Chapter 48: Clear the whole damn rift!

Rain stepped out of the wall gap, raised his right leg, and drove a brutal sidekick directly into the creature’s exposed ribs.

His heel struck the reddish-brown hide with the force of a battering ram. The Rustjaw let out a harsh, metallic grunt, its heavy body shifting two feet sideways, but the thick, leathery hide absorbed the blow better than any monster Rain had fought tonight.

The beast swiveled its heavy head, its red eyes wild with rage. Before Rain could pull his leg back, the Rustjaw whipped its heavy, thick tail around in a blinding counter-attack.

The spiked, bony tip of the tail struck Rain directly across his left shoulder.

The force of the blow launched Rain backward through the air. He slammed hard into the steel wall ten feet down the corridor, his breath bursting from his lungs in a ragged scream as sharp pain exploded across his shoulder and chest.

[Damage Taken]

[HP: 91 -> 58]

Rain fell to his hands and knees on the floor, coughing violently, dark spots dancing before his eyes. He reached up with his right hand, clutching his left shoulder. The fabric of his hoodie was torn, the skin underneath bruised purple and bleeding from two shallow puncture marks.

Fifty-eight out of a hundred and thirty. Less than half.

The Rustjaw ripped its snout free from the buckled wall, turning its massive body around in the narrow corridor, its red eyes fixed on the fallen boy.

It raised its heavy metallic jaw, preparing for a final, crushing pounce.

Rain sat on the cold floorboards, wiping blood from his lip.

His shoulder throbbed with a sickening, heavy ache. His ribs burned with every breath he took. He had no idea if he could take another hit like that one and still be standing after.

And yet, looking up at the six-hundred-pound monster charging toward him, Rain felt something wild, fierce, and completely terrifying wake up inside his chest.

It wasn’t fear. It was a burning, white-hot rush of pure, unadulterated defiance.

A loud, breathless laugh burst from his throat.

"Is that all you’ve got?!" Rain shouted, his voice echoing off the steel plates like an iron bell.

He didn’t wait for the beast to reach him. Rain pushed off the floor with both hands, surging forward into a low, aggressive tackle straight toward the charging Rustjaw.

The monster lunged, its metallic lower jaw snapping downward to crush Rain’s head.

Rain dropped to his knees, sliding across the slick, rusted steel floor directly underneath the creature’s open strike. He passed straight beneath the beast’s belly, feeling the hot, foul heat radiating off its hide.

As he slid under the monster’s chest, Rain reached up with both hands, grabbed the soft, unarmored joint of the Rustjaw’s front left leg, and twisted it backward with everything he had left, every ounce of strength and momentum from the slide combined into one motion.

The joint snapped with a sickening, heavy pop.

The Rustjaw let out an agonized, high-pitched metallic shriek as its front left leg collapsed beneath it. The massive beast lost all balance, slamming chin-first into the concrete floorboards with a deafening crash that shook the entire corridor.

Rain scrambled out from underneath the falling monster, flipping onto his feet behind it.

He didn’t give it a single second to recover.

Rain leaped onto the beast’s back, straddling its heavy, reddish-brown spine. He wrapped his left arm tight around the creature’s neck, pulling its head back with all his weight, while he raised his right fist into the air.

"STAY DOWN!" Rain roared.

He brought his bare fist down onto the soft, unarmored space directly behind the monster’s metallic jaw plate.

Sparks flew. The creature thrashed violently, its heavy tail slamming uselessly against the steel walls, but Rain held on, driving punch after punch straight into the base of its skull.

On the fourth strike, the thick bone behind the jaw plate fractured with a wet, heavy crunch. The Rustjaw shuddered once, a long, rasping breath escaping its metallic snout, and then its massive body went completely limp, collapsing onto the bloody floorboards beneath Rain’s legs.

[Target Eliminated: Rustjaw (D-Rank)]

[Experience Gained: +45]

[Experience: 158 / 900]

Rain sat astride the dead beast for ten long seconds, his chest heaving, his right fist covered in dark red blood and shiny fragments of bone.

His dark hoodie was shredded at the shoulder. His trousers were torn at the knees. His face was streaked with sweat, dirt, and monster blood.

He slid off the creature’s back, landing heavily on his feet in the narrow, quiet corridor, his shoulder screaming at him the second his boots hit the ground.

He stood there in the middle of the carnage, his body shaking with the fading rush of adrenaline, his breath coming in hot, visible plumes in the cold draft. Fifty-eight health. Eleven Mana still sitting untouched, at least that was something. He was eighteen years old, an F-rank orphan that would have been discarded by every guild, every instructor, and every system official in the city.

And he had just beaten a D-rank apex predator to death with his bare hands, hurt, alone, with nothing but what his own body could do.

A slow, wild, utterly confident grin spread across Rain’s face despite everything aching in him. His eyes shone through the darkness of the passage with a fierce, brilliant light that seemed to burn straight through the shadows.

He didn’t feel invincible. He felt something better than that, something that had survived being tested and was still standing anyway.

Rain turned his head, looking down the long, dark, flooded passage stretching out into the deep foundations of the rift ahead.

He raised his right hand, wiping a streak of dark Rustjaw blood across his jawline, his voice ringing out through the quiet, broken facility with absolute, unyielding intensity:

"I’m going to clear this whole damn rift!!!"

***

**A/N:**

Thank you for reading.

If you’re enjoying the ride so far, I’d really appreciate a GOLDEN TICKET vote or a POWERSTONE if you’ve got one to spare. And if you’ve ever considered sending a gift, big or small, just know it genuinely helps and is never taken for granted.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for sticking around. There’s a lot more coming.

— RetardedCulture