A lot of people just stood there, staring at the monster in the distance as if dazed. Just because inspect worked on the Lizard King didn’t mean it worked on people. Luke couldn’t tell who was Integrated and who wasn’t as he hurried to catch up with Curtis. His shouting drew some attention, but most only gave him a fearful glance before fleeing in the opposite direction.

  Thinking he couldn’t tell Integrated from non-Integrated was a mistake, he realized. It was simple enough for him, just check whether someone had a meta-heart or not, but that meant stopping and checking each person, and there wasn’t time for that. Even if he identified them all, convincing them to fight would be an uphill battle.

  So, Luke did the only thing he could, following Curtis’s lead, charging toward the monster.

  Curtis reached its foot without the Lizard King even noticing him. Luke couldn’t help but be impressed when, instead of attacking, Curtis ran straight up its leg. Darkness pulsed around his feet. That darkness somehow allowed him to run straight up, defying gravity to climb the monster's scaled hide.

  The Lizard King was in the middle of smashing a car against a building when a spell erupted from a window ten stories up in another structure. Purple and pink bubbles flew outward, carried by an invisible wind toward the creature’s head.

  The Lizard King glanced at the bubbles, then, as if acting on instinct, reached out. It popped one with a clawed finger. The bubble exploded with a blast strong enough that the shockwave hit Luke even down at street level.

  The attack worked, and the monster reared back in pain with a screech. Luke squinted upward. The finger that had touched the bubble was gone, or at least mangled. Wounded now, the Lizard King grew cautious. It sidestepped the remaining bubbles, then hurled the car straight at the window they’d come from.

  That impact popped even more bubbles, triggering a chain of explosions that rocked the building and sent glass raining down onto the street. Still not satisfied, the Lizard King slammed its fists into the structure again and again until the ground trembled. Even the cops and soldiers fell back, no longer firing. Luke couldn’t blame them. Their bullets wouldn’t hurt it, but the monster could sure as hell hurt them.

  The bubble-caster, if still alive, wasn’t the only one fighting back. Arrows streaked through the air, crackling with lightning or blazing with fire, but as far as Luke could tell, they didn’t do much. Other spellcasters were joining in now, hurling magic at the creature in chaotic volleys.

  Luke reached the monster’s foot. Curtis was gone from sight, somewhere high above, climbing toward its head. The Lizard King took a massive step toward the cluster of Integrated attacking it from afar. Luke cursed and sprinted to catch up.

  Then he almost stopped dead. He hadn’t thought about what he’d do once he got there. He couldn’t climb the thing like Curtis, and attacking the foot wouldn’t do much. Well, that hide wouldn't stop Threads of Mana. Judging by how primitive this king seemed, it didn’t know how to protect its own mana channels either. Maybe, just maybe, he could do real damage from below.

  Decision made, Luke reached the monster’s foot just as it let out a deafening screech, and it swiped down at the group of Integrated.

  Integrated casualties: 17.

  “Shit,” Luke muttered.

  Integrated casualties: 19.

  People were dying even without the monster striking them, some crushed by debris, others bleeding out where they’d fallen. Shoving the thought away, Luke leapt onto the Lizard King’s foot. He slammed Threads of Mana into its flesh, anchoring himself with one thread while plunging several others into the monster.

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  Just as he’d hoped, the mana channels were open to him with no resistance at all, and no pushback from the creature's will. Inside, its mana flow was unlike anything he’d seen. Alien. Vast. Luke felt dizzy just sensing it.

  The monster wasn’t using spells or skills, and it hadn’t even breathed fire, but the amount of mana coursing through it was staggering. As he navigated the mana channels, Luke learned about its anatomy. A thick hide. Layers of muscle. Bone. Those were normal under the circumstances, but the rest of its insides were small and strange, with no liver that he could find, or spleen, or even a stomach. Instead, it had four lungs and several sets of organs he couldn’t even identify. And as far as Luke could tell, it didn't have a brain, at least not in the traditional sense.

  When he reached the head, Luke found a thick, black mass. Yes, it was riddled with mana channels, like a brain, but its physical structure was nothing like one. There was no comparing it to anything human or animal. Still, if it had mana channels, Luke could hurt it.

  Attacking something peripheral wouldn’t do much, not against a monster of this size. The monster core was the obvious target. It was huge, larger even than the dragon’s, and rather than one large mana channel leading out of it, it sat at the center of a chaotic web of smaller threads leading out in every direction.

  Luke reached out, affixed a Needle of Life, and sliced through one.

  The Lizard King, which had been shrieking and thrashing, froze. Luke cut another thread with a single swipe, and the monster bellowed again, this time in what almost sounded like confusion. After a few more cuts, it staggered back, searching for the source of its pain.

  Luke was too small, too insignificant, like a gnat buzzing near its ear. No matter how it searched, the creature would never find him.

  Or so Luke thought.

  The Lizard King’s body shifted, and it reached toward its own leg with surprising dexterity. One massive hand, the one missing half a finger, swept down, about to brush against Luke. The impact would either crush him or fling him straight to the ground.

  A perfect circle of darkness enveloped the monster’s head.

  It froze again.

  Curtis had reached the top and unleashed the same attack he’d used back at the goblin encampment. Would it be enough? Luke wouldn’t bet on it.

  He redoubled his efforts, slicing through every mana channel he could reach, extending several more threads of mana, and even stabbing into the creature's monster core. Cutting in a frenzy, Luke severed as many connections as possible, anything to give Curtis a better chance at finishing the fight.

  More Integrated joined the fray, attacking from the ground. Some even rushed in with melee weapons, hacking at its feet. It did about as little damage as you’d expect.

  “Stay back!” Luke shouted, but the chaos of sirens, screaming, the helicopters above, and even the monster itself drowned out his voice. Still, whatever Curtis was doing up there seemed to be working. The Lizard King’s health was dropping fast.

  Luke hacked deeper, marveling at the sheer amount of mana coursing through its system. Even now, dying, it pulsed with power. He sliced through more and more threads, focusing, pushing himself.

  The Lizard King shuddered. Luke looked up just as its head emerged from the dark sphere. It was hunched forward, and for a moment Luke thought it was trying to find him again, until he saw its face.

  Or what was left of it.

  Its mouth hung open, tendons in its jaw shredded, muscles torn apart, and its eyes were gone. Empty sockets. That huge creature wasn't searching for him. It was falling. Dying.

  The massive body collapsed forward, crashing into the same building it had been attacking. Luke’s heart lurched as the entire structure gave way, toppling under the monster’s weight.

  Even as the monster fell, Luke held on, his Threads of Mana anchoring him to its leg. The angle of the limb shielded him from most of the collapsing debris. A few fragments of concrete and glass came his way, but he batted them aside with another thread.

  Still, he didn’t stop. It wasn't dead yet, so Luke kept slicing through mana channels. Cutting and cutting, determined to retrieve the core.

  Out of nowhere, mana surged out from the monster core. A flood, violent and uncontrolled. Luke gasped as the river of mana rushed over his threads of mana, heading toward the monster’s head. His threads of mana dissolved under the pressure, burned away by the sheer force of it.

  Was it healing itself?

  No. It should have been too far gone for that. Only a sliver of health remained. Curtis was still up there, attacking its head. So, why was the mana flowing toward that black, alien thing inside its skull, the thing that wasn’t quite a brain?

  Luke narrowed his eyes, trying to make sense of it. None of the mana was being used for healing.

  Then what, he wondered, was the monster’s intention?