CHAPTER 35: CHAPTER 35 – TRUE MONSTER (PART 2)

Chapter 35 – True Monster (Part 2)

The battle ensued again, far more intense than ever. With newfound hope, the soldiers fired their guns with all their power. They didn’t stop or hesitate. This was truly a life-or-death situation where they had no choice but to fight.

Meanwhile, the rain of arrows kept descending on the horde, wreaking havoc in its lines. Each arrow sent a feeling of confidence and fearlessness into the hearts of the soldiers who thought this was the Divine intervening to save their lives after everything had seemed completely hopeless.

"Don’t stop firing!!"

"We will kill them all!!"

Their yells of sheer thrill and anger mixed with the chaotic sounds of guns, tank shells, and the large blue arrows. The situation turned into complete mayhem in mere seconds. Nobody could truly understand what was going on anymore.

They simply continued shooting into the endless crowds without stopping.

"They’re actually fighting again..." Emi muttered in a daze.

"Yeah..."

"The arrows gave them some hope to fight. That’s exactly what we need," Evan said as he stared at the scene. "However..."

It didn’t take long for his eyes to locate a certain Undead amongst the masses — one that turned its head slowly and looked up. Then, it growled and started moving through the crowd toward the building. Not long after, another looked up, and then another, and then another.

Like a domino effect, the Undead started noticing their presence and began shifting their attention toward Luna and the others. In a matter of seconds, almost the entire horde changed its target and started marching toward the building, trying to attack the humans standing at the very top.

"They’re already moving, Luna," Alex said.

"I can see." Luna finally put her hands down as the bow disappeared. "We’ll be moving now before they can get into the building. Pack your stuff up."

The group quickly scurried to grab everything they had. Since they had left their supplies hidden far away from their current position, they didn’t have to worry about carrying heavy things while on the run.

In a few seconds, the group was already rushing down the stairs. They could hear the grunts of monsters outside as they approached the back doors. Leaving, they shut the door close as they heard the glass of the building shatter and a flood of monsters rush inside.

But they found nothing, even as they filled the entire place up. The group snuck silently from behind and moved to the next location they had agreed on.

The first step of the plan worked successfully. Now, they had to maintain that pace until the horde was completely far away from the base and wouldn’t cause a threat.

"I wonder if Arthur is doing good..."

"He should be fine, don’t worry," Luna replied calmly. However, deep down, she knew that his task wasn’t as easy as he pretended it was. He was, after all, fighting a very strong monster — one that could easily kill him with a single hit. Perhaps not even a single hit.

***

ROAAAAR

BANG

"Shit." Jack quickly ducked as a large rock flew right over his head, barely missing him as it slammed into the wall of a building. The monster roared loudly and rushed after him.

That had been the situation for the past several minutes. Jack dragged the monster farther and farther away from the scene, dodging all its attacks as it kept closing the distance between them. Luckily, Jack’s evolved agility helped mitigate the shortcomings he had physically.

However, even with the plan going smoothly, Jack slowly realized throughout the chase that...

’This thing is a freak of nature.’ He clenched his teeth as he dodged another thrown object. ’Not only is it fast and strong, but it’s also surprisingly smart. It isn’t headlessly chasing me — it’s trying to take me down efficiently.’

Not only was Jack inferior in terms of general power, but the monster wasn’t a complete idiot; he could easily trick. It had its own consciousness.

"What are you going to do, big boy? That thing is clearly very angry," Liliana said teasingly.

"Definitely the perfect time..."

Swish BANG

"To ask that, don’t you think?" he asked sarcastically as he dodged another attack and continued running.

"Well, you are clearly in a conundrum. I won’t have time to ask for your ingenious plan later, Jack." Liliana crossed her arms under her breasts.

"Yeah, yeah, just watch."

With that, Jack finally turned around and took a sharp angle as he ran inside one of the buildings.

’I’ve led it far enough. Now I can think about how I’m going to deal with it.’ He mused as he jumped over a table and slid under, hiding himself.

A few seconds later, the monster barged through, breaking the door as it roared. Then, it looked around and started walking slowly.

"ROAR!!"

Seeing a table, it picked it up and threw it to the side angrily. Then, it kicked another chair, sending it flying across the room.

’Great, it’s breaking everything.’ Jack exhaled as he peeked from a corner. ’I don’t think a normal face-to-face would end up well for me. I need to chip at its power.’

To do that, he had only one choice — to sneak attack and hide. A very simple but effective method to deal with larger enemies.

Slowly, he unsheathed his sword before sucking in a deep breath. The monster was still breaking through the furniture as it got closer and closer to him. A droplet of sweat ran down Jack’s face as he waited nervously.

’Come on, turn around.’

He needed that perfect opportunity to strike. He couldn’t give the monster even a split second to react, or he was in deep trouble.

Step by step, the monster cut the distance short without turning away. Jack’s grip on his sword tightened as he started contemplating whether attacking in this clearly not optimal position was the right decision if the Undead didn’t face away.

His mind rapidly analyzed every possibility, every thought, and every plan. But all he could come down to was...

’I need to wait.’

He chose to do the riskiest thing, which he knew could be a disaster — but that was a gamble he was ready to take.

"ROARR!!"

BANG

"ROAAAR!!!"

BANG

Each piece of furniture getting destroyed tested Jack’s will to be patient and trust his own plan. Doubts and other thoughts tried to make him attack; however, he simply gripped his sword and waited.

’Amazing composure. He didn’t let his inexperienced side take over his rationality,’ Liliana mused. ’He has immense ability for controlling his emotions and using cold logic to deal with battles... Tsk, this kid terrifies me a bit.’

Even for someone as experienced as Liliana, this was an outstanding show of intelligence and awareness mixed with wisdom. Jack was clearly no idiot — far from it. Even when met with possible death, he didn’t let those instincts get the better of him.

He is a monster... a true monster.

"ROAAAAR!!!"

Then, at a random moment, the monster grabbed a chair and threw it over its shoulder. The chair flew through the air, slamming into the ceiling. Upon hitting it, a loud ringing noise exploded everywhere as water started pouring down — it had hit one of the fire sprinklers.

The noise made the monster turn around.

’Now!!’ Jack’s eyes widened as he quickly leaped out of his hiding spot and attacked.