Alice: Solomon!

Laying on the cold ground, I heard Alice calling to me. having been plunged into darkness when the subway entrance collapsed, she couldn't see me. Having flown down the stairs, all while shielding my teammates, she was worried. luckily, I was fine. the combination of my beefed up stats and body armour let me get away with only light bruising.

Solomon: I'm alright.

Holding up my hand, I willed a little of my qi into my fingertip. pouring out to surround my finger, the qi turned into a small orange flame. because of the powerful power in my qi, this little flame was enough to light up the entire area.

Gareth: well damn, that was close.

Solomon: haha, I think that might be an understatement.

Still holding Sasha in my arms, I slightly panicked. her body was completely limp in my grasp. holding my hand to her mouth, I luckily felt a warm puff of air leave her lips. It seemed she had only passed out from the shock. glad that she was still with us, I let out a sigh of relief. Getting up from the floor beside me, Nicholas's face was coloured with concern. his usually lighthearted atmosphere was gone, leaving only a fearful expression on his face.

Nicholas: is she alright?!

rushing over, he saw the current appearance of his sister. with her left foot bent completely around adding to her already pitiful look, he feared the worst.

Solomon: she's fine. Luckily for her, I took the brunt of the fall. or else she wouldn't be in such good shape.

If she had received the stress of a several story drop, her already injured body would get much worse. in the best case she would be paralysed, in the worst case, she would be dead. but it hadn't come to that. she was very fortunate that she was with us. most other guilds would have abandoned her. now looking at her leg, she would obviously become a burden. Even with Alice's potion, she wouldn't recover quickly. for the next few hours at least, she would cause us issues. even so, it wasn't worth abandoning her over. now that we were in the tunnels we were out of the greatest danger. so letting her nurse her wounds was easily done.

Alice: here, let me take her for a second.

before I could react, Alice had Taken Sasha from my grasp. laying her across her lap, she Reached into her sleeve. taking out one of her cards, she held it out before her.

Alice: Potion!

Turning into a flash of green light, the card transformed into a small bottle. grasping it in her hand, Alice uncapped the stopper. Without hesitation, she poured the contents down Sasha's throat. seeing her use one of her precious moves for his sister, Nicholas looked very thankful.

Nicholas: ah, to use such a thing on us. thank you. we owe you big time.

Alice: It's fine, what's a little help between allies. hopefully, with my potion, she can recover quickly.

Standing up, she handed Sasha over to her brother.

Alice: for now take care of her. Until she wakes up, your responsible for her.

Nicholas: don't worry, I'll definitely protect her.

with a resolute fire burning in his eyes, Nicholas turned to me. though I was a little uncomfortable being looked at with so much emotion, I bared with it. completely taking me off guard, Nicholas bowed his head.

Nicholas: thank you, Solomon. If it wasn't for you, we'd both be dead by now. I will definitely pay you back for this.

from the combination of his voice and the burning will in his eyes, I could feel his gratefulness. I had no doubt that he truly wanted to repay me. though it was easily understandable. truth be told, when he saw the wall collapsed, he had already resolved himself for death. Having experienced the brutal nature of Missions in Domain, he knew that the strong rarely protected the week. Even more so, that they didn't risk their lives for them. being saved by one of the few who would risk their life for the weak, he was unbelievably lucky. in a very real sense, he had won the lottery.

Solomon: okay, pay me back like this. stay loyal to this team for your whole life.

Smiling, I spoke back to Nicholas. though he was still officially a newbie, I had already accepted him and his sister as teammates. The test mission was only a formality at this point.

Nicholas: I promise, I will.

Gareth: got it!

suddenly a bright light shone over the room, blinding us.

Gareth: ah, sorry everyone.

rubbing the back of his head, Gareth awkwardly apologised. in his hand, one of the flashlight we had brought was shining light over the whole room. No longer needing it, I dispelled the flame on my finger. The lights we had bought before the mission were military grade. Having been purposefully built, they were unbelievably bright. To the point that the one light in Gareth's hand lit the entire room we were in.

Solomon: Gareth, hand one of them out to everyone.

Gareth: on it.

now being able to clearly see my surroundings, I looked around. standing in an open space of a dozen meters, it was eerily cavernous. to the wall on our left were several glass windows, obviously for people to buy tickets. then on the other side were several sets of benches. looking at the horde of junk on them, they were probably used by homeless people in the past. looking in front of me, there was a row of ticket machines blocking off a long hallway. with the appearance of the creatures, these usually bustling areas were now completely empty.

Gareth: here.

prodding me out of my thoughts, Gareth held out a flashlight to me. looking at everyone else, they all had one already.

Hud: agh, what the hell was that thing?

