Chapter 43: Hospital
It didn’t take long before the hospital’s tallest building ca into view. It was surprising, however, that the building still looked mostly intact despite that part of the city being mostly in ruin.
The Central Hospital was located near the city centre, so for the ti being, Damon had to diverge from his path toward the citadel on the outskirts. Of course, in the mont, he didn’t really think about that, as all his focus was on the so-called impossible monster they were about to face.
His unease and excitent burned stronger with each turn, and finally, after around 25 minutes of tearing through the streets on the back of Eve’s motorcycle, they had finally reached it.
Central Hospital consisted of four buildings with a large courtyard area in the centre of them. The tallest of them, the north building, was the one they saw first, but as they got closer, the other three also ca into view.
Eve parked halfway down the street away, and without delay, each of them stepped off the motorcycle.
"Ready?" she asked.
There was a hint of unease in her voice that Damon hadn’t heard before.
"Anything I should know before we step in there?"
Eve paused for a mont, seriously thinking her answer through before replying.
"It’s fast and attacks anything that steps into the hospital. That pretty much sums it up."
’Well... sounds like every monster,’ Damon thought as they cautiously walked closer toward the hospital.
The road before the hospital seed unnaturally empty, at least compared to every other street they passed by so far. Damon couldn’t help but wonder if it had sothing to do with the monster Eve encountered, but as they approached the hospital, he couldn’t feel any presence from it.
"There is a very faint presence inside, but nothing like she described," Kitsune’s voice suddenly cut through his thoughts.
Damon nodded, having already figured as much, but for so reason, he doubted the girl lied. The way she even carried herself now, she seed to be ready to run at a mont’s notice.
Although all hospital buildings were still standing, their insides weren’t so lucky. Most corridors were in complete ruin, and the simple search for insulin turned out to be far from easy.
With the constant threat of the monster Eve had ntioned, they slowly traversed the narrow corridors and squeezed through countless piles of rubble before their search through the first building ca to an empty end.
"To go to the next building, we need to pass through the courtyard," Eve whispered.
"Well, let’s go then-" Damon began to say, taking a step toward the courtyard exit, but before he could reach it, Eve’s palm landed on his chest, putting his walk to a stop.
"That’s where I saw it last ti," She said. Her tone was flat, her eyes unwavering as they stared right at him.
Damon recognised what she was saying imdiately and tightened the grip on his Jian sword before opening the door with a slow push.
The courtyard was around 100 square ters. It was completely overgrown by vegetation, which wasn’t surprising considering the current state of the world. What was surprising, however, was the pile of twigs in the center, sothing resembling a bird’s nest.
Damon couldn’t help but frown at the sight.
’Why would a bird put a nest on the ground?’ he wondered to himself as he slowly approached it.
"What are you doing?" Eve suddenly whispered, though her tone was closer to a shout. "Next building is this way." She pointed toward the entrance to the East building.
But Damon, drawn by the unusual sight, couldn’t help but let the curiosity get the better of him.
As he neared the oversized nest, he saw a half dozen eggs, though they didn’t exactly look like any bird egg he had seen before.
Suddenly, a heavy weight dropped onto the entire courtyard, and before Damon could realise what was happening, Kitsune’s voice cut through his head.
"Behind!"
The mont Damon’s head turned around, the creature was already upon him.
It looked like an oversized, bipedal ant. Its black, sleek exoskeleton shone like armour while its thin, elongated limbs looked like blades.
Damon barely had ti to take in the looks of the monster as one of its arms was already moving toward him.
He raised his own, coating it in a layer of black ice as a protective asure, but the mont the monster’s arm connected, the ice shattered, and Damon got sent hurtling through the air.
’It’s fast!’ Damon noted as he quickly scrambled to his feet, taking a battle stance. But as his gaze lifted toward the monster, he realised it wasn’t chasing him. Instead, the overgrown ant leaned over the large nest and stared down at the eggs for a couple of monts.
’The eggs... they belong to that ant?’
Just as the realisation arrived in Damon’s head, the ant turned.
Its crimson eyes spared only a glance at Eve, who stood several ters behind Damon, petrified at the creature’s arrival. Her arms trembled at her sides, as if ready to flee at any mont.
But the monster’s eyes showed no interest in her, and instead, they moved onto Damon.
At the sa ti, Kitsune, who was standing on the other side of the courtyard, couldn’t help but stare at the creature with a thoughtful expression.
’There’s no mistaking it,’ she thought to herself, ’this monster is past its second evolution.’
The first evolution differed for each monster as it happened with the arrival of the first phase. The second evolution, on the other hand, was the sa for every creature. It happened once a monster reached level 50 and, with it, unlocked fragnts of power that made the gap between levels 49 and 50 seem leagues away.
And now, seeing a monster past its second evolution, she couldn’t help but wonder if today would be the day her promise of not intervening in Damon’s fights would co to an end, or if the human that managed to catch her interest from the very beginning would do the impossible.
She wouldn’t have to wonder for long as the oversized ant suddenly vanished, before clashing against Damon’s sword.
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