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墨書 Inktalez
Jack noticed that I suddenly let go of my prey and immediately asked, "What's wrong?"
I swallowed hard, moistening my dry throat from the tension, but I didn't answer him. Instead, I turned on the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight.
The flashlight moved slowly through the darkness, tearing it apart and then returning it to the shadows. Suddenly, I turned off the flashlight. I felt something was off; it wasn't that there was something in the dark, but rather that the environment had changed. Even if there was something in the darkness, I wouldn't be able to sense it.
My eyes shifted to the brightest spot—the bonfire—and I instantly understood what had caused my unease. The flames were moving.
I approached; there was no wind here, no air movement, and the bonfire burned steadily. But now, it seemed as if a breeze was blowing, causing the flames to flicker—not violently, but chaotically.
I couldn't feel any wind, yet I knew there had to be a reason for the flickering flames.
"There's something," I replied briefly to Jack.
The bonfire illuminated its surroundings brightly, yet I saw nothing nearby. Jack and I had our backs turned as we dragged our prey, facing the direction of the fire. If something large appeared in that direction, we wouldn't have missed it.
A sudden sense of danger compelled me to turn and face the Underground River.
A massive figure loomed at the riverbank with two blood-red eyes glaring at me. Although the firelight didn't clearly illuminate the creature, it still revealed its violent demeanor. The bloodlight from its eyes seemed capable of scorching through the air.
I estimated that Jack couldn't rush out to engage it in close combat anymore. Still shaken by this realization, I didn't wait for Jack to react; I raised my AK-47 assault rifle. With a bang, I fired at the Blood-Eyed Monster's head. A spray of green and white matter exploded outward. The towering creature, over two meters tall, collapsed like a pile of meat with its bones removed—silent and lifeless on the ground.
It wasn't until my gunshot rang out that Jack realized there was danger at the riverbank. He glanced at the fallen monster and widened his swollen eyes as much as he could manage: "Looks like the one I took down isn't the one you saw initially. We're in big trouble now."
I shot him an angry glare: "You should have run when you had the chance; now look what you've gotten us into. Enough talk—let's get out of here."
With that, I turned and ran toward the bonfire.
As if waiting for my reaction, two shadows suddenly appeared in front of the fire just as I took my first step. With their backs to the flames, two pairs of Crimson Eyes glowed eerily against the firelight. These two Monsters were very close to the bonfire; their Long-Tailed forms almost brushed against it. Clearly, they weren't afraid of fire.
I had no idea how many there were, but judging by their presence, they were a social species. I couldn't expect Jack and me to take them all down; escaping would be a blessing. However, we couldn't just abandon our backpacks and run naked—that would be akin to signing our own death warrants. Our supplies were all in those two backpacks, especially the batteries. We had to get our bags back.
Jack was clearly stunned by the appearance of the two Monsters in front of the bonfire; he cursed loudly and prepared to charge forward.
I shouted angrily, "Get down! Don't make things worse for me."
The teammate, lacking any sense of camaraderie, crouched down in shock.
I didn't stop my pace; I kept running forward while firing two quick shots. At this close range, unless I was drunk, my marksmanship was well above ten rings. The two monsters fell to the ground as expected amidst the gunfire. One of them collapsed directly into the campfire, extinguishing half of it.
Jack and I reached the fire pit one after the other and grabbed our backpacks, only to realize we were surrounded. Many blood-red eyes appeared faintly around the fire; they were hard to spot as long as they remained crouched on the stalactites. The glowing eyes were their most obvious feature, easily revealing their presence.
However, I had just taken down three monsters in a short time, creating enough deterrence that these Crimson Eyes monsters stayed hidden in the darkness, reluctant to show themselves. But their tails were long; even if they hid among the stalactites on the ceiling, their tails could still threaten us. It seemed like those tails hung down from above the campfire, striking swiftly and powerfully before disappearing again, making it hard for us to defend ourselves.
One tail whipped against my back, nearly breaking my bones. I lay on the ground, muzzle pointed up as I searched for the Crimson Eyes. I dared not sweep my AK-47 upwards; I feared being crushed by falling stalactites. Jack fared a bit better; he could shoot freely at the ceiling. However, with his Micro Submachine Gun's limited firepower, only a few splatters of green blood fell from above without bringing down a single Blood-Eyed Monster.
Fortunately, Jack's barrage of bullets drove off some of the monsters clinging to the ceiling, giving us a brief moment to breathe.
Jack and I lay on our backs facing each other on the ground. I wasn't sure who adopted this position first and couldn't tell if he had also been struck by a monster's tail. We both knew we faced a tricky problem: we couldn't stand up and run.
The area above us was temporarily safe, but as soon as we left this spot, we risked being struck dead by those whip-like tails at any moment.
Jack's right arm was useless; he could only shoot with one hand and reload with his left.
Watching him awkwardly change magazines made me laugh. "You're going to have to use your left hand when flying planes too."
Jack looked confused and asked, "Huh?"
I made an inappropriate gesture.
A lewd smile appeared on Jack's swollen face. "I already use my left hand."
I nearly burst out laughing; I couldn't tell if this American guy was joking or serious.
"Boss, which way should we run?"
Damn it. Hearing that made me want to spit at him. When did he ever treat me like a boss? Right now, there was no way to run in any direction; standing up meant risking death at any moment. But since he asked, I pointed out a direction; after all, if we could run, that would be the way I'd choose.
"Run downstream."
"Okay, I'll cover you while you put out the campfire, and then we'll run."
"Are you serious? Do we really need to put out the fire? What are you worried about? That it lights our way? Do you think they discovered us because of the firelight?"
"No, I think they found us because of the campfire. The last time you noticed these things was because of the fire. They aren't afraid of flames; no animal is afraid of fire unless it uses it."
I felt those words spinning in my head for a while before I understood what Jack meant.
"You think they can use fire? There's no trace of fire here! How is that even possible?"
"Don't you think they're after this fire?" Seeing my disbelief, Jack added, "You go put out that fire and see how they react. Then you'll know if my judgment is correct."
(To Be Continued)
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