Chapter 18: Inside the Ruined Town (2)

Three human centipedes appeared from different directions, surrounding us.

“W-what do we do?”

Jelena clutched her spear, hands trembling, eyes darting everywhere.

“I’d love to know too, fuck.”

Booker’s grip on his straight sword was just as unsteady, but he stepped forward—just slightly—to shield Jelena, his left arm still holding the unconscious Rena.

“I… I don’t think I can block all three at once with my tower shield… and Rena…”

Mizan raised his shield as he glanced toward the girl cradled in Booker’s arm. Rena’s small body shivered slightly, eyes barely open. Her pupils rolled back, still unresponsive.

“What should we do, Yuhong…?”

“Everyone, get close to me!”

I called out while reaching into my pocket with my left hand, fingers closing around a round, smooth object—one of the items prepared by the rotted-face people. Up until now, I hadn’t had a chance to use it, since most monsters we encountered didn’t rely much on sight, but this time…

“Hssssssssss…”

“Ki ki ki…”

“Grrrrrrrllll…”

As the three creatures advanced simultaneously—

“Eyes shut! Retreat to the barn! Regroup there!”

I yelled, trying to draw everyone’s attention.

“Huh? Yuhong, what’re you saying—”

Booker stupidly asked, but there was no time to explain.

All three centipedes charged at once. Without hesitation, I covered my eyes and hurled the orb into the air. A brilliant flash of white exploded outward. The pain in my eyes was instant, even through my lids and fingers.

Inside that orb was a miracle: Radiant Light, compounded several times for intensity. It worked perfectly as a flashbang. Just as I’d hoped, the human centipedes—despite their grotesque forms—had sensitive visual receptors. The blinding light sent them into a frenzy.

“Now! Move!”

I shouted with all my might. We had to reach the barn, where Jols and the others were waiting. I squinted hard, struggling to adjust to the blinding flare and locate the others, but then I noticed something strange.

The corpse of the centipede Felice had slain earlier—

Its tumors were swelling.

No!

The thought barely formed before the bulbous flesh burst, spraying dense, blood-red mist in every direction. My vision vanished. My nose and throat filled with the stench of iron and rot. My ears were ringing with static. Every sense was overwhelmed. We had to get out—now.

“Go!”

I grabbed the closest person to me. In the thick fog, I couldn’t tell who it was—didn’t matter. One more person out was one less left behind. My left hand found a soft, slender hand—Felice? Jelena? Rena?

My right hand found a larger, rougher grip—Booker? Mizan?

Whoever it was—Run! My left-hand companion was stumbling forward with me, but the one on the right was almost being dragged.

Move! Move! Move!

We charged ahead blindly. The air gradually cleared. The blood-mist thinned. I heard someone call out—

“Divine envoy!”

“Jols!”

Finally, familiar buildings emerged in view.

The barn.

And familiar faces—Jols and the other rotted-face people.

I looked down.

My left hand had pulled Jelena. She was coughing violently, half-collapsed on the ground, dry heaving.

And my right…

My right hand—

“Divine envoy… what are you… holding?”

“This…!”

I wasn’t holding a person.

Not even something alive.

It was a torso. A mangled, partial corpse—clearly male. The upper half of a human body, grotesquely deformed.

One piece of the first centipede—the one we’d already killed.

Its body had exploded. In the chaos, I must have grabbed a chunk that had flown beside me, mistaking it for a teammate.

I’d dragged a corpse fragment all this way.

I’d made a mistake this stupid!?

Where were the others!?

I turned back toward the fog, and then—

“Gaaahhhhh!”

A scream tore through the air.

A man’s scream.

Despite the distance, it rang clearly. The agony in it made my blood run cold.

“Mizan…?”

***

Deeper within the Ruined Town, around two hundred meters from where they had encountered the centipedes—

This place lay near the far western edge. A river flowed nearby, and along the current stood a worn, creaking waterwheel. It was ancient, but still spinning with the water.

Inside the long-abandoned second floor of an old tavern near the riverbank, Felice crouched low behind a pile of rotted tables and chairs. Her chest heaving as she struggled to calm her breathing.

“Haah… haah… haah—ugh…”

Just minutes ago, they’d been surrounded by three centipedes, each larger than the one before. When all seemed lost, Zhou Yuhong’s miracle flash had saved them.

But the unexpected happened.

The creature exploded after death, and the thick, bloody mist that erupted wasn’t just a visual obstruction; it impaired hearing, smell, and even balance. Disoriented, Felice had escaped alongside the closest person she could find.

And ended up here.

She’d run in the wrong direction.

She’d lost track of Yuhong, and the thought gnawed at her.

For some reason, just being near him made her feel secure. Like she had an anchor. A center of gravity.

Now that he wasn’t here.

“Ghh… ahh… ugh…”

“Please, I’m begging you. Quiet.”

