Scanning the shadows that slowly emerged from the dark, Maria counted the creatures as quickly as possible. One, two, three... Maria could estimate that more than twenty sigbins were lurking around the dark alleyway, their crimson eyes gazing at the group with malice and hunger.
Pairs of glowing red eyes pierced through the darkness, adding an even more unsettling atmosphere, and intensifying their already growing fear.
Right now they were at a disadvantage.
Maria looked around their surroundings, taking in whatever was near them.
Littered trash, broken beer bottles and cans, dead insects and rodents, concrete blocks, and rebars. There were no other materials to use as weapons apart from the steel rods or the concrete blocks which weren't enough to eliminate these creatures.
They can't be killed through stabbing or hitting... even if you decapitate them or cut off their limbs they won't die... but it has a weakness... What did Lola say again?... Ah!
Just as Maria was about to speak, a sigbin cut her off by shrieking at her ferociously while running toward her with its hind legs. Chun cried out in surprise and Kiana became alert, taking a step forward only for Maria to react faster.
Maria snatched the metal rebar Luke held and struck it against the creature, sending it rolling back and colliding with another sigbin.
Ping!
『Strength Point 1+!』
Maria stared at the message in front of her with furrowed brows. She thought the others could see it like what happened to her and her friends, but she noticed that they didn't spare a glance at Maria or the floating message in front of her. Only Maria could see it.
The prompt disappeared just quickly as it appeared, making Maria shake her head as her gaze fell on her hand. It trembled greatly, her fingers twitching every second. Maria closed her hand into a tight fist and took a shaky breath.
She then looked up at the sigbins that began to screech.
"We can't waste anymore time," Maria said and handed the metal rebar back to Luke, causing the man to look at her with surprise. Luke was concerned before Maria waved a hand at him. "I'll be fine."
The metal rod was too heavy for her liking and it took almost all of her strength just to hit the sigbin away from her. It would slow down her movements, especially when she had to use one arm to carry Jiahao.
Maria contemplated on what to use as a weapon that wouldn't be difficult to use with one hand when she heard Kiana call out to her. The woman had thrown something at Maria, and with quick reflexes, Maria reached out and caught the item.
"Ah!" Maria winced in pain, looking down to see it was a blade. A switchblade.
Maria was confused and surprised, wanting to ask Kiana where she got it when the latter immediately shouted. "Behind you!"
Another came flying toward Maria with its enormous ears, shrieking at her with its claws ready to pounce her. Maria became alert and turned around, raising her knife and aiming at its head. The creature paused for a moment, seemingly wanting to avoid the attack.
It was only for a second, but it was enough for Maria as she faked her attack, lifting her left foot up and slamming it into its body, causing it to fall to the ground with a muffled scream. Maria held Jiahao tightly to ensure the little boy wouldn't fall from her arm.
Continuous thunks and squeals were echoing through the alley, each noise was louder than the last. The creatures ran toward them, some flying while some crawling from walls.
Maria found herself struggling to take most of them in front, their aggressive advances forcing her to step back and taking quick, shallow breaths. She was about to move again until she felt a hard tug from behind, causing her to step back as Chun Hee took in front and rammed her rebar against a sigbin's mouth, piercing its throat.
Chun Hee groaned, the muscles in her legs straining as she exerted extra force on her calves to keep herself steady. Using all her remaining strength, she gripped the rebar tightly and pulled the creature with all her might, smashing it against the concrete ground. The creature let out a pained shriek.
Maria fell into a daze but was immediately woken up by Kiana who held the back of her collar. The woman looked at her while extending a hand out. "I'll take him. You and Chun Hee handle the front."
Although surprised, Maria gave the little boy to Kiana who trembled and whimpered. Maria felt her eyes narrow at Jiahao, wondering why the Hosts would be cruel enough to have a little boy selected for this dangerous event.
But she didn't have time for such thoughts. There was a screeching noise as a sigbin came waving its sharp claws toward Maria. Running at her with all fours, it jumped high like a kangaroo, its claws about to hit her cheek.
