Solomon: all right everyone, it's time to move out!

Standing up from the ground, I called out to the others. Though I had said I'd give us a minute to recover, I had allowed everyone 10 minutes. Seeing the sorry states of the characters, I felt it was necessary. Being our guides, we needed them in their best shape. it wouldn't do to have them collapse on us,

Rob: so what now?

Since they started following us, we still hadn't explained our plan. Mainly because even in this situation they would find our wealth of knowledge suspicious. It was best to keep them in the dark and covertly direct them.

phone: ring, ring, rin

almost as if on cue, the sound of ringing made us jump slightly. reaching into his pocket, Rob pulled out his phone. reading the screen, his face flashed with worry.

Rob: hello, beth?

following the story line, Rob was receiving his call from beth. if everything was the same as the film, she would be trapped in her apartment.

Rob: hold on, calm down. where are you?

though I couldn't hear her words, the conversation was similar to the one in the film.

Rob: don't panic, I'll come get you. just wait for me. Beth? BETH?

looking at his phone screen, Rob realised he'd run out of battery.

Jason: what happened, where's Beth?

walking up to his brother, Jason began asking questions.

Rob: shit, she's in her apartment.

Lily: what, up there?!

Rob: yeah, her apartment building was smashed into by the creatures. when it started to collapse, she thinks it hit another building and stopped. At the moment, it's leaning at an angle.

Hud: why doesn't she climb down then. isn't she on the 30th floor or something?

tightening his grip on his phone, Rob's knuckles turned white.

Rob: FUCK!

throwing his phone on the ground, the glass screen shattered into pieces.

Rob: something fell on top of her when the building fell, she's pinned to the floor.

Staring down at the ground, Rob had a strained expression on his face.

Lily: what are we gonna do? we can't just leave her.

Hud: what do you mean, those creatures are up there. even if we manage to get to her building, what can we do if the creatures come for us?!

Jason: but is there really nothing we can do?

Rob: enough!

looking up at his friend's bickering, his face revealed an annoyed expression. it seemed that their fruitless arguments were irritating him. though his outburst was unlike him, it was understandable in the situation.

Rob: Solomon, I can't go with you all the way. I've got to save her.

looking at the resolute fire in his eyes, my respect for him instantly increased. being willing to risk his life for his loved ones showed his loyalty.

Jason: Bro, it's too dangerous. why don't you let the military handle it? I'm sure they're already above us right now.

still locking eyes with me, Rob waited for my answer. he knew without my consent he couldn't leave us. after all, he was only a human among superhumans. as the leader, he knew my response was crucial.

Solomon: Beth McIntyre. she's also a name on our list. other than you guys, Gareth and I had already planned on going to get her. I didn't expect you'd find her location for us. since you know where she is you can come along to find her later.

mixing truth with lie, I gave Rob my confirmation.

Jason: if that's the case, I'll go too. I can't just let me brother rush off into danger like that.

Solomon: no, you'll stay with everyone else. protecting one of you above ground will be a big enough problem, let alone two of you.

shooting down Jason, I refused to take him. not only would his presence add another weakling to protect, it was completely unnecessary. there was no logical reason to take him.

Jason: but

Rob: he's right, it's already extremely dangerous. there's no reason to put more of us in that situation.

cutting off his brother, Rob also tried to convince him.

Jason: argh, fine then. but you have to make it back, I won't accept anything else!

Rob: I wasn't planning on it happening any other way.

Pluvia: now that you're all finished arguing, can we go?

jumping into the conversation, Pluvia seemed to have reached the end of her patience. looking at the rest of the team, they were also getting a little fidgety.

Solomon: sorry about that everyone, we'll get moving now.

Having inspected the subways map, I saw that there was a fairly short detour we could take. After collapsing the northern tunnel, we had no choice but to go south. After walking for a small while southwards, we should reach a cross section. Turning left, we would head east. following that track, we could enter a mainline of the subway. this line ran the whole way up through the centre of the city. Following that line to the north, we should be able to find a military camp along the way. like us, the military would move underground. being the only safe place in the city, it was a natural outcome.

Gareth: it's settled then, let's go.

Taking the lead, Gareth ventured into the narrow tunnel. Walking in behind him, a sense of claustrophobia overwhelmed me. The unpleasant change from a wide open area to a small tunnel was uncomfortable. but bearing with it, I continued onwards. once we reached the first cross section, hopefully, the tunnel would widen. As we made our way down the tunnel, we grouped up into pairs. forming into a line, we walked side by side in these pairs. With Gareth and tony in the lead, I followed directly behind them. catching up to me, Rob walked beside me

Rob: Solomon, thank you for letting me join you.

Referring to the previous conversation, Rob thanked me.

