BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

Erik squared his shoulders and made his decision. Running wasn't an option. There were many reasons for that: the first was that he wanted to kill the creature, as simple as that. The second was that the creature was likely not going to leave him alone when he searched the building, which meant forcing him to fight. The third was that he needed to check the building for signs of his friends' presence, as old as it could have been.

Erik didn't want much; he just wanted some signs that his friends were alive, and hopefully, that could lead to their current position. If he didn't kill the creature, he could do nothing of that.

Erik channeled mana through his neural links, activating Absolute Castle. Light rippled across his skin as the power manifested, hardening into armor.

This power had resisted the Three-headed Void Ravagers and, to some extent, even the Cerulean Bird. Whatever this creature was, there was no way it could damage him.

[Smart move,] the system said. [At least it won't be able to bite through that.]

And yet.

<We don't know for sure, but at least it's something. Remember to analyze it as soon as you spot it.>

[Yeah, there is no reason to remind me of it. Who did you take me for?]

<Then why didn't you do it before? As for the question, I'm clearly talking to an idiot.>

[Ouch! That stings!]

Erik moved through the corridors. Absolute castle was going to protect him, but he didn't know what the beast was capable of, and that put him on edge.

[So, what's your game plan for taking down this bad boy?] Of course, the biological supercomputer was reading Erik's thoughts, but for some reason, it liked explanations.

<Nothing too complicated,> Erik said. <Since it's very fast, the best thing I can do is to lure it where I can kill it.>

From the beast's earlier escape, Erik knew it was clearly faster than him. Whether this speed came from its strength, physical makeup, or familiarity with the area didn't matter. Erik wasn't going to risk finding out the hard way.

He needed to create a situation, an opportunity, where its superior speed would be rendered useless. And that would only happen if he could lure it into a position of his choosing and ambush it.

The mana he channeled went into some precise neural links: Phantom Veil. He did two things: the first was to turn invisible. In fact, not even 2 seconds after he started channeling mana, he vanished from sight completely.

At the same time, he was going to create illusory copies of himself. The illusions would spread out, mimicking his own gait, and would search and lure the monster. That was exactly what they did. Without Erik having to give them orders, the illusions left and scattered through the building.

<Let's hope it's not smart enough to understand the ruse.> Then he turned inward to the system.

<Have you found a suitable place for the ambush?>

[Yes,] the system said. [There is a room beyond that window that offers clear sight down multiple corridors. You can hide behind some fallen support beams or behind the door's wall.]

Erik nodded and slipped inside the room whose mental image the system showed him, placing himself where he could watch the hallways.

[This really is a good spot,] the system said, doing the equivalent of a grin since it was the biological supercomputer that suggested Erik the place.

Erik nodded, knowing the system was right since the place allowed him to look at the hallways without problem. [The beast won't be able to approach without crossing our field of view.]

<Yeah, but I need to hide if I want to kill it without being seen, meaning I won't know when it's here. Remember? That thing made no noise.>

Erik planned to lure the beast through the doorway where he could decapitate it. However, his hiding spot was problematic—he wouldn't be able to see the monster until it had already crossed the threshold, and he wasn't keen on risking it with invisibility alone.

Invisibility made him impossible to see, but that didn't mean he was completely undetectable. The creature might have other ways of sensing prey—through smell, heat, or even those vibrations he suspected it used. Hiding behind solid cover was still the safest option, even if it meant sacrificing his line of sight.

[Why did you agree to come here if you were going to do this? Any room would have been good.]

<Oh, you mean besides the fact that every other room looks like a demolition company had a wild party in there? At least this one has a window. You know, so I can actually see the fucker trying to kill me instead of tripping over concrete chunks in the dark.>

[Your survival instincts are truly inspiring,] the system replied dryly.

<Hey, if I'm going to die, I'd rather not do it because I stubbed my toe on fallen debris while playing hide and seek with a thaid.>

The illusion continued their patrol, searching rooms and checking corners exactly as Erik had done earlier.

It was all a ruse, of course. They were actually trying to make the monster notice them so that it would chase them.

The problem was that Erik had no idea if the monster took the bait, and the illusions didn't give him any kind of feedback about it. They were incapable of it.

The most Erik could do was to control them, and they did what he wanted. That was it. Besides, if the creature relied on vibrations to track its prey, as he was inclined to think, the illusions wouldn't fool it—but their movement might draw its attention long enough for Erik to at least spot it, and if they were fast enough, they might lure it all the same.

Minutes stretched by as Erik waited. Dust motes danced in shafts of sunlight, stirred by air currents he couldn't feel because of the armor.

[Stay focused,] the system said. [This thing is patient. It might wait hours for the perfect moment to strike.]

<Ah… shit…>

Erik nodded, though no one could see the gesture. He settled into a readier position, prepared for a long wait.

—***—

The thaid was coiled beneath a pile of broken ceiling tiles, its body allowed to be used as a hiding place. In truth, Erik went past its hiding point, but its scales made the creature impossible to be seen by the naked eye, and its ability to suppress its mana flow made it invisible even to the biological supercomputer.

The creature was waiting, feeling every movement around it through its body. Like a living radar, it could sense footsteps and falling debris, creating a map of everything nearby in its mind thanks to the sensory organs that allowed it to perceive even the slightest vibration.

Yet something puzzled the thaid. Its eyes tracked movement inside the corridor. Something went past its hiding place. There was a creature running around, but it was not making a single vibration. There were no footfalls, no disturbance on the dust-covered floor. It was weird.

The beast's primitive mind struggled to understand what was happening, so it failed to understand the trap the illusions were.

The creature remained motionless, only its eyes following the figure. Years of hunting in these ruins had taught it caution.

All prey made vibrations—from the smallest rodents to the largest thaids. Even humans, though the creature didn't understand what they were, sent tremors through the building's structure with their careful steps.

Indeed, there had been humans in this building once; unfortunately, they had been blackguards. That happened when humans were nothing more than bugs compared to thaids.

Not that it changed much during these five years since Erik appeared, but for sure, they closed the gap a lot.

Yet, even with all their preparations, even with all their weapons, the humans had been killed by the snake-like thaid, and so had all the other creatures that stumbled upon this building, and they weren't few.

The serpent's forked tongue flicked out, tasting the air. There was no scent, either. The creature's primitive brain churned.

Its instincts were in turmoil because they urged it to make it chase and attack whatever that thing was.

The figure looked like prey, moved like prey, but triggered none of the other hunting signals the creature relied on.

Its little brain had cautioned to stay where it was, and it did, for some time. The beast remained frozen in place, unsure of what to do. Never in all its time hunting in these halls had it seen anything this strange.

The beast's instincts tingled as it watched the figure pass by again. Its concrete-colored scales shifted slightly, adjusting their pattern to better match the surrounding debris.

Then, soon after the human passed, it came again, but not from the direction it went, but from the one it came from the first time. The predator's tongue flicked rapidly, trying to make sense of the situation.

The only problem was that it was still a beast, and soon, its instinct prevailed over the little intelligence it had. That happened when hunger became rampant in its body. It started chasing one of the illusions.