Thorne stood in the distance. Watching as his comrade, friend and mentor got destroyed. It was a bitter feeling, wanting to go and help and yet knowing that death was all that awaited if he stepped forward.
Then, he suddenly got a feeling that something was wrong. Horribly so.
The Lurker that had been relentlessly assaulting the former mayor had suddenly stopped its attacks. Then in a strange twist it turned to face them.
The distance that covered the battlefield where the Lurker stood and the place where they took refuge was almost 25 meters. And yet he could clearly feel the Lurker's gaze on them, quite clearly.
It made their skin crawl and sent shivers down their spines. As though the reaper's scythe hang directly above his neck and there was nothing he could do about it.
'Why is it looking here?' Thorne thought unable to shake off the bad feeling he was getting. As though disaster was waiting to strike at any moment.
Indeed.
"We need to move," Thorne barely got the words out before disaster struck. The Lurker lunged towards them. It's movements so fast it looked like a giant dark blur.
Thorne felt his heart jump to the back of his throat. This was bad. This was very bad.
The other evolvers, hearing the vice leader's command and taking note of the panic that was as clear as day went to move however it was too late.
A distance of 25 meters to a creature of the second star order and with speed as obscene as the eight legged arachnid might as well be close to nothing. There was a rush of wind followed by a pungent smell that made his insides curl.
Then, a large shadow suddenly covered him from above.
Horror finally set in as he looked up. His face pale as he met the gaze of the Lurker. A dense pressure fell onto him and his heart beat so erratically that one would think he have a cardiac arrest any second.
'This...Bennet actually fought against this?'
All hope vanished in the wind. His legs gave up on him and he fell to his knees.
There was nothing he could do. There was nothing they could all do.
The Lurker looked down on him with deep contempt before it slowly reached down. Its fangs separating to reveal an open maw. Thorne could only look into the dark abyss that was the Lurker's maw. The scent of death overwhelming him.
'Guess this is the end huh?' this was Thorne's final thought.
Or so he thought...
"Veronica stop its movements!" the voice was neither too deep nor too demanding and yet it carried a weight that seemed to cut through all the tension and emotions that had been hanging in the air.
However that wasn't what really caught Thorne's attention.
It was the temperature.
If before the temperature had been chill and full of tension now it had suddenly dropped so much that the ground around him frosted over in a layer of white.
Thorne as well as the other evolvers nearby were shocked by the sudden change.
Why was it suddenly freezing? No the better question would be how was it freezing. And yet it didn't end there...
SKREEEE!
A wail of agony resounded as the Lurker leapt off. Skipping several meters away from the coldness that had suddenly infected the area.
It was only when it moved that Thorne realized the sudden appearance of ice caps in the spot that the Lurker had been standing in just now.
'Wait ice?!' Thorne questioned. There was only one person in their entire camp who had ice related abilities!
Thorne turned his head to the side just as a white haired young woman who embodied an ice fairy in a white dress hovered to his side. Her very presence carrying a hint of cold that calmed his senses. Her dress, though not as immaculate and shrouded with burn marks and soot on its various parts, did little to hide or blemish the delicate beauty that she was.
"Are you alright?" Veronica asked with a soft and yet firm voice.
It was only then that Thorne had to remind himself that this beautiful young woman who was standing beside him was young enough to be his niece.
How could he be easily captivated by her beauty to the point of staring in a daze?
Thorne couldn't help but feel embarrassed.
"Yeah, I'm alright thanks to you," Thorne spoke but his voice was shakier than he would have liked it to be.
"We made it just in time," another voice cut through the atmosphere.
Thorne looked over in the direction it came from and couldn't help but smile.
A young man with a large frame that could rival that of an average adult body builder stood. Clad in bronze armor made up of a chestpiece, shin guards and thigh guards. Fists donned in dark gauntlets that rose up all the way to his elbows. The gauntlets were thick and they made his arms look twice as large.
He had a head of black slightly curly hair, a well defined jawline that would no doubt become chiseled in the near future and eyes with pupils that seemed to take on a shade of black.
