Chap 108: Creature in the Dark

Tee could no longer see both ends of the red-walled passageway ahead. The beast bolting forward with its gaping snout blocked everything behind it. Her heart ached as she watched all her comrades’ attacks pass through the monster as if it were nothing. But how could that be possible?

She was at the front of their formation, too close to stop running. Shifting aside, she held one sword in its path to strike its right leg. The beast ran straight through her blade, and something clicked in her mind.

The wind didn’t hit her as expected, and her sword didn’t vibrate. The monster’s loud splashes faded in the moment it moved into her peripheral vision. In the next heartbeat, its massive black figure loomed behind her, and her heart dropped.

She stamped her spiked boots into the water to halt her momentum. But when she glanced back, her eyes went wide. “Zod, it’s right in front of you!” she screamed.

Zod had stopped to recreate another blast. Like the rest of their teammates, dark clouds filled his mind, and he couldn’t see the monster charging straight at him. The creature couldn’t have vanished, and Tee’s scream shot a jolt of danger through his body.

He twisted his legs in the water and bolted in the opposite direction. Blasts of air against his back and loud splashes behind confirmed he was being pursued.

Kie, Miko, and Saeda’s eyes widened as the monster reappeared, chasing Zod. But how had the beast vanished and reappeared like that? Miko wondered if it could teleport like her Fast Step.

They swung more swords at the monster from behind, chasing it. Again, it vanished and reappeared, evading every strike. Only Tee saw their attacks pass through, leaving no marks or blood.

One sword passed clean through the monster and flew toward Zod’s head. He tilted just in time to dodge, evading the others as well. But what on earth were his teammates doing?

Several times, Zod heard deep growls fade and return. His ears must have been malfunctioning. But the paradox ahead stole his attention. The passageway’s walls connected into a dead-end, towering high enough to touch the blue sky. A blast of air rushed across his neck and back, sending shivers through his body and reminding him not to stop running.

The monster lifted its head, tracking the prey scaling the walls at lightning speed. It didn’t relent, crashing into the wall and slamming its snouts just inches below its prey’s feet. After tasting the air, it began leaping, clawing at the wall with metal-tipped limbs. The prey above still climbed—but then froze.

The gravity began to pull Zod down, and his gloved fingers could no longer grip the higher sections of the wall. His knees scraped the coarse surface as he started to fall, but he stabbed his fingers in to hold on for his life.

He tilted his head back to the sky and yelled, “What are you waiting for! Kill it!”

Kie, Miko, and Saeda couldn’t make out the creature that flickered in and out of sight. Sending attacks at it while it was invisible was like swinging at the air.

Tee, however, always saw the monster. Its back was armored with melted bones, and its dark skin pulsed with purple glowing veins. It had to be at least twenty feet tall.

In one swallow, the monster could eat its prey whole. Its digestive system would dissolve the meat, while the bones were added to its back armor to make it stronger. But first, it needed to eat.

Zod’s foot slipped off the wall, and a rock tumbled toward the monster below. The rock didn’t hit—it passed through the creature’s coarse skin and hit the ground.

“I thought Tee was bait-girl. Why is this happening to me?” Zod muttered.

Tee’s lips twitched. Kie opened his mouth to explain the plan, but Tee had already sent a sword flying toward Zod’s right hand.

Zod lifted his hand just in time. The sword jammed into the wall his hand had left. Cracks spread from the sword as a strong jolt vibrated the wall sections, which began to crumble beneath him.

“Now!” Kie yelled.

He hadn’t explained the plan, but his team acted in perfect sync. Spinning, glowing swords shot at the monster as the wall beneath Zod broke away. He began to fall toward the monster’s snout.

The creature remained visible, opening its snout as its prey fell. But the swords didn’t reach it first. Zod’s energy blast struck down its throat, causing it to explode.

Tee and her teammates held back their last swords—not only to shield themselves from the redirected rain of weapons but also from the unexpected splash of purple slime and dark chunks.

