The Marked; Absolute peak of Chaos

A night of terror

Kent's eyes widened as he saw the flying kick aimed at his chest. Before he could react, the kick landed, sending him flying out of the shelter.

Unfortunately, he landed in the middle of a crowd of people fighting to get inside and was almost trampled to death.

"Get your fucking leg off me!!!"

He pulled himself up with all the strength he had left, his head throbbing from the bruises.

Grimacing, he looked at his right hand. After being stomped on so heavily, it felt as though his arm had been dislocated. But almost instantly, he froze, staring at his arm in terror.

"Where is Mika?!"

He glanced toward the shelter door and saw the officer pull his head out with a wicked grin before throwing Mika out of the shelter.

"Go and die with your brother. Tell my grandma that her child is living a good life when you get to hell!!"

Kent rushed forward to catch Mika before she could hit the ground and get trampled to death. As he caught her, he gritted his teeth against the pain tearing through his right arm, which felt as though it had been dislocated. Carrying her, he hurried away from the desperate crowd.

"Ahh!!"

A loud scream came from a distance, and everyone immediately turned toward its source.

Kent squinted, trying to see more clearly. He noticed a young man staring into the darkness ahead of him, his legs shivering violently and his voice trembling.

Most people turned their attention back to finding their way into the shelter, thinking the young man was trying to distract them. However, Kent noticed something on the man's white trousers.

"Mika, can you see that?"

Mika slipped from his arms and landed on her feet, her expression tense as she turned toward where Kent was pointing.

"What are you talking about?"

"That... that full-grown man is wetting his trousers. What....."

Before he could finish speaking, the young man suddenly snapped. His body jerked backward, blood flowing from every opening on his face as one of his legs lifted off the ground.

Those who had seemed unconcerned moments earlier turned back toward him, their bodies tense as they waited to see what would happen next.

"Chop!!"

His head was severed from his body by something terrifying.

A cracking sound rang through the crowd, throwing everyone into dismay as a creature came into view, crushing the young man's head as though it were made of biscuits.

"What the hell is that creature?"

Kent's expression shifted from terror to dread as he stared at the creature. It stood nearly four meters tall, its monstrous frame rising above the chaos like a grotesque shadow given flesh.

Its back was horribly bent, the twisted ridges of its spine visible beneath its dark, stretched flesh. Its limbs were unnaturally long, hanging almost to the ground, while its elongated fingers curled like crooked claws.

Its face was barely recognizable as one. Two black, fluid-like eyes spread across its features, gleaming with an unnatural darkness. Beneath them, a wide mouth slowly parted, revealing rows of long, jagged teeth packed tightly together. Blood from the young man's head dripped from its mouth.

Turning toward the public shelter door, Kent noticed that the guards had already slammed it shut. People were pounding on the door, desperately begging to be let inside.

"Oh shit, it's going to be a long night," he thought.

He dismissed the thought and focused on the creature as it let out a loud screech, waiting for its next move.

Reacting quickly, Kent pulled Mika to the side. His eyes widened as the creature's arm stretched nearly five meters, grabbing five people at once and dragging them toward itself before severing their heads at a speed his eyes couldn't comprehend.

If he hadn't moved when he did, he and Mika could have become its victims.

"How the hell can someone survive this creature?" he shouted in frustration.

As shadows danced across the ground and people began fleeing in every direction, Kent grabbed Mika's hand and ran away from the public shelter, heading into the darkness ahead.

Unfortunately, as he glanced at the streetlight poles along the stony ground, he realized that none of them seemed to be working, making visibility nearly impossible. But despite the darkness, the screams of people behind him couldn't make him stop.

It wasn't long before he suddenly stopped with Mika, his expression darkening. It seemed something fast was approaching them.

Unsure of what it was, he held Mika tightly, preparing to flee from whatever was coming.

As he turned toward the path on his right, someone ran past them at an incredible speed, shouting, "Don't take that path. The Dreadborn has already dominated there!"

Kent couldn't figure out which path the man was referring to, whether it was the right route he had been about to take or the one the man had just fled from. With no time to think, he decided to follow the man, running after him with Mika.

The man glanced back. Seeing someone following him, his expression darkened, but he didn't slow down.

"Why are you following me, kids? Is it a sin to tell you not to pass through a route? Stop following me and find a way to survive yourself."

But no amount of warning could make Kent stop following him.

The man took a sharp turn, and Kent immediately followed without thinking. However, when he saw the man run into a dark drainage tunnel, he stopped to reconsider his decision.

As he was thinking, what he saw the next moment made his heart race.

Mika had fallen to the ground, her eyes closed.

"Mika!! Mika!! Mika!!"

Kent tapped her several times, but her eyes remained tightly shut. His eyes filled with tears.

The tears dried up almost instantly as he glared at the building across the road, his expression turning ugly.

In front of the building, the same creature he had seen at the public shelter was dragging a badly injured man who was screaming weakly.

"Please help me. Please help me. I don't want to die."

Along the stony ground, the creature dragged him toward a streetlight pole in front of the building before dropping him beside it. It let out a loud screech and began devouring his body.

Hearing the man's screams, Kent slowly picked Mika up and carried her on his back. Gritting his teeth as he held his right arm, he had no choice but to walk slowly toward the drainage tunnel, careful not to make any sound that might alert the creature to their presence.

When he reached the entrance of the tunnel, Kent gasped heavily.

"Shit!!"

With widened eyes, he looked down to see what he had stepped on that had made the loud sound he heard a moment earlier.

It was an empty soda can.

Kent immediately hurried into the tunnel as the creature abandoned its prey and charged toward them.

"I have no speed advantage against this damn creature. It is too fast."

Kent glanced to the side, his face tense. The creature had almost closed the distance between them.

With a loud screech, it launched its limbs toward him, attempting to trap him.

Luckily, a hand suddenly pulled him into a maintenance chamber just as the creature rushed past at an incredible speed.

Kent hit the ground heavily. He tried to scream in pain, but the figure that had pulled him inside quickly covered his mouth.

"If you don't want to get us killed, don't shout."

Kent mumbled beneath the figure's hand, clutching his right arm where he had landed on it.

Mika had fallen in another direction and remained unconscious.

An irritated voice came from the darkness within the chamber.

"We haven't even saved ourselves yet, and you're already burdening us with this kid? If you die, he won't even pay tribute to your damn body. What a way to die."

Kent's eyes widened as the face of the person speaking came into view.

"Fuck, I'm really unlucky today."