By Zephyria The moment the wide-open mouth closed, a squelching sound and bright red blood splattered right in front of his feet. Crunch, crunch…. The sound of bones being finely crushed was deafening. Slowly, white dust settled.
The white thing that had fallen from the sky looked like a giant snake, or perhaps a sea cucumber. Compared to its long, streetlight-like body, its disproportionately short limbs twitched. Crunch, crunch, it tilted its head to the sky as if trying to swallow the last one. Bright blue eyes quickly scanned it. But even with the Eye of the Tracker, he couldn’t pinpoint anything special. No, rather….
‘It’s strangely devoid of presence.’
Eui-jae looked down at Cluck, who was crouching on the ground.
“Hey, do you know what that is? I’ve never seen one like it.”
“…….”
“…Cluck?”
“Cluck?”
Tiny bean-like eyes blinked. It tilted its sleek head. It was Cluck! He was about to go crazy. Eui-jae squatted down, grabbed Cluck, and shook it.
“Hey! Hey, you crazy brat, where did you go all of a sudden!”
“Cluck?”
“Huh, you said you’d keep an eye on things, but you bail out every time it matters, huh?”
Cluck just stared with innocent eyes, regardless of what he said. Hong Ye-seong might be guilty, but Cluck wasn’t. Eui-jae eventually placed Cluck on his head. And with a renewed grip on his spear, he glared at the Monster.
Rushing headfirst at a Monster he’d never seen before was insane. If it had an ability to reflect attacks, or explode the moment it died, things would get complicated. Moreover, this was the worst possible situation to confront a Monster. There were countless civilians around him and the Monster, and he couldn’t evacuate them.
“…….”
Civilian casualties must be minimized.
Eui-jae picked up a fist-sized piece of concrete debris from the ground and threw it towards an empty area. Thud! The debris hit the wall, rolled a couple of times, and stopped. A beat later, it turned its head towards the debris. The mouth, dripping with blood, tilted. It seemed to be tilting its head. He couldn’t see its eyes.
‘It’s dull. It has no eyes. At least it reacts to sound.’
The Monster lost interest in the concrete. A large Adam’s apple below its mouth heaved once. At the same time….
“…It’s getting bigger?”
Its size increased, even if only slightly. A blood-soaked tongue licked around its mouth. If it was the type to increase its size every time it ate a human, that would be a problem. He didn’t know how big it could get.
The Monster started crawling, sniffing as it went. Squeak, squeak, leaving long trails of blood wherever it went. The giant mouth opened wide towards the Prometheus people. At the same time, Eui-jae jumped up from his spot.
‘It seems to instinctively go to where there are more humans.’
And just before the giant teeth could snatch the humans,
Thwack— Thud!
Eui-jae’s foot slammed into its mouth. The sensation of broken teeth colliding with his foot was vivid. Eui-jae stomped on the Monster and spun around once before landing lightly. Cluck, who had fluttered up, also landed back on Eui-jae’s head. The Monster thrashed, falling to the side. Its short limbs flailed.
Kieeee…. A wailing sound echoed through the street. Eui-jae shook off the blood on his pants. After wailing for a while, the Monster twitched again and began to crawl. Towards its original target, the humans. Eui-jae tightened his grip on the spear.
‘Rather than attacking the one who hurt it…. It’s chasing its original target.’
It would have been better if it had shown hostility towards Eui-jae. He could have lured it away to a place with no people. But instead of attacking the one who attacked it, it opened its maw towards its prey. Perhaps that was its instinct. An existence born to eat more humans.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to him.
That’s not the end.
‘What?’
More will appear, in the future.
“…….”
Eui-jae didn’t hesitate.
Thwack—
The giant spear pierced the snake’s maw from the head. Bright red blood splattered. At the same time.
“…Hh, hheok.”
A small gasp escaped,
“Euh, euaaaaah! Aaaah!”
Someone screamed and sat down, backing away. It was a human who was facing the Monster, a step away. The white gown was soaked so red that you couldn’t recognize its original color. Probably a member of Prometheus. As if they were waking up one by one, screams erupted from here and there. Eui-jae pulled out the spear. Thwack, blood splattered everywhere. The spear, and the hand holding the spear, were bright red.
He felt people’s gazes gathering. He heard sobbing from somewhere. Were there personnel to help with the evacuation? Eui-jae raised his head. He heard wailing from somewhere. There was no time to hesitate!
