CHAPTER 132: [AT A LOSS]

’Just a bit.’

Kairo’s fingers closed around Eli’s wrist. The boy twitched from the contact, but didn’t pull away. His pulse fluttered against Kairo’s grip, fast and uneven, but he held firm.

’How has he been able to act like nothing was wrong? These cuts... they’re not shallow. He’s been bleeding this whole time.’

The grooves carved by Mio’s threads were raw, ugly, still leaking thin, sluggish lines of crimson.

Kairo dragged his palm across them, pressing harder than necessary, until his skin was wet with Eli’s blood.

He didn’t stop there. His hand moved higher, smearing away the streak from Eli’s split nose, catching the trickle that dripped faintly from his ear.

Every drop.

Every trace.

Scarlet shimmered faintly in response, a pulse running up Kairo’s veins like an echo. Eli’s blood sank into him, and the connection flared—recognition, resonance.

But the instant it merged with the pitiful remainder of his own reserves, he knew.

’Shit.’

It wasn’t enough.

The aura in his veins sparked weakly, stuttering like a dying ember. He flexed his hand, tested the shape, tried to lengthen it into the blade he had wielded countless times before.

Nothing. The weight wasn’t there. The edge refused to form.

This wasn’t steel.

This wasn’t power.

It was barely enough for a single strike. One burst—maybe two—before it burned out completely.

"Do you need more?" Eli’s voice cracked against his chest, weak but insistent, trembling as his yellow eyes searched him. "I don’t think that’s enough."

Kairo froze for half a second.

The urge coiled tight in his chest.

To take more.

To demand it, even, if that’s what survival required.

To dig deeper into the blood offered to him willingly.

But... no.

His jaw locked, teeth grinding once before he forced the thought down like poison.

"No." His voice was low, clipped, stripped of all hesitation. "This is enough. Just enough to get Mel back."

Eli sagged weakly, eyes searching him still, but Kairo didn’t waver.

He adjusted his hold, shifting the boy higher against his chest as his body tensed.

’He’s already on the brink. He should’ve passed out by now. How the hell is he still conscious? Even as a B-Class...he...’

There was no time to dwell. No time to question.

There was only now.

Kairo broke into a sprint, his boots cracking over jagged stone, water splashing violently in his wake.

The cavern groaned above, the octopus shifting, shrieking, dragging Mel higher into its grotesque mass.

"Mio!" His voice cut through the cavern like black steel shattering against rock. A command, not a plea. "Use your sharpest threads—sever the tentacle holding Mel!"

Mio’s head jerked up. His pale face was drawn and shaky, but his silver threads pulsed instantly into the air, glinting with lethal intent.

His chest rose sharp with a ragged inhale, but his voice still carried back across the chaos.

"Yes, Captain!"

But Eli stirred before Mio could even move, his voice scraping raw like glass shards in his throat. "K-Kairo...! He’s—he’s being absorbed!"

Kairo’s head snapped up, black eyes narrowing like blades.

The translucent flesh around Mel wasn’t just holding him. It was swallowing.

The unconscious hunter’s outline warped and twisted, skin and clothes blurring against the octopus’s gelatinous mass. Inch by inch, his body sank deeper, dragged helplessly into its writhing bulk.

’Absorbing him? Why? What the hell does it gain from—’

The thought fractured, burned away. Not now. There was no time for answers.

"Mio—" Kairo’s voice cracked across the cavern like thunder, merciless and sharp. "We attack together! On my signal!"

The silver threads quivered violently in response, tension snapping along each filament like a drawn bowstring.

They shimmered under the dim light, honed edges ready to carve through flesh and stone alike.

"Zaira!" Kairo didn’t falter, didn’t let his gaze leave the writhing mass above. His voice lashed out, cold and commanding. "Be ready to catch him. If we sever the limb, he’ll fall!"

Zaira’s dagger rose instantly, its gleam cutting a pink line under the shimmer of her aura. Her jaw tightened, breath steady even under the chaos. "Understood!"

Against Kairo’s chest, Eli shifted weakly, lifting his head with a tremor. His yellow eyes were wild, desperate, glowing faint through the haze of blood. "I—I can help—"

"Quiet."

The single word fell like a blade, flat and absolute.

There was no room for argument.

Kairo’s arm tightened protectively around him, steady and unyielding. His gaze never wavered from the monster, but his words left no space for doubt.

"You’ve done enough. Stay alive."

Because deep down, Kairo knew—he was the one who let it get this far.

He brought Eli into this storm, and he would not let him bleed out any further because of it.

He bent his knees, boots grinding against jagged stone, his body coiling like a predator on the edge of a strike.

Crimson aura hissed to life around his blood-slick hand, burning brighter with each pulse of his heart.

Above, the octopus writhed. Dozens of its glowing eyes widened in sync, rings of eerie light throbbing like a warning.

The tentacle clutching Mel constricted further, muscles twisting, dragging the unconscious hunter deeper into its suffocating grip.

"On my mark," Kairo muttered low, his voice clipped, calm, and edged with killing intent. The cavern pulsed with the sound of his heartbeat, each thrum echoing in Eli’s chest.

Every drop of blood begged to be unleashed, vibrating at the brink of eruption.

His black eyes sharpened.

"...Now."

Kairo adjusted Eli against his chest, steadying the boy with one arm. His black eyes stayed fixed on the writhing bulk above.

"Listen closely," he said, low and clipped.

