“What the hell are you all standing around for!? Fire, you fucking dimwits!” Worth shouted.

Everything became one big colorful mess after that shout, as things of magic, supernatural, and mystical were thrown about. There was icicles coming out of the ground to impale, gigantic balls of fire hurtling towards them, dazzling bolts of lightning thrown by hand, large vines with small-green plant like men accompanying it slowly with their cute little steps, inky black hands coming out of nowhere, and other things that were hard to explain by common sense.

With all of the amazing things that were happening around me, my fear had suddenly subsided, only to be replaced by wonder and delight at the fantastical things that were coming from all of them. Not so much from the giant murderous men trying to kill us, though.

It’s like the fantasy books that I’ve read in the past were happening in real life. Albeit, the horrors came along with it in two fold. Or maybe a lot more than two fold.

With all that was said, their efforts weren't doing much to those things at all, as they just shrug off everything that were being wantonly thrown at them. It may have chipped some part of their body, but it was too insignificant of a dent that they could just keep on going towards us. Some of them were even getting bigger each time that they got hit. Which is really bad, if you ask me.

“Vic, distract those at the back!” Worth yelled.

And as soon as he did so, dozens of mirrors appeared out of the ground. Each one had an image of every single person among our group. And those images went out of the mirror and started running towards the four giants in the back. Distracting them while we continued on running.

“Everyone! Breakthrough and get to the other side!”

“I… co… hate” I was hearing that same voice from before, but I could somehow make out some of the words that were being said now. It was like a radio that was picking up on a weak signal from a radio tower from far away. All static and not enough clarity.

“Don’t leave anyone behind! Drag them if you have to! I'm not losing anymore people for this bullshit!”

“You better pick up the pace yourself, else, you might be the one I’d have to drag along” Mr. Cobalt said.

“Shut up! You, talking to me, is what’s going to cause me to trip!”

“… ove, but…” I wish that voice would stop too, it was distracting me from focusing on what’s ahead. Not that it would do me any good, but it’s better than ignoring the three giant men that we were up against.

The intensity of things turned up a notch, as we were drawing closer to them. I was fairly pleased that I could somehow keep up with everyone’s pace when running, though, my laborous breathing was very apparent.

“Shit! Not a single one of them is going down” Worth said, sweat dripping down from his forehead as he sees that our efforts were futile.

“Tili, Tila, and Gunther! I need you three to make a way!”

“””Yes, Sir!””” They all shouted in unison.

The three of them stopped running and then went into a triangle formation. Gunther in front, while the other two was at his side, but a little bit behind him.

Gunther started to sweat profusely, but looking closer, those beads of sweat were actually colored silvery grey. It wasn’t dripping down onto the ground, but instead, it stuck to his body until it was at a volume that it formed an outer coating that covered him whole.

“…been a ba… oy… “

After the metallic liquid coated his whole body, it solidified and formed into a ball exactly the same as we saw from before.

“I'm ready!” He shouted from inside of the thing.

Then, the two identical females at his side started to move their hands in a way as if they were trying to lift something heavy up. The wind started to pick up, and the metallic ball that had Gunther inside of it started to lift off of the ground and spin. It gradually got faster and faster until it was creating gusts of wind that could force the small rocks to gravitate around it.

“”We’re done here, too!”” They shouted in unison. I think they were identical twins of some sort. Not a hunch, but more of a ‘they look the same, they talk at the same time, then, they must be twins’ thing.

“Everyone hug the wall!” Worth shouted, and all of us dove towards the sides, not wanting to be in its line of sight.

“Fire at will!”

And the metallic ball was shot forward into the oncoming giants. It was greatly faster than the one from before. Bouncing once, and then leaping into the air again while it spun.

They tried to put a stand by forming a blockade and using their hands to stop the metallic mass of destruction hurtling towards them. Not even trying to run or dive away from it. Not that it would them any good, anyway.

But their blockade was for nothing, as their arms got destroyed by the impact once they made contact.

"!" They got dragged along and crushed underneath it after a few seconds of resistance. The metallic ball then continued on rolling towards the exit.

“Get up and start moving before they can reattach themselves!”

We followed it out, and someone from the group shot out some kind of gel from his mouth into the tunnel’s exit. I didn’t know why he did that, but my question was soon answered by an explosion.

It collapsed the exit in the process, blocking the way out by giant boulders from the explosion.

“Last… sson and a parti… ft”

“That should keep them busy for a while” Worth said.