Maria raised her knife and swiped it across its abdomen, lodging it deeply into its skin before ruthlessly pinning the creature against a nearby wall. It moved in a worm-like manner, forcing Maria to use her other hand to grab it by its neck.
She dug her nails deep into its neck before throwing it to the ground. A loud thud was heard and the sigbin's eyes went wide. Unable to react quickly, Maria stuck her knife down and blood splashed, not letting the creature have time to attack her.
Maria heaved a deep breath and stood up, looking in front.
It was a bit dark and fighting was a bit difficult.
They were able to distinguish the alley with the help of the two people's smartphones, Kiana's flashlight, and the sound of shrieking coming from the sigbins. However, it was still difficult to fight in a closed space.
"Keep fighting while we continue! There's still that rat monster trailing behind us!" Maria shouted, reminding the four people of their other problem.
The two people immediately followed Maria and Chun Hee who led the way, navigating through the darkness with the flashlight on Maria's smartphone, with them fending against the sigbins that kept emerging from the darkness.
Kiana had Jiahao holding onto her flashlight to illuminate their surroundings. Despite the boy's reluctance to see the horrors unfolding in front, he knew he had no choice as Kiana had to fight while protecting him.
Slamming her right foot against a sigbin and sending it tumbling backward, Kiana bit her lip in frustration.
"I won't be able to hold them off much longer..." Kiana thought and had Jiahao shine the light upward.
A pair of red eyes stared at Kiana angrily, growling at her. There was one on top of an air-conditioner, looking like an eagle looking at its prey.
Jiahao couldn't fight or defend himself, so Kiana couldn't leave him. She had her left arm occupied while her right hand held onto her combat knife.
The sigbin above came flying toward her. Kiana gritted her teeth and swung the butt of the combat knife in her hand, hitting the sigbin across its face as it drew back. While shaking its head, Kiana slammed her knife's pommel on its face again, causing it to yelp.
The creature roared and charged at her before a metal rod struck its head. Kiana stood back and saw Luke appear next to her. He had a pale complexion and his breathing was ragged.
He let out a shaky breath before penetrating the metal rod into the sigbin's head.
Luke sighed with trembling hands and asked, "Are... Are you okay?"
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Kiana looked at his trembling complexion before answering, "I'm fine, but cover for me. Make sure that rat monster isn't behind us."
Luke looked at her with a creased forehead before nodding. After all, Kiana was carrying the little boy and Luke was the only adult man in the group. With Maria and Chun Hee leading the front and fighting off most of the sigbins, he knew he could only contribute by guarding them from the rat monster.
Kiana quickly handed him the flashlight and Luke turned around to see where they had initially come from.
The darkness seemed to stretch on forever, the rat letting out faint yet eerie shrieks as it continued to feast on the corpses. Seeing nothing but darkness yet hearing such sounds made Luke grip his rebar tightly.
★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆
Blood splattered the walls of the alleyway. Maria pulled out her knife from its head and moved back, lightly evading the approaching creatures to take a minute to control her heavy breathing.
Fifteen minutes had already passed since they began fighting the sigbins and advancing forward. Maria was already drenched in sweat and blood. She could hear Luke's groans and Chun Hee's cries from behind, but she was more worried about herself than them.
This... I can still feel pain and fear... which shouldn't be the case if I'm dreaming...
While attacking the vicious creatures, they were wandering further into the alleyway. It was long and filled with trash and skeletons.
More and more sigbins emerged from within dark corners of the alleyway. It was getting exhausting for them.
Another came rushing towards her, this time, it was faster than the others. Its sharp fingernails pointed at her chest.
Caught off guard, Maria took a step back and felt her foot hit something hard. Maria felt her heart thumping against her ears as she fell back with the creature lunging itself at her. The sound of a thud echoed in the alley and she was forced to hold back the creature's mouth from biting her. Their bites were powerful enough as a dog's.
Once it bites her, Maria would definitely be overpowered by it. A bite from it is like being bitten by a dog, losing a limb is possible.