“Guh… mmghh…”

Next to her lay Mizan.

The brawny man now lay limp on the dusty floor, drenched in sweat. His face was pale, and his teeth clenched hard to suppress his groans.

His legs were gone.

Cleanly severed just above the knees, the cuts were unnaturally smooth.

Felice had applied rotted-face medicinal salves immediately, tearing cloth from her own clothes to dress the stumps. But the bleeding wouldn’t stop. The injury was too severe. Mizan’s groans were fading. He was slipping into shock.

And then—

Thud.

A faint sound above. The roof creaked under a new weight.

Something had landed.

Felice froze.

It had come.

The humanoid monster with spring-loaded limbs.

The very thing that had severed Mizan’s legs.

She and Mizan had escaped the blood-mist together, both realizing too late they were heading in the wrong direction. As they turned back, the spring-legged creature struck. Just one blow and Mizan…

Clack… clack… clack… clack…

It was moving across the rooftop.

Felice clamped a hand over her mouth and one over Mizan’s too. She hated to do it, but they could not be found.

Could it smell blood?

Would it follow the trail?

There was a lot of blood behind them.

Her mind raced.

How could she escape, carrying someone so critically wounded?

No, she probably couldn’t even defeat it without the added weight.

Stay quiet.

Don’t breathe.

Don’t move.

The only thing she could hear was her own thundering heartbeat. Her face remained impassive, but internally, she was a mess of nerves.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump—

Could it hear her heart?

How sharp was its hearing?

Felice tried to hold her breath. Her grip over Mizan’s mouth tightened. No sound. Not even the faintest whisper.

“…”

Each second crawled by like an hour.

And then—

Clack… clack…

The footsteps receded.

Was it gone?

Just as that thought crossed her mind, a flash of silver light—

A razor-sharp blade punched through the roof, slicing straight downward. The glint of the blade stopped inches from her leg before retracting again.

Had it landed even a few centimeters closer, she would have lost a leg.

Were we discovered!?

Or was it just probing?

She couldn’t be sure.

Felice bit her lip hard to keep from making a sound. She shook her head, flicking away the cold sweat about to drip into her eyes, and tried to drag Mizan to a safer spot.

Crack!

The razor blade punched through the ceiling again—this time at a slightly different angle. Before Felice could react, the blade retracted, then slashed sideways. The ceiling ripped open. Slivers of cold light flashed as it carved out a square hole.

“Kikiki!”

A bizarre giggle echoed downward.

The monster peered through the hole and locked eyes with Felice. Its face looked like skin stretched over bone, its eyes burned red like firebrands, and its mouth hung unnaturally wide.

“Kikiiiii!”

It let out an ear-splitting shriek, like a treasure hunter who’d struck gold. Its mouth split all the way to its ears, and a sticky tongue writhed out between rows of jagged teeth.

Felice threw herself up and dragged the half-conscious Mizan into a roll.

The creature’s spring-loaded arm fired like a pistol. A searing flash grazed her ear, slicing across her earlobe.

Had she hesitated a second longer, her entire head would’ve been cleaved in two.

What now?

Where could she run?

Abandon Mizan?

The thought clawed at her. Mizan’s shield was long gone. His legs were severed. He was dead weight, and dragging him meant neither of them might escape.

“Grrkgrrkgrrk.”

The monster let out a growl of frustration. Missing its prey, it began swinging its arms rapidly, enlarging the hole until it was big enough for a full body to pass through. It was coming down. There was no room to dodge in such a narrow space. If she wanted to flee—

Felice glanced ahead. There was a window. It was close! They were on the second floor. Jumping down might not be fatal, but with Mizan, it was a gamble.

Take him?

Or leave him?

Save him?

Or not?

“Hrahhh!!”

The spring-limbed monster lunged down. Felice gave a strangled cry of desperation, wrapped her arms around Mizan, and threw herself at the window. He was even heavier than expected.

Crack!

The rotting frame gave way instantly. Crashing through the brittle wood, Felice and the still-bleeding Mizan tumbled into the open air amidst a storm of splinters.

And began to fall.

Immediately, Felice knew something was wrong.

Mizan was heavier than her by nearly double, and was now positioned above her in midair. At this rate, she would take the full impact from both of them. From a second-floor fall.

This could break a rib, or worse, and if the monster followed, they’d be finished.

“Hol—”

What to do? In the space of a single second, her mind raced through a dozen plans. Adjusting posture midair was nearly impossible, unless—

“—d on!”

“Eh!?”

From barely two meters away, from a rooftop level with the second floor, a figure leapt toward them.

In the next instant, Felice felt someone wrap their arms around her—no, not just her, Mizan too. Despite the difficulty, both of them were caught in a single embrace.

“Yuhong!”

For a moment, time froze.

