Rapid, repetitive stepping noises could be heard outside. Needless to say, they were all from the people running amok. Besides, Jogrin could tell how many "panicked" presences were right behind the iron door.
It was then that it struck him: he'd made a terrible blunder. He let his past got the better of him and assumed the two soldiers were "ruthless" that he mentioned.
Fear of the unknown was nothing out of the ordinary. Being the unknown himself, Jogrin understood their feelings. Perhaps... those other Darkians were having similar emotions when confronting Jogrin. Alas, he would never know, as he wasn't able to perceive emotions before he arrived at this new planet.
Despite that, the level "panic" in Proxer just now was strangely low, and somehow, most of it weren't directed towards Jogrin himself, it appeared. In other words, the reason behind Proxer running away wasn't because he was intimidated, but for a whole different reason.
He looked at the steadfast iron door with some small bars that allowed seeing through, and pondered.
'I have to get out of here and apologize to those two... and Proxer.'
A thought came into mind after a few seconds.
...
The hallways were blinking in red. Even if someone didn't know what exactly went down, they'd still follow the crowd of people who were in a panic, like a sheep in a herd.
In this case, however, everyone in the military hospital knew precisely just what the alarm indicated.
The unknown identity that hailed from beyond the stars was going rampant.
"Stop! Please calm down everyone!" Proxer's plead fell on deaf ears once again, which was to be expected. One couldn't expect that words alone would be able to calm down a crowd of individuals who were unanimously in a panic.
Feeling hopeless to put the impending catastrophe to a halt, Proxer stood on his feet, as he gazed bleakly at the soldiers', doctors', and nurses' back going further and further away from him.
As a trusted Commander, Proxer felt as if he was an insignificant nobody under this circumstance.
'No, I'm a Commander. I have to act like one, or else I'd just be shirking my responsibilities.'
Proxer decisively turned his body and made a dash back to the cubicle he came out from. He knew exactly what was about to take place according to the military protocol: termination. He couldn't possibly let that kind of fate befall Jogrin.
He was reminded of the face of a friend, of a comrade, whose voice he couldn't hear anymore. He couldn't possibly let something similar happen to Jogrin.
"Darotr..." A name came out of his mouth.
As he continued to dash down the hallways and ran up the stairs, only melancholy could be seen from his expression.
'Maybe I shouldn't have placed my comrades inside the room after all.'
Proxer also felt remorseful about his decision, but there was no time to dwell on what'd already occurred. The imperative thing now was to save Jogrin from danger.
The barrage that was about to rain down would be so heavy that even Jogrin's healing ability might not be able to keep up.
"Jogrin! Listen to me! I'll get you out of here, before any harm comes to you! I swear I will! Do you hear me?!"
Proxer yelled at the top of his lungs as he banged on the door.
"The key! Where is it?! Damn it!!" He was in a hurry, but it was because of that that his thoughts process became disorderly, causing his inability to find the correct key to the iron door. He kept rummaging on and on, until eventually he found the right key.
In his panicked state, it took several tries to correctly fit the key into the keyhole.
"Come on! Jog-"
To his consternation, Jogrin was nowhere to be seen in the room. The next thing he noticed, the window was opened. In that moment, he knew what Jogrin had done.
"Jogrin!!" He stuck his head out of the window and looked for the scrawny boy who'd supposedly jumped off the building in the now empty parking lot. However, he was completely flabbergasted by the fact that, Jogrin was standing right next to the building, totally unscathed. He looked up at Proxer, expressionless as ever.
'How- Can his healing let him survive a fall from a place as high as this?! No... Now that I think about it, every single one of his bones were intact even after the crash landing, only the area where it was pierced by the log wasn't...'
Still impressed by Jogrin highly potent healing ability, Proxer's jaw almost dropped to the ground, but then, something else caught his attention.
The soldiers, who were escaping just moments ago, were all in full gear, approaching the hospital.
The soldiers were trained to be efficient fighters that could respond to any emergencies at any given time. Therefore, just within 7 minutes, the military hospital was surrounded by them. Some on the ground, some hovering in the air.
Jogrin turned around upon seeing Proxer's pale expression. Soon after, several helicopters appeared from both sides of the hospital. Proxer's expression became even paler, and immediately rushed downstairs to where Jogrin was.
'That's not what's in the protocol! What are they thinking?!'
Despite being short of breath, he didn't have the time to stop and rest, because he couldn't allow Jogrin to suffer the imminent barrage of attacks.
"Jogrin! Run!!!" As soon as he saw the side of Jogrin's body while running to the spot where he was standing, he yelled at Jogrin, but even with a panicked warning, Jogrin didn't seem pay it any mind and stared blankly at the soldiers hovering in the air.
'...'
A thought suddenly came across Proxer. If Jogrin wasn't running away, that'd mean he'd either be too scared to move... or he was going to engage with the soldiers. Looking at his expression, it didn't seem like the former...
With his unknown powers, who knew what he'd do to them?
"Jogrin... Don't act recklessly, and just follow my lead, got it?" He urged Jogrin, having no other choice.
"Follow your lead? Not possible. There's something up with them."
"What do you mean by that?"
"'Emotional perception' is picking up something strange."
Proxer only got more confused. As he was about to pursue for more answers, he heard furious roars from the soldiers.
"KILL HIM! KILL HIM!!!"
It was unbelievable that the usually disciplined soldiers would act like this.
"There's one thing I do want to tell you, Proxer." Jogrin gazed at Proxer sincerely.
"Huh?"
"I'm sorry for earlier. That was uncalled for."
"There's no time for that! Just get behind me!"
With that, Proxer stood in front of Jogrin and spread out his arms. He was gritting his teeth, his arms shaking, in anticipation of the bullets and missiles about to be fired.
However, in the very next moment, he felt himself being pulled back. Unable to maintain balance, he toppled over and fell to the ground.
"I wasn't done yet." Jogrin looked down at him, casting his shadow on Proxer. "I'll have to apologize for this in advance. This is so that you don't actually throw up."
"Huh? What are you- URGH!!"
Before he knew it, Proxer felt Jogrin's foot on his abdomen. And suddenly, a tremendous force compressed on his abdomen via the foot. A sharp pain coursed through his body.
Before he could throw up, he blacked out.
Upon witnessing what Jogrin did to Proxer, the soldiers became extremely enraged and yelled even more intensely, then pulled the triggers.
With the ear-splitting shots being fired sporadically, which sounded as if the sky was rendering, destruction would immediately follow.
Despite that, Jogrin seemed surprisingly calm.