The metallic ball that Gunther was inside of was stuck inside a wall at the other side from where we are. He comes out of it a few seconds later, and went jogging towards us. He wasn’t the least bit dizzy from all of that rolling? A more important question was, how could he breathe while inside of it?

“Where should we go next?” Someone asked. “This place is too large to play hide-and-seek. Before we could even find him, we’d probably all be six feet under”

“Well… we could always let Lanelle spread her network out, but that would take far too long. And if she loses focus, it’ll backlash too hard on her”

“Then, how about if we just let her scout one part of this place, while we go in another direction to search. That wouldn’t strain her that much, right? ”

“Uhmm… someone needs to carry me, though. I also need to go to sleep for it to work better. Just make sure I don’t wake up” A female with vibrant green hair said. She must be the one they were talking about.

“Ah… I can’t do it. I have a weak body, you know. And carrying things isn’t really my thing” He said. I don’t know which part of him was weak, but he had very defined muscles and a good stature, fitting someone who you would normally call an athlete.

“Oi, you two, carry her and make sure not to drop her. You got that?” Worth said, to which those two people that he was looking at nodded in response.

The woman named Lanelle waves her hand in an exaggerated way, and then vines came out of the ground. It intertwined with itself, creating a stretcher like bed to rest on. It was a very convenient ability, if you ask me. I wonder what else can she make.

She then throws a handful of seeds below her feet that she got from her pouch. It sinks into the rocky ground, as if it were being sucked in by quicksand.

“I’m done” She said, as she lies down on the makeshift stretcher and closed her eyes. “And remember, don’t just drop me willy-nilly or wake me up. I’ll be forced to cut the connection if that happens, and it would probably hurt me, too”

After that, we started searching for the man again. While we were walking, I asked Mr. Cobalt exactly how big this place was. He just answered with a ‘Hah! You don’t ask a place how big it is. What’s the fun in asking when you can just get lost and see for yourself’. I tried asking Miel and Gunther, too, but they said that this was their first time coming here, also. I guess I’ll just have to find out.

We were walking around for another hour, and all I can say is that this place is just too big. It’s a never ending cycle of caverns, tunnels, caverns, and then more tunnels that lead to more caverns. This place is like a maze with how big and confusing it was. I can’t even distinguish if we already came here or not, or if we were going in circles. The only saving grace from this long walk was that we didn’t encounter anything along the way.

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“Gah! This is taking way too long, and we aren’t even at the inner rooms yet” Worth said in frustration.

“Can’t help it, Sir” Don said from beside him. “Two hundred people were supposed to go on this operation, but our numbers got cut in half when we needed to send emergency backup in the other parts of the city. We also got caught off guard at the entrance when we just entered, and then we got split up again some more”

“What the hell are they even planning! I don’t understand anymore, it’s as if… !” He tried pulling his hair again, but immediately stops as he realized something.

“What is it? Don’t stop now” Mr. Cobalt said.

“It’s as if he wants to stay inside of this place!” He shouted in reply. “He might not be planning to leave at all, or he still needs something in here”

“Hmm…”

“Or he might just want some friends to come find him… hehehe… enjoying the fun by playing tag” Al was seriously creeping me out. He was talking like this the entire time since an hour ago. I can’t exactly ask what was going on with him because of the people beside me. But I hope he's okay and it he returns to normal… soon.

“Think about it, all he’s done was to split us up, and whittle us down bit by bit. He isn't even trying to escape, or kill us all in one fell swoop from what I saw. By the way, I counted how many of Ryggd’s dolls they used so far, and it’s at forty-three, not counting the ones that first attacked the city” He said. “I mean, come on, those people we’re up against have enough, or more than enough firepower to wipe us off from this shitty world a few times over, but they aren’t even doing it”

“Huh, now that you’ve mentioned it…”

“Tr-“

“I’ve found him!” He got interrupted by someone’s shout.

“He’s at where a lake is!” Lanelle was now awake and sitting on the makeshift stretcher.

“Fuck, so he's just there. He didn’t even leave the breath’s room all this time” Worth and Mr. Cobalt then began to run ahead of us.

“Oi, hurry up now. We’re still halfway there” He laughs aloud, as he saw me being left behind.

What the! Even Gunther runs faster than me! My jaw drops as I see him run past me. I thought that I’d at least be able to keep up with him, but my assumptions were now thrown out. He may be fuming red in exertion, but I was also the same.

I picked up the pace in order to at least be able to keep up with him, and that was already a hard thing to do.

