The woman snapped back to reality, dragging her fiancé up swiftly. Together they limped toward the incline.
Another creature snarled and shot forward.
West stepped into its path and slammed the pipe down, rattling its jaw and forcing it back.
West retreated slowly, positioning himself between the herd and the fleeing people.
"GO!" he yelled again in a hoarse tone. "GET OUT!"
Aria stood at the base of the incline, staring at him with wide, horrified eyes.
"WEST!" she screamed. "COME—!"
West turned his head just enough to see her.
His expression softened for a fraction of a second and then hardened again.
He knew what had to happen.
He couldn't fight them all and escort people out. He didn't even think he could fight them all even if he wasn't escorting people out.
So he picked the best possible option...
He divided the threat.
West sprinted past the creatures and slammed the pipe against the wall with a loud metallic BOOM.
Then again.
And again.
He struck the ground.
He struck a broken streetlight.
He struck anything that would echo.
The noise rang like a bell across the ruin corridors.
The creatures hesitated.
Their hollow eyes turned toward him.
Their heads tilted as if recalibrating priorities.
West lifted the pipe and yelled, "HEY!"
He struck the wall again with a deafening CLANG.
"COME GET ME!"
It worked.
The herd shifted.
One by one, the creatures turned away from the fleeing civilians.
They began to chase West instead.
Exactly as he wanted.
West ran at a speed that was too fast for a normal human. He was moving at least four times as fast as what a regular human should be able to do.
He led them down a branching street, away from the incline, away from the opening.
Aria screamed his name again and again till her voice cracked but West was already disappearing into the ruin maze. The creatures flooded after him like a nightmare river.
Auntie Maribel grabbed Aria's arm and yanked her up the incline.
"COME!" the older woman cried as 5ears streamed down her face. "WE HAVE TO GO!"
Aria fought it.
"NO! WEST—!"
Maribel's grip tightened. "He chose this! If you go back, you'll die too!"
Aria's chest heaved as she stumbled forward, dragged by the aunties and the others as they climbed toward the bright opening.
Behind them, the ruined street echoed with distant metallic clangs.
And then—
West's voice faded into the distance.
Auntie Maribel choked on a sob. "We can only hope… he'll be alright."
Aria looked back one last time but all she saw was darkness and dust.
West ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Behind him, the ruin echoed with the clicking gait of those things... those hollow-eyed staff-wielders pursuing him with a patience that felt worse than rage.
They didn't tire.
They didn't stumble.
They didn't lose interest.
They simply followed.
West crashed through a narrow alleyway where the street had buckled upward into rough ridges. The path ahead twisted, then twisted again, leading into a corridor that hadn't existed in his neighborhood before. It was built of black stone, smooth in some places and pitted in others, like something had been poured and cooled here. The walls rose high and were etched with faintly glowing lines.
A ruin corridor.
He'd read about these.
Ruin corridors were like veins that connected parts of the ruin, and they were never safe. They were designed to test, trap, and break.
West's grip tightened around the bent metal pipe he'd snatched earlier.
He kept moving while glancing over his shoulder.
The creatures were closer than before.
One of them raised its bone staff and slammed it into the ground.
A symbol beneath its feet lit up and the air warped.
West's felt a tingling sensation all over his body and leapt sideways just as the ground beneath him sank.
It sank like wet clay, swallowing stone and debris with a slow, horrible suction. A circular section of path dropped into darkness, taking chunks of broken concrete and a rusted mailbox with it.
West landed hard on the edge of the remaining path with his fingers scraping stone.
If he'd been a fraction slower, he would've been swallowed.
His heart hammered in his chest.
"Okay," he hissed while scrambling up. "So the ruin has teeth."
He ran again and the corridor widened into an open stretch that resembled his neighborhood street but warped. Buildings stood, yet their windows were black, their frames twisted and their bricks were covered in alien growths that glinted faintly like oil on water.