Its saliva spattered on her as it let out another deafening shriek, blood, and mucus drooled from its mouth. Maria could feel it trickle down her neck and collarbone, sending goosebumps down her spine as she felt disgusted.
Maria struggled to keep the monster back, hearing another pair of footsteps. The sigbin was pushing itself against her while trying to bite her, but Maria used every bit of strength she had to push it back.
I dropped my knife damnit...
Her knife was two centimeters away from her right, yet with her two hands occupied as it held the sigbins mouth tightly, it was impossible for Maria to grab her knife without casualties. At most, she could try to use all her strength on her left hand and grab her knife before rolling to avoid it, but it was too dangerous and the chances of her succeeding were low.
Just as Maria was about to consider the idea, someone threw a beer can at the sigbin's mouth, causing it to be distracted. Maria immediately took the chance and quickly grabbed its head, snapping its neck, hearing a faint crack.
『Strength Point 2+!』
A thud was heard and the heavy weight on her had disappeared.
Maria heaved a deep breath and gulped.
"Are you okay?" Kiana crouched beside her, looking for injuries.
"Y-Yeah..." Maria got up from the ground and looked down to see the sigbin's neck twisted at a strange angle.
She looked behind to see Luke and Chun Hee, kicking the bodies away from their path. Chun Hee carried Jiahao who held her smartphone.
"I decided to switch places with Chun Hee," Kiana mentioned and pulled out her combat knife from her thigh strap and held the flashlight in the other. "Come on! Let's continue!"
The group continued to venture through the alleyway, throwing pebbles or small bits of trash at other small gaps between buildings, only for it to be deflected by the same invisible force from earlier. This led the group to continue forward, moving onto the same path.
Going further into her alley, turning to a left, they encountered one sigbin. It seemed to be the last one.
Lifting her leg up, Maria swiftly kicks the creature as it tumbles back. She quickly threw her knife and punctured its skull. Blood poured down and the creature fell back.
『Strength Point 1+!』
As they continued, Luke and Chun Hee suddenly let out a series of curses from behind, causing the two women to halt their steps. They looked behind to see the sigbins they had thought they 'killed' slowly moving, continuing to trail after them.
One with a torn left ear ran and crawled from the walls, attempting to use one ear to fly toward Luke, only to fall to one side. However, it refused to give up as it charged Luke.
Maria was about to help as she picked up one of the bones from the ground, only to stumble forward slightly as she felt her body go heavy, finding a sigbin launching itself behind her, its neck twisted in an unnatural angle.
Kiana immediately grabbed it by its long ears and threw it down, striking her knife into its forehead. She felt the strength from her body leave the more she fought.
Damn it, they're waking up sooner than I thought.
Messages continue to ring in her head. She felt her head throb at these prompts.
This... this should be enough.
Maria looked behind her to see Kiana. "Cover for me!"
Kiana glanced at her with surprise. Before she could even ask, Maria started removing off her coat and crouching down. She used her knife and began cutting them into small pieces.
"Maya! What the hell are you doing?!" Luke shouted, striking his rebar against a sigbin from above.
Maria picked up a half-empty bottle of whiskey, taking a small whiff of it until her nose stung. No wonder she felt the scent of the alleyway was off.
"I just remembered the sigbin's weakness!" Maria shouted and began to stuff one cut of her coat fabric into the whiskey bottle.
With her hands focused on stuffing as much cloth as she can to various half-empty alcohol bottles, two sigbins came rushing at Maria with their mouths wide open from above. Maria was about to grab her knife when Luke rushed in. He slammed the rebar against the creatures, guarding Maria from behind.
"Whatever you're doing, do it quickly!" He shouted, whipping the steel rebar against the approaching creatures.
Luke's breathing became ragged and his heart started to pound fast. It was dark and he felt the walls closing in on him. It made him grit his teeth in an attempt to control his trembling.
Pain spread from his arms from the amount of force he exerted when attacking the sigbins. There were too many of them and they weighed a ton compared to the concrete bags Luke often carried.