Solomon: it's fine, having you tag along won't make that much of a difference.

trying to keep his confidence high, I didn't make much of a deal about it. though he would be a huge burden to us, it was worth the cost to have a trustworthy guide.

Rob: so, where do you guys come from?

continuing on, he started asking questions. Having already thought it through, I natural strung together a web of lies.

Solomon: we work out of a base near here, though I can't tell you exactly where.

Rob: I guessed that would be that case. Then, how come you guys are helping us? as far as I know, none of us has any connections to you.

Tilting his head to the side, he started scouring his memories. Though naturally, there was no way any of them could have met us before.

Solomon: that, is also secret. As far as we're concerned, your fates and ours are tied together. we live and die together.

though it wasn't exactly true, we would try our best to keep them all alive. being able to make so many points from each of them was more than enough reason to protect them. the reward was always proportional to the danger. for saving them all, we'd get 2500 points each. comparing it to the last mission, it was a huge increase. but it was dependant on how many were able to escape. having to avoid those creatures was the reason for the huge rewards. the mission world was made so that some could escape easily and some couldn't. it was up to us to figure out the best way to save them.

Rob: hmm, is that so? Well, it's too late to complain now. I'll just make the best of it. if you can help me save Beth, I don't care who you are.

Quieting down for a minute, he seemed to be thinking about Beth. in the past they were lovers, but currently, they had split up. when she had come to his party earlier, he had been extremely unkind to her. thinking back on it now, he was regretting his actions. Happy to remain in silence, I started thinking up some plans in my head. I was trying to thinking up ways to deal with the two creatures. later when we were getting Beth we would be within the creatures reach. if worst came to worst, I wanted to be prepared to face them. The first thing to come to mind was pitting the two of them against each other. but in the end, I gave up on it. Going beyond the sheer difficulty of trying to draw these two beasts together, there were other issues. If we did manage to make them fight, then the destruction caused by that fight would undoubtedly affect us. the battle between those two goliath sized monsters could easily destroy manhattan. That was assuming they were only the same as in the film. if they had receive buffs from the system, it wasn't an exaggeration to say they could destroy new york. If that wasn't enough on its own, the system may have already set up a precaution towards this. In the worst case, we would be put under the combined attack of two behemoths. At that point, our death would be all but assured.

Hud: oh, that was fast.

hearing hud speak from behind me, I refocused on my surroundings. standing in a dome-shaped part of the tunnel, and seeing two sets of tracks on the ground, I knew that we had arrived at the cross-section. Heading east from here would lead us straight to the main line.

Gareth: Solomon, come over here for a moment.

Calling out to me, Gareth waved me over.

Solomon: what is it?

Gareth: you hear that?

turning to face the eastern tunnel, he had a disturbed look on his face. Honing my senses to listen, I realised why. The slightly familiar noise of scuttling was coming from that tunnel. Though it wasn't quite as loud as the previous noise, it was still audible from quite a distance away. At a guess, it was a group of around 50 insects. Though it was much less than the 1000 from before, it still a lot.

Solomon: damn, this throws a wrench in our plans.

Our hope to avoid these parasites at all cost wasn't going well at the moment. Even though we knew that we could kill them easily, they were still poisonous. Not knowing how dangerous that poison was, no one wanted to test it.

Alice: what's up? Why have we stopped?

Walking over to us, Alice was clearly curious about the holdup.

Gareth: down the eastern tunnel is a group of parasites.

Hearing the simple explanation, Alice's face turned ugly.

Alice: so what now, we take another detour?

Solomon: no, we've already added a lot of time to our journey. If we add even more we'll only be exhausting ourselves before facing any real danger.

What was the point of avoiding danger now, only to be tired when facing greater danger later on? If we could get used to fighting these bugs now, then we would be at an advantage later on.

Gareth: so we're going to squash these bugs?

Solomon: that's right.

Walking back over to everyone else, Alice explained the situation to them. While she was doing that Gareth and I planned for the fight ahead.

Solomon: I'm sure you've already sensed it, but something's off about these enemies.

Since the battle with them earlier, there was a niggling thought in the back of my head. Why were these insects so weak. It was common knowledge that in missions, the system would mould the enemies strength based on the participant's power. Even if we had a few newbies with us, the balance was way off.

Gareth: yeah, this is way too easy.

Solomon: well, let's leave it aside for now. There's no use in speculating. we'll just have to deal with the problems as they arise. For now, let's prepare to fight these parasites.

No matter how much we thought about it, we wouldn't be able to make any progress. In the end, we just had to remain cautious.

Gareth: alright then, I've come up with a couple ideas.

Solomon: shoot.

Gareth: since we're still unclear about these monsters, we should remain very cautious. I think the best approach would be to pick them off from a distance.

Agreeing with him so far, I kept on listening.

