They froze, as fear caught up to them. But Joe was still a man of action. He took charge of the situation. "Alright. We are moving on. Don't grab the others, and just keep pushing on. Pull your legs if you're tired." He said, and everyone once again marched on through the tunnel he was creating. None wishing to be the last person in the line. Meanwhile, the last person himself, Adolf, frowned as he looked back. 'That kid isn't here yet. Is he planning on running away?' He thought and turned to look back. He could still see the pit a few meters behind him. Due to the light from the pit. And it was obvious that there was no one coming after him. 'That brat. How could he–' But just as he was about to cuss at Jason, an explosion abruptly rang out and caused small tremors to appear within the tunnel. "The fuck?!" Adolf looked back in shock, and from here, he could see smoke and dust falling into the pit like a heavy downpour, and devouring any hint of light observable. The fear everyo
The shadowy figure instantly transitioned from where it stood... and appeared before him. It was as if it displaced itself from space, and shifted positions. Or rather, as if it was always before him, and only made its presence be known. "..." And it's appearance was so sudden, Jason just saw his whole entire vision turn dark. This thing appeared right before him, to the point where his nose barely touched it. And he could smell its iron-like scent, that was similar to that of blood, and hear its slow, regulated breathes that were similar to those of humans. But slower. And heavier. Jason did not even see how it moved. All he knew was that his life flashed right before his eyes. And his heart forgot to synchronize with its body. One man. One shadow. They stood toe to toe, and breathed into each. But nobody was sure what they were breathing into each other. Life? Or the more likely, death? Anabella also shakily looked back, and was mesmerized by the scene she saw. Not only her.
The crater was once more left in deathly silence. With the only sound being that of the wiggling tentacle shadow roots, reminiscent of splashing mud. And if one took a look at the area where the man was swallowed, they would see tentacle shadow roots, which seemed like multiple worms clustered together. It was disgusting. And repulsive. But what was worse, would be the follow up sounds of breaking bones, and grinded meat. Loud enough to be heard by everyone. ...!!! It made them shiver in fear. Joe even cursed within his mind, 'Son of a b*tch. What is wrong with this thing?' He thought in disgust, and apparent fear. Worst of all, the bump within the shadows that represented the man's buried body, was slowly, ever so slowly, being reduced in size. Until it was leveled perfectly with the ground. And also signifying the complete defunct of the unfortunate man. ...!!! And this only brought more fear to the people's hearts, erasing the very concept of hope they knew of. The shadowy
The shadowy woman stopped looking at her, and turned to look at other preys that it could easily attack. And that would be... 'Oh shit.' Joe, himself. She did not say anything and burst towards his direction. Her speed was very fast, being far faster than anything he had faced till this point. Not even the fastest athlete could compare. 'Shit. She's too fast.' He thought. It felt like a bull car was charging over at 40 miles per hour. And he was but an ordinary human, with more power than others. But he was also a fighter. An ex gang leader. "Earth Pike!!" He placed both hands on the ground, and strained himself to use his Talent. The earth below him shot towards the charging shadow woman, like a spear ready to piece through her chest. But she easily maneuvered it with a twirl-like turn. This allowed her body to shift sideways, and letting the earth pike to brush past her waist instead. 'Dammit. She dodged it. She's too fluid with her movements.' He thought as he pulled back. The
'But it's enough!!' He thought, and he charged towards the barrier with Beatrice. One duplicate charged towards Joe, and the other went towards the shadowy woman. All the while, the shadowy entity just stood and watched. Seemingly intrigued about the situation, and how Jason was still alive. "..." Meanwhile, the shadowy woman saw Jason become three, from one. And at first, she was stumped on which one to attack. But after seeing one charge at her, she charged at him too. 'Rank me up.' The duplicate commanded, and immediately after, his Rank increased once. Now, he was a Rank 3 Combatant... and most importantly, his Energy was back to full. [ You have spent 900 Energy units to promote yourself to the next rank ] [ You are now Rank 3 ] [ All your statistic index have increased by three points each ] [ Your ERG and INT has further increased by seven points each ] [ Your STR has increased by three points ] [ Your AGI has increased by three points ] [ Your VIT has increased by fi
'Holy fuck God, Read the mood!!" Hr thought in absolute panic. Anabella's heart sank, and she buried herself into his arms. Beatrice and Roy squeezed in between them. Jason was slightly overwhelmed, but still made sure to hold on tightly to Joe and Adolf in each hand. Fortunately, the Talent's effects finally kicked in, and he burned two hundred points without hesitation. And at that point, the shadowy woman's blade was already inches away from piecing through Anabella's back. But fortunately for them, they vanished instantly, escaping a hellish nightmare. Wam~ The shadowy woman's blade suddenly pieced through nothingness, and that almost broke up her balance. "...!!!" But she managed to stabilize herself, and stood there in shock. Twice. She was fooled twice today, which made her angry, yet wary of Jason. Meanwhile, the shadow entity did not move, and turned its head. It's eyes seeing through a distance of a couple of miles, and there, it saw Jason and his group appear. It ha
Hence he was still weak. Plus, there were many more mysterious things out there. Him being strong, and having a lot of Talents, did not mean he was invincible. As for these guys, he was not afraid of them. Roy and Beatrice were too innocent at the moment. Anabella was too much of a pushover and a coward. The only ones he was wary of, would be Joe and Adolf. And even then, Joe saw how powerful he was, and would tread carefully. But Adolf was a different case altogether. And speaking of these two, they were still on their last breathe. Joe had helped Adolf stop his bleeding, and as for himself, he was partially fine. "...Guess I can't help it." He stood up and went to the both of them. 'I'll just heal them up a bit, and make it seem like an arduous process.' He thought. The moment he moved, the two kids flinched back slightly, but unlike Anabella, their fear of him was not that exaggerated. Roy had hints admiration within his fear. And Beatrice, she still could not understand how s
Even Anabella was aware of that small fact. The reason everyone was recovering so fast, was probably thanks to him. She thought. To them, there was nothing Jason could not do. Run faster? Exert greater strength? Release fire? Manipulate force. Or even teleportation. He did them all. Now include healing to that list. "Is that so?" He took in everything with a poker expression. Anabella nodded, then stood up to leave. She had also told him that they were back at the Safe Zone, hence he should not worry. Joe watched her move away, until she was out of his vision. He then faced up, for there was nothing else he could do at the moment. His body was still in great demand of repairs. Especially so, when he felt his energy take its time to refill itself right now. 'How can we increase the rate of us healing faster?' He thought, closing his eyes to take yet another rest. 'Maybe... that boy will surprise me once more...' Meanwhile, just as Anabella left Joe, she went to sit besides the chi