An ear-splitting cry rose from its throat, forcing Luke to bring his hands up to cover his ears, or risk losing his hearing. Glass windows shattered everywhere, in cars, in buildings. The cry kept going, louder than Luke thought possible, and in his effort to keep focus, he failed, losing the threads of mana anchoring him to its leg.

  Even with the monster crouched and half-lying on its side over a broken building, it was quite a fall. Before becoming Integrated and adding to his physical attributes, it would have been enough to break something or even knock Luke out. As he sat there making sure he wasn't missing any limbs, the sound bore into his ears, no longer blocked by his hands.

  Something stirred inside Luke, as if reacting to the sound. To his horror, he saw something spreading from the temporal lobe in his brain. In there, where the auditory cortex processes sound, a dark substance was taking over, like a parasite surging outward. It entered his mana channels and the physical brain itself, both at the same time.

  Each little piece touched by this substance went dark. More afraid than he’d ever been before, Luke used The Healer’s Moment. Even after such a brief time, he’d felt himself losing control of his arms and legs, and even his thoughts were starting to grow sluggish. That scream was doing something to him.

  Now, he’d bought himself a brief window of time where he could study and deal with it. First, Luke destroyed his own hearing, slicing through the cochlea. If the sound was doing this, then he’d make sure he couldn’t even perceive sound anymore.

  After that, it was time to deal with the dark areas. Pushing healing mana into the affected areas that had gone dark didn’t do a thing, so he cut them away instead and burned the remains with mana, then healed himself. Just as the Healer’s Moment ended, he finished up.

  When the world resumed, sound did not. It was still quiet. Luke allowed himself a breath of relief as he checked to make sure his brain was fine. Others would not be so lucky. He needed to find Curtis. There, in the distance, on top of the rubble.

  Luke ran, pushing himself forward with threads of mana to climb faster, ascending the building and ignoring the trembling, dying Lizard King towering over him.

  Curtis rolled on the ground as if in physical pain, hands clasped over his ears. With his eyes closed, he didn’t see Luke approach. He shuddered when Luke touched him, opening his eyes. Rather than the usual look of gruff annoyance and restrained acceptance, relief flooded Curtis's expression.

  Curtis’s brain looked worse than Luke’s had. He was further along in whatever this was. Most of the brain had gone dark, far too much for Luke to heal like he had himself. Hoping it would turn out well, Luke destroyed the entire affected area, then used Weaver’s Renewal. To his immense relief, it worked. Curtis’s brain returned, looking as healthy as ever.

  With a snap of Needle of Life, Luke plucked out Curtis’s hearing as well.

  Luke: "The Lizard King is doing this through our hearing. Get up. You have to shut it up."

  Curtis: "Easier said than done."

  Luke: "You don’t have much of a choice. Just cut its throat."

  Integrated casualties: 44.

  Curtis gave a grim nod.

  Curtis: "Like I said, easier said than done. But I’ll see to it. What about you?"

  "I’m going to see if what’s happening to everyone else is reversible," Luke said, glancing around. His stomach turned at what he saw.

  Curtis hadn’t noticed yet. He turned, gaze stopping on one of the Integrated who’d somehow survived the collapse.

  "Holy shit," Curtis breathed. "He’s turning."

  "Into a lizard," Luke said. "Hurry. I’ll handle the others. You shut that thing up."

  Luke ran toward the Integrated.

  Integrated Sawyer. Wild Man. Level 8.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Sawyer’s skin was turning to scales, darkening. Claws grew from his fingers, and his face stretched and warped into something like the Lizard King’s, the jaw elongating, teeth growing sharper.

  Luke crashed into him, and they both toppled to the ground. Reaching in, Luke found what he’d feared. There was nothing left of the brain. Instead, inside the skull, something else. A strange, different organ, pulsing. Just like what was inside the king's skull.

  Pain shot up Luke’s arm. He opened his eyes to see Sawyer’s teeth clamped around his wrist.

  Inspected Monster. Lizardman. Level 9.

  Too late. He’d already turned. Luke reached in, found a damned monster core, and sliced it free, pulling until it appeared in his hand. The monster Sawyer had become died with a whimper, its jaw falling open as the body went limp.

  Luke healed his arm.

