Chương 276: 6.53

The ground exploded behind us as we ran. Rocks flew everywhere. I focused on my steps, maintaining my balance as the earth buckled. This must be the Corebrings' doing, for who else could that arm belong to? I picked up a curious scent—burning flesh mixed with something else. Danger. That was what my brain told me. How the fuck was I smelling danger as a concept? My jaws itched as my fangs lengthened. My heart raced, pumping blood laced with adrenaline throughout my system.

My muscles blazed with energy and I was itching for a fight. What was happening? I didn't get hit or anything. I stole a glance over my shoulder. A man climbed out of the ground, pushing off huge chunks of earth as he did so. His body gave off steam like a smoke machine at a rock concert. Didn't I think about a rock concert earlier? The Corebring was completely naked. No clothes. No skin. He must've lost them when he squeezed into this place, but he was now regenerating. I hadn't heard of this guy before.

What were his powers? Exiting people's mouths? It was bullshit that everyone had teleportation of some kind. All I could do as Blanchette was become a giant werewolf. Actually, I was starting to transform. My arms were hairy when I reached the edge of the clearing where Mark congregated with the rest of the Adumbrae. Was my body reacting to the threat the Corebring posed?

"Why are we still here?" Marathon Geezer demanded.

"I need to return to Yellow Island! My children—""No one is going to Yellow Island," Mark said.

"We will cut it off. Save our most important investments while sacrificing the rest. As long as the laboratories of Yellow Island survive, we can rebuild and continue our fight against the Corebrings."

"We'll fight the Corebrings, but not now," Marathon Geezer said.

"When is the teleport coming? That bastard will attack us!" He pointed at the Corebring that had fully regenerated. Naked Dude was tall and muscular but had no other distinctive features. No blades or wings or party poppers sticking out his behind. Nothing visible that'd show how dangerous he was… other than the fact he crawled out of a corpse's mouth buried like twenty feet below the ground. Facing our way, he broke into a run. Heading towards us with no hesitation meant he was certain he could take us on.

What to do? I wasn't sure if I could survive Naked Dude long enough to power up into my giant werewolf form. Better not try. Stick with the 2Ms until we could escape. I was forced by the circumstances to be on their side. When it came down to it, I'd use them as bait. They were probably thinking the same thing about sacrificing me. Mid-tier Corebrings, I could probably handle if I was fully transformed. Stronger ones could turn me into a fur rag. The backup plan was offering to join their side.

Work for them or something. Auntie Dora could vouch for me, right? This won't be the end of my story, I promised myself, gritting my fangs.

"Waves are still syncing after Yellow Island was removed from the network," Mark said.

"Teruna, buy us several seconds. A minute, if possible."

"That might be… impossible," replied Tracksuit Man with a click of his tongue. He made pushing motions in the air. Entire slabs of the ground rose into walls that blocked Naked Dude. He busted through them without slowing down. Tracksuit Man continued waving his arms like conducting a choir. Boulders rose out of the grassy field and aimed for Naked Dude from the sides. Naked Dude stopped to punch them. Why stop to do that? He was fine attacking things head-on.

Probably because he didn't weigh much such a force could fling him away. Naked Dude resumed his charge. Tracksuit Man frantically pushed spikes out of the ground to throw Naked Dude away. But the stupid Corebring suddenly sped up, turning into a blur as he evaded the spikes. In desperation, Tracksuit Man grunted as he belabouredly pushed up in the air, erecting a massive wall in front of us. The wall exploded. The next time I blinked, Naked Man had punched through it. We locked eyes. His face was impassive.

The other Adumbrae reactively covered Mark but none had gone for Naked Dude. I lunged forward and swiped at the Corebring, thinking, wow, I'm really doing this? First time for everything. Naked Dude raised an arm to block me. My claws broke as they met his skin. The fuck? The shock of the impact went up my arm. Unbelievably hard, this bastard! He threw a punch. I leaned back to avoid it, fighting the part of me that wanted to check how hard a could Corebring hit. A whistling sound.

The wind from the punch sliced off my fur. Taking advantage of the millisecond opening, Tracksuit Man raised the ground where Naked Dude stood in a snap, flinging him up before he could strike again. As Naked Dude was in mid-air, I hopped up and slapped him away. If we can't damage him, at least we can throw him away! He felt so damn dense as my hand connected again with his body. More claws broke. Also, my arm bone. I observed Naked Dude arching across the air and crashing far from us.

