"What a monster... I hit him with that and he still didn't split in half?"
The giant axe had sunk deep into the monster's shoulder, forcing it to release Vi's throat.
"Cough! Cough!"
Vi clutched at her neck and dragged in great gulps of stale air.
"Van... you're... okay now?"
"How could I be okay? I was aiming for his head."
Van was injured too, and the constant pain running through his body had thrown off his swing. What should have been a killing blow had only landed in the monster's shoulder.
And judging from how much more feral the thing looked now, Van had the unpleasant feeling that the attack had not done much at all.
Does this bastard not feel pain?!
"Van? Why are you here too? I just finished praising you..."
"You think I could just leave you idiots alone?!"
"Then you should've brought more people!"
"You think Silco wouldn't have planned for that?"
Van shouted back. He really had thought about going back to the Lanes to call for help, but just as he had expected, Silco had prepared a backup plan.
"Vi! Get back!"
Van yanked the long-handled battle axe free. Purple blood dripped from the blade onto the iron bridge.
"Cast iron's a pain in the ass to clean..."
He reversed his grip, dragged the axe blade against the iron railing in a spray of sparks, then slammed the haft down on the floor.
"You got one sneak attack on me. Now we're even."
"RAAAH!"
"Torvan..."
Silco tapped his fingers lightly against the railing and gave Van, already locked in a brutal clash with the monster, a long look before lifting his eyes to the roof of the factory.
"That was a pretty high drop."
Clang!
Van knocked aside the monster's fist with the flat of the axe, sank his weight, then used the momentum to spin in a full circle and sweep the blade toward its waist.
But the monster ducked with terrifying speed, moving so fast it was barely more than a blur. The heavy strike missed. Even with the wound on its shoulder split nearly down to the chest and purple blood pouring from it, the thing acted as if it felt nothing and lunged straight at Van again.
Van hurriedly braced the monster's charge with the axe shaft, but the brute force behind it drove him back several steps.
Realizing things were going badly, Van let go with one hand, freed up his fist, and hammered a rapid series of punches into the monster's lower back, finally knocking it away.
"Damn it!"
Van glanced back and saw Vi picking up the gauntlets, clearly ready to jump back into the fight. Without hesitation, he spun and kicked her straight into the cell.
"Hurry it up, all of you!"
He did not wait for a reply. He grabbed the cell door and slammed it shut.
"Van!"
Van had barely turned back when the monster hit him at full speed and smashed him into the bars.
"Ugh..."
The wounds across his back tore open again. The pain made him suck in a sharp breath, but it did not rob him of his fighting strength. Instead, he released the axe shaft, raised both fists, and started pounding the monster in the face, each blow heavier than the last.
Van was monstrously strong himself, and his punches hit like hammers. Even if the monster barely felt pain, the force still drove it back step by step.
Once they had opened up some distance, Van seized the axe again, twisted through his hips, and smashed the flat of the blade into the monster's body. The impact sent it flying backward into the iron railing hard enough to make the entire bridge shudder.
Van planted the axe to the ground again and leaned on the haft, gasping for breath. The pain in his back made it hard for him to straighten up.
But when he saw the monster jump back to its feet again like some unkillable roach, he spat out a curse and tightened his grip on the axe once more.
...
...
"I can do it... I can help..."
Powder had spent a huge amount of effort just climbing up to the window, and the first thing she saw was Van getting battered by the monster.
Van was having a miserable time of it.
He was already injured, and on top of that, his opponent was some tireless, pain-deadened monster. He was using every bit of his fighting skill and strength, but the thing was still wearing him down.
And yet, the longer he fought, the more relaxed he became inside.
Because he had gradually realized something. As terrifying as the monster was, he could still hold it off for now... and a state like this could not last forever, could it?
"I can keep fighting you all damn day..."
Van grit his teeth, ducked under another attack, and shoved the monster back with the axe shaft, hoping to buy himself another moment to breathe.
This time, it did not go the way it usually did.
The monster was not nearly as mindless as Van had assumed. After getting outplayed again and again, it had finally seen through the trick. It grabbed the axe shaft, caught Van off guard, and drove a punch straight into his face.
Van went flying and hit the ground rolling. The monster's strength was outrageous, and the blow left him dizzy for a moment.
This was the same strength that had torn Benzo apart alive...
"Ah..."
Seeing that from outside the window, Powder panicked.
She hurriedly opened her bag and pulled out Blitz.
But after hesitating for a moment, she stuffed it back in untouched and took out her own Little Monkey instead—a small monkey-shaped toy robot carrying cymbals, built only to walk.
"Little Monkey! Help me this once. Do it for me... I'm counting on you!"
Powder whispered to the toy, then pulled out several blue-glowing crystals from her bag. In Zaun's foggy night, they shone with a mysterious, dangerous light.
These were the strange crystals she had brought back from topside—the very things that had blown half a building apart.
After thinking for a moment, and still not feeling safe, Powder decided to stuff every last crystal into Little Monkey's belly. Then she started winding it up.
Once it was fully wound, she leaned forward, aimed it at the monster, and let go.
"Go..."
...
...
"Forget him. Go deal with those brats."
The monster had already sunk into a frenzy, but it still obeyed Silco's orders without hesitation. It ignored the fallen Van and turned instead toward the cell door.
But before its hand could reach the latch, Van sprang back up and grabbed it from behind.
He slammed one hand against the monster's head and smashed its face straight into the cell door. The crash was so violent that stones started falling from the ceiling of the whole chamber.
Whether it was because the drug was wearing off or for some other reason, Van's strength suddenly overwhelmed the monster completely. He seized the chance and drove punch after punch into its face.
After taking several brutal hits, the monster finally found an opening and hurled Van away. Van used the momentum to roll toward where his axe had fallen.
"Hah... This time, I'm definitely aiming for the head!"
Van gripped the axe handle tight and charged, dragging the blade along the ground in a trail of sparks as he rushed the monster.
Click-click-click-click-click...
A strange series of winding sounds suddenly rang out, unnaturally clear in the empty factory.
Normally, Van should have been too blooded-up to notice something like that. But what really caught his eye was the light.
Brilliant blue halos swirled around Little Monkey, twisting through the air, and within them Van could even make out strange symbols he had never seen before.
Click.
Then Little Monkey stopped moving.
And the moment it did, the softly drifting symbols turned violent. The glowing rings spun faster and faster, and blue motes began pouring out from the crystals embedded in the toy... exactly like what Van had seen back in the Academy District.
"Oh, shit!"
Van's face changed instantly. He wheeled around, swung the axe up, and hurled himself toward Little Monkey, trying to smash it away.
He was still too late.
BOOM!!!
[End of chapter]