He couldn't believe his eyes. The beast was regenerating.
A rare genetic mutation within certain Terrors had been observed in the past. Only ones stronger than a certain level of power can obtain it, and it's known to be extraordinarily uncommon- and they had just found it.
The beast turned, slowly approaching the still-stunned Nyx. He took a few steps back, gawking in pure fear as it approached. Quickly shaking his head, he re-steadied his blade — the tip slightly melted from perforating the creature's skin.
'How the hell do I fight something that can regenerate!?' He thought to himself. It stumbled forward, once again attempting to swipe its fist towards him. Fortunately for Nyx, and unlike the wolves, it was notably lacking in speed.
He ducked his head underneath, trying to shuffle to its side and out of its vision. 'If it regenerates...' He pondered, continuing to circle around its body, 'All I need to do is attack faster than it can regrow, right?'
Lifting his blade, he jabbed it straight into its writhing flesh, specs of lava splattering out from the wound. Instead of slicing it open, he twisted and jolted it sideways, pulling himself overtop the creature before ejecting the shaft.
The lava began to spew like a waterfall — Nyx peering towards his own sword and noting how the metal began to warp and drip. '-But I can't attack it without my blade destroying itself..!'
Arm lifted into the air, it spun it around like a gear, booming toward Nyx only for him to jump overtop, slamming what remained of the weapon straight into its forearm. He fell back, legs kicking up against the ground in an attempt to stay upright.
Turning around and peering at the Terror, he couldn't help but gain a sense of dread. 'What the hell are we meant to do?!'
He winced. With all of this fighting, the entire time he'd been exerting his strength beyond his own limit. Arm, still bandaged and coated with the slight hum of pain, suddenly began to resonate with a stinging sensation.
Gripping his arm, he naturally swung his eyes across the plaza and toward Rei. By now, she had already stood from the ground, though was holding the side of her chest in presumable pain. She gritted her teeth, eyes slightly clenched while running over.
She gently shoved the palm of her hand against Nyx's shoulder, eyes glued to the monster before them.
"Rei- are you alright?" He calmly murmured, slightly hunched over and preparing for a response.
She nodded, "It's only a slight burn."
Nyx shook his head, mouth turning to nothing but a frown. "What do we do..? We can't fight this thing!"
"We need to run." He was surprised to hear these words out of Rei of all people. "-I have a hunch... I know how we can kill it."
* * *
He could feel his heart begin to clench. His breath grew heavy, waiting in painful suspense behind a large crate. Slowly did he peek out from behind the cover, straight down the long narrow street.
Mostly, it was empty. A few loose stones and bits of shattered wood, but nothing else. Of course, that was besides the Terror, hulking away in silent rage.
Nyx could see it now. As it walked, the flesh did indeed move away from the center of its body, reaching toward any substance it could grab. 'Rei was right...' He thought to himself, masking the underside of his chin with his palm. 'The Terror isn't connected at all!'
He began to realize the incedibleness of his company. Information he was only able to gather from a distance, stalking behind the beast, Rei was able to do during the highs of battle.
The Terror wasn't one being at all. In fact, most of what it was wasn't even alive.
He thought back to what Rei had said to him while they ran, curving down alleys so as to get out of its view. "I find it odd why there seems to be a Terror actively riding and consuming a human. Why not just move on? Now, the answer seems obvious to me..."
Back in the present, Nyx couldn't help but shake his head. 'How can one person be so smart!?'
The Terror, in fact, couldn't move at all. Not on its own, anyway.
The answer was so clear, yet he had failed to see it. The Terror appeared like a massive tumor because it essentially was. It hijacks the body of the dead, and manipulates their motor functions for its own benefit. On its own, it can't move and it can't kill in the slightest.
It was turning corpses into puppets.
The writhing mass, reaching out like demonic tendrils, grabbed at random objects littering the floor — that was how it defended itself. The core of its body is inherently weak, so it takes objects and surrounds the core with various minerals. If it's lucky, more lava gets produced.
Aside from a few metallic pieces it chooses to surface on its skin, it was acting like an engine from hell. Stone goes in, lava comes out.
In other words, this thing was less of one whole creature and more like an odd mixture... a coalescence.
Still though, it was only a theory.
Even better, Rei had figured out something incredible.
"Among Terrors," She spoke in his memories, "people have managed to differentiate mental states among them. The classifications are the standards, the stalkers, the sentinels, and of course..."
"-The striders." He mumbled.