Chapter 264

Tak. Tak. Tak.

The sounds of hurried footsteps echoed softly as Trisha navigated through the building with the survivors trailing behind her.

She was in an immense hurry because she knew that any delay could mean that at least one of the three remaining workers could lose their lives.

Yet, she couldn’t simply rush away, otherwise she would leave these slowpokes behind and, in the process, risk their safety entirely.

Trading seven lives for three lives didn’t sound like a logical trade-off.

But for goodness sake, these people were remarkably slow.

And somewhat noisy too.

Where the female Aspirant was trying to control her breathing and ensure that her footsteps were as minimal as possible, these civilians were breathing so heavily that even if someone were buried deep underground, they could likely hear the respiration.

Luckily, their current foes weren’t a pack of werewolves; otherwise, they would have been dead by now.

Even so, the heavy panting bothered her a lot.

Speaking of werewolves....

’There are now two of them, huh? According to Van, Ray was always human, and something occurred on their way from Wall Rose that caused this transition.

Which means he wasn’t originally a werewolf. So what about the other boy? He is an original werewolf, right? Doesn’t that mean there’s a whole world out there filled with these beings?’

She paused abruptly, peeking through a corridor junction, but the hallway was empty.

Taking a step forward, she gestured for the others to follow as she continued her internal monologue.

’... We still don’t comprehend how the Aberrants even came to be or where they originate from. What if the werewolves become another massive threat to humanity the same way the Aberrants are? What then?’

The moment she finished that thought, a vivid image flashed through her mind.

Claws ripping through flesh like a wet canvas.

Blood oozing into the air with lifeless bodies dropping with loud thuds.

Ice spikes flying through the air but failing to affect the target.

Despair. Death. Blood. Chaos.

Then a savior arrived, and the threat was finally neutralized.

A single survivor remained in the midst of this carnage, crying and completely unable to react or think.

A hand reached out—extended toward the sole survivor who was entirely out of it.

The memory froze in her mind, and the next second, something sharp reached out, slicing through the mental image like a physical blade ripping through fabric.

Instincts kicked in instantly.

She lifted her sword just in time, parrying away a scythe strike headed for her head from the very corner they were about to turn.

Her hands luckily moved before her analytical mind could even catch up, allowing her to zone back into reality only to see a spider beast right in front of her.

A second scythe shot toward her face.

"Space."

The survivors hurriedly shuffled backward, the determination for survival overriding their paralyzing sense of fear.

Before the scythe could strike her, the female Aspirant’s second hand snapped into place, instantly coating itself in a defensive ice gauntlet.

The scythe struck with heavy force, sending her sliding backward for a split second.

That brief window was long enough for her to twist her hips, and then her leg snapped forward like a striking viper.

Within a fraction of a second, her foot landed squarely on the beast’s face with heavy, driving momentum.

Using the momentum, she launched off the head and executed a backflip, allowing her to put distance between herself and the beast.

Placing her hands on the ground, ice flooded toward the creature and swiftly held its legs in place.

She slid forward on her knees with her sword encased in frost.

Appearing from underneath the beast directly behind it, she noticed its movements were sluggish as it tried turning around to strike the girl.

But before it could even twitch, Trisha’s sword crashed through the tendons holding its head in place and severed it completely, allowing the head to roll to the ground.

She landed with a loud pant.

Her breathing was all over the place as her heart pounded loudly against her chest; she had been so close to disaster because her mind wasn’t fully concentrating.

Looking at the survivors, she sucked in a sharp breath before rising to her full height.

’Grow stronger. Become more powerful so something like that never happens again. Be it beasts, Aberrants, werewolves, or even humans, I will cut them down. Stronger... be strong—’

— Aspirant. I have found the survivors. They are in the meeting room. Hurry.

Her face turned ice-cold as she looked at the civilians staring at the dark pool of blood.

"Come on."

Looking at her for a moment, they all nodded firmly and began hurrying toward where the other workers were trapped.

Three beasts down, Trisha knew that two more remained.

Thankfully, the survivors with her weren’t injured, so they were able to run alongside her as she informed them she had located the others.

With the promise of safety within their reach if they grabbed the remaining three and escaped, the news rejuvenated them, aiding them to run faster and not slow the Aspirant down.

Following their direction, Trisha reached the double doors of the meeting room within moments.

Tapping her communication bud, she whispered. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"Any threat?"

— Negative.

Exhaling softly, she pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The moment her footsteps rang across the room, she heard a faint whimper coming from underneath the long conference table.

Walking toward it, she immediately crouched down to see three figures huddled together with their hands over their mouths, terrified to make a noise.

Seeing that the figure in front of them was human, they eased up a tiny bit.

"Come on. Let’s head over to the bunker."

One of the men from the original batch she rescued frowned for a moment.

"You can see how scared they are. I can relate because I was before you came in. The least you can do is assure and soothe them—"

"That?" Trisha questioned, her chilling gaze fixed on the man who spoke.

"That everything will be alright? That they will be safe? That they won’t die?"

"...."

"No. I won’t do that. Because that will be giving them false hope. So they can either come with me quickly or risk—"

— Aspirant. Incoming!

Trisha’s eyes stretched wide as she shot to her full height, but it was too late.

Crash!

The double doors were blasted open with sharp scythes lashing forward, and then, a spray of crimson filled the air.