As John stood up, his saber drawn, his body leaking blood yet brimming with unnatural energy, the lizards seemed to freeze for a moment, as if taken aback by the tenacity of a man who should've already been dead.
Then, in the next instant, the entire swarm moved.
Hundreds of them.
Their muscular limbs slapped against the rock walls and leapt through the air, their scaled bodies gliding unnaturally fast, like black shadows racing across the surface of water.
The sound of claws scraping, hissing, and flesh-hungry snarls filled the crevice, drowning out everything else.
John's eyes widened, but instead of fear, he laughed.
A wild, guttural, almost insane laugh.
"Come, and eat this!"
A thick beam of light, his Soul Piercing Gaze, burst forth from his forehead.
The beam carved through the swarm like a divine blade, instantly eviscerating ten of the frontmost lizards.
Their bodies exploded mid-air, guts and bone flying like debris from a shattered dam.
But John wasn't done.