Standing a few meters from us, Hud was looking up the collapsed stairway. seeming to be in a daze he stared blankly forwards. then suddenly, as if getting some inspiration he looked down at his camcorder. pressing some of the buttons, he fiddled with the little device.

Solomon: what are you trying to do?

Walking over to him, we all peeked over his shoulders. On the small screen in his hand, he had a still image of the creature. Though its details were mostly hidden in darkness, the shape and size were clearly visible.

Rob: what is that thing?

being that they now had seen the monster, I wanted to explain some things to them. while I did so, I would have the rest of the team carry out some jobs. that way as soon as I had finished my explanations, we could get going.

Solomon: Alice, take Nicholas and Sasha to the subway platform. See if you can find a map there.

Nodding, Alice left with the siblings in tow.

Solomon: Gareth and Pluvia take tony and scout out the tunnels If you find any parasite's, kill them.

At the moment, we were in unknown territory. having them remove any threats quickly was for the best. even if it meant having most of our strength away from the characters, it was worth it.

Gareth: got it, let's go.

Turning around, they all dashed away. jumping the ticket barriers, they disappeared down the long hallway.

Seeing most of our group run off, the characters became a little anxious. They knew that without us to protect them they would very likely die.

Solomon: now that we've got a little time, I'll explain some things to you.

Keeping in mind the time, I gave them a concise explanation of the creature. Though I couldn't tell them about the mission, our origin, or anything like that, I could explain the creature.

Solomon: that thing you saw, we call them creatures. Though we only expected to find one.

Having encountered the one in the water, then on the street, it was a safe bet to assume at least two existed. Though we couldn't verify it, for now, assuming so was the best option.

Jason: okay, so this creature. what exactly is it?

Solomon: honestly, I'm not too sure. Though it's said to be a deep sea creature that came onto land, I can't really verify much about it.

though that's what's generally accepted, there are other explanations.

Marlena: great, so it's a mysterious giant that's rampaging through Manhattan!

Speaking ironically, Marlena seemed quite uneasy. Having now seen the creature in person, it had shaken her. though it was a natural reaction, her use of sarcasm was probably her own coping mechanism. Forgiving her outburst, I continued to explain.

Solomon: it's not completely unknown. I know a few things about it. Most importantly that it's not alone.

Lily: yeah, we saw that there was two of them.

Misunderstanding me, Lily spoke up.

Solomon: no, not that. There are other monsters to worry about. I'm sure you'll meet them soon, so I'll only warn you quickly.

Feeling that we had spent too much time talking, I drew the conversation to a close.

Solomon: they're little bugs called parasites. They stick to the creature's bodies. Basically, there's one thing you need to know about them.

Rob; what's that?

Smiling eerily, I used this one sentence to drive caution into their hearts. it was better for them to fear these creatures. unlike in the film, they wouldn't have to fight them here. so them being afraid wouldn't cause any issues.

Solomon: one little bite, and you're dead.

turning around, I heard faint footsteps.focusing my attention down the hallway, I prepared to fight. seeing me change, as well as having just heard about these parasites, the characters were instantly filled with fear. Luckily, what we saw next calmed them down. From down the hall, tony came running towards us.

Tony: it's just me. so, we've scouted the area, and luckily there are no parasites. now everyone's waiting at the platform for us.

Solomon: okay, we've spent enough time here. Let's get moving.

Following tony, we made our way down the hallway to the train platform. Having to slow down for the characters, our speed was extremely slow. nevertheless, after a couple minutes, we had made it there.

Solomon: hey guys.

Arriving at the open platform, I saw Alice, Gareth, and the siblings waiting for us.

Alice: you're finally here, what took so long?

Solomon: we had to wait up for these guys.

gesturing behind me, Alice only just took notice of the characters. looking at them panting roughly, she understood our lateness.

Alice: oh, I forgot about that. seems like we'll have to let them set the pace for now.

Though it was regrettable, we had no other choice. forcing them to speed up would only exhaust them.

Gareth: huh, what's this?

turning away from us, Gareth looked at one of the tunnels. looking around the room, I took in the environment. standing on a several meter wide walkways, the tracks were directly in front of us. other than the hallway we entered from, there were no other exits. it seemed that this was one of the lesser-used stops. looking at the tunnels to the left and right end of the platform, we didn't have much choice for direction. following Gareth's gaze, I looked at the left tunnel. after focussing my senses on it, I noticed a quite scuttling sound. as I continued to listen the noise grew louder. this sound was, of course, the parasites. by the sound of it, there were more than a few of them. Though it was still quite far away now, It would only take 30 seconds for them to reach us. Seeing Gareth, and then myself, focus intently on the tunnel, everyone felt a cold sweat down there back.

Tony: what is it?