Thwack!
Luke staggered back with trembling legs, his back slicked with sweat, the weight of the sigbins too much for him to bear. Although he was getting tired, he knew he had to keep going, especially if he was going to survive. He hoped whatever 'Maya' was doing would help them.
Maria breathed heavily, her hands trembling after finishing the final bottle she had found nearby. There were a total of nine bottles, with a few more leftover pieces of fabric. She didn't notice it before, but now, she felt stupid that she didn't check it.
"Are those...?" Kiana looked at the bottles with surprise.
"Molotovs," said Maria with a shaky breath.
Fire.
The only way to kill a sigbin was through fire.
Maria pulled out her knife and a nearby metal rebar. She began striking the two metals near the piece of clothing, sparks lighting up.
With each strike of her knife, Maria felt her hands shake involuntarily, each failed strike tensing her further. She didn't give up and continued to swing her knife, her heart racing with adrenaline.
The once 'dead' sigbins began to move, their bodies twitching and twisting, the sound of their bones and low growls reverberating the alleyway. Luke and Kiana called out for Maria, only adding more to Maria's growing fear and frustration.
After what felt like her twentieth strike, the fabric finally ignited. Maria hurriedly picked up the bottle with the lit cloth, shouting at the others to stand back. The sigbins that were supposedly dead approached them as a horde, leading to them to slowly retreat.
Maria immediately threw the Molotov she had made.
The creatures immediately burst into flames, the smell of burning flesh assaulting their noses, and their surroundings lit up and gradually became hot.
The sigbins all shrieked at the smell of fire and instinctively backed away. The others turned to look at Maria.
"What are you all staring at me for? Burn those monsters!" She shouted, picking up another two Molotovs. "There's still some leftover fabrics I cut up! The bottles here all contain ethanol! Ignore the cans of beer!"
Upon hearing this, the others quickly began picking up the already-made Molotovs and began igniting them with their tools.
The alleyway was littered with beer cans and bottles of whiskey. Maria failed to notice the scent, thinking it was just the trash or urine soaking into the bricks and mortar of the buildings along with the mix of beer cans and bottles.
Now that I think about it, it was too strange that there were more beer cans than bottles in the alleyway compared to trash...
The beer cans were just a distraction, they only contained leftover beer while the bottles contained ethanol. But because of the number of beer cans exceed the bottles of ethanol, plus the trash bags and dumpsters, it was impossible to distinguish the smell without further inspecting it.
Luke grabbed one ready-made Molotov and pulled out his lighter. He lit up the piece of cloth of the bottle before throwing it at the sigbins that kept crawling from the walls.
Chun Hee also took one, lighting it up with Luke's lighter and throwing it at a long distance, hearing it shatter and explode into flames upon impact. It had killed and blocked a few sigbins who tried to run away.
Before they knew it, the smell of flesh permeated the air. Smoke and flames covered the entire alleyway, bouncing off the walls, nearly obscuring their vision if not for the still-burning flames.
Maria lightly coughed at the horrible smell and could see the burning bodies of the creatures.
So the bottles of ethanol should be a hint to the sigbin's weaknesses...
There was silence and everyone looked at each other. They took a moment to catch their breaths. The smell of flesh burning and blood made Maria nauseous.
"It makes sense, no wonder it was odd why there were so many whiskey bottles in the alleyway..." Kiana muttered.
Maria quietly glanced at Kiana for a moment, wiping away the sweat from her forehead while gathering her thoughts. She wanted to apologize for not telling the sigbins weakness sooner when Luke and Chun Hee suddenly sped past them, running with Jiahao in their arms.
The two women looked at them with muddled expressions until they felt their body cold.
Kiana and Maria looked at each other with wide eyes, realizing the sound of chewing had stopped. The sound of stomps slowly grew closer and closer. They had been slowly making their way into the alley while fighting off the sigbins that they had forgotten the other monster.
Maria didn't even finish taking a step forward when she felt her entire vision go blurry and dark.
Thud!