Chapter 2: Confrontation
The wind whistled through the cracks in the ruined apartment building, carrying with it a chill that cut into the flesh. The musty smell of broken concrete, the rusty smell of exposed metal bars from the cracked walls, mixed with the pungent smell of blood, forming an unpleasant mixture.
As Ruminas reached the first floor, the monster caught up, with its incredible strength it jumped straight up from the ground.
Ruminas was taken by surprise.
She was about to turn around and run in the opposite direction, but a lightning fast tentacle rushed towards her.
Luckily, she reacted quickly enough to dodge. Even so, the tentacle still passed by her, tearing part of her shirt on her side and leaving a wound, blood starting to flow from it.
"Painful!"
Ruminas only had time to groan like that before having to dodge before the other tentacles attacked.
The tentacle rushed forward, stabbing straight into the wall. Ruminas took the opportunity to stab the monster again, causing it to scream. But what she didn't expect was that the monster controlled the tentacle to sweep across the wall and she couldn't avoid it in time.
Ruminas was sent flying by the tentacle, hitting the wall so hard that it collapsed, everything was shattered and she was in unbearable pain.
She looked down, her left arm had a long gash and blood was starting to flow out but she didn't have time to care. While the smoke and dust were still thick, she took the opportunity to run away.
She continued running upwards because the monster had blocked the way down.
Ruminas ran down the third floor corridor, breathing heavily. Blood dripped from the wound on her side onto the tiled floor, and each step brought a sharp pain like being cut by a knife. Her left arm was torn from the impact with the wall when the monster swept it away. Cold sweat ran down her back. She knew she couldn't maintain this speed much longer.
"First, there must be time to stop the bleeding…"
The blood flowing from the two wounds gradually made her lose strength, and her mind felt even more dizzy. However, the enemy was chasing after her, leaving Ruminas with no time to rest.
Behind him, the monster roared, a deep rumble that shook the walls. Its jet-black tentacles swept across, shattering the ceiling above, sending plaster and beams raining down in a deadly rain.
Ruminas turned around and continued running but—
A large slab of concrete suddenly collapsed right in front of Ruminas. She reacted instinctively, jumping through a small gap before the hundreds of kilograms of rock hit the floor. Dust rose up, obscuring her vision.
"Luckily…"
However, despite dodging it, Ruminas received another wound.
Ruminas staggered to her feet and continued running. But a sharp pain in her leg made her fall to her knees. A piece of glass had been embedded in her right calf at some point. She gritted her teeth and pulled it out, blood immediately gushing from the wound. Left with no other choice, she tore off a piece of her shirt and quickly wrapped it around the wound to stop the bleeding.
"The wounds are getting worse, I have to think of a plan quickly…"
Behind, the rumbling sound rang out again. The monster had destroyed the wall and every obstacle in front of it as it continued its pursuit.
She quickly hid in a secret room, hoping to buy some more time. Meanwhile, she also hurriedly took out the bandages to cover the wounds on her hip and left arm.
Meanwhile, Ruminas began to think of a way to counter it.
"It has no eyes, and perceives everything by sound, but it seems that it is not that simple. There must be some other ability…"
She began to recall previous situations.
Even though it didn't make any sound, the monster still found her, which proved her previous guess.
"What could it be… is it a vibration or a temperature…?"
After thinking for a while, Ruminas could only think of those two things.
Maybe it's not just based on pure sound, but on the change in vibration frequency in space. This thing is so small that normal people are not able to detect it. They think that there is no sound, but in fact there are still some frequency changes.
Also, the ambient temperature was something to take note of. It was the middle of the night, so the air outside was relatively cold, while human body temperature was much warmer, so the monster could have used this to accurately find her location.
Ruminas reasoned very quickly.
In just about a minute she had come to a conclusion.
However, that was her only moment of peace when the monster attacked again. Its tentacles waved wildly and destroyed all the walls, the room she was hiding in also lost a large piece of wall and the monster immediately discovered her.
"Incorrect!"
Ruminas immediately felt that his previous deduction was incorrect when he saw this action of the monster, or perhaps it could be said that it was still lacking something.
But for now, we have to run. The wounds have been bandaged and the bleeding has stopped, so Ruminas will be fine for now.
"Just go first and then figure it out.
So she somersaulted forward again, picking up the broken stones on the ground and throwing them randomly to test her guess.
"Indeed there is!"
The monster was indeed distracted for a moment but quickly focused back on her.
"So it's not the temperature…"
The monster seemed to have lost patience with this hunt as it simultaneously attacked with four tentacles.
Ruminas nimbly dodged two, wounding one with the knife but was still grazed by the other, creating another wound on his right shoulder.
"Damn, just finished bandaging!"
Ruminas ignored the wound, the problem now was she needed to find a way to defeat this disgusting monster.
She glanced around, searching for anything that could help her turn the situation around. And then she saw it—a gas pipe protruding from a cracked section of the wall. If it could be used as a trap…
"Is there gas inside…?" Ruminas wondered.
But before she could react, a tentacle suddenly lashed out at the floor beneath her. The tiles shattered, the ground shook violently before the entire floor collapsed. Ruminas was unable to react, her body lost balance and fell to the second floor in a flurry.
"Ah"
The scream rang out.
The impact of the landing was so strong that it made her dizzy, her vision blurred.
"Painful"
That was all she could feel right now. The wounds that had just been bandaged were bleeding again, and there were also several new wounds on her body.
Her right arm was slammed into a twisted metal bar, leaving a deep gash. She could feel warm blood running down her arm. But before she could regain her composure, a giant shadow loomed over her.
The monster was coming down after her.
In the moment of life and death, Ruminas spun around, rolling to the side just as the giant body hit the ground. A section of the floor shattered, creating a deep hole. If she had been even a second slower, she would have been crushed.
Her breathing was labored, but she couldn't stop. She pushed the pain away, looking toward the pipe in the partially collapsed wall nearby. This was her only chance.
Using all her remaining strength, she rushed towards it, pulled the dagger from her belt and stabbed it into the pipe. There was a deafening metallic screech, before a powerful stream of gas was released, spreading throughout the hallway.
The monster charged, but this time, Ruminas was ready. She picked up a metal bar that had fallen to the ground and quickly swiped it against a nearby exposed electrical wire.
Sparks fly.
BOOM!
The flames erupted instantly. The gas ignited, creating a powerful explosion that engulfed the monster in flames. Its screams echoed throughout the building. Its body twisted, its tentacles writhing in the blazing flames. Part of the ceiling could not withstand the blast and collapsed, burying the creature in the rubble.
"Weakness is fire…?"
Ruminas backed away, gasping for breath. Her body ached, and she was bleeding profusely, but she was still alive.
She won.
She really defeated that hideous monster.
However, her condition is also very critical.
"It would be dangerous to move outside with this injured body." With that thought, Ruminas decided to stay in this apartment building for a while longer to let her injuries heal.
"Um, let's do that for now…"