Chapter 187: Split Regeneration

Cindy’s frills lowered as she processed Gray’s words.

"But how?" she asked, her voice tight with frustration. "That thing moves faster than anything I’ve ever seen. It dodged my Frozen Prison like it was nothing. It dissolved my barrier in seconds. We can’t hit it if we can’t catch it."

Gray pushed himself off the wall, his golden eyes narrowing with sharp intent.

"I’ll catch it."

Cindy stared at him.

"How?"

"Phantom Cloak," Gray said. "I’ll approach it while I’m invisible. It won’t sense me coming. And while it’s confused, I’ll grab it and hold it in place."

Cindy’s frills stiffened.

"And then?"

"Then I’ll shock it with Overcharge. While it’s stunned, you and Lily hit it with everything you have."

Cindy’s frills lowered with worry as she looked at him.

"And if it doesn’t work?" she asked. "If it breaks free before we can kill it?"

Gray met her gaze, understanding her worry.

"It will work. That thing doesn’t have a detection skill. My EMP Shroud proved that earlier, it lost us the moment I activated it. It relies on speed and sight, not senses. If I stay invisible, it won’t know I’m there until it’s too late."

Lily pulsed beside him, her five points spinning with sudden, fierce enthusiasm. She bobbed up and down, her dark core flickering with determination.

Cindy let out a slow, resigned breath.

"...Alright," she said. "But be careful, Gray. If you get caught—"

"I won’t."

Cindy’s frills twitched, but she didn’t argue. She simply raised her hands, readying her spells.

"I’ll be ready."

Gray nodded, then activated Phantom Cloak.

His body dissolved into the darkness, his presence vanishing from sight and sound and vibration.

He crept through the tunnel, his footsteps silent, his breathing controlled. The roots hung around him like curtains, their iridescent glow casting faint shadows across his path. He could feel the Imp before he saw it, the faint electrical signature of its body pulsing in the darkness ahead.

The Imp was searching.

It moved through the chamber on all fours, its claws clicking against the moss, its tail lashing behind it. Its pupilless crimson eyes swept the shadows, its head tilting, its nostrils flaring as it tasted the air. It was looking for them. It knew they were still nearby.

But it couldn’t find them.

Gray watched it from behind a curtain of roots, his golden eyes tracking its movements. The Imp was fast, terrifyingly fast, but it wasn’t omniscient. It couldn’t see what wasn’t there.

Gray waited.

The Imp circled the chamber once, then twice, its movements growing more agitated with each pass. Its tail whipped against the roots, carving deep gouges in the wood. Its claws scraped against the moss, tearing it apart. It was frustrated. It was hungry. And it couldn’t find its prey.

Gray crept closer, careful to keep his presence hidden. His heart pounded with tension, but he forced himself to stay calm, to keep his breathing even, to move like nothing at all.

The Imp halted, its tail lashing with irritation.

It was directly in front of him now, its back turned. It had no idea he was there.

Gray’s hand reached out.

His fingers locked around the Imp’s throat, and for one frozen heartbeat, the creature went completely still.

Then it exploded into motion.

The Imp twisted, its body contorting with that same impossible flexibility, its claws lashing toward Gray’s face. Its mouth opened wide, rows of needle teeth snapping at his wrist, and its tail whipped through the air like a scythe.

But Gray was ready.

He activated Overcharge.

Blue-white lightning erupted from his body, surging through his arm and into the Imp’s throat. The creature convulsed, its shriek cutting off mid-screech as the electricity tore through its nervous system. Its claws went wide. Its tail went limp. Its crimson eyes flickered wildly, the pupilless red dimming and brightening in erratic pulses.

[OVERCHARGE — 286 DAMAGE]

[NETHER IMP — HP: 4214 / 4500]

[STUNNED — 5 SECONDS]

"I’VE GOT IT!" Gray shouted, his voice echoing through the chamber. "NOW!"

Cindy’s voice rang out from the tunnel.

"[Glacial Lance]!"

A spear of ice shot through the darkness and punched into the Imp’s chest, driving through its ribs and out the other side. The creature convulsed, its body arching, its mouth gaping in a silent scream.

[GLACIAL LANCE — 348 DAMAGE]

[NETHER IMP — HP: 3866 / 4500]

[BLEED — 12 DAMAGE PER SECOND]

Lily darted through the tunnel like a black comet, her five points spinning, her dark core blazing. She projected a volley of dark spines that shredded into the Imp’s exposed flank, tearing through pale flesh and spilling dark, steaming blood across the moss.

