Clyde would never forget the shape of those eyes or the energy emanating from them. He was certain that the eyes of the monster standing before him were the sa as the ones he had seen in the anomaly he had killed that ti.
"Can you talk?" Clyde asked the monster.
Since the creature still had a vaguely human-like form, he thought it might be able to communicate.
"Catalyst..." the monster spoke in a hoarse voice, as if forcing the words out of its mouth.
Clyde frowned. "So you can talk. What can you tell ?"
But the monster didn’t respond. Instead, it shook its massive head as if trying to fight off sothing inside its mind. The movent created a grinding noise, like stone scraping against stone.
"I need to get sothing out of this creature. It’s clearly connected to the anomaly sohow," Clyde thought as he stepped forward.
He activated [Burning Hand] again and hurled a fireball at the monster. The attack struck it, sending the creature flying several ters backward. However, it imdiately got back up.
Its tattered robe had burned away, revealing its entire body. It wore no clothing beneath the robe, and most of its skin had turned to stone, with only a few small patches of flesh still visible.
"Grrrhh..."
The monster let out a deep growl from its throat, the sound muffled by the stone covering its body. It was a disturbing, grating noise that made Clyde wince.
Then, without warning, the monster lunged at him. Despite its size and stone-like body, it moved with impressive speed.
However, it was still far slower than Clyde. He sidestepped, letting the monster’s punch pass harmlessly by. The force behind the attack was imnse—Clyde could see the air ripple in front of its fist as it stopped.
The monster quickly turned and swung again. Then again. It kept attacking at incredible speed, but Clyde dodged each strike with ease.
Suddenly, its speed increased drastically. Clyde felt a surge of energy radiating from the monster. It growled once more and lunged at him, but this ti, claws had ford on its hands.
Clyde kept dodging, effortlessly weaving around the monster’s relentless attacks. Each of its swings carried enough force to shatter stone yet none ca close to hitting him. The creature was fast — faster than before — but not enough to catch him.
It growled in frustration, its jagged claws slicing through the air, striking nothing but empty space as Clyde moved like a shadow.
He could’ve ended this already. A well-placed strike with his sword, a blast of [Burning Hand], and the creature would be nothing but a heap of smoldering rubble. But he held back.
Because this thing had called him Catalyst. That wasn’t just a random word. It ant sothing. The creature definitely connected to the anomaly’s energy left in this place and gain certain knowledge left by it.
Clyde narrowed his eyes, sidestepping another heavy punch before suddenly flipping backward, putting a few ters of distance between them.
The monster skidded to a halt, its stone-covered chest rising and falling with heavy breaths. Its glowing strange eyes locked onto him, filled with sothing beyond just rage — sothing closer to recognition.
"You called Catalyst," Clyde said, his voice steady. "Why?"
The monster didn’t answer imdiately. It twitched, its clawed hands flexing as if it was struggling against sothing unseen.
Clyde took a slow step forward. "What do you know about ?"
The creature shuddered. A deep rumbling sound escaped its throat, half growl and half sothing else. Its fingers twitched erratically. It almost looked like it was fighting itself.
"Catalyst... The beginning... The end..."
Its voice was strained, like the words were being forced out.
Clyde frowned. That didn’t sound like mindless monster talk. This creature is actually have the knowledge!
"The beginning of what?" he pressed.
The monster let out a low snarl. Its entire body trembled, cracks forming along its stone like flesh. Sothing about its form was unstable, like it wasn’t ant to exist in this state for long.
"The Black Wall stirs... The chain start to break... You..."
The creature suddenly lunged again, faster than before. Clyde barely had ti to react as a clawed hand slashed toward him.
He twisted his body and manage to dodging just in ti, but the sheer force of the attack sent a shockwave rippling through the air.
He gritted his teeth. It looks like the creture was losing control.
"Damn it," Clyde muttered.
If he wanted more answers, he needed to act fast before the creature destroyed itself.
So, Clyde decided to destroy its limbs to stop its movent. Hopefully, he wouldn’t end up destroying its whole body at once.
He activated [Pure Lightning] and carefully controlled its power to avoid overloading it. Energy surged through him as he channeled the skill into his Elderglass Sword, causing the blade to erupt in crackling blue and white lightning.
Without hesitation, Clyde slashed at the monster’s incoming hand. A brilliant flash of lightning illuminated the air, and in the next second, the severed hand dropped to the ground, sizzling with residual energy.
The monster let out a pained roar but didn’t stop moving. Instead, it beca even faster.
Clyde didn’t hesitate. He kept up the sa precise movents, severing the creature’s limbs one by one. Each strike of his Elderglass Sword sent crackling energy through the air and each limb fell with a sickening thud, twitching before going still.
The monster howled, thrashing wildly even as it lost its arms and legs. But it didn’t regenerate.Thankfully, it lacked that ability.
Soon, only its torso remained, writhing on the ground. Clyde exhaled, lowering his sword slightly.
"Now," he muttered, stepping closer with eyes cold. "Tell ... why did you call Catalyst? And what you an by the chain is broken?"
"The chain... Catalyst... arghh!!!" the monster writhed in pain. Clyde feels that its body can not contain the knowledge it have.
But then, it gives him a final words.
"The chain of... Nyzzog’tal... is breaking!"
Then its crumbling to dust.
Clyde’s eyes widened in surprise. He didn’t know that he will got this precious information from a random monster in a Ruin.
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