Eui-jae quickly gestured to the people.
“Everyone knows the location of the designated air raid shelter, right? Go to the shelter, quickly!”
“Cluck―”
Cluck began to run towards the air raid shelter, crowing loudly. The people who had been standing still in a daze began to run one by one. Eui-jae jumped off the Monster and grabbed the red gown of the man crawling on all fours. Heeik! The man made a gasping sound. Eui-jae yanked the gown and bent down.
“Hey.”
The man bowed his head, choking.
“P, please save me! Please save me! Please save me, please! I don’t want to die!”
“I won’t kill you. Just answer my questions. Quickly.”
“W, what do you want to ask, please. Just save my life. I want to live! Don’t drag me away! Please return me to my family, please!”
The man, trembling like he was having a seizure, clasped his hands together and begged. Two streams of tears flowed down his blood-soaked face. He couldn’t even think of looking at Eui-jae. His gaze kept drifting away from the mask, towards the empty air. Eui-jae frowned.
‘Return me to my family?’
Wasn’t that something someone who had been kidnapped would say? Eui-jae slightly loosened his grip on the gown.
“You. Were you originally affiliated with Prometheus?”
“Prom… N, no? Ah, no. I’m not. No, I’m not.”
“Then? Were you kidnapped?”
“Ah? Ah, aaah…. I don’t know, I don’t know. W, who am I? I…. I, I am.”
The man’s eyes glazed over. His lips clattered together. Damn it. Had they brainwashed him? Eui-jae grabbed his collar tightly. Kehk, the man made a choking sound as he was dragged closer. Eui-jae shouted urgently.
“Family, you said you have a family. Think about your family!”
“Faa…….”
A stream of saliva flowed from the man’s mouth. His eyes were already glazed over. The fear and dread that had consumed him had disappeared. Damn it. Eui-jae shook the man.
“Just answer this. Did you know you’d end up like this if you did this?”
“Euh, eua….”
Eui-jae brought his face close and yelled.
“Damn it, did you know that Doomsday would come if you did this!”
“…Do. Doomsday. Doomsday? …Has Doomsday come? Has Doomsday come?”
The moment he heard the word Doomsday, the man’s eyes rolled back and then returned to their place. His eyes were shining like a madman. The man groped for Eui-jae’s hand, which was clutching his gown, and grabbed it. He didn’t seem to care that it was covered in blood. His mouth stretched to an eerie degree.
“Finally, Doomsday has finally come? Has Doomsday finally come?”
He didn’t look like the same person who had been begging for his life until just now. A chill ran down his spine. The man tried to dig his nails into Eui-jae’s hand, but he couldn’t even leave a scratch. Rather, the man’s nails were gradually flipping and breaking. But he didn’t seem to feel any pain. The man muttered with a face full of joy.
“The, the Seer, said that when Doomsday, when Doomsday comes, we, we will all receive great grace….”
“…….”
“It’s here, it’s here. It’s a success. Success….”
The man’s body swayed. He was smiling.
“Keuk, keukeu, keu, hahahahaha! Hahahaha….”
The man laughed, tilting his body back. But the laughter soon stopped. The man, who had lowered his head, suddenly raised his head and glared at Eui-jae. His bloodshot eyes were filled with the sight of the black mask.
“You!”
“…….”
“A runaway who fled from Doomsday, the enemy of the world!”
Crack, the sound of nails breaking. And then.
Thud.
The hand that had been clutching his hand fell limply. He had desperately scratched, but he couldn’t leave even a trace. The neck of the man who had tilted his body back was bent to an eerie degree. Eui-jae released the hand that had been holding the gown. Thud, the man fell to the ground.
“…….”
Nothing was reflected in the eyes that had lost their life.
Eui-jae quietly looked down at the man. He tore off a part of the man’s gown that wasn’t soaked in blood and shook off the dust. And, he covered the man’s face. The eyes that hadn’t been able to close disappeared under the white cloth.
“…….”
Eui-jae straightened his back and looked up at the sky. Something white was falling from Whitehole everywhere. Thud, thud, thud…. He heard the sound of something heavy falling everywhere.
He had to move.
His feet wouldn’t move easily.
At that moment.
“…….”
Buzz, his phone vibrated. Eui-jae struggled to take out his phone and check it.
[Where are you]
It was a text from Sa-young.