Not once did he change his odd expression or cry out in pain. Hunger gnawed at me—he hurt me. To be more accurate, I hurt myself trying to hurt him. This was the real deal, wasn't it? Excitement for a real fight tickled me. But there was also apprehension. Why did it feel like this was a more dangerous situation than getting nuked underground?

"How much longer?" croaked Marathon Geezer.

"A few seconds," said Mark.

"Thank you for your help, Erind Hartwell."

"Ghraorgh…" I grumbled, looking down at him. I was now two feet taller than before.

"A few seconds, I shall grant!" Tracksuit Man gestured at Naked Dude, who had gotten on his feet and charged at us again. The soil in Naked Dude's path became liquid and formed waves to cover him as he began to sink into the ground. A couple of seconds later, there was a huge island of brown, freshly dug-up ground in the sea of green grass. No more Naked Dude. But we have already seen that getting buried wouldn't stop this guy. The ground rumbled. My feet had turned into giant paws could feel the vibrations.

Naked Dude didn't pop right back up, deciding instead to tunnel below us like a mole. My keen hearing honed in on his heartbeat—he didn't feel fear or pressure. Naked Dude was confident he'd win. The other Adumbrae also stared at the ground; I could smell their anxiety at the Corebring hunting us. Stolen story; please report. I want to eat this piece of shit who hurt me though he was tougher than a tank. But there was also some hesitation. He was stronger than me. I wasn't denying that.

This wasn't like the first few times I turned into Blanchette that feral rage engulfed the little rationality I had. Dammit, being cautious felt icky. However, there was just something different when up against a Corebring. Was SpookyErind doing something inside me? There was turmoil. Some laughter rang in my ears. Also cursing and ranting. Was I hallucinating that?

"You shouldn't have buried the Corebring, Teruna!" Marathon Geezer yelled. He held different colored slugs in his hands. Was he going to throw them at Naked Dude? I doubted they'd do anything.

"I became an Adumbrae to live long, not die like prey to some exhibitionist asshole! It's much better if I simply waited for old age to claim me!"

"Shouting doesn't help," Mark said as he pressed buttons on a phone-looking thing. He tried to sound calm but he was also stressed.

"How many seconds have I already bought?" Tracksuit Man stomped the ground, causing more quakes. My guess was he kept reinforcing the ground beneath us.

"Enough," Mark replied. A hand punched through the soil six feet to my left. I didn't detect he was already here. I was raring to jump on Naked Dude when we were suddenly in a different place.

"Thank the Mother Core!" Marathon Geezer knelt on the ground in relief as he still held his slugs.

"The Mother Core?" Tracksuit Man calmly asked, regaining his composure from the slight panic of possible death.

"That doesn't sound appropriate to invoke as an Adumbrae."

"Force of habit," Mister said.

"It wasn't too long when I was a human." I looked around. We were in the middle of a large compound surrounded by buildings a few stories tall each. The structures looked to have been abandoned for some years. Shattered windows, peeling paint, and cracks on their façade. Vines blanketed them in green.

"Eroarrgh?" I asked. Where are we? Even though Wormy Two was left behind, likely squished by Naked Dude, I didn't need a translator for my question.

"We're on Red Island," Mark said.

"If I'm not mistaken, this is where you gained access to our base of operations. My predecessors have built these." He pointed at the buildings.

"We have moved to Yellow Island now after our teleportation system was completed. This is where we'll escape." Red Island? Deen should be around here unless she also got teleported somewhere else. It might be safest to stay here, so I hoped her Guardian Angel kept her here.

"Is it supposed to be this quiet?" Mister wondered.

"No," Tracksuit Man said. He pressed something on the watch on his wrist. Static.

"Something's wrong." I raised my furry hand and pointed a claw up. They all looked at me. My ears wiggled as I picked up the sound of something disturbing the wind as it fell. Above us. Blood and flesh. A small object was coming, landing with a splat on the ledge of a building, before rolling off and falling to the ground. Strings Woman grabbed it with her strings to make it face us. It was a severed head.

"Crackling Joe," Mark said.

"The Corebrings are here." I growled as I turned around, sensing a presence behind us.

