"It's dead... right?"
Just to be sure, Charles walked carefully near the monster's corpse. He tried to kick it once... twice... but it didn't budge. It was really dead!
"WAAAAAH!"
"WOAH! SH*T! WHAT?!"
"...!"
"Aalskdjasdios!"
With Garuda's scream, every one of us was shocked out of our boots. We quickly turned to her, but she wasn't in danger or anything. There was no monster nearby either. Just as I was beginning to wonder why she raised her voice, a beautiful, joyful smile appeared on her face.
"I leveled up! I'm level 2 now!" She announced happily. "The level-up thing was real!"
I clapped my hands in congratulations for her achievement before turning to the other person who did attack the chameleon-man. "Amazing! Charles, what about you?"
"I... didn't level up." Although he sounded expectant at first, the truth of the matter was salty. "It seems like I wasn't considered to have contributed, since I didn't manage to damage it."
I turned to look at the dagger in his hand. It was a cheap dagger that can be bought at any grocery store. To think he's planning to fight with such a flimsy weapon... I guess he's not that sharp when it comes to things like this.
"Alright, Heartu, thanks for watching the back. Let's switch places now, as discussed."
The four of us were facing four different directions, with Charles' car acting as our common point. All four of us were leaning against it, keeping our blindspot as small as possible.
Although we want to celebrate Garuda leveling up, right now isn't the time for it. After all, we don't have an idea where or when a monster will pop out. Just like that, about ten minutes passed, and the parking lot remained as quiet as a graveyard.
It was so quiet that we could all hear each other's breathing. Listening to it was making me queasy, however. "Let's talk. Staying quiet is killing me."
I turned to look at the stream, and the number of viewers dropped by almost half. I'm not sure what happened to them, causing them to stop watching the stream, but whatever it was, it wasn't anything good. The rest were chatting quite lively, boasting about how they had made the safest hiding spot ever.
Others, the rare believers in holocausts, entered the panic rooms in their own homes underground. When I asked them how they could still have a signal despite being inside a concrete-sealed space, they said that there's a relay that passes through their air vents, passing wifi and radio signals safely.
It was fun learning about the situations of my viewers, and it was working on loosening the tension in the air. However, that peace didn't last for long.
*GRRRRRR!*
"...!"
When I heard a low growl, I quickly knew that there was a new monster nearby. I quickly turned my phone around, pointing its flashlight to my right while holding the actual flashlight to my left. With this, I have a wider area lit up.
"... F*ck..."
But I guess seeing a lot can be negative sometimes. Where my light pointed, there were already seven monsters walking closer at a relaxed, haunting pace.
This time's monsters were seemingly a pack of wolves! Furthermore, they weren't normal wolves, as they had four tentacles around their necks, wriggling disgustingly. And the clincher? Their size. Each one of them was large enough to almost reach the ceiling! That's like four to five meters tall!
When I found that nobody was speaking, I tried to glance in the other direction, but the situation was the same. We were surrounded by over 30 monster wolves, blocking all our escape paths!
"Sh*t! Sh*t! Sh*t! Plan B!" I quickly shouted before opening the car's door behind me. "Let's go!"
The other three moved at the same time, entering the car. Charles jumped into the driver's seat, with Garuda in his passenger seat. On the rear seats, I was sitting behind Charles, while the big guy was cramped behind Garuda.
"Floor it!"
Without letting the engine warm up first, Charles quickly went to first gear and stepped on the gas. Everyone felt the acceleration pushing us against our seats.
*AWWWOOOOOOOOOOO!*
Then, just as we passed by the wolves, one of them howled. Its voice echoed all over the parking lot, making our ears vibrate from the loud volume.
"SHUT UP, YOU BIG MUTT!"
Garuda roared as she opened her window, placing a hand out as she manipulated her flames. She didn't shoot it toward the wolves, however, but instead toward the pile of sandbags in the middle of the ramp.
*BOOOM!*
A loud explosion occurred!
Flames erupted from the location, where Garuda stocked tons of paint thinner cans. With the explosion, she now has a lot of flames she could use!
"BURN!"
Without hesitation, she split the flames as much as she could, but she could only handle five at most. It wasn't much, but it was enough to deter the wolves. Five of their brethren burned to a crisp in moments!
*SKRIIIIIII!*
Still, there's one problem.
The explosion at the ramp failed to remove the rest of the sandbags! "We can't use the ramp like this!" Charles roared in impatience.
I looked around, but there was nothing around the empty parking lot other than my motorcycle and the monsters. I was starting to panic, my mind going blank, and I was unable to think of a solution.
At that moment, Garuda's soothing voice echoed inside the car.
"Just drive around; I'll handle the rest!"
"...! As you wish, milady!" Charles didn't hesitate at all and floored it once more.
The car accelerated, touring the entire parking lot's edge, as Garuda controlled her flames to engulf the wolves one batch at a time.
*BAM!*
Of course, it's not that we're safe like this. The tentacles of the wolves were extending like some bungee and slapping the car from all over, causing it to even tilt to one side at times.
"D*mn it! My car!" Charles cursed, crying tears of blood for his car's cruel fate.
Probably due to getting distracted by the car's damage, he didn't seem to notice what was ahead. "Charles! A post—!"
But when I said my warning, it was already too late... The car smashed into the post hard, and the airbags quickly deployed. But that's for the two in the front seat.
Heartu was relatively safe since he was pretty big. He was basically immovable! I, on the other hand, who was peeking by Charles' side... flew forward, out of the windshield, and slammed against the concrete pillar.
After I heard a loud cracking noise, everything went black. My fourth death, this time, was basically instant and painless.