“We’ll be going on ahead. Watch over the kid, and make sure he doesn’t trip and kill himself, you hear?” Mr. Cobalt said.

””“Yes, Sir!””” They said in unison.

“Zyx, you’re coming with us” Worth said to the man covered from head to toe in a gray cloak and wearing black sunglasses.

He doesn’t answer, but he quickens his pace to match the two of them. Although, it was weird how I don’t see either of his feet hitting the ground when he runs.

…

Moving on, why is it so hard trying to catch my breath while running. How do people even go for those long marathon runs? Training constantly everyday? Proper breathing? Not slacking off to read fantasy books and novels every time that they’re alone in their room? I don’t know, all of the above, I guess.

…

Is it weird that I’m conversing with myself. Is that bad? I’m even answering my own questions now.

“Wait… what if this is another trap?” Gunther asked while we were running.

“There’s only one way to find out, right?” Miel answered uncaringly. And she’s right. However, I wouldn’t mind not knowing the answer at all. Cowardice ? No, it’s called preservation of one’s life. Knowledge doesn’t mean anything when you’re already dead. You hear? Not. A. Thing.

It took us sometime before we could catch up with the three of them. Almost one and a half hour, and that was with little breaks in between our runs.

“We already looked around the entrance of the breath’s room, but there doesn’t seem to be anything there” Worth said. “Lanelle, scout inside of it again to check if he’s still there”

She nods her head and throws another hand full of seeds into the ground. A few minutes later, she says that he was still inside, although, there was something else alongside him now. Something massive, is what she said.

“Okay. So, here’s the plan” Worth said, as he beckons us to come closer into a huddle.

“If that thing that’s with him turns out to be another doll, I need a few of you to go and distract it, or better yet, tear it apart. Me, the big oaf, and three others would go and capture that man, while the remaining would guard the boy. I want you to be on babysitting duty, Vic, but be on standby and come to the other’s aid whenever things get rough”

The person called Vic nods his head when he heard that.

“Rotate with the back whenever someone get’s injured. Remember, we only have one medic here, and she’s going to be with the boy”

“Ay, don’t worry. They’re all grown men and women. They know what to do” Mr. Cobalt cuts in.

“Can you stop for a fucking minute! Can’t you see that I’m giving my orders!”

Mr. Cobalt then motions as if he was zipping his mouth shut, and smiles. I think he enjoyed making the man mad.

“Okay… so, where was I?” He said. He tried to remember the things that he just said, but ultimately forgetting what he was about to say next. “… Ah, fuck it. Did everyone understand what I just said a moment ago”

They all nod their heads. There was no shouting Of ‘Yes, Sir!’ this time. Maybe because the man we were looking for might over hear them from here if they did. Ruining our element of surprise... or not. He might already know that we’re about to storm in.

“Then, let’s go and finish this once and for all”

He then motions with his right hand, a signal that said to walk slowly with as less noise as possible. Or was I maybe interpreting it too much? He just kind of pointed his hand and five of his fingers towards the inside of the large room.

We walked slowly and carefully, making sure that we checked what’s ahead of us before taking another step forward. It was kind of dim in this place, unlike the other tunnels that we were in before. The only light that we used to see were those few glowing green rocks that we seldom passed by. A good thing that we managed to make it to the end without bumping into anything.

“Now… where is he” Mr. Cobalt said.

I don’t know where he is, but I do know something else. That this place was amazing to the highest degree. It seems that I’ve been labeling things with ‘wonderful’, ‘fantastic', ‘amazing’, and some other stuff a lot lately. But can you really blame me for that?

“… Ah” I was staring at the large body of water that was in this huge cavern. It’s water was glowing that of a lime-green color, and was emanating this strange yet comfortable feeling from where it was. I could get addicted to this.

We searched around as a group for any signs of him, but there wasn’t anyone insight inside of this place. There was only the lime-green waters and the ground that surrounds it.

“… Strange. He should be… wait!” Lanelle shouted. “He’s unde-!”

As if on queue, a loud rumbling that shook the waters interrupted her mid sentence. It was then followed up by an earthquake strong enough to cause the rocks up above us to crack and fall towards the ground.

“Cover us!” Worth shouted, and a second later, a wall of ice appeared above us. It covered our group in a circular dome from the giant rocks that fell onto us. It didn’t last long against the boulders that were crashing against it, though, but the ice dome got reinforced further by plant vines, wood, green sticky liquid, and a hundred inky black hands that were on top to shield it.

“Everyone alright!?” Worth yelled, but the answer that he was looking for was already right in front of me. And it wasn’t ‘alright' at all.

