There was a scent of ashes, cooked flesh, and hot blood, heat of blazing flames with subtle annoyingly stinging pain, crumbling sounds of the rocks crumbling down, distant wails of people, muddy and irony taste of the ashes and blood lingering in her mouth, and darkness clouding the sight.
These were the things Seo Hana felt and noticed as soon as she regained consciousness, yet she wasn't able to open her eyes, as if something was forcing her eyes to stay shut.
BA.....THUMP
She heard a loud yet weak heartbeat as soon as she gained a bit clarity of her dulled senses, soon, sounds of gasps also trickled her ears, the breathing sounds, of the being who was next to her, sounded so weak, as if it was a life burning the last of its lustres.
".....!" Hana tried to speak, but her lips didn't separate, nor did a sound leave her throat.
Her confusion soon turned into fear, as she could neither understand nor feel what was going on, except for the heat and pain, she was able to feel nothing.
"It....looks like.... you are awake....." The life next to her spoke wheezing. Hana shuddered slightly, though she knew that there was somebody next to her and that the person would talk to her upon noticing, she didn't expect the person's voice to be so hoarse(?).
"Don't fret..... because your face is burnt.... just like the rest of your body....." The figure stated, only then did she understand her state, but she was neither scared nor worried, she simply took out a healing potion from her inventory and splashed it on her face,
Or so she tried.
But, she couldn't move!
Not even lift a finger.
It was only then that her fear began to settle in.
".....!!!!" She tried to scream, yet again, no voice came out. The pain she should be feeling from being burnt all-over began to slowly creep in as her senses regained their clarity, except for shuddering uncontrollably, she could do nothing, absolutely nothing.
"I'm sorry.....but, I have used.....my potions on myself..." Her mind finally recognised the, now, hoarse voice. Hana was certain that the voice was Katline's. The sweet voice that had turned alluring, had now turned hoarse as if her throat was burnt.
As soon as that possible thought flashed in Hana's mind, she shuddered again, but misunderstanding her worries Katline began to speak. "Ah! Maybe....you....want to know....the condition you are currently in? ....."
From there forth, Katline began to state Seo Hana's state. And from her words, Hana realised that,
Her limbs were amputated by the prototypes behind their backs while they were fighting other prototypes, and after a while, the lands that were in ruins exploded, as fire blanketed over the entire territory. Katline, who was a long range damage dealer, was tasked with finding a shelter while also looking after Seo Hana, whose limbs were amputated. As soon as Katline finished her words till there, hoarse sobs began to trickle Seo Hana's ears, but
The worst had yet to come.
After finding a shelter which Katline assumed to be safe, she left Hana in there and went in search for the rest, but by the time she arrived there, none
Jiwoo, Katharine, Violet, Seol So-Young, Charlie, Samuel, Bert, Garrick, Richard, and Bobby, none of these people had survived!
To find the shelter, Katline took 3 minutes, and to make it back to them, she took two minutes, evading and fighting off the monsters and prototypes that rushed towards her....
Five mere minutes!
After exactly five minutes of her departure and arrival, those that had been with her since childhood, since academic days, and since a year, all of them were lost!
Her present had become her past!
Her moments had become her memories!
How long did it take for these things to happen?
FIVE MERE MINUTES!
It was only after she, Katline, calmed herself, that she began to explain properly, since Seo Hana fell unconscious.
After Seo Hana fell unconscious, they rushed towards the closest "territory" and found absolutely nothing wrong there, in that location! After that, an emotionlessly grinning prototype, who followed their trial and reached them, "informed" them off the location they were planning to start their conquer from, while also confirming their speculations and suspicions.
They rushed towards the other side of the forest, since circling around the forest was going to be harder even if it was easier, they discarded their plans and zoomed through the forest, after killing the prototype, of course. Charlie's accumulated points came into play there, as he was forced to pour his points into increasing his stamina as much as he could, and after he was done, he was forced to use his dragonoid form and was asked to bulldoze through the forest as fast as he can.
Like that, they reached the other side of the forest in the matter of five hours without a stop, and everything began only after they reached their designated destination!
The exhausted group gasping for air, a vulnerable territory and people, and the undying prototypes that threatened to raze everything to the ground, met!
