The lead Null-Spore Chimera Knight broke into a dead sprint across the shattered marble floor, its eight hard-shelled panther limbs moving in a blur of terrifying, arrhythmic speed.
The four-foot serrated bone mantis-scythe on its right arm flashed through the air, carving an arc of whistling death aimed directly at Arthur’s collarbone. The air behind the blade reeked of necrotizing fungal venom and burnt spark circuits.
Arthur didn’t give ground.
“Grimm! Inversion!”
The Stygian direhound didn’t bark. He slammed both massive black glass forepaws into the marble with bone-shaking force, channeling the raw mass of his six-hundred-two-pound core directly into the stone.
VROOOOM.
An Inverted Gravitational Well erupted directly beneath the charging chimera’s four front legs. The sudden shift from standard earth gravity to a crushing 8G upright drop caught the monster in mid-stride. Its front limbs collapsed under the impossible downward load, their hard-shelled joints buckling with a series of wet, popping snaps. The monster’s armored chest plowed into the polished stone floor, gouging a twenty-foot furrow through the tiles, its mantis-blades screeching as they threw sparks against the concrete foundation.
Before the chimera knight could drag its shattered front limbs forward, Pip struck from above.
