It started as a hum.
A faint tremor, like a string pulled tight beneath the earth had been plucked.. Lucy, blindfolded as always, frowned.
"Great. One more problem for the list. I've lost count already." He sighed, in no mood to add another tragedy to the pile.
The heart of the hollow throbbed loudly, a deep, wet sound with an erratic rhythm. The walls vibrated, as if trying to hold back something terrible.
Lucy couldn't see it, of course, but he felt it—something viscous and electric crawling over his skin like cold fingers.
"There it is... musi—. My dumb grapefruit... always rolling where it shouldn't."
The orb vibrated in the air, releasing a strange energy that resonated with the hollow's core. Lucy felt it dive into the heart of that thing. Then, without warning, it merged with it.
A blast echoed like distant thunder.
The ground shook. The walls moaned. The ceiling began to fall apart, and the air smelled of metal, flesh, and fear.
"Lya, cover the kids!" Mira shouted, grabbing her daughter. "Everyone, get back!"
Lya, ever efficient, dragged the children to a safer spot, building a makeshift trench out of broken furniture and filthy blankets. Lucy stood in the middle of the chaos, feeling the energy pile up in the cave's center like pus in a wound about to burst.
And it did.
The creature burst from the heart with a sound like disgusting suction.
A shapeless mass of rotting flesh and living trash. Tentacles made of guts, wires, and bones. Mouths opening at random. Eyes dripping and multiplying like cockroaches.
And the stench. Holy hell, the stench alone could kill without needing violence.
"Is this a final boss or the result of mixing a landfill with LSD?" Lucy muttered, taking half a step back. "Please don't talk in third person, at least."
The monster roared. No—worse. It screamed like a thousand throats chewing glass. Then it lunged.
Two men didn't even have time to scream. They were swallowed by a wave of tentacles, shredded between broken gears and improvised teeth.
A child shrieked. Lya shielded him with her body, pushing him toward safety while gritting her teeth.
Chaos broke out instantly. The cave filled with screams, debris, and a rain of blood that defied physics.
"To arms!" Mira shouted, drawing a knife that sparked like it was starving.
Lucy swallowed hard. He felt mana pulsing faintly inside him, like a candle about to go out.
Great. I have no idea what I'm doing here... but yeah, dying sounds like a fitting ending.
He ran toward the monster. Dodged a rock, kicked a rat-human hybrid, and dove straight at a tentacle that looked like a spiked intestine.
"Hey! You god-complex piece of crap! I'm here to give you the worst indigestion of your life!"
The creature reacted. A tentacle grazed his side—it felt like touching acid mixed with electricity.
Lucy screamed, more from surprise than pain, and answered with a mana-charged punch that burst one of the slimy eyes on the thing.
The monster recoiled, shrieking.
People fought with whatever they had: rocks, knives, a broken chair. An old man threw glass bottles like grenades. A teenager bit down desperately on a tentacle.
And still, it didn't seem enough.
Lucy spun, narrowly dodging a claw, and fell backward onto something sticky. He didn't want to know what it was.
"Perfect," he growled as he stood up. "Survived high school bullies just to end up as a doormat for a mutant amoeba. Irony's delicious."
In the distance, he felt a sharp shift in the air—followed by the sickening sound of something being severed. Mira must have struck. A second later, a blast of putrid energy cracked through the air, and he heard a dull thud as her body was flung several meters. Still, he could hear her fighting, her breaths ragged, fury burning in every step she took despite the blood running down her face.
Lucy felt a strange warmth in his chest. Inspiration? Courage?
"Nope. Heartburn. Definitely. Damn rat soup…"
But then it happened.
A flash. A swift, nearly invisible movement.
A blade-like tentacle sliced through the air and pierced Mira's stomach.
The sound was wet. Dirty. Undeniable.
Mira was flung against the wall like a broken doll.
Time froze.
"Mom!" Lya screamed, running desperately toward her. "No, please!"
Lucy didn't move.
Not out of heroism. Not even fear. He just... didn't know what to do. What to say. For the first time in a long while, his mind held no sarcasm.
Only silence.
And in that silence, something inside him either broke—or ignited. Maybe both.
The creature roared, advancing again. The chaos intensified. Screams. Cries. The sound of flesh tearing.
And yet all Lucy could think about was how absurd the whole scene was.
"'Inner light,' they said. 'Hidden potential.' Pfft. I can't even see," he muttered, stumbling forward. "But if this thing wants to eat everyone… it'll have to start with me. Or choke on my mediocrity, at least."
He charged with everything he had. He hit, screamed, bit, kicked. No technique. No strategy. Just pure instinct.
His fists slammed into the worm's grotesque flesh again and again, sticky and unyielding, like punching wet stone. Each impact sent pain shooting up his arms, but he didn't stop. Couldn't. His breathing was ragged, each gasp tasting of blood and bile.
The creature shrieked—if that horrible noise could be called a shriek—and flailed, tearing into his side. He felt warm blood gush from the wound, running down his ribs, soaking the waistband of his pants. Another cut opened on his shoulder. Another on his thigh.His skin was becoming a map of cuts.
Still, Lucy fought.
The black blindfold was loosening, shifting uncomfortably on his head. but it didn't matter. He didn't need to see. He felt the rage, the terror, the heat of the fight. He bit into what felt like a tendon—or a tentacle, he didn't care—just to make it let go. He screamed as he tore it loose with his teeth. Then punched again. And again.
No grace. No honor. Just fury.
Blood mixed with dirt on his skin. Cuts crossed his arms like vines. Every nerve screamed at him to stop, to collapse, to give in.
He didn't.
And for some reason—it worked. Maybe it was the mana. Maybe the worm just didn't expect a blindfolded freak to spit in its face while kicking what he hoped was a knee.
The monster staggered back a few steps.
Not defeated.
But hurt.
Lucy dropped to his knees, gasping. His face was covered in blood, arms cut, and probably a broken rib.
"I'm no hero. But I'm definitely a pain in the ass," he whispered, spitting out a tooth.
Lya, tears in her eyes, dragged Mira's body away from the battlefield.
Some of the others, either inspired or just pissed off, hurled themselves at the monster with renewed fury. The fight wasn't over.
But for now—for a moment—they had gained something.
Space.Time.
And Lucy, still gasping, smiled wryly.
"Damn. This really feels like the climax of chapter four in a damn isekai. If the narrator kills me now, at least put this on my grave: 'Survived the trash. Died to plot logic.'"