"There you are!" A man dressed in blue robes like some mage in a fantasy book stepped on the edge of the roof. The only thing missing was a flowing white beard. He carried with him a headless body—this must be Crackling Joe. Given that dumbass alias, it was fine he died. Beardless Mage threw the corpse at us.

"I was looking for where to return this—what?" Someone appeared behind him. Someone with a fist bigger than his body. This newcomer punched Beardless Mage, sending him into the forests outside the compound.

"Boss Mark!" Big Fist was on our side. Our side? So, I was really joining them?

"Bludgeon, what's the status?" Mark called.

"Corebrings showed up out of fucking nowhere a couple of minutes ago!" Big Fist replied. Admittedly, his true alias, Bludgeon, sounded much cooler.

"Crackling Joe is dead. They also got—" The head of Big Fist slid off his neck. Tracksuit Man was already running with Mark over his shoulder before Big Fist's head dropped. The rest of the Adumbrae followed Tracksuit Man out of the compound and into the woods as invisible blades sliced chunks of the buildings around us. I could barely see them—they were more like compressed air rather than the strings of Strings Woman.

Since my only other option was getting cut down without even facing my enemy, I also followed Tracksuit Man and easily caught up with them. As we reached the forest, we passed signs of battle: deep furrows on the ground, fallen trees, spreading fire, and body parts of both humanoids and monsters. Mark ticked off the names of his fallen subordinates. Then he cheered when we passed a half-shredded body.

"That's Tumnus!" Mark exclaimed.

"We got one of them!" That was a Corebring? And here were more. My senses alerted me to several people on our trail. They were catching up fast. And they were damn strong; again, my body was reacting before getting hit. If each of these Corebring assholes were as strong as Naked Dude, I was fucked. Stay with Mark or leave them? I could run much faster but chose to stay because I didn't know where to go. Given that staying seemed to be the more dangerous option, I should go my own way and maybe find Deen.

I veered left.

"Red Hood! Where—?" Tracksuit Man yelled. I didn't get to hear the rest of what he'd say because explosions shut him up. The Corebrings reached them. As the star of an action movie, I didn't look back at the explosion. I dropped to all fours and ran as fast as I could. Or galloped? Do all four-legged creatures gallop or only those with hooves? Why was I thinking of random bullshit while getting chased by Corebrings? I sensed that three broke off from the rest to chase me. Not good. Worse, someone was ahead of me.

The three Corebrings herded me to their stronger buddy. Since there was 'worse,' there was bound to be 'worst'. An overwhelming presence that made me stop breathing enveloped me. I just knew I'd lose to this guy. I immediately stopped running and willed myself to deflate. Calm thoughts. No murderous intent. Calm thoughts in the face of death. This was sort of fun, actually. The Corebrings didn't attack me. The three behind stayed some distance away. The one in front slowly walked toward me.

Lastly, the unfairly strong Corebring was above, projecting an oppressive aura. After I returned to my base Blanchette form, I felt around my chin for the edge of my face and pulled it off. The next moment, the strength of Blanchette left me and I was back to my adorable self. I no longer felt the power of whoever asshole was hiding up there, but there was still a sort of suffocating atmosphere.

"Erind Hartwell, we've heard about you." The strongass Corebring dropped down on the ground. He stood at twice my not-so-impressive height, the Corebring was very slender with disproportionally long neck and limbs. Overlapping plates of bones and a metallic material protected his thin body in a hard-to-understand pattern. His face was covered by a smooth mask with no holes. The skin not covered by armor was bright red, like the distracting lipstick of Aunt Jemma.

"Yeah, I didn't know I was so famous," I said, glancing at his mask. There was a number on it—eleven. I chewed my tongue, holding back curses at the world for my supreme bad luck.

"You're Thirteen, I presume?"

"The one and only," he said, waving his freakish hand.

"How did you know about me? From Euphonia?"

"Yes, she was quite talkative about you after she failed a mission," Thirteen replied.

"Are you angry that someone you knew sold you out for another chance at life?"

"Not really," I said, shrugging.

"Sounds like she's saving me. So, are you giving me a job?"

"It's not me who decides." Thirteen twisted back almost a full one-eighty to look at the approaching Corebring. This new dude carried a large door. Thirteen grabbed this door and set it in front of me. The familiar ringing of bells began and the door to nowhere opened.