Chapter 72

She hadn't seen one alive face in a long time. There were Darks. More Darks. Oh, and more Darks. Some were strange, small, big, or even stranger than a bee. With face or faceless, she wasn't sure how to look at breathing and living people, but this one was touching her head. Wasn't that really rude, or reassuring? She wasn't sure.

This one behind her was revolving in pressure akin to a walking earthquake, which made his body odd, face twitching, and the ground below him was constantly shaking. But he wasn't doing it too much, which she found strange.

“Jesus, this took me ages,” the man said, clutching the sizzling purple fists that changed into a huge jaw that wanted to devour his arm and head. He yelped as if frightened over the sudden change of that Creature. A single move of his arm smacked and crashed this manifested jaws before he smacked the Creature into a tall mountain, where it remained after a kilometer-long flight that happened in a single second.

The girl couldn't see it all, or notice how those two smacks changed the surroundings, cleaving through the rocks and changing the ground. The wind, tremor, and flash of dense light shocked her and her eyes closed. After a second, that Creature was nowhere to be seen.

The man patted the confused girl on her head. “Hey, there. Er... Uh. Who are you? Have you lived there all along? Nice clothes by the way. Are you even alive? It's so strange with everything around this place is so... wild.” He asked in worry but didn't get any answer.

Rubbing his hair, he wondered what's the point of worrisome children. “Never mind. Where is everyone? I think I got lost and can't find my team. Have you seen a tall curvy woman who has far too many tones and words to say?”

The girl didn't speak. She didn't even nod as she observed this man whose face was calm, and tremors subsided within him and around him. She was on the ground, where her right arm supported her alone, though he was holding onto her, acting as if he was afraid to hurt her or get her killed.

“Well, you must have one hell of a life behind you, if you are so alive in this hellish zoo. I can see that in your hand and eyes. Dull, bright, yet strong. You... What the fuck!?” He yelped to the sky as if he understood how awkward he was speaking because she wasn't responding. Why had he asked so many useless questions? Now, he felt awkward.

The girl didn't get him at all, but she saw him for the first time for sure. She also noticed something and smelt it even more. Droplets. She poked his bloodstained hand and shirt with her right arm, which caused her to wobble. Seeing wounds with fresh blood that carried something weird wasn't good.

She knew that was bad from the mere bloody principles. How else to survive than keep this liquid inside? She wasn't sure why she should ever say or act for this man, but she panicked on instincts and felt this blood was bad news. She kept shaking yet her face remained dull like her mouth.

“Are you worried for me?” the man said and calmed down.

She shook her head, watching his bleeding shirt.

“My name is Dreadus, so don't be afraid. I am a soldier and a great Walker. Am chivalrous, or what was it called? Oh.... I didn't think... it would come so soon... huh?” he glanced up and saw many eyes and one big mouth right before him.

Hound was afraid of many things, yet the worrisome point was still close, and someone strange had never reached this far before. They were in the middle of the freaking Holy Land. Hound stopped whimpering like a lost dog and approached Dreadus. Then, it sat on its own before him and the girl, unsure of what was happening.

“What the fuck?!” Dreadus shouted, not expecting a docile dog out of nowhere to be more than ten feet tall.

At least it slowly got back to its proper size, growing every breath, until it overwhelmed his ideas. How was a Hound so big? Was it the Modification? That was kind of ridiculous Dark Aspect that could evolve Darks depending on circumstances. Dreadus sized this hell of a beast and wondered why it wasn't attacking, or why was it alive. Hadn't he practically wiped the surroundings and wiped the floor with it?

Apparently, it didn't work in the slightest. And the girl couldn't see that dog and rather poked Dreadus and his shirt, gesturing somewhere safe.

Dreadus ignored her for the time being because he wasn't used to kids or their worries. He pulled a microphone behind his ear to his mouth while trying to ignore the Hound. “Hey, this is Dreadus, is there anyone alive for this long? Code Alpha. Code Bored. Has anyone seen Santa Claus?”

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Poking kept happening, so he patted the girl continuously, while Hound had no idea or insight into what was happening. Where was that Creature? Where were the others? Why was this man so deep into the Holy Land, or who was he smelling so good for? He stood like a charged nuke and felt so tame, sizable, hateful, yet bigger than a mountain. Hound wanted a taste of him, but its instincts did not when it was so close.

The previous Creature was nowhere to be seen. Hound was glad over that fact and feared something worse could come. The girl was safe as well, so it licked her head, but she had a considerably pressing issue ahead. The wound. Blood!

“Dreadus!” a woman shouted from the mic, “Where the hell are you?! Santa? You better wish for one! You lost your direction or head again, haven't you?”

