The serpent struck with terrifying speed. Erik threw himself to the side, feeling the rush of air as massive jaws snapped shut where he stood a mont before.
The montum sent him crashing hard into the concrete wall, his shoulder taking the brunt of the impact. He barely had ti to register the pain before he rolled sideways, narrowly avoiding a second lightning-fast strike.
[Why didn't you warn earlier?!] Erik asked the biological supercomputer. That was all he could think about while dodging another attack that splintered the concrete where his head had been.
[I can only detect them when they channel mana!] the system said as Erik backpedaled down the corridor.
[All creatures leak mana when attacking with their brain crystals. This one consciously controlled its flow to stay hidden. It understood how to counter detection. It deliberately suppressed its mana until the mont it attacked. By then, it was already within striking distance!]
Erik shivered. This creature wasn't just a thaid from Mur, with all its strength implications. Its attacks and mana suppression showed an unsettling level of intelligence.
Whether that was because of evolution, adaptation, or brain crystal powers, it had developed specialized hunting tactics that made it a perfect predator in these concrete ruins. It wasn't just a mindless monster.
The creature's head weaved back and forth, its eyes tracking Erik's movents. Venom dripped from its fangs, sizzling where it hit the floor. Unlike the mindless aggression Erik expected from thaids, this predator didn't look mindless.
Erik's blood ran cold at this realization. He wasn't facing so re beast—this was an evolved predator that had learned to hunt in these ruins.
What was worse was that the creature didn't waste energy on wild lunges or frustrated thrashing when its strikes missed. Instead, it held its ground, blocking Erik's escape while pressing him with fast attacks he had trouble avoiding.
[This thing is smart!]
The corridor suddenly felt much narrower, and the shadows much deeper. How many others had this creature hunted through these halls? How many had it followed, undetected even to this beast?
However, the thaid suddenly pulled back, as if sothing happened or the creature had an idea of the sort. Its large body sliding away in a matter of seconds. Erik blinked in surprise—retreat wasn't typical thaid behavior, not when it had the upper hand.
"What the—"
[Don't let it get away!] Erik didn't make the biological supercomputer repeat itself twice and started chasing the monster.
The problem was that he was playing in the creature's ho, and having knowledge of the place, of all its nooks and crannies, it ant it gained distance with each second. Not only that, but the creature moved with incredible agility, its long body flowing around corners and through doorways like liquid water.
[This thing moves like it's got a GPS map of the building installed in its brain. I'd be impressed if I wasn't so concerned.]
[Which raises an unsettling question. Since the way it moves suggests knowledge of every turn, every corridor, could it be that…?]
What the system implied was that this thing might have killed and eaten Erik's friends. But in truth, that was unlikely. A Chimaeric Demon might have been killed from it, but there was no way that a bunch of them, even five of them, failed to find and kill it.
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