The Ninth Wonder-Chapter 25: Anomalous Evolution

Harley’s vision blurred at the edges—pain from his ribs stabbing with every shallow breath, the lizardman already getting closer and closer.

The air around him shimmered once, violently, then—

He vanished from his position entirely, making the lizardman halt in surprise. It frantically looked all around the cave for him. Then its gaze snapped toward the center of the chamber.

Toward the headless corpse of the queen sprawled in a dark lake of her own blood.

*Hissssss...!*

A low, broken sound leaked from its throat as it rushed over. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

It forgot Harley existed.

All four limbs—claws gouging furrows into stone—propelled it forward in a frantic, loping sprint. It reached the queen’s body in seconds, skidding to a halt beside her severed head. For one long, terrible moment it simply stared down at the ruin of her neck, chest heaving.

Then it lowered its maw.

And began to feed.

Teeth tore into scale and meat with wet, ripping sounds. It didn’t chew delicately. It devoured. Chunks of flesh disappeared in convulsive gulps; the red blood ran in rivers down its jaws. The sound was obscene—crunching bone, tearing sinew, the wet slurp of organs being pulled free.

Harley—still invisible, crouched against the far wall clutching his ribs—felt bile rise in his throat. He couldn’t look away.

Vernox had already pulled himself out of the small crater in the wall and rushed towards the lizardman while it was distracted.

"Well, I’ll be damned." Lesley put both of his hands on his head, falling to his knees. "We’re dead."

The lizardman’s body began to change almost immediately.

First came the shuddering. Muscles swelled and split, then re-knit thicker, darker. The green scales along its spine blackened to volcanic glass, edges glowing dull cherry-red. A second pair of arms erupted from its sides in a spray of ichor—longer, more muscled, tipped with talons that were as black as its shifting scales.

Its tail thickened, split at the end, became twin whipping lashes fringed with flickering embers.

Flames—actual flames—burst from its scalp in a roaring crown. Not hair. Not quills. Living fire, white-hot at the core, licking upward in hungry tongues. The heat distortion warped the air above it. The cavern’s damp chill retreated in a perfect circle around the creature.

Its eyes—once cold blue slits—ignited. Molten gold now, pupils thin vertical lines of absolute black.

The sound of the Oracle only Harley and Vernox could hear rang once in their ears simultaneously, seemingly cold.

{A low level creature has attained unnatural evolution. Creature has broken through to the second echelon.}

[Attribute acquired: Fire]

{Creature’s strength had been limited to scheme 9 for the trial.}

"C—Crap." Harley gritted his teeth, looking at the creature that was so close to him.

The creature—once a guard, now something far worse—reared up on its new limbs. Flames roared louder from its crown. Heat rolled off it in waves, making the stone floor crack and blacken beneath its feet.

Slowly—agonizingly—it turned its burning gaze to the side.

Straight toward a puddle of blood.

"What?" Harley’s entire body shuddered as he realized that the creature was looking directly at him.

’Ah, come on, there’s fresh prey everywhere!’

The overgrown lizard moved, picking up the bone sword and gazed elsewhere. Another person was rushing towards it with a sword.

"Vernox." Harley mumbled the name with such joy; he had never been so glad to see another person in his life.

Vernox clashed swords with the creature, standing his ground. The creature kicked him, sending him flying back a few metres.

"Tsk... You’re just a beast. Don’t stare me down." A strong killing intent spread from his body, but the creature shook it off, taking a huge breath in its mouth.

Vernox’s eyes widened as he figured out what it was about to do and he ran opposite of Lesley.

Out of nowhere, the creature released a stream of flames from its mouth like a hose; the flames travelled straight, spreading all around.

Vernox managed to evade successfully, but before he could focus the creature was upon him.

He clashed swords with it, blocking all of its attacks with ferocity.

The creature had no form; it just wanted to cut what was in front of it. Its strength was terrifying as well, being able to force Vernox’s knees to buckle.

’Vernox can overwhelm me with strength. I can probably cleave a car, and that creature could probably lift an entire truck at this point. Terrifying...’ Harley made his analysis, watching them clash weapons.

Vernox was smiling at the creature, being able to go toe to toe with it even if it was stronger than him. Vernox was just that skilled.

Harley himself hadn’t received any formal education on wielding weapons, but Vernox did, and it was impressive.

"Is that all you got?!" Vernox screamed, striking the bone sword away before following up with a kick.

As if to jinx it, the creature’s eyes glowed even brighter, and Vernox suddenly felt dizzy.

In that brief moment, it swung its blade downwards towards him and Harley closed his eyes.

*Clank!!*

The creature growled lowly, surprised that Vernox blocked the attack... with his bare arm.

The sword Vernox held caught on blazing flames and he swung it up, cleaving an arm off the creature.

Without stopping he spun and sliced half of the body off, making blood splatter all over the place.

The atmosphere immediately turned grim; the torso and the legs of the creature fell to the ground with a thud. And Harley’s eyes were fixed on Vernox, and he could only be happy that they won.

Vernox himself stood up, still feeling dizzy from whatever the creature did to him before.

"One problem down, one more to go." Harley mumbled, looking at Lesley who had already descended the slope from the entrance and was walking towards Vernox.

"I didn’t think you two would be able to take down the nest by yourselves, but I have to say, you both seem like a mess right now, hehehehe..." Lesley pulled out his sword, walking towards Vernox with a smirk.

"Lizards like this always have treasures in their caves. Can’t have you getting in my way now!" He moved forward, swinging the sword towards Vernox.

*Clank!*

Vernox caught the sword with his hands, looking at Lesley with a deep frown.

"So that’s why you were acting all suspicious from the beginning. I began to wonder." His sword, which was still hot from using his skill... He picked it up.

"Damnit, shoot him! I’ll finish him o—" It was then that Lesley looked up to see Harley behind the archer lady with a sword coming through her back.

His cold, purple eyes stared at Lesley with a simple message.

"You’re done."

Before he could even turn around his vision spun, and everywhere went dark.

*Brak!*

Lesley’s bloodied head landed on the ground with a soft thud, and Vernox finally stood up, blinking his eyes to make sure he was seeing properly again.

Harley dropped the archer girl, looking at the mage who was closer to Vernox.

"Too bad for you, you seem innocent—"

"Wait. Don’t kill her." Harley spat out blood and tried to speak louder; luckily Vernox heard him and brought the girl over.

She whimpered, looking at Harley in the eyes for mercy.

"We’ll let you go, just heal me." He said, sitting down on the bare ground again.

With a soft nod the girl stretched her hand, letting a soft, blue glow envelop it before touching Harley’s body.

’Feels weird.’ Harley thought, letting himself relax on the ground.

The whole cave was silent, as if a battle hadn’t recently occurred inside the cave. Vernox was sitting down too with his eyes closed, making Harley wonder what he was doing.

*Snap!*

Harley hissed in pain as his rib snapped back in place and he took in a deep breath as the pain went away.

Vernox had his eyes open, and soon enough, Harley was really as good as new.

"Thank you," Harley said to the girl, who was still sitting on the ground.

"Please, I—I have a family." She whimpered, and Harley simply put a hand on her head and smiled.

"You’re not actually going to leave her, are you?" Vernox asked, making Harley chuckle in a low voice.

"Of course I am. I made a promise—"

*Thud!*

"Oops." Harley turned around to see the young woman passed out on the ground, and Vernox had a raised brow, looking at her.

"What did you do?" he asked, with a serious frown, and Harley waved a finger, shaking his head.

"First of all, tell me what you did to kill that lizard, and teach it to me, please."

"Are you serious right now?"