Chapter 192: Mayhem

The fog erupted.

Long, pale, segmented limbs burst upward from every gap surrounding the platform. They slammed onto the stone with wet, heavy impacts, hooked tips scraping and searching for anything to latch onto. Some were as thick as a man’s arm. Others were thinner and faster, whipping through the air like cables. Colorless fluid dripped from them wherever they moved, sizzling faintly when it hit the dark stone.

There was no more time to plan.

Lian cut the first limb that reached for his leg, driving his blade straight through the joint. The severed end thrashed wildly and sprayed fluid across his boots before falling back into the fog. Two more came at him from the side. He stepped in, severed one, and barely twisted away from the second as it tried to wrap his torso. The hooked tip tore a shallow line across his ribs before he cut it free.

Elara moved beside him with sharp, efficient strokes. Her blade flashed in the blue light as she took the limbs aiming for her side of the platform. One thick segment nearly caught her ankle. She stamped down on it hard enough to pin it against the stone, then cut through it twice in quick succession. The remaining length jerked back into the fog with a wet sound.

Ryzek did not bother with single cuts. Amber energy flared along both arms as he released short, compressed bursts that blew entire clusters of limbs apart. The force of each impact sent pieces of pale flesh and fog flying outward. Even so, more rose to replace them almost immediately.

The platform was not large.

Three people and a growing number of attacking limbs left almost no clean space to stand. Every step had to be measured. Every cut had to land. A single mistake would put someone over the edge and into the fog below, where the rest of whatever owned these limbs was clearly waiting.

A heavier limb, thicker than the others, surged up near Ryzek and wrapped his left leg before he could move. It yanked hard. His boots slid toward the edge. Crystal ridges flared as he drove an energy-coated fist down into the limb, cracking it open, then cut through the damaged section with a second strike. He stumbled back toward the center of the platform, blood already running from where the hooked tip had bitten into his calf.

Lian saw another cluster rising directly behind Elara. He shouted a warning and lunged across the small space, cutting two of the limbs before they could close around her. The third one slipped past him and coiled around her upper arm. It pulled with surprising strength. Elara’s boots left the stone for a moment before she reversed her blade and stabbed down into the limb, twisting hard. The pressure released. She landed back on the platform and immediately had to cut another that tried to take her place.

The fog itself was rising higher now.

It no longer stayed neatly between the platforms. Slow waves of it spilled onto the edges of the stone, forcing them toward the center. Wherever the fog touched the platform, the surface grew slick. More limbs pushed up through those spreading patches, making the safe ground smaller by the second.

A long limb shot up almost vertically and tried to wrap Lian’s neck from behind. He felt the cold wetness of it against his skin and dropped his weight instantly, cutting upward at the same time. The blade passed through the segment with a thick, wet resistance. Fluid sprayed across his shoulder and the side of his face. It burned faintly where it touched open skin.

There was no rhythm to the attack.

The limbs did not come in coordinated waves. They came constantly, from every gap, at different speeds and angles. Some tried to coil and drag. Others simply slammed down with enough force to crack the stone. A few of the thinner ones aimed for eyes and throats with quick, stabbing motions.

Ryzek took a heavy hit across the back that drove him to one knee. He answered with a wide burst of amber energy that cleared a temporary space around him, buying only a few seconds before new limbs began climbing over the remains of the old ones.

Elara’s breathing had grown sharp. A thin limb had managed to open a cut along her outer thigh, and colorless fluid mixed with her blood as she continued to fight. She killed everything that came within reach, but the platform was growing more crowded with thrashing, severed pieces that still twitched even after being cut free.

Lian felt the edge of the platform under his heel and realized how little ground they had left. The fog had claimed nearly a third of the stone already. Limbs continued to rise without any sign of slowing.

He cut another thick segment that tried to take his arm, then another that swung in from the opposite side. His damaged ribs burned with every hard movement. The earlier injuries from the Colossi pack and the living gate were still far from healed, and the constant explosive effort of the fight was tearing at them again.

A sudden, heavier impact shook the entire platform.

Something larger was pushing up from directly beneath them. The stone cracked in a long, jagged line across the center. Fog sprayed upward through the new fracture. A pale, ridged surface pressed against the underside of the platform hard enough to lift one edge by a fraction.

The thing in the fog was no longer content with sending only its limbs.

Power Scale / Cultivation Realms (Quick Reminder)

Foundation Realm (Layers 1–9): Body forging, no external Qi.

Circuit Awakening Realm (Early–Peak): First Qi loop, internal bursts.

Core Condensation Realm (Early–Peak): External Qi release, short flight.

Stellar Circuit Realm (1–9 Stars): True flight, Qi armor, energy projection.

Nebula Dominion Realm and higher: Domain control, galaxy-level power, etc

Power Scale Reminder

Lian Yu: Stellar Circuit Star 1.

Elara Voss: Core Condensation Peak

Keep it as reminders