The Omnistore System

"What's going on?" Keyara gasped between breaths as they sprinted, Viana's Qi technique propelling her even faster.

Kevin opened his mouth to reply, but his words were drowned out by a roar reverberating through the corridor. Whipping around, he saw a strange sight unfolding behind them. A hand gripped the corner wall, fingers digging into the metal with unnatural strength. Across from it, another hand mirrored the motion, the walls bearing the scars of its grasp.

The arms, once human, were now elongated to grotesque lengths, resembling stretched bands of the slingshot. Kevin's eyes widened in horror as the limbs tensed, muscles bulging unnaturally beneath stretched skin.

With a sickening lurch, the tension in the arms released, launching the creature forward like a catapult. In that moment, they beheld the full horror of the transformation. The guard's body, once human, had undergone a grotesque transformation. Its form was now contorted and elongated, with arms stretching down to touch the floor below. Surprisingly, its torso remained relatively unchanged, well only in size. As the most standing out feature was at where the stomach should have been, a gaping cavity lined with jagged bones protruding like the teeth of a voracious predator, it presented a chilling sight to behold.

As the creature struggled to retract its elongated parts, guttural roars filled the air, echoing off the metal walls.

The creature stood motionless as it began retracting its twisted limbs. Recognizing this as their prime opportunity to attack, Kevin swiftly turned to Viana, knowing her ranged abilities offered their best chance of inflicting substantial damage. "Viana, attack it with everything you got." he urged her.

Turning to Keyara with urgency in his voice, he continued, "We have to get out of here. We're no match for that monstrosity. My knife shattered on its skin without leaving a scratch. The only damage came from the Qi blast after it broke."

Keyara regarded Kevin with skepticism as he explained, then glanced back at the monstrous creature still standing. "Are you absolutely certain your knife wasn't just a cheap one?" she queried.

"No, it wasn't," Kevin insisted, positioning himself next to Viana as she prepared her attack. "I've slain countless monsters with that blade, and their hides are tougher than humans, at least. But that thing's skin was on another level. Did you see how effortlessly it dug it's hands into these metal walls?"

Keyara's nod was barely perceptible, his expression a mixture of concern and apprehension. Viana, her movements a peculiar blend of fluidity and urgency, implored them, "Cover me. This is going to take some time."

With a shared understanding, both Keyara and Kevin positioned themselves defensively, their gazes fixed on the transformed guard. Its elongated limbs began to retract slowly, a disconcerting sight as it appeared to regain control over its distorted form.

*whoosh*

Suddenly, without warning, the creature lashed out. The arm stretched and came hurtling towards the trio with terrifying speed. Keyara reacted instinctively, throwing herself in front of Lidia to shield her from the impending strike. A sickening crunch filled the air as the elongated appendage collided with Keyara's outstretched arm, tearing through flesh and bone alike.

Kevin's heart pounded in his chest as he watched the gruesome scene unfold before him. Blood sprayed across the corridor in a grisly arc, painting the walls crimson as Keyara gritted her teeth against the searing pain. With a strangled cry, she stumbled backward, clutching her mangled arm, her eyes wide with shock and agony.

In that split second, Kevin felt a sharp, searing pain tear through his own shoulder, ripping through muscle and sinew with brutal force. Gasping in shock, he staggered backward, his vision swimming with pain. With trembling hands, he reached up to inspect the wound, his fingers coming away slick with blood.

As the pain-fueled haze began to fade, Kevin's gaze returned to the monstrous guard, its stretched limbs retracting once more. A trail of crimson blood marked its retreat, a grim reminder of the violence that had just unfolded.

With a renewed sense of urgency, Keyara seized a mouthful of the glowing liquid from the crystal bottle and gulped it down, the ethereal substance coursing through her veins. Kevin also downed the whole vial down his throat.

She poured the contents of another bottle over her mangled arm. As Keyara poured the strange concoction over the mangled flesh and broken bones, an eerie transformation unfolded before their eyes. The twisted limbs began to writhe and contort, growing and reshaping until the arm had regained its original form. Simultaneously, Kevin's injured shoulder underwent a similar miraculous healing process, his flesh knitting back together with unnatural speed.

As Keyara's arms slowly healed, her gaze fixated on the monster with a newfound sense of dread. Her hands tightened around her sword as she anxiously inquired, "Viana, how much longer?"

"Just one more minute," Viana responded, her tone tinged with concern. She, too, had witnessed how easily the creature had broken Keyara's arm, despite her years of strengthening her skin and bones to the level of high earth tire's monsters. But it took just one attack for that thing to shatter it.

As they waited for the monster to strike again, they witnessed it tossing the chunk taken from Kevin's shoulder into the cavity in its torso. Watching in horror as the creature devoured its own flesh, Kevin muttered under his breath, "Please, God, don't let it like my taste." He prayed silently, but it seemed that no divine intervention was forthcoming, as another roar erupted from the creature's torso, this time filled with excitement.

"Shit..." Kevin cursed, his voice tinged with alarm. In the next moment, he felt his bones cracking as he desperately tried to halt the creature's elongated arm from seizing another chunk of his flesh.

Following the attack, the creature's arm showed signs of retracting but it was too slow as it remained stretched out in range of attack. Keyara, already on her way to assist Kevin, noticed an opportunity to attack and instead of helping Kevin. With a swift leap, she swung her sword at the slowly retracting arm. Sensing the imminent strike, the creature attempted to speed up the withdrawal of its limb. However, Keyara's sword made contact with one of its arms before it could fully retreat.