"!"

Jeemin lost his balance and fell forward as a soft huge flesh struck him from behind.

Bleck!

He spat out the rough sand that went in from his mouth as he fell face flat.

He immediately rolled leftward to grab ahold of the slab of iron that fell from his hand, then lifted it up in front of him as he blocked the scythe heading towards him.

As the scythe made contact with the slab of iron he lifted up, a clanging sound reverberated around the desert as the creatures still pursuing the party came to halt.

Their ears, placed differently from their body, pricked up from the noise as their heads turned to his location.

"Shoot!"

He quickly propped himself up as he thought he was lucky that it wasn't the scythe that hit his back, or else he might have been gravely injured now.

"Courting death!"

He angrily swung the slab of iron sidewards aimed at the pudgy creature while he tightened his grip on the hilt and felt the contraction of the muscle fibers on his arm.

The power from the natural Origin coursed throughout his arm's muscle fibers, and brought its speed and strength of contraction to the limit.

Woosh

Stale blood spurted out from the rotten flesh cut in two from its belly, as its upper body fell to the sand with a squelching sound.

Jeemin was dragged to the side caused by the momentum of the heavy slab of iron he just swung.

He gritted his teeth as he went dizzy from his head bobbing up and down from rolling on the sand several times.

He quickly stood up again and hurriedly darted towards the fallen heap of iron and held its hilt as the world before him tilted.

He tried to shake the dizziness away but ended up making it worse as he ran away wobbly from the creatures running towards him.

Seeing that all of the creature's attention were now directed at him, he needed to regain clarity first before diving deep into dealing with them again.

He made a U-turn as he ran, and decided to head towards the party's direction.

At least he thought, he would still make progress in crossing the desert while simultaneously handling the disgusting creatures behind.

He turned his head back as he thought his plan was ingenious, but his heart sank when several of the creatures was already an arm's length behind him.

If he kept running at this pace, he knew they would eventually reach him. The only result of falling again would be death, unlike earlier when their attentions were still diverted.

When he realized he's out of options, he swung the heap of iron behind him and managed to put another two disgusting creatures down.

The enlarged intestines fell to the sand now dyed in blood as Jeemin retraced his arm burning from pain. He recoiled from the sharp wretched stink coming from the mangled flesh and bits of unrecognisable organs on the sand.

When a thick arm was about to reach him, he activated the Origin in his palm again and swung the slab of iron up, completely stopping another creature in front of him.

Jeemin didn't know how much time has passed as he kept on mindlessly swinging the slab of iron he named greatsword, after nearly going mad from its weight.

He even talked to it and cursed its weight several times whenever his arm felt it was going to fall from his shoulder.

Bam

Sand dyed in blood flew in the air with several white carapace of scorpions as Jeemin slammed the greatsword down, massacring the scorpions that was about to swarm his feet.

'Haaa.'

His lungs felt cold as he heavily breathed from his mouth.

He didn't even have anytime to sort his thoughts out as he swung the greatsword again with difficulty as he wobbly lifted the greatsword up again.

"Damn it, how much time is left?!"

When he took a quick look up he was stunned when terrible heat suddenly engulfed his body.

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His lips curled up as he let out a maniacal laugh and fell to the ground, when he saw the disgusting creatures darting towards him scattered like ashes.

The gray ashes, resembling burnt papers, fluttered with the sand as the gust made a howling sound.

[Night of Devouring has Ended]

His grin disappeared from his mouth as his heart sank.

"Seriously, after all of that why are there no rewards?!"

His voice reverberated around the hot desert as he lied down tiredly on the sand.

"Ouch, so hot."

*

"What do you think happened?"

Jin Hyoon wiped the sweat on her forehead as her brown hair glistened caused by the sun hanging high up in the sky.

"I think the Night of Devouring is already done," she replied as she gulped down the water left from her bottled water.

"I mean to Seiji's body," Li Jing said anxiously as she bit her lips.

"Probably in those monsters' bellies by now. You're the one who said he can't make it without any antidote or cure. And where are we supposed to find those things in this place?"

Dmitri coldly retorted as he bent down and wiped the blood stains on his knife on the sand.

"If we didn't do that, we're all be dead by now. I didn't even manage to kill one of those disgusting creatures with my knife; or are you saying we should have sacrificed ourselves for his tiny chance of survival?" Dmitri coldly added as the chill in his voice was devoid of any hint of regret.

"B-but.. but he could have.." Li Jing stammered.

"Enough," Jin Hyoon said.

"It was a matter of life and death, that's it. We don't even know if the captain was able to survive when we left him," Jin Hyoon spoke as she added, "Even Claire's survival chance is questionable, she even handed me her gauntlet, which ended up becoming useless in my hand..."

She then paused and said, "I was supposed to protect everyone with the gauntlet increasing my strength, but I ended up using it to throw Seiji's body instead."

"And don't blame yourselves, it's the captain's fault. We wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't for him," Jin Hyoon suddenly lifted her head up as her eyes widened as she recalled something, "Just like what happened in the cave."

She gritted her teeth as the searing sun made her red sleeveless shirt drenched in sweat.

*

Claire ran while holding a cold broadsword soaked in stale blood in her hand. Her disheveled blond hair bounced up and down as she breathed through her mouth.

Her bright blue eyes were wandering around as she turned her head left and right with a worried expression.

