The Monstrous Hero-Chapter 38 - 37: Told You, Kid

Liu Xian’s lungs should have been burning.

His legs should’ve been ready to snap under him. His chest should’ve felt like it was caving in, every heartbeat a hammer slamming against bone.

But none of that happened.

He kept running. Feet pounding against the shifting ground of this nightmare dimension, his breath ragged but steady in a way that made no sense.

He risked a glance behind him.

The creatures weren’t slowing down.

He clenched his jaw, breath hissing out between his teeth. His legs blurred beneath him as he dodged a glob of molten caramel spat from one of their mouths. The ground hissed where it landed, bubbling holes into the floor as if it had the acidity of pure acid.

He swore under his breath and darted sideways, nearly slipping on the sticky terrain that seemed alive, shifting like veins pulsing under the surface.

And still, somehow, he didn’t collapse. His heart hammered fast, but it wasn’t desperate. His muscles burned, but they didn’t falter. He could feel it—the stamina wasn’t his.

"...damn it," he muttered under his breath.

That smug bastard in the dark—he had helped.

He didn’t want to admit it, not even in the safety of his own mind. But there it was. The thing hadn’t been lying when it said it had been protecting him. Maybe not out of kindness—hell, definitely not out of kindness—but still. Liu Xian could feel it in his muscles, in the way his body wasn’t quitting. The bastard had loaned him stamina.

And he hated it.

Not the stamina—he needed that. What he hated was the implication. That somewhere inside him, inside his own skin, there was a grinning freak with a single bright eye and a smile too wide, waiting for him to break so it could step in.

He glanced at the glowing numbers floating faintly in his vision.

1:23.

A minute and twenty-three seconds left on the timer.

He grit his teeth. "I just have to last until zero. That’s all."

The path twisted ahead, walls of peppermint-striped pillars rising like a maze. He darted through them, weaving left and right.

The creatures shrieked behind him, their voices shrill, fractured, like metal grinding against glass.

One lunged sideways from a wall, claws snapping inches from his shoulder. Liu Xian ducked low, rolled, came up sprinting again.

The timer ticked down.

0:57.

He inhaled sharply. Less than a minute now.

The ground ahead split open suddenly, like the earth itself yawning. A gaping crack tore across the candy-coated land, strands of sticky caramel stretching across the gap like sinew.

Liu Xian skidded to a halt at the edge, breath fogging in the air. Below, there was nothing. Just black.

The creatures behind him screamed.

Liu Xian’s jaw clenched. He had seconds to decide. Either turn back and face them head-on, or leap into the void.

0:41.

"Fuck it." He ran.

His boots slammed against the caramel strands, each one bending dangerously under his weight. He launched himself forward, arms pumping, the strands snapping behind him.

For a moment he was airborne, flying over the abyss. His body twisted midair, landing hard on the other side with a grunt. He stumbled forward, caught his balance, and kept running without daring to look back.

The creatures didn’t follow.

They shrieked and clawed at the edge but didn’t leap. Probably knew they would fall right in. Their jaws opened wide, dripping sugar-laced saliva that hissed when it hit the ground. One slammed its fist against the peppermint wall, splintering it into shards. But none of them crossed.

Liu Xian slowed, chest heaving, finally putting some distance between himself and the... tiny horrors. His knees bent as he pressed his hands against them, breathing hard.

He checked the timer.

0:10.

Almost there.

His heart thudded in his chest, but this time it wasn’t steady. It was uneven, racing in sharp jolts.

0:05.

The numbers burned against Liu Xian’s vision.

0:03.

The world shook, shattering like glass.

0:01.

And just before everything went white, the last thing he felt before it swallowed him whole was that faint, mocking chuckle in his head, low and satisfied.

"Told you, kid. You’d be nothing without me."