SHIK!
That sound was truly disgusting.
The squelching only went on for a couple seconds, but it was the combined sound of the thousand spikes impaling the flesh at the sa ti.
It was not appealing in the slightest.
The ground team that scattered on purpose to lull Yhien into a false sense of security gathered again around the dark mold.
"Are you detecting vital signs?"
Gio’s voice ca through the comms, and Natalia was quick to confirm with him.
"No. It’s dead."
Her tone was cold, but the news was good. Gio smiled as he watched her remove her power from the world, unveiling the monster’s corpse.
There stood Yhien, except its sowhat majestic and terrifying form had been completely ruined. There were holes in its flesh and blood matted its feathers and fur. It stood for a mont when the darkness disappeared, but it was quick to crumple over and fall.
Raymond approached the corpse with a satisfied expression.
"Well then, we can officially call it a successful subjugation."
"Not yet."
However, before he could say anything, Gio cut him off.
"Sorry?" Raymond questioned.
"It’s not over yet," Gio answered without hesitation.
"Listen carefully. In a mont, Alice will release the do she made. When that happens, you’re going to want to act on your own. Ignore that instinct and follow my directions. You’re going to be running to a rendezvous point from here on."
Confusion spread through the ground team, and as their leader, Raymond voiced their concerns.
"Would you care to explain to us what’s happening?"
"If I had done it from the start, there would have been ti. Rember, follow my directions and we’ll accomplish sothing big. The operators have already been prepped."
Gio looked around the room, receiving affirmation from those around him.
Looking back at the screens on the wall, he made the call.
"When the barrier breaks, run imdiately to the left."
As Gio said, if he explained from the beginning what was happening, they would have been able to understand.
But then, he wouldn’t have been able to say everything else.
Since he decided to say everything else first, that which needed to be explained decided to show itself on its own.
RUMBLE!
A deep rumbling from the earth. And then–
BOOOOOOOOM!
The earthen do collapsed.
SKREEEEEEEE–!
The massive screech of a monster filled the air. Without even stopping to check what it was, Raymond gritted his teeth and followed his instincts.
He imdiately ran to the left, and the entire team followed.
They were just in ti to avoid the worst.
WHOOOOOOOOSH!
The monster in the sky flapped its wings. With that simple motion, a wave of wind that connected the sky to the earth cut through the world, digging a hundred-ter-deep trench in the ground where the team was once standing.
"Go! A kiloter straight and then turn right!"
Gio gave the directions the team needed. They didn’t have much freedom to look back and see what was chasing them, but they were able to see so other things.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Massive wind cots tore up the jungle.
WHOOOOOOOOOSH!
The winds whipped wildly, pushing against them from all angles to force their montum to a halt.
RUMBLE!
The sky cried out in pain and fury as it was used as a tool. Lightning and thunder struck with every passing second. The chaotic winds gathered and spun around each other, forming tornadoes that razed the land.
Everything happening around them, they’d already experienced before.
Only, this was at a completely different level.
This was a storm that would not end easily. These were tornados that didn’t randomly spin but instead directly chased them down like hunters chasing prey.
This was not a monster approaching Grade 4. It was a monster approaching Grade 2.
Yhia, the lord of this territory, was upon them. They didn’t have to look far to see the effects of that difference.
The jungle wasn’t just ripped apart. It was completely razed easily and the ground leftover was blown to dust over and over again, creating several massive holes that led far into the surface of the Earth.
Raymond and his team rushed as fast as they could according to Gio’s directions.
"Take a right at the cave ahead! You’ll find a tunnel around the side. Go inside and take it as far as it goes!"
SKREEEEEEE!
Yhia’s cries ca from above. The monster was furious, but not because its successor was dead. If its successor died, that only ant he wasn’t strong enough to hold that position.
Yhia’s fury ca from the fact that the ones who did the cri were humans.
Dirty, filthy humans who should have never been in her territory.
WHOOOOOOOSH!
Raymond and his team barely ducked into the tunnel Gio ntioned before three tornadoes swept over their locations.
The roaring sound of the wind still resonated through the tunnel, and the wind entering through the gap was still strong enough to push them over.
They may have gained a temporary respite, but if they stopped moving, they’d practically be begging for death.
"Let’s go."
Raymond nodded at the other six and pushed through the tunnel.
Now that he had ti, he could finally question Gio about what was happening as well.
"An explanation would be perfect right now."
Gio had no reason to hold back.
"Yhia showed up because Yhien and Yhima died in quick succession. It’s attacking because it realized we, humans, were the cause. You aren’t escaping normally because if Yhia gets close to the zephyr, all of us die."
Those were the easy parts to explain.
"As for your direction of escape, that’s to get rid of Yhia’s tail."
Raymond looked into the darkness ahead, lighting a fla on his hand to illuminate the surroundings.
BOOOOM!
The tunnel started in the side of a small mountain. The muffled sound of explosions breaking that mountain apart could be heard from outside. Only, the tunnel was moving them deeper into the ground.
Being further from the surface was better for them when it ca to the current escape, however, if they went too deep...
"You won’t be able to lose Yhia in the tunnel. Even if you stop at the deepest point, it’ll claw its way down to you. The only way to get rid of it is to make it fight sothing it can’t take its eyes off of."
"And how are we ant to do that?" Raymond said, returning the question.
"Simple,"
That was the plan from the beginning.
"When you get to the other side of that tunnel, you’ll be on the edge of the next territory. The lord there is–"
"–Heliux."
"Right. The ground titan, Heliux. It has so sort of life or death grudge against Yhia, so if we can just get close enough for it to sense Yhia’s presence, we’ll be able to kill two birds with one stone."
On one hand, they could start a territory war among beasts and monsters to disrupt their ranks, and on the other, Raymond and the rest could escape.
It wasn’t a bad plan at all.
They just had to hope that when they left the tunnel, they’d have enough ti to attract Heliux before Yhia decided it wanted their lives.
There really wasn’t a way to make it a riskier gamble.
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