The young man, Jordan, narrowed his eyes at the Lurker now standing in the distance.
Thanks to Veronica's attack it was covered in a layer of frost that froze its joints and slowed down its movements. It was part of the reason why the Lurker had hastily retreated, had it stayed in position for a long time it would have been frozen in place leaving it vulnerable.
"Is that the bastard you were talking about Huey? The Lurker?" Jordan asked the other young man beside him.
The other young man was a head shorter than Jordan's 6 feet of height, standing at a mere 5'7" and yet it didn't dull his presence at all. In fact it made people notice him even more.
His eyes that shone like two bright brown marbles were locked onto the Lurker as well. His body was wrapped in a black trench coat whose tail ended right behind his knees. Though it had a rough looking appearance as it was stained with blood and looked to have a hole in his left shoulder, it still suited him just fine.
In his palm rested a sword with a blade so black it reflected a black light as well. Running down the center of this blade were intricate dark runes as well as marks that almost made the blade look segmented somewhat. The blade looked strange but gave off a unique air, one of lethal majesty.
The sword vibrated in his palm as though it were alive... well that wasn't entirely false.
In a way the sword really was alive. It had an ego and although it wasn't well developed currently, it was enough for it to recognize Huey Coleman as the master of the sword.
This sword was one that had been with him throughout much of Huey's journey. The Heaven Grade treasure [Black Salamander].
Huey didn't seem to mind the sword that was constantly vibrating since the moment he got here. His eyes entirely fixed on the Lurker in the distance.
Even from where he stood, the Lurker's soul pressure was enough to make his palms sweaty and his heart beat rapidly.
They couldn't approach this next fight carelessly. They needed a strategy or else they would be seeing the grim reaper sooner than they imagined.
Huey didn't reply to Jordan's question and Jordan didn't seem to mind. To him the answer was already obvious. He had only asked that question in order to ease some of his own tension.
To Huey's side Lydia stood as well. Her breathing sounded somewhat heavy as though she was having difficulty breathing and her dark hair clung to her temples as sweat fell down her face. Her emerald eyes seemed to tremble as she looked at the Lurker.
Even before the apocalypse Lydia never liked spiders, they made her skin crawl. So seeing one as big as a car standing right in front of her and exuding such a frightening aura too well... you could say it wasn't a pleasant feeling at all.
Her body trembled slightly. Goosebumps forming on the surface of her skin and a shiver going down her spine. She felt her head spin as though the longer she looked at the Lurker the more likely she was to lose consciousness.
But then a strong hand landed on her shoulders and she seemed to forget everything. She turned her head to the side and met Huey's bright brown eyes. In them she found solace, her fear pushed down.
Candice stood to Jordan's other side. She looked at the scene and couldn't help but shake her head.
How could the lovebirds be flirting even now?
Beside her Conrad seemed to be whipping his head side to side as though he were looking for something or rather... someone.
After failing to find who he was looking for he finally turned towards Thorne.
"Uncle Thorne... where is uncle Bennet?"
The moment Conrad asked this question a deafening silence swept through the area.
Nothing but the sounds of the Lurker struggling against the ice could be heard for a moment and everyone seemed reluctant to give Conrad a response.
Thorne's head however unconsciously turned towards the direction the Lurker was in... no he wasn't looking at the Lurker but on the spot just beyond where the Lurker was currently positioned.
Conrad turned his head and followed Thorne's gaze. It wasn't just Conrad, everyone—Jordan, Huey, Lydia, Candice, Veronica and Arina, looked in that direction and shock took root on their faces.
There in the distance was a small crater, no more than a meter deep. Lying within was the figure of a broken man, soaked in blood from head to toe. His armor was broken and shattered, his arms nothing but stumps of pink flesh and his face bloodied and bruised. Beside his body lay a sword that was all too easy for everyone to recognize.
How could they not? It belonged to the mayor and leader of Camp White.
And now that they could recognize the large weapon they could also easily put a face on the figure lying in the crater. The realization left them shaken.
Mayor Bennet had fallen.