And the war-like battle began between the exhausted group and the prototypes, their clashes itself brought ruin upon the territory and the people, and the exhausted group seemed to gained an upper hand, and
That was it!
That was when, the prototypes began to use their abilities, the abilities those who fought against them had used!
But,
More efficiently and more effectively!
And then,
In an instant!
In an absolute instant! The situation had changed!
Things had taken a turn for the worst!
The tables had turned in the favour of the prototypes!
Yet, the players defended themselves to a certain extent, their casualties amidst of everything continued to pile up, but, they were still holding their ground, until
THAT prototype appeared!
It was as if a boss monster had entered the brawl, and then it happened, something they never expected to happen, happened!
THAT prototype used Seo Hana's phoenix flames!
A stomp from that prototype, the ground would be upturned! With spider web-like patterns marring the ground, through which absolutely horrifying flames erupted.
So hot that even the atmosphere turned hotter by the seconds, until they felt like they were being cooked alive, they even gained fire resistance skills, yet that changed nothing, as only those that gained that skill survived.
But, that also lasted only for a few minutes, before it got so hot that the ground began to breathe visibly, and it took them an instant to understand that the ground wasn't breathing, but instead in was bubbling from the inside.
And that instant was when the ground exploded!
It was also then that a blanket of flames descended upon them, blanketing over the entire territory they were in. A few prototypes burned, melted down, but the stronger ones survived, just like the players.
The survivors of that flames were Jiwoo, Katharine, Charlie, Katline, Seo Hana, Samuel, and Richard.
They didn't even have the time to grieve for there friends, as they continued to fight endlessly, it was then that they noticed Seo Hana's state. Her limbs were amputated, with bubbling blood oozing profusely with a bright orange blazing armour of her own flames enveloping her, lightly.
When Katline was asked to take away Hana and look for shelter, she understood that she was being a burden on them, so she didn't hesitate and rushed to rescue Hana, but when she looked around in search of Hana's amputated limbs, she found none.
Assuming they should have melted away, she hugged Hana's limbless body and rushed in search of a shelter, and those things happened.
She herself and Seo Hana were the only survivors currently with the rest of them dead, without even a trace of their existences, except for Katline's, Hana's , and a few others' memories!
"Hic....uvag.....hic... aaaaaaaa!" Katline sobbed uncontrollably, her cries were now tearless from crying for so long, but then abruptly, upon remembering that she hadn't yet explained the state Hana was in, she, who had her tears dried up, stopped herself, hiccupping.
"Y-you're.... your face.... and the remaining of your.....body has melted.... quite deeply (?), with you.... looking like a survivor of a...fire attack!" Katline described Hana's state, but the person in question cared for none of it.
'T-th-they died? Ji-Jiwoo, Kat-Katharine, Violet, Seol So-Young, C-Charlie, Sam-Samuel, Bert, Garrick, Richard, and B-B-Bobby all d-d-died?' Hana muttered inwardly.
'W-why?!' She questioned inwardly.
But, she knew whom she was talking with, and even if she had already gone crazy, she cared for none of it, she, now, wanted nothing more than answers from that son of a bit*h!
TAK-TAK-!!!
Loud footsteps resounded in the abandoned, blazing territory, or what remained of the territory. The presence that entered Hana's sensed seemed to have sensed them too, as they rushed towards them without looking for anything else.
TAK-TAK-!!!!
The footsteps continued on for a few seconds before a familiar voice trickled their ears.
"F**k!" It was Core's. The presence that approached them were none other than the Freaks group! Members of which were Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, Louie, Core, and Arngrim, a familiar group of people!
The first one to move among them was Arngrim, who zoomed towards them, took out large flasks of healing potions and splashed on them.
They gritted their teethes and endured the pain, with only Katline's groans and wails sounding. Hana just stayed silent the whole process, trembling.
And as soon as she was healed, while still laying upon a thick green liquid with a limbless body, blood trickled out of her eyes which shot wide open by the next instance, and the first words that came out of her mouth shocked those present!
"Why!?"
"Why!?!!!"
"Why didn't you protect us!"
"ESHWAR!!!!"