The Mutant Carcará spread its six-foot wingspan over the overturned examination table, adjusting its center of gravity. Before the group could take a single step, the aluminum door to the Infirmary was shoved open violently from the inside.
Two figures stumbled into the doorway frame: Ângela, the Biology teacher—wearing a white lab coat lightly dusted with debris over her tailored pants—and Adson, a fifteen-year-old student dressed in his school uniform and jeans.
The mutual shock paralyzed the corridor for a fraction of a millisecond.
"Ângela?!" Allisson exclaimed, his eyes narrowing.
"Teacher?!" Abner and Pierre called out in unison, taking half a step forward.
The group's moment of hesitation was the exact trigger the predator needed. The Carcará contracted its ribcage, puffed out its feather-armored chest, and opened its serrated bone beak, triggering its skill: [Sonic Screech].
SKREEEEEEEEEECH!
An extreme high-frequency pulse reverberated through the administrative wing's walls. The few window panes still left intact shattered into thousands of shards. The shockwave pulverized the ceiling plaster, instantly inflicting dizziness and disorientation on the survivors. Jade clamped her hands over her ears, groaning in pain, while Paulo and the students staggered backward.
Capitalizing on the group's dazed state, the Carcará launched itself into a low-altitude dive straight at Allisson.
Allisson reacted purely on reflex, crossing his arms in front of his chest to block the charge with the shaft of his Twin-Blade Spear. The impact from the Level 6 beast was devastating. The kinetic pressure slammed into Allisson's chest like a vehicular collision, launching his body 18 feet down the hallway. He skidded across the cold ceramic tiles at high speed until colliding with a violent crash against the brick wall at the far end.
BOOM!
As dust billowed into the air and oxygen left his lungs, his [Until the End] passive seized absolute neural control over Allisson. The blinding pain was immediately compartmented into a secondary drawer of his brain, making way for a cold, purely mathematical physical analysis:
Estimated mass of the monster: 77 lbs. Raw Strength: ~9.0—close to an average adult human. But the target's Dexterity reaches a massive 21.0. By Newton's Second Law (F = m \cdot a), extreme acceleration generates a massively multiplied impact force. Based on the distance-to-time ratio, its charge speed was 30 m/s or 67 mph. This thing is two to three times faster than any human.
Allisson tried to push himself up off the floor, but an agonizing spasm locked his left side. The sheer force of the impact against the wall had cracked the bone structure in his left forearm. The bone held together without a compound fracture thanks to his 14 Constitution, but the limb was temporarily useless for levering any real force.
Up ahead, the Carcará couldn't brake in time after bowling him over. Eager to execute its prey, the bird attempted to readjust its trajectory mid-air, swiveling its beak toward Pierre.
Pierre watched the monster's shadow loom over him. In the final millisecond before the beak could puncture his chest, the boy activated [Spatial Teleportation], burning through half his Mana pool in a single impulse.
POP!
A vacuum crack echoed in the air and Pierre vanished, reappearing instantly a mere 12 inches above the point of impact. The Carcará zipped right underneath him like a missile; the shear force of the displaced air nearly knocked Pierre off balance as he dropped, but inertia dragged the unguided bird straight into the wall of the adjacent room. The drywall gave way with a loud pop, trapping the beast temporarily between the aluminum studs and plaster.
"Now, Paulo!" Abner yelled, his 16.5 Intelligence predicting the creature's recovery window.
Paulo charged forward with heavy steps and brought his reinforced iron bar down with all his strength, striking the beast squarely across its back with a dry, metallic crack. The strike crushed feathers and tore a screech of pain from the monster. However, utilizing its [Terrestrial Agility] passive, the bird regained its footing in the blink of an eye, taking flight with violent wingbeats and aiming straight for Paulo's chest.
The attack came as fast as lightning, but Paulo triggered his dodge skill at the last moment, throwing his body sideways.
Missing Paulo, the Carcará's unguided dive carried it straight toward the Infirmary door, where Ângela and Adson stood frozen. Adson reacted on instinct, grabbing the teacher and diving aside. The bird slammed head-on into the aluminum door with brutal force, tearing the entire frame off the wall and plowing into the interior room amid an avalanche of cabinets and shattering glass.
It took the creature five seconds to drag itself back out of the medical room, limping slightly and shaking its head.
"The impact on the door... it got hurt from the crash!" Abner observed quickly, pointing at the monster's slightly drooping left wing.
Even damaged, the predator emerged walking bipedally, locking its eyes onto Adson. The bird raised its right talon to slash the boy open.
"Adson!" Ângela screamed.
Adson didn't back down. Terror unlocked his survival response, and he activated his skill: [Textural Mimicry - Lv. 1].
In the blink of an eye, the skin on the boy's arms and face turned a rigid, opaque shade of gray, taking on the density and texture of reinforced concrete. Adson thrust his petrified hands forward and caught the upper ridge of the bird's bone beak, locking the bite inches from his chest.
The bird's Strength pushed the boy backward, but the rigid surface of his [Mimicry] prevented the serrated edges from puncturing his hands. The Carcará flapped its wings violently to shake him off; Adson leaped against the bird's chest to leverage his own body weight, but the raw stat gap forced him off, sending him tumbling onto his back.
Hovering five feet off the ground with visible effort, the Carcará stabilized its flight in the center of the corridor. Its feathers bristled and its pupils dilated as it triggered its passive, [Raptor Vision]. The bird's visual scanning skill mapped the hallway instantly, bypassing full-health targets to lock absolute focus on the most damaged, fragile prey in the room: Allisson, lying at the far end with a cracked, bleeding left arm.
The monster tucked its talons, arched its neck, and prepared to execute its final dive to decapitate its wounded prey.
Allisson—even with a cracked forearm bone and a burning chest—gripped the Twin-Blade Spear with his right hand and drove the butt of the shaft into the floor to hoist himself up. His [Until the End] passive held his vision completely focused, preventing the pain from disturbing his breathing rhythm.
"Paulo, Pierre, prepare the counter-attack!" Allisson's voice echoed down the hallway with absolute command. "Jade, the instant it dives, close your eyes and cast [Blinding Light] right in the center of the corridor! The second it loses its trajectory, everyone hits it at once!"
The Level 6 Carcará let out one final screech and shot through the air straight toward Allisson's chest.