Chapter 29: When Control Breaks

“The system has outlined that all monsters and creatures have a threat level, with minions being the lowest out of the four and Apex being the highest reported. Within those threat levels, there is their rank.

The lowest of three being feral, and the highest reported being an Alpha. We have also found out that these threat levels and ranks are interchangeable.”

The command tent was quiet in the way only exhaustion could create.

A battered plastic table sat at its center, scarred by knives, mugs, and maps that had been scraped across it too many times. A single overhead lamp cast a weak cone of yellow light, barely pushing back the shadows clinging to the canvas walls. The smell of stale coffee, antiseptic, and sweat lingered in the air, heavy and unpleasant.

Jabri leaned forward over the table, both hands planted flat against its surface. His broad shoulders were tense, his expression carved from fatigue and responsibility.

He straightened slightly, scanning the room to ensure the message landed.

Several squad leaders stood or sat around the table, their faces hollow, eyes sunken from days without proper rest.

“Within those threat levels,” Jabri continued, “each monster also carries a rank. The lowest rank observed is Feral. The highest reported rank is Alpha. What we have learned is that threat level and rank are not fixed to one another. They are interchangeable.”

“We have received multiple reports involving goblins,” Jabri said. “Creatures that normally operate in coordinated packs are now being encountered alone. These lone individuals exhibit behaviors inconsistent with what we previously catalogued.”

A woman with graying hair leaned forward, folding her arms. Her name tag read Clarissa. Her face was stern, lined by years of command and recent loss.

“You’re telling us the monsters are evolving?” she asked grimly.

“Not necessarily,” Jabri replied immediately, his tone sharp but controlled. “Think of it like an RPG system. There are multiple monster types within a species. Different forms. Different roles. Different ranks. What we are seeing is variety, not adaptation.”

He tapped the table once.

“Standard goblins are classified as Minion threat level. However, when operating in groups of five or more, they qualify as Lesser Brute threat level due to combined aggression, coordination, and lethality.”

Several people exchanged uneasy looks.

“As for the lone wolves,” Jabri continued, “they have been ranked as either Feral or Corrupted. The rank directly reflects behavior. Feral goblins are hyper-aggressive, poorly coordinated, and reckless. They do not value self-preservation. They exist only to kill.”

“And Corrupted?” someone asked quietly.

“They are similar, but,” Jabri said. “Cunning. Calculated. Unpredictable.”

Before anyone could speak again, a young man stepped forward from the far side of the table. He could not have been older than twenty-two, but his eyes were far older than his years. A jagged scar ran from the corner of his left eye down to his jaw.

“Kevin from squad Ian, sir. We want to report a newly encountered monster,” he said, his voice tight. “Designation: Thorned Marionette. Elite threat level.”

The room stilled.

“It uses dead humans as lures,” he continued, voice tight. “Controls them like puppets using its vines like tentacles. Mimics cries for help. It operates via a hidden controller. We have lost two experienced squads to it already.”

A low murmur rippled through the tent.

Two squads with experienced hunters.

That single detail settled into the room like poison.

Jabri’s jaw tightened.

“Understood,” he said after a moment. “Effective immediately, Thorned Marionettes are classified as escape-on-sight targets.”

He looked around the table, meeting every pair of eyes.

“This applies to all hunters ranked Newborn and low Awakened. That is level thirty and below. Even if you are at level thirty, do not engage unless you have a full squad with you.”

He did not raise his voice. He did not need to.

“I do not care how confident your people feel,” Jabri said. “I do not care how desperate the situation looks. If you encounter an Elite-ranked monster, you survive. You disengage. Observe if possible. You report.”

Silence followed.

He stepped back from the table.

“If that’s all,” Jabri said quietly, “you’re dismissed.”

Chairs scraped against the floor. Boots shifted. One by one, squad leaders filed out of the tent, carrying the weight of new knowledge into a city that had already proven how merciless it could be.

Outside, somewhere beyond the walls, something screamed.

–

Jagger’s mind only caught fragments of the System text.

His lungs burned as if filled with smoke. His chest felt like a cage, ribs pressing inward while something feral battered against the bars from the inside, desperate to be unleashed.

A tremor began in his hands.

He tightened his grip around the knife’s hilt until the leather creaked, but the shaking only worsened. It crawled up his wrists, into his forearms, and spread through his shoulders until his entire body vibrated like a plucked wire stretched too tight.