Breaking the uncomfortable silence, tony spoke. though he seemed slightly uneasy, there was a clear lust for battle reflected in his eyes.

Solomon: there's a group of parasite approaching from that tunnel. and not a small number either.

hearing the bad news, both the newbies and the characters went pale. Seeing that, I tried to calm them down.

Solomon: what are you so scared for? how bad can a few bugs be?

With my reassuring words, their expressions brightened a little. though they were still very disturbed. after all, this was the first time facing these parasites. even with my formidable power, I had to be wary of their poison.

Gareth: Solomon, what are we going to do?

Being able to hear the same noise, Gareth understood the gravity of the situation. we could both hear the parasites approaching were huge in number. The only reason we could hear them from so far away was because of the sheer quantity of them. If I had to guess, I would say that over 1000 parasites were approaching. even I sweated a little at the idea of facing them all.

Solomon: don't you remember, we prepared specifically for this.

Holding up my hand, a small black cube appeared in my hand. looking at it, recognition flashed through Gareth's eyes. This was one of the bombs I had brought from the old man, a timer Bim. Having brought them from the old man in the market, we had several of theses bombs from Btoom.

Solomon: you know what to do.

throwing one of the timer Bims to Gareth I ran to the tunnel entrance. wasting no time, I started the timer. placing it on the right-hand side of the tunnel. matching me, Gareth did the same on the right.

Gareth: everyone, get back. We're going to blow up the tunnel.

Calling out to everyone, Gareth guided them into the other tunnel.

Alice: wait, we need to go that way!

Solomon: it's too late now. we'll have to go the other way.

Not even needing a second to think about it, I knew we would have to go another way. Even if it took longer, we had to avoid these creatures at all cost. In the first place, If the mission had created a duplicate of the giant creature, I was worried that the parasites had also changed. Facing off against 1000 monsters of unknown strength, I didn't feel confident in keeping everyone alive. even keeping my own life could prove troublesome.

Alice: argh, fine!

Placing a timer Bim on each side of the tunnel, I activated them. With ten seconds left till they explode, I ran over to everyone else. Standing in the other tunnel, we were easily over 20 meters away. as the timers counted down, echoing beeps sounded through the tunnel. listening to the skittering, I realised it was becoming much louder. they had somehow sped up their speed. at this rate, they would reach us before the timers reached 0. as they came into view, the timer had only reached 4. Sprinting towards us, they looked exactly the same as in the film. Even though that didn't necessarily mean that they were the same, it did make me less worried. At 3 second they were within a dozen meters of the Bims. looking at the unending mass of black wiggling towards us, fear sunk into our hearts. though these bugs were very weak individually, together they formed into a neverending abyss. looking at them for long enough would reduce the strongest of men into a whimpering baby.

Tony: shit, they're going to get past it!

Judging by their current speed, they would reach the bims in a second or so. but, I had no intention of letting them get anywhere near us. though they may physically be the same, the same couldn't be said for their abilities.

Solomon: Gareth, help me slow them down.

Holding up my hand, the arcane orb appeared in my grasp. wasting no time, I fueled it with a 20th of my qi. Once the meter long half lizard had formed, I sent it flying into the midst of these bugs. being made of fire, the lizard momentarily lit up the tunnel. clinging to every surface available, these bugs were madly running towards us. like a pack of starved hounds, they had no consideration for anything else.when the flame neared them, the horde momentarily paused. the bugs shrieked madly, scrambling to get away from the fire. it was almost as if even being near it caused them pain. as they briefly paused, a bang echoed through the tunnel. one of the frontmost bugs had turned instantly turned into meat paste.

Gareth: got ya!

Pulling out his gun, Gareth took the opportunity to fire at the bugs. Under the threat of Gareth's attack, the disorganised bugs started to charge again. Unluckily for them, my flame lizard had just reached the end of its course. Exploding outwards, the surroundings were bathed in flames. latching onto the nearby bugs. almost 50 of them burned to death in one go. As the bugs behind them began to charge over their comrade's charred corpses, the Bims finally exploded.

Bims: BOOOOOOOOM!

The violent explosion caused the whole tunnel to buckle, eventually collapsing onto the approaching bugs.

Tunnel: CRRRRRRK, TFFFFFFTFTFTF!

watching the greatest threat to us disappear under a mountain of rubble, relief flashed over us.

Alice: haaaagh, we've made it.

feeling the tension drain from themselves, The characters behind us suddenly collapsing to the floor. No longer being under the pressure of approaching death, they needed a moment to collect themselves.

Solomon: all right everyone, you've got a minute to collect yourselves. After that were going to have to get moving.

taking a seat on one of the platforms benches, I looked over everyone here. Smiling to myself, I was confident that we would all survive this mission.