The ground cracked.
The monster stumbled, its footing staggered.
Jin lunged in again.
This time, he wasn't slicing vines, he was aiming high, toward the creature's shoulder. His blade bit deep, and for a second, he felt resistance. Not wood. Not flesh.
Something older.
He jumped back before the bark could heal around his sword.
Joon launched the second orb high. Jun-taek snapped his fingers and shifted its arc downward. It streaked through the night like a comet and struck the creature square in the back. An explosion of light lit the block.
But again, the bark healed.
"It's regenerating faster," Jin muttered, landing beside Seul.
"We're hitting it," she said. "But not where it hurts."
Jun-taek dropped beside them, breathing hard but focused.
"We need to push it somewhere we control," he said. "Somewhere tight."
Joon's eyes lit up. "The bottleneck, those twin buildings, three blocks down. Narrow pass."
"Go," Jin ordered. "We'll follow."