"You only speak when you sense new danger. Additional threats. Not this." His gaze flicked briefly downward, sharp as a blade. "The octopus itself is constant danger—we know that. Don’t waste your voice on what we already see."

Eli’s bloodied lips parted, as if to protest. But one look into Kairo’s eyes, cold, and the words died in his throat. He swallowed weakly, nodding once.

Good.

He turned back to the others. "Zaira," Kairo commanded, never raising his voice above the chaos. "Be ready. If Mel drops, you catch him."

The princess’s jaw tightened, her dagger glowing faint with pink shimmer as her aura flared in response. "Understood."

"Mio," Kairo said.

Threads thrummed in the air, silver arcs quivering with restrained hunger. Mio’s body trembled faintly, but his expression had hardened, pale features set with resolve. "Ready, Captain."

Kairo drew in a breath. Deep. Slow.

The kind that emptied his chest of everything but focus. His aura pulsed, scarlet light bleeding faint against the cavern walls, humming with the thrum of his heart.

The octopus shifted, massive coils pressing against stone. The translucent flesh around Mel pulsed again, dragging him deeper.

His outline warped grotesquely—only his head and arm still visible now.

’No more delays.’

And then Kairo moved.

The cavern cracked beneath his boots, stone shattering under the force of his leap. Water exploded outward, geysers spraying into the air as his body blurred in scarlet arcs.

Mio was already in motion, threads snapping forward in a silver storm. They lashed across the cavern, cutting the air with high, metallic shrieks.

Dozens shot out in unison, coiling around the tentacle clutching Mel like barbed steel serpents. The sharpest ones struck deep, sinking into flesh, carving grooves as they tightened.

Kairo surged alongside them. His bleeding wrist hissed with power, scarlet aura condensing, pulsing outward in a violent wave.

"Pulse Burst."

The detonation ripped the air apart. A concussive blast of blood-formed energy erupted from his palm, slamming against the grotesque limb with brutal force.

Flesh shredded, translucent ichor spraying across the cavern in thick streams. The tentacle buckled under the double assault—Mio’s threads biting, Kairo’s burst detonating from within.

For a moment—it worked.

The monster shrieked, its dozens of glowing eyes pulsing in discord, light flashing like a storm of lanterns across the ceiling. Stone rained down in chunks, the cavern quaking with its fury.

Mio snarled through clenched teeth, his threads pulling tighter, sawing deeper into the grotesque mass. "Almost—!"

But then—

The flesh convulsed.

The wounds sealed faster than they were made. The tentacle rippled violently, translucent sinew stitching back together before their eyes.

What should have been a severed limb bubbled grotesquely, reforming even as silver wire still cut through it.

"What the hell—" Mio’s voice cracked, panic bleeding into his tone. "It’s—regenerating too fast!"

Kairo’s eyes narrowed, his expression iron, but his chest clenched tight.

It wasn’t enough.

His Pulse Burst, his strongest technique without a weapon, barely shredded the outer layer before it stitched shut again.

Mio’s sharpest threads, which had carved through S-Class beasts before, couldn’t sever it fully.

The octopus pulsed again. Harder.

Mel’s body sank deeper. Only his head remained above the surface now—his unconscious face already warping, skin shimmering faint as it began to merge with the monster’s translucent flesh.

Eli’s voice cracked from Kairo’s chest, desperate, trembling. "K-Kairo—he’s almost gone! It’s—it’s pulling him in!"

Zaira’s gasp cut the air sharp. "We’re losing him!"

Kairo’s jaw clenched. His chest burned. He forced his black eyes upward, but for the first time—just for a heartbeat—the calm cracked.

His weapon was gone. His blood reserves too low. His Pulse Burst wasn’t enough.

And Mel—

Was seconds from being devoured whole.

Inside, beneath his iron control, something twisted. A hot, sharp frustration that dug under his ribs like a blade.

’Damn it.’

Kairo was at a loss.

For the first time in what felt like years, he didn’t know what to do. His obsidian blade was gone. His own veins nearly bled dry. What little crimson clung to his hand wasn’t enough to forge anything—not enough to fight something like this.

He had to think. He needed to think.

"Captain! What do we do?!" Zaira’s voice cracked across the cavern, jagged and raw. Her dagger was still raised, but her eyes flicked between the writhing octopus above and Mel’s half-absorbed body.

"Captain—Mel is—!" Mio’s voice carried desperation, threads twitching violently around him, snapping against stone but finding no purchase. His body trembled, silver lines pulled taut like nerves frayed to breaking.

Kairo’s black eyes narrowed. His thoughts ran ruthless, sharp, but no solution formed fast enough.

He had to do something. Anything.

He couldn’t be this weak.

Not here. Not now.

He—

Eli flinched.

The boy’s body jerked sharply in his arms, muscles tensing like a live wire. His yellow eyes widened, glowing faint beneath the blood streaking his face.

And Kairo felt it.

A pulse. A surge.

Then—

Burst.

Thin, violent streams of blood erupted from Eli’s skin—raw cuts reopening, fresh wounds splitting where threads had once carved him. Red spattered the stone, hissed into the water, sprayed against Kairo’s arm.

For a split second, Kairo’s breath stopped. His black eyes tracked the arcs of crimson, his instincts screaming as he recognized it not as weakness—

—but as potential.

Scarlet shimmered faintly where Eli’s blood struck the air, like sparks begging to ignite.

"Eli—"