  More of the Integrated were moving among the debris, turning into mindless monsters that looked more like Lizardmen with each passing moment. Their bodies grew more muscular, ripping through clothes as their eyes went dull, losing all intelligence. They stood in a daze, facing the Lizard King until something changed. A shudder went through them. Their attention shifted. The four closest ones all turned toward Luke.

  When he healed his ears, sound returned. The horrific screech from the Lizard King had fallen silent. It was dead. The significant bump in Luke’s experience bar proved as much.

  One Lizardman was closer than the others. It ran toward Luke, arms raised, claws out, maw open, and all signs of humanity gone. There would be no reversing this. They were too far gone. Killing them would be a mercy.

  With his quarterstaff in hand, Luke ran to meet the charging monster. He swung, and the butt of his weapon connected with the creature’s head. A loud crack sounded, but that was all. The attack did nothing.

  The Lizardman shrugged it off without missing a step. Cursing, Luke raised the staff to fend off the counterattack, but the Lizardman was far too strong. Even with Luke's raised physical attributes, he couldn’t do a thing as it pushed him to the ground and descended on him with claws and teeth.

  Couldn’t do a thing using physical force, that was.

  He pushed with threads of mana, forcing the monster away, then grabbed its arms with two more threads, holding it down as he got to his feet. Standing, he sliced its monster core free, killing it in an instant.

  Luke looked at the staff on the ground, shook his head, and muttered, "Useless. What’s the point of a weapon that can’t hurt anyone?"

  Still, the hoarder in him couldn’t just leave it there. Luke picked the staff up and put it into his inventory, along with the monster core and the Lizardman’s corpse.

  In the distance, he saw the flash of Curtis’s sword cutting into a large group of Lizardmen. Luke hurried over to help, killing the other four nearby as he went. They were slow to react and only lashed out like savage animals, stupid and uncoordinated. Perhaps if the Lizard King had still been alive to command them, things would’ve been different. But now, they were little more than human victims waiting to be put down.

  Realization dawned on him, and he couldn’t help but shout, "Hiroki! Dot!"

  No one answered, of course. The two of them would be far off in the distance. Hopefully, far enough to stay away from the effect of the Lizard King's scream.

  He reached a crest in the rubble and shouted to Curtis, "You’ll be fine on your own, right?"

  Curtis didn't react at all. Right, his hearing. Luke rushed up, killed a Lizardman, and moved into his friend's field of view to make sure the Reaver didn't attack him. Having been on the receiving end of that sword was not an experience Luke wanted to repeat.

  Curtis killed a Lizardman with one swing, grabbed it, shoved the whole thing into his inventory, and waved.

  After healing him, Luke repeated the question. "You’ll be fine on your own, right?"

  "I’m fine," Curtis called back. "You don’t have to shout. See how far this thing reached instead."

  Luke: "Dot? Hiroki? You there? Please tell me you're there."

  Dot: "We're here."

  Luke: "Thank God you didn't turn."

  Hiroki: "We almost did. Dorothy saved me. Many others didn't make it."

  Dot: "Is there a way to turn them back?"

  Luke: "No."

  Dot: "What about Curtis? He's not answering."

  Luke: "He's fine. Just a little preoccupied. Are you two safe?"

  Hiroki: "We're safe, if we can ever be safe."

  Dot: "We’re safe. I've been healing the injured. That scream only affected Integrated, but there are many who are hurt."

  Hiroki: "I was forced to kill several Lizardmen."

  Luke: "They were monsters."

  Hiroki: "Perhaps this could have been reversed. The Lizard King could have turned them back."

  Luke: "The Lizard King is dead. You didn’t have a choice."

  Hiroki: "We always have a choice."

  Several more Lizardmen approached, coming out of a building, as Luke made his way toward where they'd left Dot and Hiroki. Luke wondered if one of them was the mage who’d cast the bubble spell. He stood there for a moment, just watching them come, trying to puzzle out why these things, these events, seemed to follow him.

  In Fort Wayne, they'd entered the first-ever portal to appear in the town. Now, in Toledo, another giant monster had shown up out of nowhere almost as soon as they arrived.

  Luke: "Johanson. We’re in Toledo, and the city was attacked."

  Johanson: "I know. It’s on the national news. Still is. Wave at the helicopter."