"I hope he's still alive, I've swore to myself in the past to never do that again, but I ended up repeating my mistake," she clenched her teeth as she warily looked left and right.

"Are they gone?" Her eyebrows furrowed as she sped up towards Jeemin's direction.

"I hope Hyoon and the bunch were able to find a safe place and cure Seiji."

As an aspiring girl who longed to wear a soldier's uniform, she holds militaristic creeds high. Leaving behind the captain was against her beliefs, but according to ranking, a soldier must follow the captain's order.

She held the badge on her collars as she recalled the last scene she saw.

"Can you handle them?"

Jeemin waved his hand holding the heap of iron as he averted his eyes from her gaze.

At first she was reluctant to leave him alone fending off the swarming Devourers, or so she called them.

But when she saw the incredible strength he showed; he gave off the impression that he was invincible against the Devourers.

Her worries disappeared as she decided to stick with her role as the rear guard.

But as they went further and further away from Jeemin, she suddenly recalled the war she was involved with in the previous world when she joined a terrorist organisation.

As soon as she remembered those memories, she suddenly felt increasingly worried about Jeemin's condition.

"I can't have people dying on me again, I'd have enough of that," she muttered as her hand wrapped around the broadsword's hilt tightened.

Several hours has passed and the sun glaring at the earth still hung high up in the sky.

The brownish white sand basking from the sun's wrath occasionally flew up in the air with the help of the wind to retaliate back but ended up falling again, drifting away from its previous home, desolately.

Heat distortions further accentuated the desolation pervading the desert.

She felt dizzy as she kept running under the intense heatwave. She suddenly thought it was better being pursued by those monsters than enduring the hot rays of the sun, but immediately brushed the thought away when she remembered how difficult it was to kill them.

Her pupils suddenly shrunk as she saw a figure from afar trudging the desert with a crude rectangular sword, using it as a support.

His disheveled long hair and torn black jacket, the white T-shirt underneath stained with dried up blood peaking out from his jacket, exemplify his pitiful state.

When he fell down with the slab of iron supporting him, she ran as fast as she can towards him as she shouted, "Captain!"

*

Jeemin was shocked to find that Claire went back for him. He was secretly relieved that someone was actually worried about him.

When he saw her, he immediately had a thought as he fell on the sand.

The corner of his eyes stared intently at the incoming figure. But then his expression suddenly went blank, his eyes dimmed from disappointment when she saw her examined the greatsword first.

Ahh, yes, it was for my friend, the greatsword, that she went back. Looking from her worried gaze as she intently examined the greatsword, he was confident that his expectations went downhill again.

What am I expecting? Why am I expecting? Oh~ so bleak and dreary, the gray world before me, aye, oh leave me be~

He sang in his head depressingly as he suddenly stood up, tilted his neck from left to right.

Crack.

'Ahh!'

Did I just broke my neck from stretching?

He jumped lightly and gave Claire a nod and asked, "How are they?"

Claire was in dazed as she looked at him rotating his arm repeatedly, looking some sort of another form of stretching.

He raised his eyebrows and asked again gloomily, "How are they?"

Did I damage the greatsword? Yeah, it's a bit dirty, so I'd be angry if it were me.

Jeemin's nose twitched as the stench from the horrendously disgusting foul odour of the equally abjectly disgusting bipedal creatures was still stuck from his memories and nose.

He felt nauseated just by looking at the slimy liquid stuck on the greatsword. As his gag reflex was about to be triggered, he swallowed hard and picked up the great sword.

"Your pouch," he said as he signaled her with his chin.

Claire woke up from her reverie and immediately took out the medium pouch.

When Jeemin finished putting the greatsword inside, he then walked forward as he asked, "Have you found a place to reorganize? We only have few hours left, let's hurry."

Claire nodded and didn't say a word as she was still thinking about something with a confused expression behind Jeemin.

She shook her head helplessly when she saw him changed his pace from jogging to running.

*

There are three figures drenched in sweat; one wearing a nurse's outfit, one wearing sleeveless red shirt, and the other one wearing a plain white T-shirt.

At their back was a huge distorted wall depicting a hazy haunted mansion, with dilapidated gate in front. The pavement leading towards the bleak mansion was littered with orange dead leaves and vines, at its side was tall trees without any leaves.

The sky at the other side was grey in complete contrast to the bright sun shining on the desert.

At the side of the aged gate was a signboard that was impossible to read because of the distortion.

"There's only five minutes left," Jin Hyoon said with a worried expression, her eyes were downcast.

Li Jing nibbled her nails as she looked at the direction where they came from.

"We should cross and wait for them on the other side if there's only 2 minutes left," Dmitri coldly spoke.

Jin Hyoon' heart skip a beat as her ears pricked up.

"'Wait for them on the other side'?" She asked as she looked at Dmitri with a strange expression.

"What? Something wrong?" Dmitri replied expressionlessly.

Wait for them on the other side... Does he know he's jinxing them?

Li Jing continued nibbling her nails as Jin Hyoon shook her head helplessly.

When there's only three minutes left, Jin Hyoon suddenly widened her eyes.

She saw two figures running towards them from afar.

When they came to halt, she heard their heavy breathing.

Jeemin immediately scanned them as a deep fold appeared on his forehead.

"Where's Seiji?"