–

[Corruption Energy Rising – 15% ↑]

–

A high-pitched whine built behind his eyes. The world warped. Colors bled. Sounds twisted into the metallic shriek of the Marionette. He could feel its hunger, its alien fury, as if it were a parasite burrowing into his mind.

’You are pathetic.’ The feminine voice echoed in his head again, but this time it was no longer a whisper. It was a sneer. Cold. Disdainful. ’You hide like a child.’

“Shut up,” Jagger gasped, pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!”

’I should have just killed you.’ He could feel the cold smile in her words. That was when he touched his lips, and he realized that he was smiling.

“Get… out of my head!” he gasped, slamming his free hand against the car door. The cheap plastic panel cracked, but the pressure in his skull didn’t ease.

When he opened them, it was still there.

–

[Splintered One:]

A being of many within one, forever walking the edge between harmony and collapse. Fractured yet whole, you are a vessel where countless entities converge, their wills threading through your own. No single path defines you, your form and power shift with the voices that dwell inside. Every heartbeat is a negotiation, every breath a test of control. To balance them is to transcend limits; to falter is to be consumed.

Stability is your salvation. Corruption, your awakening.

–

That is when there was a tap on the back seat window.

His blood ran cold.

He froze, every muscle tensing. Slowly, he turned his head.

It was nearly four feet tall, hunched and wiry, its scales the color of dried blood. Its eyes were obsidian chips set deep in its skull, unblinking and predatory. Thin lips peeled back in a snarl, revealing rows of needle-sharp teeth. In its three-fingered claws, it held a jagged spear carved from bone.

The car shook violently as a loud thud echoed from the other side. Another one appeared at the driver’s side window, then another at the front windshield.

There were four of them.

They had surrounded him.

He was trapped.

“No. No. No.” Jagger scrambled backward, pressing himself against the far door. His body screamed at him to run, but there was nowhere to go.

–

[Corruption Energy Rising – 28% ↑]

–

He felt his arms grow stiff as he looked down and saw black veins traveling up his arms like living ink, they pulsed with a faint, sickly light. The veins spread across his knuckles and up his forearms.

The kobold at the back window growled, then it raised its spear and slammed it against the glass.

CRACK.

The impact sent a web of fractures across the window, radiating from the point of contact. Glass dust rained down on the seats.

Then another chime sounded.

–

[Active Skills]

[Corrupted Surge: Level 1] Temporarily amplifies physical parameters by 90% using corrupted essence. [Cooldown: 30 minutes]

Warning: Overuse increases corruption percentage and the risk of complete host body takeover.

–

But he didn’t care, and without thinking, he kicked at the back door with all his might, it was a desperate act, a pure act of survival. The car door burst open with a screech of tortured metal, its hinges groaning in protest as it tore free from its frame. The door flew off its hinges and crashed into the street with a deafening clang, tumbling end over end before skidding to a halt against a pile of debris.

Jagger tumbled out after it, hitting the ground hard. The knife Jane had given him skittered from his grasp. Asphalt tore into his palms and knees, pain flaring bright and sharp, but he did not stop. He scrambled, snatched the knife, and staggered to his feet.

Behind the kobolds, laughter echoed, eerily similar to hyenas.

–

[Corruption Energy Rising – 41% ↑]

–

In that instant, he suddenly stopped, his body not listening to him. The cold smile returned to his face, and he started to laugh as he turned and walked back towards the kobolds.

’Finally, some control.’ Ophilia’s echoed in his head, her tone filled with glee. ’Let’s have some fun.’

One of the kobolds with a large shoulder scar pointed at him, laughing and snarling at the same time as it raised its spear, and then it stopped. The laughter died in its throat, replaced by a low, guttural growl. It must have sensed the change.

The kobolds charged.

Two flanked him from either side, jumping from the car’s roof while the other came straight at him, their spears leveled, their intentions clear. They were fast. Their claws scraped against the pavement and metal as they closed the distance, their snarls turning into hungry yips.

–

[Corruption Energy Rising – 53% ↑]

[Corrupted entity Ophilia has forced Corrupted Surge Activate.]

[Quest:] Kill [Minion] Kobold [0/4]

–

“GIVE ME YOUR BLOOD!” He laughed as a surge of raw, violent energy flooded him.

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