Gareth: though I don't think this would be best for us overall. Other than the obvious fact that we'd be the only ones fighting, we would be no more knowledgeable about the enemy.

Solomon: true, but what other alternatives do we have?

Seeing the point in Gareth's words, I could understand his disappointment. But what could we do otherwise? To fight them straight on would be suicide for the weaker members of our team. once they were swarmed by the bugs, they would have no way to resist.

Gareth: well, I don't have a perfect solution. The best I can think of is to kill off most of them at range and experiment with a few leftovers.

Raising his shoulders, Gareth was lost at finding a better alternative. Even after thinking it over myself, there really was no easy alternative.

Solomon: I guess we'll just have to make the most out of a bad situation. For now, we'll follow your plan. being as there's only 50 of them, we can easily keep them at bay. if we face a larger group, then all of us G ranks will charge them. That way, the characters and newbies won't be at risk.

with the combined power of 4 G ranks, no amount of these bugs could overpower us.

Gareth: okay, it's sorted then.

Solomon: right.

Turning back to the group, I explained our next move.

Solomon: everyone, for now, we're going to head east.

staring blankly at me, everyone's face's fell.

Lily: you can't be serious? Those disgusting bugs are down there right?

Solomon: that's right, but we can't afford to take another detour. so we're going to head east and wipe them out.

Even after seeing our mystical powers, the characters were reluctant to travel headfirst into danger. The thought of being mauled to death by bugs was playing over in their heads. thinking about that possibility, they became even more adamant about avoiding this outcome surprisingly, it was one of their own who convinced them to trust us.

Rob: guys, I think we should listen to them.

From amidst the group of characters, Rob had spoken up. Contrary to his friends, he wanted to follow our plan.

Hud: what, are you crazy man!? Do you want to get ripped to shreds by those weird ass bugs!? Watching as they slowly rip out your intestines and eat them in front of you!

Arguing back against Rob, Hud's knack for saying inappropriate things kicked in. Looking at his own best friend, Rob felt deeply ashamed for him.

Rob: dude, too far. Anyway, do you really think these guys have a Deathwish? You saw what they did back there. They slaughtered a hundred of those bugs like they were nothing. If you ask me, it's the bugs that should be afraid.

Secretly throwing me a sidelong grin, Rob continued to emphasise our strength. Though he had exaggerated quite a bit, his friends seemed to be buying it.

Jason: yeah, that's right! As long as we have them on our side these bugs are nothing but jokes!

Seeing the instant skyrocket of morale, I was impressed with Rob's methods. He was surprisingly good at manipulating people.

Solomon; okay guys, this is how it's gonna go. Gareth, Alice, Pluvia and I are going to wipe out most of the bugs, then the rest of you will get the chance to fight the few leftovers. Don't worry though, we won't force you to fight, it's completely voluntary.

Being careful not to lower the recently gained morale, I explained the rest of the plan.

Gareth: alright then, let's head out!

Taking the lead once again, Gareth made his way into the eastern tunnel. Following behind him, I brushed past Rob.

Solomon: thanks for the help, I'll be sure to remember it.

Making sure my words were only audible to him, I conveyed my thanks. If he hadn't convinced his friends, then we would have had an issue. With no other choice, we'd have to force them. Not only would this cause the characters to once again be wary around us, but they may even use a future battle as a chance to escape. In the end, his assistance allowed us to keep the current team work together. even working as well as to improve the trust in us by the characters.

Gareth: what's this?

Having walked down the tunnel for a few dozen meters, Gareth and myself in the lead stopped abruptly. Looking at the floor and wall in front of us, we could see there was some sort of goo plastering them. Watching the undulating pink syrup, you could clearly see it oozing down the walls of the tunnel.

Solomon: this isn't good. Don't tell me this is what I think it is.

Looking at the disgusting appearance before me, my mind was screaming a single word.

Pluvia: nest.

Nonchalantly walking forwards, Pluvia stopped at the edge of the goo. taking out a combat knife from her belt, she dipped it into the pink sludge.

Tony: what are you doing?

Walking forwards, Tony, like the rest of us, was confused about Pluvia's actions.

Pluvia: testing to see if it's dangerous. if this stuff was acidic then we'd have to go around. But lucky for us, it's harmless.

As Pluvia finished her explanation, a wet tapping noise filled the tunnel. But unlike the last time, all of us could hear it.

Solomon: SHIT, there close! Get back here you two!

Shouting at Tony and pluvia, I realised something was wrong.

Gareth: we've been had.

figuring out the same thing I had, Gareth looked towards me. using the goo in front of us to dampen their noise, the parasites had hidden themselves.

pointing all of our lights at the tunnel, we illuminated the dark abyss before us. looking at the mass of writhing bodies approaching us, we knew we'd found the parasites.