The air inside the Scavenger King's stomach wasn't just thin—it was predatory.
Zayn stood on a trembling platform of calcified bone, his lungs burning with every breath of vaporized bile. Below them, the "Belly" they had just survived was a churning ocean of acidic sludge, dissolving the scrap and people the King had harvested from Oakhaven.
[WARNING: SYSTEM INTEGRITY AT 14%]
[ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARD: CORROSIVE MIST]
[DEBUFF: SPIRIT-LEAK (Losing 5 HP per second)]
"Zayn, the Bone-Gate behind us is sealed!" Liora shouted over the roar of the internal turbines. Her green Qi shield was paper-thin now, flickering like a dying candle as the acid mist ate away at her energy. "We're trapped in the primary digestion chamber!"
Zayn wiped a streak of glowing blue ichor from his forehead. His indigo eyes weren't just glowing; they were vibrating. The "Belly" had been a test of endurance, but the System was about to turn up the heat.
[INTERNAL SENSORS DETECTED: UNIDENTIFIED PATHOGENS]
[INITIATING: THE ACIDIC PURGE]
Suddenly, the rib-like rafters above them groaned. Massive, fleshy valves opened along the ceiling, and instead of steam, they began spraying a pressurized, neon-green liquid.
"Move!" Zayn grabbed Liora's waist and lunged toward a jagged pillar of rusted titanium.
The acid hit the platform where they had been standing seconds ago, hissing as it melted the bone-floor into a bubbling soup.
"We can't just dodge, Zayn!" Liora gasped, clinging to the pillar. "The King is trying to wash us out into the sludge-pits below. If we fall into the primary vat, not even your Void will be able to reconstruct us."
Zayn looked up. High above the spray, he saw a glowing, pulsating node—the [Neural Bypass]. If he could reach it, he could "short-circuit" the purge, but it was at least sixty feet of vertical, slippery, acid-slicked wall away.
"I'm going up," Zayn said, his jaw tightening.
"Without your Siphon? You're still nerfed by the suppression field!"
"I don't need the Siphon for this." Zayn dropped into the [Iron-Root Stance], but this time he pushed it further. He focused on the friction of his own muscles, the heat of his blood, and the raw desperation of survival.
[SKILL EVOLUTION DETECTED]
[IRON-ROOT STANCE -> KINETIC OVERLOAD (TEMP)]
Zayn didn't climb; he launched.
Using the pillar as a spring, he vaulted into the air. As the acid spray swept toward him, he punched the air. The sheer force of his kinetic energy, fueled by the [Primal Architect] passive, created a momentary shockwave that parted the green mist.
SPLAT.
He slammed into the fleshy wall, his fingers digging deep into the bio-mechanical tissue. The King screamed—a literal, metallic shriek that shook the entire chamber.
[DAMAGE DEALT TO INTERNAL NERVE: 450]
[ALERT: THE KING IS AGGRIEVED]
"You want to purge me?" Zayn growled, his indigo veins bulging as he began to climb the pulsating wall with animalistic speed. "I've been living in the sludge of this world for ten years. Your stomach acid is just a bath!"
Below him, a swarm of Scavenger Mites began to crawl out of the valves, sensing his location. They moved like spiders on water, ignoring the acid as they raced up the wall to drag him down.
"Liora! The turbines!" Zayn yelled down. "Freeze the rotation or we're both dead!"
Liora closed her eyes, her staff glowing with a desperate, final surge of green light. "I hope you can fly, Zayn!"