The anomaly snarled at him, brandishing its blood-drenched claws. It had killed so many people with little to no effort and wasn't going to let the fresh prey get away from it.

The anomaly lunged forward, swinging its claws. But before its claws could even graze Zaen's skin, he jumped back. The anomaly was infuriated by Zaen's constant rabbiting around.

There was no light in the room. Hence, the anomaly had to rely on its sense of smell to look for its lost prey. Little did it know that it was the one being preyed upon. After all, Zaen didn't need light to hunt the latter.

"Peek-a-boo, I see you!" he yelled as he swung the stick straight into the back of the anomaly's head with all his strength.

[Total Damage Dealt: 808]

[Mawspawn's HP: 1,192/2,000]

"Tsk, I thought one hit to the head would be enough," Zaen clicked his tongue, jumping back to create some distance between them.

Surprisingly, even though the stick dealt bonus damage, the same couldn't be said for the sword. Zaen tried hitting it with the blade, but nothing happened.

Mawspawn was completely immune to slashing or piercing damage. That's why neither the throwing knife nor the Boning Sword worked on it. It was strange because even the Endless didn't have such resistances.

The realization made Zaen even more determined to end the anomaly once and for all. If he didn't, it would inevitably end up evolving into something far worse than the Endless he fought.

If that happened, Zaen had his doubts about whether anyone would be able to stop the anomaly after its evolution.

With that thought, he lunged to hit the anomaly again. Unfortunately, the anomaly wasn't as ill-prepared as the last time. The anomaly sank its claws deep into Zaen's shoulders and slammed him onto the ground.

The impact was strong and very painful. Zaen's stick was about to slip out of his hand, but he quickly stored it back into his inventory. As for the floor below him, it had already shattered into pieces upon impact, just like Zaen's collarbone. Zaen cursed out in pain as blood gushed from his mouth.

[Remaining HP: 7,072/9,800]

[Caution! You've been stunned for 3 seconds due to the Mawspawn's brutish strength. You cannot move.]

[You're stunned. You cannot use items to heal your wounds.]

"F…uck"

Zaen had severely underestimated the anomaly's abilities, and now, he was in a bad spot because of it.

He thought that since the anomaly was still in the process of evolving and couldn't see that well in the dark, he could easily take care of it. And this overconfidence led him to where he was now… below the anomaly's blood-soaked feet.

The anomaly, however, wasn't done yet. Just slamming Zaen down wasn't enough to quell its anger.

It effortlessly grabbed Zaen by his head and threw him towards the wall. Zaen closed his eyes and prepared for the impact; there wasn't much he could do at that point either way. He was still stunned, after all.

[Remaining HP: 4,086/9,800]

[Caution! You've been stunned for 4 seconds due to the Mawspawn's brutish strength. You cannot move.]

Zaen broke through the walls with a sound resembling a thunderclap. A huge cloud of dust and smoke clouded his vision.

He kept rolling on the ground like a discarded wheel for a while before finally coming to a stop. He didn't know which bones in his body were broken anymore, as he could feel his entire body screaming in pain.

The thrashing he received at the hands of the Hell's restaurant or the Bus 357 didn't even remotely come close to how he was feeling now. Partly because back then he could use items to heal himself, but now, since he was stunned, he couldn't even use the healing items to mitigate the pain.

His head was still spinning when the dust began to settle. He knew the anomaly would attack him again in mere moments, and he was helpless to do anything to stop it from happening.

[You're not stunned anymore.]

Moments passed, but nothing happened. He expected the anomaly to attack him and keep piling on the stun status effect. However, Zaen wasn't complaining.

He rejoiced at the unknown reason the ghoul didn't pursue him before quickly using the candies he bought to fight with Gloo to heal himself.

He was still in pain, but at least now his bones were more or less back to where they belonged. Then he re-equipped the stick before looking back towards the 'room' he was thrown out of mere moments ago.

The anomaly was standing near the broken wall. It looked as if the ghoul was hiding in the shadows to stay protected from something, all while staring intently at Zaen.

Its mouth drooling in anticipation of feasting on Zaen's flesh. But it didn't take a single step towards Zaen, despite its hunger.

"Why isn't he attacking me?" Zaen mumbled.

Just then, a lost memory resurfaced in his mind. The anomalies other than the Endless had exhibited similar behavior, but that was because they feared the light.

It's nighttime, so why was the anomaly afraid of light now?

Zaen could observe plenty of things with his perception, but he couldn't 'see' light. But given the anomaly's behavior, he was sure there had to be a light source nearby.

He realized he had two choices now.

One was to go inside, only to get the repeat telecast of his beating. Or he could somehow drag the anomaly outside and beat the crap out of it.

"I think the choice is clear. I still have more than enough time to take care of the ghoul. I might as well calm my nerves for a bit," Zaen mumbled and sat down on the dusty road while staring at the ghoul, as it stared back at him.

***

At the same time, in a hidden broadcast room.

"What's he doing?" An instructor asked Eira.

Eira just shrugged. She had no idea what was going on in Zaen's head. The last thing she had expected was for him to sit cross-legged in the middle of the light cast from a street lamp.

"He's luring the anomaly out," Instructor Rudra replied matter-of-factly.

"Luring it out? For what?"

"Perhaps he knows something we don't?" Rudra shrugged. "Why don't we let things play out as they have? Who knows? Maybe the recruit would end up surprising us all?"

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