His face was so close, reliable, familiar, maybe even handsome, but—

“Um, we’re still falling, you know?”

“Brace yourself!”

A sudden weightlessness, followed by chaos. Zhou Yuhong had jumped from the rooftop of the adjacent house to catch them midair. But so what? Now three people were falling instead of two.

And yet—

The landing was surprisingly smooth.

Yuhong held his stance, still cradling—no, lifting—both of them as he hit the ground. Logically, his legs should’ve twisted or buckled entirely, but aside from his arms visibly straining, his legs remained steady.

“You okay? Wait, no, clearly not.”

He quickly set both of them down. That’s when Felice noticed his feet were glowing faintly with a soft white shimmer.

“What is that?”

“Cat’s Step. A mystery spell I learned along with Aether Infusion. No time to explain. Run!”

“But Mizan—”

“We’re taking him!”

Yuhong slung Mizan over his shoulders without hesitation. Felice immediately moved to help. The tavern’s second floor exploded above them with a thunderous crash. The monster burst through the wall, steel flashing, and shrieked in fury at the prey that had slipped from its grasp.

“What do we do, Yuhong?”

“Diversion!”

Yuhong didn’t even glance up. Still carrying Mizan, he charged into the dilapidated horse shed beside the tavern. The structure was old and half-rotted, packed with dry straw and supported by decaying wooden posts. The pillars snapped on impact.

“Now! Move!”

Felice barely made it outside before the shed roof thundered down behind them, crashing between them and the descending monster. For a moment, even the creature stopped short in shock.

The shed roof smashed to pieces just inches from their backs, kicking up clouds of dust and straw that obscured everything like a thick smoke screen.

Felice understood immediately.

This was a ruse.

Using the shed as a decoy, Zhou Yuhong had made it look like they’d taken cover there, while in fact, they were already sprinting toward the adjacent storage building. As the monster howled behind them, Yuhong’s quick thinking had bought them two or three seconds.

That alone was incredible.

They crashed into the side building. It was a supply room. There was no time to rest. Yuhong grabbed Felice by the collar and pointed to a window just a few meters from the door. Without a word, he pulled her along and clambered through.

The alley behind the buildings was narrow, barely enough space to turn. Across from them was a window into the tavern’s ground floor. Felice didn’t wait; she climbed in first and helped haul Mizan through. Last came Yuhong, vaulting inside in a single motion.

The three crouched behind the bar, backs to the wall, heads low, listening intently.

“Raaargh! Kikiki!? Kikikiki!? Hssssss!”

The spring-limbed monster was raging. It rampaged through the storage building, slamming and smashing everything in sight, furious it had lost them.

Zhou Yuhong had taken Felice and Mizan, toppled the shed to raise a smoke screen, lured the monster into a false trail, and then circled back to the original tavern while the creature was distracted.

The monster’s intelligence didn’t seem particularly high. It had no idea its prey had returned to where they’d started.

Planned in advance? Or improvised?

Either way, it was brilliant.

“…”

They held their breath, waiting.

Once they were sure the creature had been fooled, Yuhong immediately gestured for Felice to cover Mizan’s mouth. He placed his own hand over Mizan’s stump and closed his eyes.

“Spirit Mend.”

Seconds passed. A soft golden light gathered around the wound. It couldn’t regrow a leg, but it did form a crust, stopping the bleeding for now.

“Phew…”

Only now did Yuhong finally exhale.

His chest heaved. His face was ghostly pale, drenched in sweat. His heart pounded so loudly that even Felice could hear it.

He’d been terrified too.

‘I need to comfort him,’ Felice thought.

But before she could act, Yuhong grabbed her hand.

“It’s okay, okay? We’re okay now, it’s alright.”

Zhou Yuhong gripped her hand tightly, trying to regulate his breathing, repeating those words as gently as he could.

His voice trembled. He was panting and drenched, but he still chose to reassure her first.

“…Y-yeah. I know. Thank you.”

“You’re not hurt, right?”

“Just a few scratches.”

“Good.”

He let out a sigh of relief, but his gaze quickly turned serious again. He looked down at Mizan, brows furrowed. He was thinking the same thing Felice had been.

Mizan was unconscious.

Dead weight.

Carrying him drastically reduced their odds of escape.

Anyone with sense would consider leaving him behind.

One dead versus three dead. It was a simple equation; there was no need for guilt.

“Um… Yuhong…” Felice hesitated, then quietly asked, “Mizan can’t move anymore. Should we…?”

“Yeah. I know. There’s only one thing we can do.” He sighed.

Felice couldn’t help letting out a breath of relief. Even Zhou Yuhong had to make that choice. Letting go of a burden was the only way to—

“If we’re going to get Mizan out of here, we’ll have to defeat that monster here and now.”

“…Eh?”

“I’ll try to stall it. You carry Mizan back.”

“Ehhhhhh!?!?”