader discretion is advised....

...— Arcllumen...

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...𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐄𝐍...

...𝙸𝙽𝚃𝙾 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙰𝙱𝚈𝚂𝚂: 𝚂𝙷𝙰𝙳𝙾𝚆 𝙾𝙵 𝙵𝙴𝙰𝚁 𝙰𝙽𝙳 𝙿𝙾𝚆𝙴𝚁 𝙸𝙸𝙸𝙸...

ᴵᵐᵃᵍᵉ ⁷• ᶜʳᵉᵈⁱᵗᵉᵈ ᵗᵒ ᴾⁱⁿᵗᵉʳᵉˢᵗ•

꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭

Chugar, meanwhile, couldn’t shake the ridiculousness of the thought, but she forced herself to push it aside.

"Alright, let's get moving!" Chugar suddenly exclaimed, her voice sharp and serious once again. "We can’t afford to lose another life." With that, she dashed forward, following the trail left by the mutated Hexed. "Let’s go!" she called, her earlier childishness forgotten as she focused on the task at hand.

As she ran, a thought lingered in her mind, a realization she could no longer ignore. ‘The Mutadaptive Hexed…’ She shuddered slightly at the thought.

‘On what on I've experience, Mutadaptive Hexed were dangerous creatures that evolved every time they were struck. They didn't just heal; they adapted.’

‘Every blow, every attack, only made them more formidable. It was why our usual methods of fighting never worked.’

‘Each time a person tried to destroy one, the Hexed would mutate into a more dangerous form. The more you hurt it, the more you helped it grow.’

‘It’s like feeding it with every strike,’ Chugar thought grimly, tightening her grip on her weapon. ‘We need to end this quickly, or we’ll end up feeding it until it becomes unstoppable.’ She couldn’t allow that to happen—not when so a students' innocent lives were at risk.

She glanced at Matthew, who was a few steps behind, his face unreadable. He knows this too, she thought. That’s why he’s so calm. He’s not just thinking about how to fight it—he’s already planning how to stop it before it grows too strong.

With that thought in mind, she pushed herself forward, determination setting her pace. They couldn’t afford any more delays.

As Chugar dashed forward, the cold, eerie silence of the hallway shattered when she caught sight of two small Mutated Hexed blocking her path. These creatures, twisted and grotesque, were visibly connected to the main monster she was hunting-extensions of its malicious will. The air around them seemed to pulse with a strange, unnatural energy.

Without a moment's hesitation, Chugar's body blurred into motion, a gust of wind trailing her movements. Her emerald daggers gleamed as they sliced through the air with lethal precision. The first Hexed barely had time to react before Chugar's blade sank deep into its neck, severing its head with a sickening squelch. Dark, viscous liquid splattered across the cold tile, staining the school hallway in a grotesque, sticky mess.

As the body crumpled to the floor, Chugar heard a guttural growl from behind her. She glanced over her shoulder to see Matthew's two summoned beasts, Nyx and Solis, already feasting on the remains of the fallen Hexed. The massive wolves tore into the grotesque creature with ravenous hunger, their jaws snapping and ripping the flesh apart with brutal force.

Chugar smirked, her voice low but deliberate. "Not bad, the plan seemed to work. It's like slaughtering while feeding your beast huh," she said, her tone both impressed and amused as she continued to fight off the remaining Hexed in her path.

‘After all, the summoned beasts are crucial to prevent the Mutadaptive Hexed from repopulating,’ she thought to herself.

Then she landed gracefully, her feet barely touching the floor as she readied herself for the next move. But as she turned to check on Matthew, her confidence faltered.

In front of him, the small Hexed she had just slaughtered were nothing compared to the nightmare he had just faced. The ground before him was littered with the disfigured remains of a dozen more, the corpses of creatures piled up in an instant. Her jaw dropped in disbelief.

Matthew turned to her, his expression unreadable. "What are you staring at? As if you've seen a ghost." His voice was calm, but there was an underlying coldness to it, as if he was unaffected by the gruesome scene unfolding around them. It was hard to tell whether he was mocking her or speaking with utter sincerity.

Chugar snapped herself back to reality, her eyes narrowing as a bitter smile tugged at the corners of her lips. ‘So this is the difference in our levels, huh?’ she mused, forcing a laugh that didn't quite reach her eyes. ‘How typical.’

"We should hurry." Matthew's tone was commanding as he turned away and continued running, his pace swift and unrelenting. The small Hexed that had tried to block their path fell in an instant, their twisted bodies reduced to nothing by the sheer force of their combined onslaught.

Chugar kept pace with him, but she couldn't help but notice the two black-and-white wolves at his side, their eyes glowing with eerie energy as they tore through the creatures with brutal efficiency.

"It was clear that Matthew had not just summoned beasts-he had summoned absolute power." She murmured.

As they ran, Matthew spoke again, his voice steady despite the chaos around them. "We're getting closer."

Chugar's brow furrowed as she cleared the last of the Hexed in her path. "And how are you so sure of that?" Her voice was sharp, though her movements remained fluid, her daggers flashing through the air as she sliced through the monsters with precise, practiced strikes.

"The more these small Hexed appear, the closer we are to meeting that old acquaintance of yours." Matthew glanced at her, a hint of something in his eyes-‘was it a smirk?’ (Chugar thought). For a split second, his eyes gleamed with a mischievous light, as if he'd just made a joke, but his face quickly returned to its usual blank mask. His speed, however, didn't falter.

Chugar blinked, her mind racing. Her eyes widened in shock at the implication of his words. ‘Not bad’, she thought, a chuckle escaping her lips. "The spiky-head knows how to joke." With a quick flick of her wrist, she threw her dagger once more, the sharp edge cutting through the air and embedding

itself deep into a Hexed's chest with a resounding thud.

The hallway was nothing but chaos- creatures rising to stop them, only to be swept aside by the duo's relentless assault. But the closer they got to their goal, the more the air seemed to hum with tension, as if the very building was holding its breath, awaiting the inevitable confrontation.

𝓣𝓸 𝓫𝓮 𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓾𝓮𝓭...

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