Chapter 88
Upon arriving in Huween, they stopped briefly, repeatedly lingering on the terraces of houses whose occupants had already fled the city to save themselves.
Even though the sky was overcast, their bodies felt heavy as sweat continuously streamed down their faces, messing up their hair and soaking their clothes.
To deal with it, they moved from one house to another, searching for anything that could refresh their bodies and soothe their throats, dry as barren land.
The problem was solved when Aaron found two bottles of beer and one bottle of lemon soda. He knew that taking and drinking them was no different from stealing. But in a situation like this, he felt that paying it all back with a prayer was the best he could do.
He took one unopened bottle of beer. The other was for Felina and Zuhen. The lemon soda was for Zavi.
Their bodies felt much lighter as they drank while resting under the terrace roof, and the strong gusts of wind naturally dried the sweat and their previously soaked clothes.
They stayed there for quite a while, in Huween.
Enjoying the calm, they didn't realize how quickly time passed during the day, how fleeting it felt.
The orange glow of the late afternoon, nearing dusk, felt different from before, as if it carried a lingering impression of what had happened to that place.
A few hours after the sun had completely set, a perfect blue moon took its place, casting a bright light over the darkness, making the night feel light, yet with something lurking in every passing second.
They had left the narrow alley where the house was, walking along the main road with steady steps, as if inviting the enemy to attack them with ease.
"So cold," Zavi said, breaking the silence as he walked. A moment later, he sneezed. His face flushed red, his hands trembling as his heartbeat grew irregular.
Zavi could see white vapor each time he exhaled, his hands hovering in front of his mouth.
His physical condition, already weak and slightly worsening due to being a Receiver, couldn't hide it any longer.
With only a thin white shirt and long pants, every step he took felt like torture to his body.
'I know winter's almost here, but why the hell is it this cold today? No wonder earlier felt different from the usual days,' Zavi complained inwardly, walking with his arms crossed over his chest.
Aaron spoke up, his voice slightly shaky, his nose reddened. "Can we pick up the pace?"
"Yeah," Zuhen replied, feeling the biting cold.
"We should look for thicker clothes in the houses people abandoned." Without waiting for a response, he immediately moved aside, entering an alley to search for warmer clothing.
"I knew this would happen," Felina scoffed as she followed him.
Without a word, Aaron and Zavi quickly ran into the alley on the left side of the main road.
Going from one house to another, luck seemed to favor them. The four of them found thick clothing suitable for any condition, capable of enduring the cold without weighing them down.
When they regrouped on the sidewalk at the entrance of the alley, they showed what they had taken, which had taken about ten minutes.
Zuhen found a thick jacket with fur lining around the collar. He also got a hammer. Three pieces of currency. And what pleased him the most, a pack of cigarettes.
Even though he didn't know what kind they were, he still took them and planned to try them once his own ran out.
Felina found a velvet winter jacket, since there was nothing else in her size. Even though her body seemed to urge her to take it off immediately.
Zavi and Aaron found jackets lined with fine fur, resembling cat fur covering their skin, with unused fur-lined hoods.
And Zavi found something that reminded him of his childhood on Earth.
A hat with a slightly wide brim, its structure seamlessly connected without anything protruding, giving it a distinct feel when worn by Zavi.
"Where did you get that?" Aaron asked, frowning, certain they had taken jackets from the same house, yet he hadn't seen Zavi pick up the hat.
Zavi turned his face away, clicking his tongue.
"Doesn't matter," he replied. "Do you want it?" Zavi took off the hat and held it out toward Aaron.
"No, thanks." Aaron raised his hand, still puzzled.
Zavi put the hat back on without hesitation.
The four of them exchanged glances as the cold wind grew stronger than before, then quickly moved to the narrow sidewalk to anticipate losing the trail due to the weather.
A few minutes later, Zavi spotted the trail through the shared memory between him and the wolf, though it was slowly fading.
The trail split into three different paths; upward toward Pamlinov Station, left toward a dense residential area, and right toward a place resembling a market, rental buildings, including schools and a university.
Zavi's mind hit a dead end upon realizing that.
He shook his head, cutting off the shared sensory memory with the wolf.
He continued toward the three of them waiting at the lower roadside, raising his right hand as he spoke in a confused tone:
"The trail splits into three directions. So I want to hear your opinions, and one more thing... don't even think about splitting up." Zavi's expression turned serious at the last part.
Aaron stomped his foot twice, causing the shadow beneath him to ripple, producing a sphere of shadow the size of an orange that pulsed and hovered before dropping neatly into his palm.
He tossed the shadow sphere forward, nearly hitting Zavi, who tilted his head aside as it rolled across the stone road. Aaron's body jerked slightly as the shadow beneath his feet reacted, his eyelids darkening.
"I see," he muttered, touching his chin before stomping twice again until his eyes returned to normal.
"Found something?" Zuhen asked, rubbing his left arm.
"Yeah," Aaron replied with a faint smile at the corner of his lips. "There's something on the road to the right."
"A signal from wandering ghosts or spirits?" Felina asked, just to be sure.