“Oh,” Dreadus smiled and eyed the Hindered Rifts not that far away, looming behind a few hills. “Haven't expected Reaz of all fools to call me like this, or hear her alive. How terrible. I've killed the Primes already, so if you tone down your issues, we might reconcile.”

“Huh?!” Reaz said and a thud echoed behind her voice.

“Not the Grems, or... the Source, but it is safe to say that we got out of this ambush alive. Haven't expected Rank 7 Mild Rifts out of nowhere. It was so sudden and...”

“Shut up. We are hardly getting out of here in one piece. Where are you?” Reaz said in notable surprise and hidden unwillingness to argue any longer.

“Down the Peak.”

“PEAK? Hell... Fucking hell! Wait there for us. We are coming,” Reaz ordered even if she wasn't a superior like Dreadus, “and don't fucking joke or move away. Don't litter around that freaking Holy Land either!”

Dreadus sighed and figured the worst had passed. Reaz barely nagged him. That was a good sign. Unfortunately, they lost their helicopters because he was preoccupied with catching this starry sky and looking at that crazy Holy Land. It was a silly mistake, followed by a battle that he won spectacularly, so he didn't have to give Reaz any face.

Sighting, he figured this discussion shifted nowhere, and only Reaz had the guts to speak to him right now. Others should be preoccupied; like the girl who kept poking his wounds.

“Stop poking me!” Dreadus snapped and frowned, clutching her shirt, and lifted her with two fingers.

The girl barely reacted as she flew upward, while Hound growled but kept sitting, sizing this man as if it was doubtful what was his point.

Dreadus glanced at the dull and half-worried eyes of this clueless girl who wasn't some youngling anymore. She wasn't that small either to be called a girl. She looked around fifteen in his eyes at most, or slightly younger because she was underweight and not looking that good. But that Emblem was notable, and her baggy clothes hid startling flesh and scars. Her face and eyes were especially concerning, followed by that light and great treasure in her right arm.

“Seriously... What and how long were you in this hell? This is ridiculous! How have you lived, you dull soulless creature!” He tried to joke but sounded like he insulted her instead. She couldn't tell the difference anyway and took his wound for a terrible thing. She bet this man was a stupid idiot and didn't know blood was terrible to lose.

Dreadus wasn't aware of how out of touch he sounded either. Even Hound gave him numerous weird looks, while the girl reconsidered some more powerful measures if this man was a fool.

She didn't reply and was worried about the blood spilling out, creating a new pond. It would cause many Darks to flock here, which was the main reason she was poking him and reminding him of the wounds. She didn't even notice her own wounds or her wounded skin. Yet he didn't listen to her whatsoever, so she was frustrated and wanted to kick him, but could she? Kicking people was different from monsters, wasn't it?

Caring about it seemed like a bother, so she started to poke him better. It changed nothing and gave Dreadus even more reason to tell her more unnecessary words.

It was her first time seeing her kin alive after so long, so she had no idea how to convey to him her worries in any other form. It wasn't Dreadus's concern since he was an idiot. He kept her above the ground as he argued and talked to her to no avail.

That went on until a Creature screeched from afar, exploding one of the Peak into bits and pieces of large rocks, creating a huge halo of darkness and purple light around it.

Then, it turned serious.

It was yet another Modification. One could never be sure what any Creatures acted for, liked, or wished for in the Madness or Corruption. This one was deep in hellish Madness, performing drastic countermeasures against Dreadus and his Vibration and Gravity. It grew slender and decided to focus on the long-range attacks, so it ended up looking like a corpse, squeezed and dead.

Dreadus sighted, “Should've slammed it further.” He said and put her down, almost slapping her fingers in half. “Don't move. I will deal with it and then we talk. Is that a pinky promise?” He offered her a pinky finger but she wasn't sure what to do with it.

“Do you know what it means?”

She gazed into his eyes as if he was a moron.

“Pinky goes over the other. Then we...”

She grabbed his pinky with her whole fist and moved it left and right, jerking it down and up.

“That... will do. Now, stay.”

She wasn't a dog, but Hound growled as if agreeing in her stead. Dreadus forced her aside right when that Creature got ready, unleashing a vast array of mountainous fists made of dark Arcana. Each was a hundred feet in diameter, forming out of the halo or the space itself. Dozens of them crushed from the sky, creating vast and impenetrable patterns that followed shrill screams. It moved above Dreadus, flying and changing the sky over the Holy Land.

Everything exploded in the air, rather than at the earth. Dreadus unleashed his power by connecting to his Emblem that sizzled like an engine under his gray uniform. Tremors spread again, crashing with powerful pressure as if he reversed gravity, and everything about him began to shake.