Finally, Patrick asked in a grim tone, "How should we get out now?"

The group sat in heavy silence for a moment, the question hanging in the air like a bad omen.

Mikhail leaned the stolen spear against one of the charred trees and finally spoke.

"I would like to state what I observed about those monsters."

His words caught the interest of all the other teammates as they looked at him.

"It’s safe to say those things are like parasites that use human or humanoid bodies as hosts."

"They also seem to connect with each other like those three headless corpses. I can confirm that they die from electricity, and yeah! You won’t get infected by their blood."

Stella narrowed her eyes as she fixed her glasses. "How can you be so sure about your last point?"

Mikhail calmly pointed at James, who was sitting on the side.

"If that was the case, then he would be a goner by now," Mikhail said. "He is alive, and that’s enough proof."

The others nodded their heads while James began to clean the small patches of blood and brain matter from his face.

"If not blood then... how?" Nelly asked, her voice soft.

Mikhail thought for a second before he confidently spoke. "Bones."

The rest of the team fell into deep thought while Aleena took out her small notebook and wrote something down.

"Then what should we do now?" Bert asked, looking at Mikhail.

The rest of the group did the same, as if they had all agreed to make him the leader.

Mikhail took a few seconds to arrange his words before he said,

"We stick to the original plan. We keep moving toward the sun. It’s the only clear direction we have in this dead world."

"The tear in space won’t open until we kill enough monsters. Running away forever isn’t an option."

James flexed his newly healed shoulders, still grimacing. "Easier said than done. We barely escaped with our lives against those things."

Nelly hugged her knees, bow resting across her lap. "We don’t have any other options."

"We will only attack if we find a small group of them," Mikhail suggested after a few seconds of silence.

"If we stay on high ground or keep moving, we can pick them off one by one or lure small numbers into traps."

The group agreed with his plan as they rose up reluctantly.

Mikhail took the lead this time, with Methew perched over his shoulder.

As they began walking once more toward the distant orange sun, Stella fell into step beside Mikhail.

"Thank you... for throwing me out of the crater earlier," she said softly. "I wouldn’t have made it in time."

Mikhail glanced at her. "Don’t thank me yet. We’re still inside the Rift."

She gave a small, nervous smile. "Still... you didn’t have to do that."

He didn’t reply. In truth, throwing her out had been partly practical.

Keeping the healer alive increased their overall survival chances, but he saw no need to explain that.

They had been walking for nearly twenty minutes when Bert, who had been scouting ahead using his concealment skill, suddenly reappeared, moving quickly.

"I found something," he whispered urgently. "There’s a small pack of them, around six or seven... It looks like they are waiting for us."

James cursed under his breath. "Are they planning to ambush us?"

’If they are, then that confirms my hypothesis.’

Whatever was controlling these things had some form of coordination or hive intelligence.

Mikhail planted the butt of the spear in the black sand and thought quickly.

"I will deal with three of them, and the rest can focus on the remaining monsters."

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Patrick said with a scoff. "How are you going to handle them?"

"Don’t worry about me," Mikhail replied calmly. "I have my ways to deal with them."

The rest of them were clearly in doubt, but they decided not to voice their concerns.

Veltam took off silently into the dim orange light, circling wide to approach from behind.

Bert melted into the shadows without another word.

The group quickly divided into two. One side flanked the monsters from the left while Mikhail moved alone from the right.

Mikhail took a deep breath and stepped forward first, Methew leaping off his shoulder and walking by his side.

The moment the team came into clear view, the headless corpses reacted.

Their neck stumps twitched violently.

The wet gurgling sound rose again as all seven began moving at once.

Mikhail charged straight at the three closest corpses.

The first one lunged on all fours like a beast.

Mikhail sidestepped smoothly and drove the stolen spear forward with enhanced strength.

The sharp tip pierced clean through the creature’s chest and out its back. Black ichor sprayed, but the thing kept thrashing.

"Meowtherfucker!"

Methew pounced from the side with a fierce roar.

Lightning exploded from the summon’s body, frying the parasite inside the corpse.

The headless body jerked violently and collapsed.

The second corpse was already on him. Mikhail spun the spear in a wide arc, slicing through its outstretched arms.

The limbs flew off, but the creature didn’t stop.

It slammed its torso into him, trying to pin him down.

Mikhail grunted and activated Black Spike.

A sharp obsidian spike shot up from the ground, impaling the corpse through its stomach and lifting it off him.

Before it could free itself, Mikhail thrust the spear upward into the neck stump.

Methew jumped from behind and landed on the monster.

"Meowtherfucker!"

Lightning burst out, immediately making the corpse go still.

The third one was smarter or better controlled.

It stayed low, crawling rapidly and trying to get behind him.

Just as it tried to grab his leg, Mikhail jumped back.

He used [Enhancement] on his muscles and hurled the butt of the spear into the spine of the crawling monster.

It still tried to crawl forward, but Methew quickly stood over its body and used lightning to kill it for good.

Mikhail felt the strength in his body increase the next instant.

He couldn’t help but smile. ’I leveled up.’

Holding back his glee, Mikhail glanced at his other teammates, who had taken care of the rest of the headless corpses.

Mikhail glanced toward the orange sun, and this time he saw something in the distance.

...It was the silhouette of a man-made building.