“Ouch...” was all the response Sam could give. The muscles in both his arms felt like they’d been torn over and over again. He felt extremely fatigued, too, and he guessed this was because of the penalty of using Herculean.

“Buck up, hero,” Thunder warned, although her bloodied lips had reformed into a wide smile. “Battle’s not over.”

Sam just barely had enough strength to turn his head to the side so he could watch the Terror struggle to its feet.

“It’s wounded,” Sam realized.

The Terror’s emaciated body shuddered while it attempted to stand on wobbly legs. Many of the weapons that had pierced its flesh had been blown away in the previous attack, causing the wounds they’d plugged to leak even more ichor down onto the icy floor.

“Yeah, you dealt it one hell of a critical hit,” Thunder said, sounding very impressed.

“But it didn’t die,” Sam sighed.

Thankfully, he could feel his muscles beginning to heal. His broken leg had reset itself, although the pain was still excruciating.

“I’ve hit it enough times to shave off its life force by a lot, but we’ll need one last nail to shut that horror down,” Thunder explained. “Luckily, all I need is a hammer.”

Both their gazes drifted to the ground a few feet ahead of them where Onus now lay.

Without warning, she dropped Sam on the icy ground, causing him to wince in pain some more.

“Ouch,” he complained.

“Aren’t you already regenerating?” Thunder asked with one bushy eyebrow raised in his direction. “How much longer do you need?”

“I’d say an entire day wouldn’t be enough,” Sam grumbled.

He picked himself off the floor, wincing at every one of his injuries. But at least he could stand, despite the pain lancing up his leg.

Sam glanced over his shoulder and discovered the force of the last attack had also blown away Dr. Hearthstone. He was lying unconscious on the ground behind them.

“Guess it’s just the two of us,” he said.

“Can you use the power you showed off earlier?” Thunder asked.

Sam faced forward, his brow furrowing. “Probably just one more time…”

“Perfect.” Thunder walked over to the glowing object she’d left on the ground. “None of my attacks have penetrated into that horror’s core.”

She reached down and picked up the five-foot thunderbolt that leaked out so much energy Sam guessed it had enough oomph in it to level an entire building.

“I’ve poured all my remaining power into this nail,” she explained while her gaze drifted toward the enemy that was finally stalking toward them once again. “I’ll stick it in, but I’ll need you to hammer it down.”

“It’s a thunderbolt,” Sam reminded her. “Is it even solid enough?”

“What do you think, lame-brain?” she asked, her eyebrow rising once more.

[Ha-ha-ha, lame-brain... I like that one.]

“No one asked you,” Sam snapped at the message box.

“Tell Chiron I said hi,” Thunder chuckled.

“Chiron?” Sam asked. The name sounded very familiar.

Thunder’s reply was caught in her throat. It seemed her slip of the tongue had been corrected by the mysterious system.

“You’ll have to figure that out on your own,” Thunder shrugged.

The surrounding atmosphere dropped even more as the Terror drew nearer. The time for banter was over.

“By the way, if you’re going in close make sure it doesn’t get the chance to bite you,” Thunder warned.

“Is this about the Blight?” Sam asked.

“The stronger the horror, the more powerful its corruption,” Thunder answered. “Alpha-level horrors are basically Blight super-spreaders.”

The priestesses of the gods preached that the taint born from a horror’s birth could cause a sickness so foul that it could bring low even the mightiest of heroes. They were referring to Hercules, the most famous hero to lose his life to the Blight.

Thunder was the first to charge forward. She deftly dodged the whip-like appendages the Terror sent against her while closing the distance between them. Sam followed, stopping only to activate Herculean once more so he could pick up the hammer that was lying between them and the Terror. The same warnings appeared over Sam’s vision. Only, they sounded much direr now, as if to tell him that this really was his last shot at beating the horror.

Thunder launched herself into the air to lure the Terror’s gaze away from Sam who’d slid down to pick up Onus, which was now too close to the horror’s feet.

“Artemis, goddess of the hunt,” Thunder yelled while in mid-jump, “let my aim be true!”

Thunder threw her thunderbolt at the Terror, and it seemed like it was almost a miracle it slipped past the horror’s limbs to penetrate straight into its chest.

“Now, Sam!” Thunder urged.

The Terror let out a mighty screech that caused Sam to momentarily slow his pace. Still, he managed to jump up while gripping Onus in both hands. But, just before Sam could swing the hammer down on the bolt protruding out of the Terror’s chest, something heavy smashed into the side of his head.

Sam hit the ground hard, face first, and the pain that lanced up his brain was so intense that he wondered why he hadn’t blacked out yet.

[ALERT! [Regeneration (ζ)] is working to counteract the damage. Refrain from taking action while this is in progress.]

So that’s why, he thought. He wasn’t even allowed to lose consciousness.

Something sticky dripped down his forehead. More of it was stuck to the side of his face. A metallic taste filled the inside of his mouth.

“I’m…bleeding,” he mumbled.

Sam blinked away the black dots crowding his vision, and his sight returned just in time for him to watch the round mouth filled to the brim with needle-like teeth move closer.

“Styx,” he whispered. “We were so close…”