Liam tightened his abdominal muscles instantly, turning his stomach into a wall of iron, but the impact still rattled his insides and sent his blood pressure spiking. He stumbled backward, gasping for air.


The Undead didn't fare much better, launching backward about twenty feet from the force of Liam's kick.


It hit the ground but scrambled up, a strange glint flickering in its dead eyes. It opened its mouth and let out a sound that was definitely not human—a low, raspy shriek that grated against Liam's eardrums. unlike the mindless grunts of the Carrion Beasts, this thing had emotions. It was pissed.


Responding to the shriek, a fresh wave of Greater Carrion Beasts poured out from the shadows. They ignored the fresh corpses of the Elite Beasts on the ground and swarmed Liam's team in a frenzy. The Undead was commanding them.


"Back up!" Drake roared. He gutted a beast and backpedaled toward Sheila, desperate to close the gap and shield her.


But the Undead was a nightmare. Liam had barely regained his footing when the creature came at him again, moving with the agility of a cheetah. To make matters worse, two Greater Carrion Beasts flanked it, turning it into a three-on-one assault.


The rest of the team was bogged down, fighting back-to-back around Sheila as the horde closed in.


Liam roared, slashing downward to decapitate a charging beast, but the Undead was right there, reaching for him with both hands. The creature's anatomy shifted in real-time—its fingernails elongated into serrated claws, ready to disembowel him.


Liam sucked in a breath and triggered Spider Climb again, preparing to dodge sideways.


He never saw the cheap shot coming.


The Undead suddenly ducked its head. Its neck extended like a coiled spring, launching its head forward like a cannonball.


Crack.


The headbutt slammed directly into Liam's face. He hadn't expected the thing to have the anatomy of a Looney Tunes character. His vision went black, blood gushed from his nose, and his eyes watered uncontrollably from the pain. With a miserable yelp, Liam was sent flying backward, completely dazed.


The Undead didn't waste time celebrating its hit. Its telescopic neck snapped back into place with a wet shluck, and the monster leaped into the air, aiming a massive stomp right at Liam's chest.


It all happened way too fast. Liam was a veteran fighter with god-tier reflexes, but right now, his brain felt like it had been put in a blender. The world was spinning, and there was no way he could dodge in time.


THUD.


The Undead's foot slammed into Liam's sternum. Luckily, Liam managed to flex his chest muscles at the last microsecond, hardening them into a biological breastplate. It absorbed about five hundred pounds of the force—which was great, because otherwise, he would have been flattened into a pancake.


Bones creaked ominously. Blood surged into his throat and spilled from his mouth, but Liam wasn't done. He slashed out blindly with the Fang of Gluttony in his left hand.


If that muscle-hardening trick hadn't worked, his ribs would be powder right now.


The Undead hopped back to avoid the blade, then immediately tried to curb-stomp Liam's face.


But Liam had his wind back. The Ether he'd just absorbed was kicking in like a shot of magical caffeine, knitting his wounds back together right before his eyes. He engaged every muscle in his core and scrambled sideways. The Undead's foot smashed into the dirt, missing Liam's cheek by a hair.


Liam rolled, kipped up, and delivered a solid roundhouse kick to the monster's shoulder. Thwack!


The Undead stumbled back a few steps. Liam used the momentum to spring to his feet, activating Spider Climb. He moved like a ghost, blurring across the battlefield—but he didn't attack the monster.


This thing was a nightmare. It was just as strong and fast as he was, maybe even faster. Engaging it head-on right now was a death wish.


Instead, Liam darted ten meters away, diving straight into a pack of Greater Carrion Beasts. His blade flashed horizontally, decapitating two of the monsters in one smooth motion. Two glowing orbs of Ether floated out of the corpses and dissolved into his forehead.


The rush was instant. The fresh Ether boiled through his veins, erasing his injuries and flooding him with power.


System notifications popped up in his mind:


"Level 4 Spirit Wielder: Ether 47/50"


"Level 4 Spirit Wielder: Ether 48/50"


He barely had time to check the stats before the Undead was on him again, claws slashing.


Liam's Spider Climb buff flickered out at the worst possible moment. He tried to dodge, but he wasn't fast enough. Pain seared across his back as the monster's claws shredded his shirt and carved ten bloody furrows into his skin.


Liam spun around, thrusting the Fang of Gluttony forward.


BANG.


Before his blade could even connect, the world blurred. The Undead had fired its head out again like a spring-loaded cannonball.


It was a cheap shot—totally unpredictable and way too fast to track. Liam felt like he'd been sucker-punched by a sledgehammer. He grunted and went flying backward.


The only upside was that the monster sacrificed raw power for that insane speed. It hit hard enough to stun him for half a second, but it didn't take his head off.


This time, Liam was ready. The second his vision blurred, he triggered Spider Climb.


He took the hit, his head swimming in a dizzy haze, but the skill allowed him to scramble backward on pure instinct, putting crucial distance between him and the monster. It was a good thing, too—the Undead's claws snapped shut exactly where his stomach had been a split-second ago.


The stun wore off. Liam re-engaged Spider Climb, weaving away from the monster. He wasn't trying to win; he was trying to farm.


Across the battlefield, Drake yelled over the noise of combat. "Liam! Hang on, I'm coming to help!"


Drake and Gwen could see Liam getting tossed around. They thought he was on the run, totally outmatched, and they were trying to cut a path to save him.


"Stay back!" Liam roared. He knew the score—if he couldn't handle this freak, Drake and the others would just be monster chow.


While retreating, Liam lashed out at the weaker monsters around him. The Undead was too tough, but the Greater Carrion Beasts were easy pickings.


Two more fell to his blade.


Gotcha, Liam thought.


"Done!" he shouted, skidding to a halt. He spun around to face the charging Undead, a grin spreading across his face.