Zavi had been silent the whole time, listening to their input. He felt something strange stirring violently within him.
Even now, he was still curious about the identity of the woman he had encountered before, and he truly wanted to kill her if she appeared again.
"Doesn't seem like it," Aaron answered uncertainly.
"But there's no harm in checking it out directly."
'Considering that corpse, the one we're after is extremely dangerous. Someone capable of summoning those demonic horses from hell, controlling them, and destroying an entire city.'
He turned his face as he saw the three of them continue walking as if nothing was wrong.
'And why did they stop the attack? Was there someone who interfered with them?' Aaron was genuinely confused, trying to find answers without actually gathering more information.
He let out a short breath before continuing forward so he wouldn't fall behind, deciding he would find out himself.
About five minutes later, they suddenly arrived at the road where Zen University stood, established in the year 1490 of the Star Calendar.
The area was vast, consisting of three large buildings, a garden filled with various plants and neatly arranged flower pots, and a large fountain not far from the black iron gate standing before them.
With two lamps mounted on the tall surrounding walls, the four of them had difficulty observing the place more closely.
"This is the place?" the three of them asked at once, looking at Aaron, who stood at the back.
Aaron clicked his tongue.
"Don't you trust it?"
The shifting circle of shadow beneath his feet began to rise, wrapping around his arm as he walked past them and touched the closed gate briefly.
Without hesitation.
The iron gate let out a deafening screech before its center shattered into pieces from within Aaron's shadow.
'Even with this, it still hurts,' Aaron thought, suppressing a groan.
Zavi then tapped Aaron's shoulder as his attention lingered on his right hand.
"Thanks, Aaron." Zavi smiled with relief as he looked at him.
And just like that, they entered the university grounds, searching for traces of those responsible for Karl Vairanz's murder and the cause behind Moran becoming a dead city.
The air felt frozen as caution crept up their necks, and every step triggered their adrenaline to keep moving forward, to uncover what lay within this abandoned university.
"Be careful, it's really dark here," Zuhen said cautiously, feeling his way forward to avoid bumping into anything.
A red eye suddenly glowed within the darkness, appearing near them without their awareness, and the figure responded to Zuhen's warning in a heavy, piercing voice.
"Be careful, yes... be careful."
Their steps halted instantly, their pupils dilating, jaws tightening, hands trembling violently as they felt something move from their lower backs, creeping up to their shoulders.
Aaron, forcing a composed expression, swung his fist backward, only to feel as if his hand had been suspended midair, as though something was restraining it.
Realizing that, he stepped back several paces, unsure whether the others were safe, because this time he truly couldn't see anything in the darkness.
'Something's disrupting Extraction... but who?'
Aaron shifted his gaze left and right, preparing for a counterattack.
"Who are you?"
No answer. Then...
Wushh!!
The red-eyed figure emerged from the darkness near Aaron, clenching its fist and aiming straight for his head.
Thud...
"Huh?"
Aaron stomped his foot as he stepped back, blocking the attack with both arms.
The figure was incredibly skilled, attacking seamlessly in the darkness, leaving Aaron unable to do anything and forcing the other three to retreat from the dark area.
Grunts escaped both of them as they attacked and defended with everything they had. Then, once Aaron pinpointed the figure's position, he directed his hand downward, twisted his body halfway back, and struck with full force.
The red-eyed figure let out a groan as Aaron's attack landed squarely.
"Not bad," the man praised before moving silently and launching a different kind of attack.
The air itself seemed to fracture as the figure moved fluidly within the darkness. Aaron realized two things; the man was highly skilled, and also foolish for choosing him as an opponent.
As his eyes scanned the surroundings, he felt the air shift, along with a surge of heat from the figure's presence striking him from behind.
With swift yet composed movement, Aaron opened his palm, and from it, a rapidly spinning black point formed.
He aimed it forward at the exact moment the figure launched a powerful punch.
Brukk!!!
A violent shockwave erupted as their hands collided, sweeping everything around them, including smashing flower pots and scattering the neatly arranged grass along the dark pathway.
The figure stood still, wiping his mouth with his arm, saliva dripping from the side as he stared at a pair of glowing red eyes shining from the darkness.
Meanwhile, Aaron hadn't expected that this time, he would truly be at a disadvantage.
'Where are the three of them? Did they escape or were they defeated by that person? Damn it.' Aaron cursed inwardly as he moved, searching for the one he was fighting.
A few steps after moving from where he had been thrown...
Boomm!!
Flames shot upward as a not-so-large explosion rang out from where he stood, allowing him to catch a faint glimpse of the figure he was fighting.
"You...?" Aaron was stunned, unable to say anything as he saw a familiar figure standing not far from him, watching him intently.
The figure, who turned out to be a woman, smiled faintly before speaking in a casual tone, "Long time no see, Kwok Aaron."
The corner of Aaron's lips lifted, forming a disbelieving smile as he stared at the reality before him.
"You damn... Celina Narami."
The two of them stood in silence, their gazes locked, while the other three had already passed through the broken gate after conducting a small test earlier.