Someone's arm was pierced into a man’s torso, and then he pulled the man’s heart out in one swift motion.

“Vic!” The light in the man’s eyes vanishes, and he fell down limp on the floor with a pool of blood appearing beneath him.

The person who just did that disappears from thin air and continues on to he's next victim. This time, he tears off a woman’s right arm from her torso.

“ARGHHH!” She screamed, as I continue to watch in horror. He did everything without batting an eye while having a deadpan expression, like some small child bored of doing some mundane chore that his parent asked him to do.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” Mr. Cobalt appears beside them, and punches the boy away from her. His fist was burning bright in blue fire, as he sent him towards the lake while being engulfed in a blazing inferno. Skidding on the lakes water, as he crashes at the faraway wall making a loud boom sound when he did so.

“Heal her, quick!” Worth yelled.

A female with jet black long hair came running with a frantic expression to where her comrade was. She immediately knelt down beside her and put her hands on top of where the shoulder joint was. Her hands glowed blue, and that light soon transferred onto that persons wound. Moment’s later, her skin began to wiggle and writhe, moving along to cover it up. I don’t know if that’s what you’d call healing, but it definitely stopped her from bleeding out.

“Look sharp!” Mr. Cobalt yelled. “Here he comes!”

The boy runs across the lake, defying gravity each step that he took. He wasn’t scathed at all from his exchange with the hulking man.

He then jumps up into the air, and crashes near us, sending small rocks flying, as he creates a small crater upon where he landed. Looking closer, he was about the same age as me, or maybe a bit younger. He was wearing a plain white shirt and black pants. His black shoulder length hair complements the abyss that is his eyes. But overall, he looked like a normal teenaged boy from my perspective.

“I don’t like him” Al said. Well, I don’t like him, too.

He looks at us with a blank expression, or more precisely, at Mr. Cobalt. Not moving an inch after a few seconds of doing nothing, as if he was waiting for him to make the first move.

“What the hell is that thing?” Someone asked.

“It’s an enemy, is what it is” Mr. Cobalt’s right hand ignited, engulfing it in blue fire. He then holds his cigar with his left hand and points it at where the so called ‘enemy' was.

“Let’s see what you’re made of” He said. The fire in his right hand suddenly went out, and then I hear grunting noises coming out from the boy. It seems as if he was hurting, because he collapsed on the ground and started to writhe.

“Heh, not made well eno-…” He stopped what he was about to say, because the boy stood up a moments later and disappeared from sight.

Mr. Cobalt suddenly jumped towards the side and held his hand forward, or more exactly, he caught the boy’s hand in front of his face.

“Oh, Lord! What sort of monster from hell are you!?” He spat out, before he launches a kick that was aimed at him, but he missed by a hair, as the boy twists his body. “I’ve burnt your insides! What are you even made of!?”

The boy then uses his other hand as a spear and locked on towards where Mr. Cobalt’s heart was.

“Not so fast you cheeky fuck!” Worth, Zyx, and Don enter the fray.

Using his dagger, Don forcefully stabs the boy’s hand, making it miss Mr. Cobalt’s heart, but still grazes his side.

Zyx then held him by the neck from behind. “…” And black hands appear out of the air, pinninh him down. While that was all going on, Worth got ready for something, as he puts his right hand up above him.

“Eat shit, you piece of shit!” He shouted, as he started to emit large sparks of electricity that concentrated on his right hand. He then shoves his hand into the boy’s face, and then it flashed the surroundings in blinding white light.

A few seconds later, after my sight returned to normal. I saw the four of them a few meters away from where the kneeling boy was. He was charred, with hideous burnt marks covering his skin when his clothes got burnt off.

“What the…”

Al whistled loud. “That’s one tough cookie” He said.

The boy got up again, the burnt marks on his skin slowly fades away and return to normal. Looking at the four of them with a blank expression, as if to say ‘Is that all?’.

He disappears again for a third time, but this time, he didn’t target the one’s in front of him. No. He targeted us.

“Shit!”

“Protect the kid!”

He didn’t need to yell that, as everyone got ready. But being ready isn’t close enough to stop him, because he just casually yanks someone away from our group and throws them far into the lake. They resisted, but that boy had an iron grip. Even though they threw everything from punches, to blasts of mystical power, it didn't deter him at all. He does that so casually for a couple more times in a few seconds until there was only five people left in the back including me.

What should I do...

“Run you fool!” Al shouted.

Running away it is, then.