[LILY — DARK SPINE VOLLEY — 224 DAMAGE]

[NETHER IMP — HP: 3642 / 4500]

The Imp thrashed, its stun already breaking. Its regeneration kicked in, the wounds on its chest and flank beginning to close, the flesh knitting together with terrifying speed.

But Gray didn’t let go.

He tightened his grip around the creature’s throat and activated Grip Jaw, his fingers and tentacles locking down, crushing the Imp’s windpipe with everything he had.

[GRIP JAW — 78 DAMAGE]

[GRIP JAW — 74 DAMAGE]

[NETHER IMP — HP: 3490 / 4500]

"Lily! Its horns!" Gray shouted. "Break the horns!"

Lily gathered her energy, her dark core blazing as she compressed void energy into a concentrated sphere. She fired it toward the Imp’s horns, a black comet of pure destructive force.

But the Imp wasn’t done.

It twisted its body with that same impossible flexibility, and before the attack could land, it whipped its tail around and sliced clean through its own neck.

The head separated from the body, tumbling through the air in a spray of dark blood. Gray’s grip closed on empty space. Lily’s void sphere shot past the falling head and grazed one of the horns, carving a shallow groove into its surface but failing to break it.

[LILY — VOID SPHERE — 186 DAMAGE]

[NETHER IMP — HP: 3304 / 4500]

[HORN — DAMAGED]

The Imp’s headless body hit the moss and rolled, its claws already scrabbling for purchase. And then, before Gray could react, the head began to move.

The Imp’s head rolled across the moss, its pupilless crimson eyes still burning, its mouth still stretched in that horrible smile. Its neck stump bubbled and writhed, flesh already regrowing, bones reforming, veins reconnecting. Within seconds, the head had grown a new body.

And the original body, still twitching on the ground, had already begun to grow a new head.

[REGENERATION — ACTIVATED]

[BODY SEVERED — SPLIT REGENERATION]

[NETHER IMP — HP: 3304 / 4500]

Two Imps. Or one Imp with two bodies. Either way, the situation had just become twice as bad.

Gray stared at the creature, his golden eyes wide.

"You’ve got to be joking..."

The new Imp, the one that had grown from the head lunged at him without warning. Its claws slashed through the air, and Gray barely managed to raise his arms in defense. The impact drove him backward, his feet skidding across the moss.

Then it opened its mouth wide.

A beam of concentrated void energy erupted from its throat, a lance of pure darkness that screamed through the air like a living thing. Gray crossed his arms in front of his face, his Prismatic Carapace flaring to absorb the impact.

But the beam was too strong.

It punched through his guard, tore through his carapace, and slammed into his chest. The force lifted him off his feet and hurled him across the chamber, his body crashing through a curtain of roots before he slammed into the far wall.

[-486 HP]

[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 1394 / 1880]

[PRISMATIC CARAPACE — CRACKED]

[VOID CORROSION — 28 DAMAGE PER SECOND]

Gray slumped against the wall, blood dripping from his mouth, his chest a ruin of cracked crystal and seared flesh. The void corrosion was eating into him, spreading through his body like acid in his veins.

"Gray!" Cindy’s voice was shrill with panic.

She raised both hands, her silver glow blazing, and cast another Glacial Lance at the new Imp. The spear of ice shot through the air, but the creature was already moving. It twisted, dodged, and the lance shattered against the wall behind it.

The original body had finished regrowing its head. It rose from the moss on all fours, its crimson eyes locking onto Cindy’s position.

Both Imps turned toward her at once.

Cindy’s frills went rigid.

"...Oh no."

Lily darted between them, her five points spinning, her dark core blazing with desperate determination. She projected a volley of black spines at the nearest Imp, forcing it to dodge. But the other one was already circling, its tail lashing, its claws scraping against the roots.

Gray forced himself upright, his body screaming in protest.

"Lily! Cindy! Fall back to the tunnel!"

He activated EMP Shroud, erasing his electrical signature, and grabbed Cindy’s container with one hand. Lily darted toward him, her five points folded tight, and together they fled into the tunnel.

Behind them, the two Imps shrieked in fury, their prey vanishing from their senses once again.

Gray didn’t stop running until they were back in the Heart of the Tartarus, hidden behind the root curtain. He collapsed against the wall, his hand pressed to his chest, the void corrosion still eating into him.

Cindy pressed her hands against the container, her silver eyes wide with fear.

"Your chest... it’s not healing."

Gray glanced down. The wound was still there, dark and seething, the void energy preventing his regeneration from closing it.

"It’s the void corrosion," he said through gritted teeth. "It’s blocking my healing."

Cindy’s frills trembled.

"What do we do?"

Gray was quiet for a moment, his golden eyes fixed on the wound.

"I need to burn it out."