Chapter 16: The Purge
The first Slasher burst through the ruined door in a shower of splinters, its lamprey maw pulsing with a wet, hungry sound. **Level: 3. Health: 150/150.**
Kael didn't wait for it to find its footing. He used the clutter of the waiting room to his advantage, kicking a wheeled stool into its path. The creature stumbled, and in that moment of imbalance, he lunged, not for a killing blow, but for a crippling one. His rebar stabbed deep into the muscle of its leading forelimb.
**Damage Dealt: 22. Limb Damage: Moderate.**
It shrieked, a high-pitched, grating noise, and its charge faltered. But the door behind it was now a gaping maw, and a second Slasher, then a third, scrambled into the room. The air grew thick with their chittering and the foul, metallic scent of their corruption.
Three. All Level 3. He was outnumbered and outmatched in raw power.
His mind became a cold, clear engine. He abandoned any thought of a stand-up fight. This was a game of movement, of misdirection, of using the environment as a weapon. He was a Stalker, not a Sentinel.
He backpedaled into the narrow hallway leading to the exam rooms, forcing a bottleneck. The lead Slasher, hampered by its injured leg, was the first through. Kael met it with a feint high, then dropped low, sweeping the rebar at its good legs. It wasn't enough to topple it, but it made the creature recoil, blocking the ones behind it for a precious second.
He ducked into the first exam room and slammed the door. It was flimsy, but it bought him two seconds. He was already moving, scrambling onto the stainless-steel examination table and launching himself at the drop-ceiling panels.
He punched through, hauling himself up into the cramped, dark crawlspace just as the door below shattered. Dust and the frustrated snarls of the Slashers filled the room beneath him.
He moved silently in the darkness, the metal framework groaning under his weight. He could see slivers of light from the gaps in the ceiling tiles, tracking the movements of the monsters below. They were confused, searching the small room, their blades slashing at the cabinets.
He found a position directly over the hallway. One of the Slashers was pacing right beneath him, its back turned.
**[Shadow Stride].**
The world muted. He became a ghost. He dropped through the ceiling tile, landing silently behind the creature. The skill had five seconds remaining. He drove the rebar into the base of its skull with all his strength.
**Critical Hit! Damage Dealt: 85!**
The creature convulsed and dissolved into motes of light before it could even cry out. **XP Gained: 150.**
He rematerialized in the hallway, the other two Slashers still in the exam room. They heard the dissolution of their kin and spun, hissing with renewed fury.
He was exposed. He turned and ran, not away, but deeper into the clinic, leading them away from the exit, away from the duffel bag of supplies. He burst into the surgery room at the back. It was a dead end.
The two Slashers filled the doorway, their many eyes blazing with malice. They knew he was cornered.
Kael's back was against a large, autoclave machine. His eyes darted, searching for anything. There. A rack of compressed gas tanks—oxygen, nitrous oxide. He didn't know if they were full, but it was the only move left.
As the first Slasher lunged, he didn't try to dodge. He braced, and with a grunt of effort, shoved the heavy rack of tanks over. They crashed to the floor directly in the creature's path.
The Slasher's leading bone-blade, swung in a killing arc, struck one of the valves on an oxygen tank with a sharp *clang*.
The sound was followed by a violent, hissing shriek as high-pressure gas exploded from the ruptured valve. The tank became a deadly, uncontrolled rocket, spinning violently across the room and smashing into the second Slasher, pinning it against the doorjamb with crushing force.
**Environmental Damage: 110!**
**Corrupted Slasher has been slain.**
**XP Gained: 150.**
The first Slasher, startled and disoriented by the shrieking chaos, hesitated for a fatal second.
Kael didn't. He charged through the cloud of venting gas, his rebar a blur. He stabbed it in the side, once, twice, three times, a flurry of desperate, brutal strikes.
**Damage Dealt: 18. Damage Dealt: 21. Damage Dealt: 19.**
The creature thrashed, its health bar plummeting, and finally collapsed into nothingness.
**Corrupted Slasher has been slain.**
**XP Gained: 150.**
**Quest Complete: [Clear the Warren]**
**Reward: 300 XP. [Recipe: Basic Antidote] unlocked.**
Silence descended, broken only by the final, sputtering hiss of the gas tank. Kael stood panting, covered in dust and grime, his body trembling with adrenaline and exhaustion. He had done it. He had purged the nest.
He retrieved the duffel bag and shouldered it. The weight of the medical supplies was a tangible promise. The new knowledge of the **[Basic Antidote]** recipe, now etched into his System interface, was another.
He had set out on a simple errand. He was returning as a provider, a protector, and a force of purification. The Aegis Protocol was no longer just a personal code. It was becoming a mandate. And he was its first and most capable executor.