Mark felt something wrong just as something flew past his face. He reached up to feel the blood flowing from the small cut on his face and frowned at it. He shined his flashlight over to the estimated area where the creature had flown off to and froze at the dozen or so yellow eyes looking back at him and his company.
"Don't make any sudden moment" Mark cautioned his allies but it was something that was easier said than done. While Alan and Mark were better trained to not show their reaction, Rika was not that trained yet.
It knew even before he owned his mouth that the female had flinched and he had been too late.
As one the yellow eyes moved in their direction, the flurry in their moment much more prominent in the dark now.
"Run and shoot'' Mark commanded as he shot a dozen or so monsters that had made it closer to them. Since it was still early not many of them had registered their presence and were lethargic.
Those were the easy targets and once they registered their presence, Mark was sure that they would be a nuisance in their own right.
Alan reacted right as he voiced his opinion, the female now placed right between them for protection as they shot the monsters down.
However, the monsters were beginning to pick up in speed and awareness now which made the task incredibly difficult to achieve. At this rate, they would not make it out without half of their skin melted off.
Another blotch of poison hit his clothes and he had never been more thankful for the metallic additions on his clothes. But that did not make him immune to things overall - their hands and face were still vulnerable.
Not to mention Rika, who had the least convenient clothes on for such a journey. How was she considered one of the smartest people in this game universe again? Certainly, Mark had a hard time believing it all.
"Ah, it burns" the female voice made them aware that they were not doing a good job of protecting the female at all.
He himself was ignoring the burning feeling that was building up since any time he stopped shooting, it gave these monsters a rough time to crowd around them.
"Alan, check for a checkpoint, I'll cover for us" they had no other choice but to regroup and rethink their options.
If he had been alone or with Alan only, he was sure that they would have braved this problem somehow but Rika was a liability on her own right now.
"I can't right now" the teen replied and more gun fires reached his ears. He knew that it would not be possible for the other but he had hoped that the other could take some time to look at the map.
But now he had to think of an alternative, one he was not really looking forward to but this was the only option left.
"Miss Jones, you know how to operate your system?" Mark asked, more than aware that she had to have one if she was able to get out of the base.
"I know a little but I'm not an expert in electronics. I'm more inclined toward biosciences and other categories of research-"
"-that's enough. I'll send you a party invite which you need to accept. Then look at the map and guide us toward a shining spot on it, green shining spot" Mark made his explanation as swift as he could.
It was difficult to focus on sending her a party invite while in the middle of a fight but the mental task was much more doable than physical labour. The monsters were getting swiffer now, their small form getting better at dodging his fires.
"Do I just accept? There is no procedure?" the female questioned and it really got on his nerves. Why did she have to question everything right now? Was she incapable of following orders?
"Just press accept," Marl yelled, not being able to keep his voice down at all. The female flinched at his voice, her body shrinking over herself and she was shaking too. He wanted a refund on her, just this once.
Why was she so problematic?
"I, I did it. T-the green z-zone is that way?" Not only was her voice hesitant but it was shaking too. Once again, Mark found himself dumbfounded at her ignorance.
Was she really expecting them to look at her in this dangerous situation? They were one step away from certain and cruel doom and yet the female failed to exercise her mental power.
"Miss Jones, we can't exactly see where you are pointing us. You need to physically speak to guide us" thankfully, Alan corrected her, his tone flat and yet somehow coming off gentler than Mark's own.
Must be because he was still a child.
"Ah, sorry. We need to head left, no straight and then left" her voice did not sound confident at all which made Mark regret asking her to do this but he began to move in the direction she was pointing at.
He hit the wall after some time, his back facing the space which restricted his moments.
"Weird, the m-map says it's r-right here. I'm sorry" she sounded panicky now and Mark was not sure what to make of it.
On one hand, she sounded sure that this was the place that the map was pointing at and on the other, nothing physically existed here at all.
And there was also the fact that they had been surrounded on all sides by those monsters now with no way to escape at all. His back felt raw with the stone poking it but his eyes could only see the danger right in front of him.
He was prepared to face the army of monsters on his own, his last stand even but the shaking behind him tilted the world on its axis.
His centre of vision turned away from the monsters to the stony roof and Mark let out a small curse. Similar sentiments sounded around him which made him more than aware that he was not the only one who was facing this problem.
Was this the end then? The end of his long and suffering life?
He closed his eyes in resignation, the monsters were almost on them now and he knew that any second could be his last moment now.
And then a ding sounded in his ears and he reluctantly opened his eyes to have a look. There were no monsters around them, their own selves wet inside the low levelled lake they had found themselves in.
Mark looked around himself and registered the small opening to be no bigger than the one they had rescued Rika from. Because he could see no one around himself, he took the chance to have a look at the system screen.
And his body sagged in relief all of a sudden.
They had made it, made it a safe point.
He was not sure what had caused the wall behind to crumble and allow them passage toward the checkpoint but he had never been more grateful for a stroke of luck.
The fall was small but it did leave its impact on his body. Already he could feel his ribs ache at the impact of the fall but he could tell that they were not broken yet.
His companions seemed to be coming around, Kuro being the only one unharmed, her tone cheeky as she rubbed herself against his body.
He picked her up and her smug expression made him more than aware just who had triggered the wall to crumble.
"You saved our lives this time, Kuro. I'll reward you well as soon as we get back home" Mark petted her affectionately and the feline seemed to happily absorb all his praises. But he released much sooner than he would have liked and she protested it too.
But he did not have time to play around with her.
They were still trapped inside the place and will have to break out eventually. He was not sure if they would be able to survive another wave of those horrible monsters should they encounter them.
He checked over the other two and they seemed to be suffering nothing major. But he still did not take any chances, taking out all the healing stuff available to him and healed the visible wounds he could see.
It took some time for them to come around and he took this time to go over the map. It was really tiresome work but by the time everyone was aware, Mark had the basic formation of a plan he came up with.
Now all he had to do was to not screw up and pray that Rika would be able to keep up.
"Ouch, it hurts" the female voice came and it attracted Mark's attention at once and he made his way over to them and wordlessly handed her the tonic which she gulped without question.
"So, I might have a plan" Mark started and got an understanding look from Alan in return. The teen really knew him the best.