Miko teleported several feet back to avoid the splash. The others weren’t so lucky. Metal clanged, water splashed, and Zod fell face-first into the low waters, drenched in dark purple slime.

He rose, the slime running down his face, hiding his fiery eyes. He was about to voice his anger at whoever threw that sword, but his attention shifted. Colorful layered pebbles in the water caught his eye.

He gasped. “Neat.”

The Commander had teleported them to so many incredible places, and Zod wanted to remember them. That pebble would be the first of many souvenirs to show his brother. Then he remembered—they still hadn’t made much progress in eliminating the Harbingers. His smile vanished, replaced by a frown as the foul odor stung his nostrils.

Miko blinked at her teammates a mile ahead. Their dark figures contrasted with the red walls, and she realized she had teleported. She dashed toward them, excitement stretching her lips into a wide smile. The stench hit her first, wiping the excitement away. She stopped and pinched her nose.

“Where is that horrible smell coming from?” she grimaced.

Kie flashed his hands and wiped his telecom. “Mission complete,” he said. “Now let’s teleport out of here.”

Saeda couldn’t agree more. She, Tee, and Zod hurried over to Kie, holding their breaths.

Miko wanted to get close to her teammates, but the stench stopped her. She removed her hand to press her telecom, but the foul odor had already reached the back of her throat. She held her stomach and leaned forward toward the water. Several hard bursts of air escaped her mouth, but nothing came up.

“Do we really need to get close to teleport?” she called to Kie from several feet away. “This is one of those moments when long-distance teleportation should be prioritized.”

“What?” Kie said, the only word leaving his mouth. His dark red eyes darted toward her, and when he saw her serious expression, she was no longer standing feet away.

In an instant, Miko had pressed her teleportation button and moved near him. They teleported. The moment they landed on the white grounds, they pinched their noses and raced for the showers.

Zod almost forgot his souvenir. Normally, he would strip completely and dump his mission attire into the metal basket in the shower, enjoying the strong chemical smell and keeping the lid slightly open. But that time, he remembered the pebble in his pants pocket just before tossing his clothes in.

The pebble reeked, so he decided to shower with it. It took five scrubs under the running water before the smell was gone. When he stepped out, wrapped in a white robe, he checked the shower beside him. The door was open, and no one was inside. Kie had left without alerting him, which made him frown.

Kie headed to his room, got dressed, and found Tee waiting at the bottom of the stairway. They didn’t linger on the couch that time. Tee claimed she feared skipping dinner, though that was only one of her reasons. She had a bad feeling that the creepy dream where she almost bit into his neck wasn’t entirely a dream. The thought had kept her awake, and she dreaded a repeat, so she avoided the couches.

The rest of the day passed normally. They spent time by the pool with their feet in the water, ate dinner, and did the dishes together. Late at night, after extra training, they returned to the living complex but the sound of objects breaking froze them in the hallway. It was ten at night, unusually late due to the earlier day hours.

“That sounds serious,” Tee said. “Should we go check?”

Kie yawned, walking toward the stairway. “It’s probably the others watching a late-night movie,” he said. “Zod must’ve broken a glass or something… Snickers.”

Snickers had escaped its cage before. The speed with which Zod had jumped onto the kitchen counter revealed his phobia of small moving things. His scream that followed was permanently etched in Tee’s memory. She pushed the thought aside and kept walking but didn’t get to grasp the wooden railing.

Sharp, fast stamps of something galloping across the smooth floors came from far behind, down the hallway. Kie, ahead of her, turned to meet her knitted brows. They nodded and headed toward the strange sound.

A silhouette, half their height, flashed out of the telegram emitter room. Their hearts skipped a beat, and they froze. It took two blinks for their minds to recognize the red, glowing eyes from the quick flash.

Whatever it was, it was too large to be Snickers. They didn’t have time to voice their thoughts. Heavier footsteps chased the creature, and their eyes widened. Tee clenched her fists—then remembered she wasn’t wearing her summoning gloves. Freck!