A car lay upside down, half fused into the ground like it had melted mid-flip. Streetlights drooped overhead like dead branches.
He spotted a wall of spikes like a barricade.
It was a section of ruin architecture with. metallic and bone-like, spiky protrusions rising from the ground and walls in a tight, brutal formation. The spikes were not random; they formed patterns, like a trap someone built for a reason.
West's eyes widened as a creature leapt towards him from behind with its bone staff like arm outstretched.
West sidestepped sharply and slammed his pipe into its staff, knocking the weapon aside. The creature reeled for half a second and that was all West needed.
He grabbed the creature's shoulder plating and used its momentum against it, twisting his hips and driving it forward.
The thing stumbled as West shoved harder, slamming its body into the wall of spikes.
A wet, sickening sound echoed as spikes pierced through chitin and hide.
The creature convulsed and its hollow eyes flickered violently before dimming.
West staggered back, breathing hard.
"That's one."
Another creature charged and West swung the pipe.
The creature blocked with its bone staff. The impact rang out, sending vibrations up West's arms.
Even though his strength had been boosted, these things were built for violence.
West ducked as the staff swept toward his head, then drove his fist into the creature's chest plating.
BOOM.
Pain shot through his knuckles but the creature barely moved.
It stumbled half a step, then lifted its head slowly as if to say—
Is that all?
West swore under his breath.
"Yeah, punching was a mistake."
He kicked the creature's knee joint instead, striking where its armor was weakest.
The moment the creature buckled forward, he swung the pipe towards its face, then bolted.
He didn't fight fair.
He couldn't.
He ran through another corridor and suddenly the ceiling above changed.
The black stone gave way to a hollow cavern-like stretch where ancient pipes ran overhead, twisted and corroded.
Strange, floating dust drifted like ash. And then something else fluttered across his vision.
Insects...
Small, flying insects with translucent bodies and glass like wings flew in swarms, drifting in and out of cracks in the walls. Some clung to the ceiling in thick clusters like living mold.
West's skin crawled.
He didn't want to find out what they did.
He sprinted through, holding his breath as much as he could, but a few brushed against his cheek.
They felt cold... ice block cold unlike normal insects.
One landed on his arm and stung sharply.
West slapped it off and kept running as his heart pounded.
However, in just a short few seconds, his hand began losing color but he didn't notice.
Behind him, the creatures followed into the insect-filled corridor without hesitation.
The insects scattered away from them.
West noticed that.
'So the insects fear the herd… or the herd's energy.'
West burst out of the corridor into a wider plaza.
The ground here was carved with concentric circles and symbols that made his eyes hurt to focus on too long. A broken fountain stood at the center, except the "water" was frozen in midair like glass, suspended and shimmering with an unnatural, silver sheen.
He didn't have time to examine it.
The herd was nearly on him.
West lunged forward, snatched a rusted metal sign from the ground, and flung it like a disc. It hit one creature's head and bounced off uselessly.
The creature didn't even blink.
West gritted his teeth.
He glanced at the system timer flickering faintly at the edge of his vision.
[Adrenal Control: 00:10]
Ten seconds.
His stomach dropped.
When Adrenal Control ended, the backlash would hit him like a truck.
He couldn't fight them without it.
He couldn't even run properly without it.
He needed to vanish right now.
West scanned the environment desperately and spotted something...
A broken wall section, warped inward, leaving a narrow crevice between two slabs. It was barely large enough to fit a person but this was his best option at the moment.
West sprinted for it.
The creatures sensed his change in direction and charged forward faster, clicking louder.
West dove forward causing his shoulder to scrape past stone.
His ribs slammed against the edge as he squeezed in, twisting his body sideways until he barely fit and pressing himself deep into the crack.
Just as the first creature's shadow fell over the opening—
[Adrenal Control: 00:00]
Pain detonated through his body like lightning.
Every muscle in his body felt like they were ripping apart as his arms went numb.
"Ugh..."