Near the river, two women could be seen sitting breathlessly on the ground, their breathing irregular. Their faces were panic-stricken and terrified, like those who had just narrowly escaped death.
These two women were Julia and Silvia, who had successfully fled from the giant ape that had been chasing them. They had now reached the gathering point near the river.
Although they had safely arrived at the gathering point, they realized that if it weren't for Eric diverting the ape monster towards himself, both of them would have surely died today.
Seeing such a massive ape monster, they couldn't think of a way to escape from it.
Luckily, they had Eric as their leader, who was willing to risk his life for both of them. Had they been in a group with someone else, it was certain that they would have died at the start of their expedition on the Earth's surface.
"Julia, do you think Eric will be alright?" Silvia asked anxiously.
"I hope he survives; after all, we owe our lives to him," Julia replied.
"What should we do now?" Silvia asked again.
"Let's wait; there's nothing else we can do for now," Julia answered.
Then, Julia and Silvia could only sit and rest at the gathering point, both hoping that Eric could survive the danger.
----
[Underground City of Terminus]
[Government Building: SERE]
A man in his forties was leading a meeting in a room located in the government building, accompanied by an elderly man with white hair.
The men were Asher Girdud, the head of SERE (Surface Earth Research Expedition), and Albert, a scientist from SERE.
In the meeting room, several important government officials had gathered, including the leader of the underground city of Terminus.
This meeting was likely discussing something significant, as many important officials and the leader of the underground city of Terminus were present.
"We will begin discussing our critical project, which is to make humans able to live on the surface and rebuild civilization, where humans reign supreme on Earth's surface," Asher Girdud announced to the meeting attendees.
"We will start preparing our forces and weapons to soon invade the Earth's surface. For now, we must delay and wait for information from our workers who are exploring the Earth's surface. We hope they can return safely and report important findings."
"Mr. Albert and I have estimated the forces above, but to be sure, we will wait for reports from those exploring the Earth's surface," Asher Girdud continued.
He spoke extensively about the invasion of the Earth's surface and how humanity could live there. Asher Girdud even expressed his desire for humans to become the rulers above.
After some time, the meeting concluded with several decisions agreed upon by the important officials and the leader of the underground city of Terminus.
"Mr. Albert, what do you think? Will we succeed in invading the Earth's surface, which is full of wild animals and monsters, with our current weapons?" Asher Girdud asked Albert.
"I believe our chances are very high. I just hope there are no other variables that will interfere," Albert replied.
Then the two of them quickly left the building.
----
[District Twelve, Underground City of Terminus]
In an apartment located in District Twelve, a young man with fair skin and blonde hair was sitting on the balcony of his apartment, enjoying the busy and crowded view of the underground city of Terminus with a cup of black coffee in his hand.
"Ring... ring... ring..."
"Ring... ring... ring..."
The sound of the telephone ringing could be heard from inside his apartment. The young man then walked inside and answered the ringing phone.
"Hello, Mr. Asher Girdud, Is there any important news?"
"We will soon invade the Earth's surface. You will be the commander of this invasion."
"Has the date been set?"
"Not yet, but we estimate that in about three months, we will invade. Prepare yourself, Norik Odon."
"Beep-beep-beep"
The call ended. The young man who received the call was Norik Odon, a friend of Eric.
At that time, Eric had invited Norik to explore the Earth's surface, but he declined. Who would have thought that Norik would become the leader of the invasion of the Earth's surface.
Norik then returned to his balcony and continued drinking his black coffee while looking at the view of the underground city of Terminus.
"This city will soon become prehistoric, and humanity will live on the surface," Norik said as he gazed at the view of the underground city of Terminus.
Norik couldn't help but think of his friend Eric, who was working as an explorer of the Earth's surface.
Surface explorers were subjects of experimentation by SERE. If successful, they would rejoice; if not, it would only slightly hinder their plans to invade the Earth's surface.
It was said that the Earth's surface had abundant and inexhaustible resources.
However, the underground city of Terminus could no longer accommodate and sustain its inhabitants. Food supplies were becoming difficult to meet.
"I wonder how you are doing, my good friend. I hope you can return safely," Norik said as he stared at the ceiling of the underground city of Terminus.
----
[Earth's Surface]
Time passed slowly as death approached, and the giant ape slowly walked towards me as I lay on the ground. I had resigned myself to my fate, hoping only for a quick and painless death.
As I awaited my impending death, the sound of barking suddenly drew near.
"Grrr bark bark."
"Grrr bark bark."
The barking grew louder. "Is there another monster coming to eat me?" I muttered to myself.
"It seems my luck is even worse; I'm becoming a contested meal among these monsters!" I cursed inwardly.
I then kept my eyes closed, not wanting to see another monster. It was enough that I had encountered the giant ape.
"Grrr... Grrr... Grrr..."
The giant ape's growl sounded angry, as if something were disturbing it. I then heard the sound of footsteps moving away from me towards the barking.
"Am I safe?" I wondered, but it was hard to believe I could be saved.
Although the ape monster moved towards the barking, it would return quickly. If I were in better condition, I would confidently escape.
But my right leg seemed broken, and my left leg, which had previously healed, hurt again. There was no hope for me to run away.