"Hyun-Jae!!" Talon yelled as his eyes widened. A sense of dread filled his heart. Seeing the claws pierce through the front windshield made him feel like the world was about to end. He didn't know if that attack connected with Hyun-Jae or not and he wasn't going to wait to see the result.
Using his full strength, Talon pulled himself up as he rushed toward the front of the car. Even when it was still swaying left and right, he wasn't easily pushed back to the edge again this time.
Reaching the front, he was about to attack the monster, only for it to suddenly get blasted back by a flying lightning ball. Seeing that familiar attack, Talon's face brightened as he peeked through the window.
"Are you ok?!" He asked.
Inside, Hyun-Jae's face was tilted to the side as she clicked her tongue with a frown. A rather bad injury could be seen drawing blood from her left cheek down to her neck. But, it wasn't dangerous enough to kill her.
"I'm fine." She replied as she wiped her face. "That bastard almost made me lose the steering wheel."
Seeing the casual expression on her, Talon could only think of one thing... 'She's so cool!'
Hyun-Jae had always been a very cool individual even way before the integration happened. Seeing one of her moments like this, Talon could only smile. Sadly, He didn't have that much time to appreciate that trait of hers as he felt the monsters jump on top of the car again.
"I gotta take care of these! Give me a few seconds, ok?!" He said as he picked up the spear and quickly rushed toward them.
"Hurry! The car won't last long!"
Talon jumped on top of the car again and rushed toward the monsters. The creatures, being cornered with no other way to escape, quickly attacked him.
However, Talon activated the ghost spear technique again and vanished from sight. Instantly, blood splattered everywhere. The attack was far more brutal the second time as it targeted a lot more vital parts of their bodies.
When he appeared again, Talon realized that he wasn't on top of the car. His skill had thrown him off.
'Oh shit!!' Cursing, he fell to the ground as he started rolling.
"Ugh... I forgot the flaw of this skill." Looking up, he noticed that the car was still moving left and right before it started moving toward one of the nearby buildings. But, a few seconds before crashing, the door on the driver's side was kicked open before Hyun-Jae suddenly jumped out.
*BOOOM*
The vehicle smashed into the wall violently as it went through it. Rocks and debris came crumbling down on top of it, burying it completely.
For normal eyes, the two appeared blurry from sheer speed. Eventually, the Shadow Crawler reached what seemed to be a hospital. There, it moved inside without hesitation.
'Where is it leading me?' Reaching that place, Talon stopped for a second as he looked behind him. Because he was too focused on the monster, he forgot that he left Hyun-Jae behind.
He could see her running after him in the distance. But, since he had no time to waste, he decided to go inside first.
The hospital building was naturally massive even with how ruined it was. The walls were cracked and some parts of it had already collapsed. Still, the monster entered through the main entrance, followed by Talon who was quite hesitant.
'Are there more Shadow Crawlers here? I can't feel any other presence.' Looking around him, Talon moved carefully after the injured monster.
The trail of blood it left behind made it easy to know where it was going. Taking every turn carefully, Talon found himself in one of the random corridors as he halted in his steps. The reason for that was the noise he caught using his ear.
The sound was soft and deep as if it came from the bottom of a well. As inhumane as it was, it didn't sound like the cry of a monster either and certainly didn't sound like the Shadow Crawler.
"Stride carefully, Talon," Acrypha said with a dark expression. She still didn't see what was making that noise but she could feel it, and that made her even more confused.
'This feels awfully familiar.' She thought to herself.
Talon nodded his head as he took one step at a time, approaching the room on the other side of the corridor. Each step made the sound grow louder, deeper, and far more unnerving.
Eventually, Talon found himself in front of the room as he slowly took a peek inside. There, he saw something he never expected to see.
There was the Shadow Crawler, lying on the ground, dead. It perhaps bled excessively after running for so long and it couldn't continue moving anymore. However, Talon didn't even stare at it for a moment before his eyes caught sight of something else at the far end of the room.
He blinked, trying to understand what he was seeing, only to realize that it was what he was thinking it was.
'A crack?' He thought to himself.
In that corner of the room, the atmosphere was completely distorted beyond recognition and the reason for that was visible cracks that seemed to tear it open, revealing a dark abyss inside. The cracks weren't big, barely enough to fit a human head.
Its small pulses created that deep gurgling sound that Talon heard. Standing there, he shook his head. "Ok, actually, what the fuck is that? It looks awfully similar to... Oh, don't tell me..." It didn't take him long to realize why he found that thing familiar.
"That's... a tear in reality," Acrypha replied in a fascinated and yet also equally shocked tone.
(A//N: Don't forget to support the book if you enjoyed reading :D)