Chapter 18 - Glowing Scuffle

Someone shouted something, but Mill did not care as he punched whatever was on top of him. His fist hit a soft surface and he heard someone heave.

“Stop! Stop! I know him! It’s Mill.”

Mill stopped his other hand that was about to punch when he heard Clarese’s voice.

“Clarese?” he asked as he pushed the person on top of him, and with it the flashlight that was glaring in his face. Someone pointed their flashlight to the ground and Mill saw five people surrounding him.

There was Clarese and two other Sinilians that he recognized only by face, a man dressed in a sweater and a woman in pajamas. The other two were the police officer and the crazy woman who tackled Mill.

The crazy woman then jumped back on Mill, but she was pulled by the police officer.

“Stop it, Tin.” The police officer held both of her arms and the crazy woman, whose name was Tin, stopped moving.

“Come here quickly, Mill,” Clarese said, her voice hushed and tainted with worry. “Just be quiet.”

The male Sinilian, who Mill forgot his name, grabbed his arms and pulled him towards the hut’s direction.

“What’s your name?” Mill asked.

“Shhh!” The man put a finger in his mouth. Mill understood and kept quiet.

“Klein,” the man then whispered beside him.

Mill looked at the man as he recognized the voice. It was the voice who first suggested waiting for him at the plateau.

Mill looked at him with gratitude but Klein didn't see it as Clarese turned off her flashlight and the police officer followed with Tin’s flashlight.

He was then pulled towards the hut but instead of going inside, they went behind it and he followed them as they sat on the ground.

Mill waited for them to explain things but they all kept quiet. He wanted to open his mouth to ask a question but he shut it instead. He could feel the five around him were on edge of something.

A minute passed and Mill was feeling jittery sitting there, doing nothing. He could still feel the danger coming to him and he couldn’t afford to sit there.

He was about to speak but Clarese beat him to it. “I think they are gone. But it’s still better to wait here,” she whispered.

“What are they?” Mill whispered back, confused. “What are you hiding from? Where is everyone?”

As far as he remembered, including him, there were seven Sinilians and all of them except him should have gone away together hours ago, but there were only three of them right now.

The female Sinilian on the side burst into a sob and Klein went to her side and patted her back.

“We were attacked… by some grasshoppers,” Clarese explained.

“Not ordinary grasshoppers,” Klein interjected.

Clarese nodded, her voice turned grim. “ They were huge, around ten feet and we stumbled on them when we reached the bottom of the mountain. They just attacked us. We scattered and they chased us. But… Jilian did not make it.” She looked at the female Sinilian with pity.

The female Sinilian then sobbed.

Mill remembered there were two female friends among the Sinilians transported at the same time in this world. They were having a sleepover and were wearing pajamas. The female Siniilian in front of him was wearing pajamas.

“We were saved by Deveno,” Clarese turned to the police officer, “who had a weapon, an electric baton. But when we were looking for a place to hide, one of Deveno’s companions stole the baton and attacked Deveno with it. He escaped after. Tin must have thought you were him, so she attacked you.”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Mill nodded as he looked apologetically at Tin’s way. Though it was dark, he could still see the silhouette of those around him, and he could see Tin holding her side.

“So what are you going to do now?” Mill asked.

“Wait here till the morning… probably.”

Then out of nowhere, a sound of a woman’s grunt and shouting sounded towards the trail

Everyone just went quiet when a woman glowing in blue light suddenly jumped from behind the huge rock towards the trail, lighting up her surroundings.

She was jumping backward looking at something behind the rock with a sword in her hands pointed on it. She was wearing a white hoodless robe just like what the Dabomen wore, but it had a huge piece missing on the left side, revealing a black combat outfit inside, consisting of black tight pants, a black boots and a black tight leather jacket that covered all of her upper body. There were plates covering some parts of her body and she also had a belt with rectangular compartments or pouches in it.

It was Mishka. But compared to her polished countenance before, she looked like a mess now. Her face had a huge gaping gash in it and some parts of her outfit had slashes and tears in it showing wounds inside that looked serious.

She jumped backwards again, and a brown sharp spear slashed on the area she was standing a while ago. She jumped forward and slashed her sword behind the rock and a clanging noise was heard.

