CHAPTER 154: [FOR A SPLIT SECOND]

The air had turned heavy.

Thick.

Suffocating.

The ink spread faster than any of them could react—rolling out like a living shadow, swallowing the once-clear water until everything below their knees turned black.

Eli’s breath hitched. The sight alone made his chest tighten. The ink wasn’t drifting—it was crawling, curling over itself, alive in the way it moved.

Every ripple felt deliberate, as if the water itself had become aware of their presence.

He heard the others behind him—boots slapping against water, splashes echoing wildly—but the sound soon began to change.

The splashing slowed.

Thickened.

Each step came heavier, muffled, as if the water had turned to mud.

"What—what is this?!" Zaira’s voice broke first, trembling between exhaustion and panic.

Mio cursed under his breath, his tone strained and breathless. "It’s—sticking to me—shit, I can’t—!"

He tried to move, but his legs dragged sluggishly through the black water, every motion pulling against invisible resistance.

Even Mel, who’d been furthest ahead, stumbled to a halt. He tried to lift his leg, and the sound that followed was wet and sticky—like suction pulling back. "This isn’t normal ink!" he hissed. "It’s—it’s like oil!"

Eli’s pulse thundered in his ears. His lungs ached with each breath, the air sharp and metallic. There was a chemical bite to it, like the sting of burned metal and salt. His skin prickled.

"Kairo—" Eli turned, grabbing at the man’s sleeve, his voice cracking. "We need to—"

But Kairo wasn’t moving.

His body was rigid. Perfectly still. The crimson glow of his aura shimmered weakly around him, flaring once—then flickering like a candle struggling against the wind.

Eli’s heart skipped. "Kairo?"

The man didn’t answer at first. His gaze dropped down—toward his legs, buried knee-deep in the ink. The blackness clung to him unnaturally thick, coiling up his boots like tendrils.

Then his voice came—low, calm, but that calmness made Eli’s stomach twist.

"...I’m stuck."

Eli blinked. "What?"

Kairo didn’t look up. His tone stayed eerily even. "I can’t move."

"What do you mean you can’t—" Zaira started, disbelief cracking through her voice.

"I can’t move." This time, Kairo said it louder. Not a shout—but controlled. Cold. Final. It was the kind of tone that silenced everyone instantly.

The silence was deafening.

Mel gritted his teeth and tried to move, yanking his leg up. The ink resisted, stretching in thick strands before breaking loose with a heavy slurp. "I can move—barely. Feels like walking through glue, but it’s doable."

"I can move too," Mio rasped, his breath uneven. He struggled to pull one leg forward, then the other. "Slow, but not... stuck."

Zaira took a shaky step and nodded. "Same. It’s hard to move, but I can."

Eli’s heart hammered. His eyes darted between them—between Kairo’s motionless stance and the others’ sluggish movements. It didn’t make sense.Why was he the only one completely stuck?

Everyone else could move—clumsily, yes, but still move. Even Mio, who was knee-deep like Kairo, wasn’t completely trapped.

Unless—

Eli’s stomach dropped. His eyes shot down to Kairo’s boots again.

The ink was thicker on him. It wasn’t just clinging—it was binding, pulsing faintly with every flicker of Kairo’s crimson aura. Mio’s boots were coated, but thinner, less aggressive. Zaira and Mel’s legs only carried traces—enough to slow them, not enough to hold them.

’No way... could that be it?’

Realization flashed in his mind, and he opened his mouth to speak—

"It’s—"

Then it hit.

A sudden, violent pulse.

The air trembled. The water shuddered. Eli’s body stiffened as the sensation tore through him—like being punched by something invisible. His Danger Sense flared so violently he almost fell, vision blurring as the pulse echoed in his skull.

Every nerve screamed the same thing.

Run.

He didn’t need to look. He already knew.

The octopus was close.

Too close.

"Kairo!" Eli’s voice cracked through the chaos, raw and desperate. His eyes snapped toward the hunter. "It’s coming—!"

Kairo’s head whipped around, and for the first time since the ink had spread, urgency carved through his voice.

"Mel!" he barked, tone sharp and commanding, carrying the authority of someone who’d stared down death a thousand times. "Grab Eli! Now!"

Mel didn’t hesitate. His hands shot out, Thornveil vines bursting from his palms with a crack of green light.

They snaked through the inky water, slicing through the sludge and wrapping tightly around Eli’s torso.

Eli’s breath caught as he was yanked backward, the vines coiling around his waist and chest. His boots tore free of the black muck with a thick, wet sound—like suction cups being ripped from glass. The sudden movement sent him stumbling, his hands grasping at nothing but cold air.

"Kairo, wait—!" Eli choked out, struggling against the pull. His voice broke, high and panicked. "It’s reacting to you—it’s your—"

"Move!" Kairo’s voice cut through the noise like a blade, sharp and final. "That’s an order!"

But Eli didn’t listen.

Not this time.

Something in him snapped—the same stubborn, reckless spark that refused to let him be useless.

Before Mel could drag him any farther, Eli twisted, using the momentum to slip from the vines’ grasp.

The motion was clumsy, desperate—but it worked. He tumbled forward, landing hard into the black water with a splash.

"Eli, what are—!" Mel’s voice caught in his throat as the others froze in shock.

"Eli!" Zaira screamed, horror flashing in her eyes.

"Eli, you’re going to get stuck!" Mio shouted, his tone panicked as he tried to wade closer—but the ink dragged against him like cement.

Kairo turned immediately, his body tensing as he reached out. "Eli—!"

But before he could grab him, Eli was already pushing himself up. The ink clung thick to his arms and legs, dripping in black ribbons—but he moved. Slowly, shakily, but he moved.

He lifted his head, chest heaving. "As I suspected," he breathed, turning to face them. His voice trembled, but his eyes burned with determination.

"The ink’s hold—it’s based on strength. Zaira and Mel are both A-Class, so it slows them down, but not completely. Mio’s having a harder time because he’s S-Class, and Kairo..."

"Is the strongest," Mio finished, realization dawning in his voice. "So he’s completely trapped."

Eli nodded. "Which means I’m the only one who can move well and—"

The sentence died on his tongue.

A white-hot pain seared through his skull, blinding and suffocating. His Danger Sense flared so violently it made his vision blur.

’No—It’s about to attack!’

"We have to go—now! We have to—"

He didn’t finish.

Because in the next heartbeat, the water behind them exploded.

A massive tentacle erupted upward, slicing through the air like a black whip. The force of it sent shockwaves across the cavern, the sound splitting through the stone.

For a moment, everything slowed—every droplet of water suspended midair, every heartbeat echoing like thunder in Eli’s ears.

Mel, Mio, and Zaira all moved at once, trying to dodge, splashing away as fast as the sludge would allow.

But Eli froze. His senses screamed louder than ever.

It wasn’t aiming for them.

His gaze darted left—straight at Kairo.

"No—!"

The tentacle slammed down, curling around the hunter with terrifying speed before anyone could react. The sound of impact was deafening—a wet crash that shook the cavern.

And then—just as quickly—it threw him.

Kairo’s body flew through the air, cutting across the cavern like a ragdoll against the storm. He hit the far wall with a thunderous crack, disappearing behind a cloud of shattered rock and black mist.

Eli’s breath left him in a single, broken gasp. His chest hollowed, the world narrowing to a ringing void.

For a split second, he couldn’t move.

Couldn’t think.

All he could do was watch as the ink rippled in silence where Kairo once stood.

Then, a word tore out of him—raw, shaking, and full of terror.

"KAIRO!"