Then she jumped back and something followed her.

The female Sinilians inhaled an audible sharp breath and Mill looked at the creature that followed Mishka.

“What the… That is even bigger than the one who attacked us,” Clarese hissed with fear in her voice.

Mill looked at it incredulously. “That is not a grasshopper! That’s a mantis!” he whispered back.

“How was I supposed to know the difference?”

It indeed looked like a grasshopper but with its four sharp limbs that looked like brown blades or spears waving around, it looked more like a mantis, with a triangular head with four eyes in it, an antenna and six limbs, counting the two behind it. It was also twice or even thrice bigger than humans.

It was spindly, with dark spots in its brown exoskeleton and instead of wings, It had a bulky brown pouch behind its abdomen made of leaves and grass. It looked like it was carrying a backpack, it might be the reason why it looked like a grasshopper.

The mantis slashed its arm towards Mishka and she jumped backwards to evade it. But her jump was shorter this time just enough for the mantis limb to nick her left arm and make a gash on it.

She jumped twice and a blue water flowed to the wound, covered and entered it. The wound then stopped bleeding.

She then jumped again to evade an incoming limb, then jumped forward and slashed her sword towards the mantis head.

It hit the mantis forehead, causing it to shake and step back, but it also swiped a limp at the same time, hitting Mishka on her arm again. Another gash appeared on her left arm but she took this chance to hit the mantis head again.

It hit and the mantis backed away a few steps.

“Mota!” Mishka cursed as she jumped backwards and then forward again. “Why are they so tough?”

She slashed her sword again to the stumbling mantis and hit its head.

The mantis screeched and from its pouch in the back came out dozens of brown ribbons made of leaves and grass that swiftly went towards Mishka.

“Fuck!” she said as she hacked at the brown ribbons that attacked her.

Unlike normal ribbons, they seemed to be sturdy and tough, able to parry Mishka’s sword from time to time before getting cut up.

Mishka jumped backwards again and a blue water flowed from his belt and covered her right hand that was holding the sword. She slashed her sword in front of her a handful of times and her swings became faster and stronger, hacking towards the brown ribbons that seemed to be endless.

She then jumped backwards to evade the mantis’ attacks.

Jumped backwards. Hacked. Jumped backwards. Slashed. But instead of jumping backwards again, she jumped towards the hut’s direction.

The mantis followed her and slashed vehemently at her as if it was angered by her moves.

Mishka waved through it, acquiring injuries as a process. Then, a blue water flowed from one of the pouches in her waist and flowed to her feet. She jumped and she bounced ten feet off the ground. She somersaulted in the air, and slashed her sword to the mantis neck.

Instead of a clanging sound, the contact made a crunch sound, then the mantis head fell to the ground.

Mishka also fell to the ground with her back first. There was a thud sound and then a groan. She then laid on the ground gasping.

Mill looked at his companions as they hid behind the hut. They were all staring wildly at Mishka on the ground, who were still glowing in blue light.

“What should we do?” Klein whispered quietly to them that Mill could hardly hear it.

The female Sinilian shook her head, “L-Let’s wait for h-her to g-go.”

Mishka,who was lying on the ground, turned her head sharply towards their direction.

The female Sinilian yelped. “She saw us! She definitely saw us. What should we do?”

Tin stood up abruptly, surprising everyone.

She then jumped towards Mishka’s direction. But before she could take more pace, Deveno followed her and hugged her from the back, pulling her away.

Then out of nowhere, another mantis came jumping out of the rock, making chittering noises. It looked at the dead mantis and Mishka beside it, then hopped towards her.

Mishka rolled to the side, but the mantis did not follow her and only stopped before the headless mantis. It clawed the plant bag behind it and little by little collected it in its back.

Tin was still struggling at Deveno’s arm and Deveno, who Mill saw had a huge gash on his arm, struggled to keep her.

“What is she doing?!” Klein asked worriedly.

The female Sinilian stood up and went towards Tin direction, “Klein, help—she’s attracting attention.”

“Achren! No!” Clarese shouted quietly as Achren hand’s touched Tin.

Tin screeched and the Mantis looked at her direction.