28 Run!!

Not only Arion, the other six youngsters also stopped their training and frowned upon noticing that the whole earth was shaking. Their expressions became grave as the rumbling began to sound louder and louder till even their bodies started shaking.

Arion wondered if this violent shaking was an earthquake. Because if it was then, he knew that he had to get out of this place quickly unless he wanted to get swallowed up by the earth.

Then he felt that those were just exaggerated things shown in movies, and in the real world, the earth wouldn't open up during an earthquake.

"Quickly, run! I will get Arion! Call the seniors for help!" Cayden immediately shouted as he ran towards the confused Arion.

The others with scared expressions began to run towards their homes and see if there was any expert still sitting around. Otherwise, today would end up being the most dreadful day of their lives!

"Hey, Cayden, what's wrong?!" Arion was only getting more surprised after hearing Cayden's shout.

'Get help for what? Oh wait...it can't be…' Arion suddenly remembered some terrifying details about the Dreadlings in his memories which he had almost forgotten since such things never mattered to a disabled person like him, nor did he ever witness any such things in his whole life.

"It's the Dreadlings!!" Cayden agitatedly shouted as he quickly reached Arion and immediately steered his wheelchair as he ran at his maximum speed in the opposite direction.

Arion had a stunned expression and didn't even notice himself getting dragged away by Cayden.

'Dreadlings? No...it can't be…' Arion's heart began to thump louder, wondering things are going to turn out for the worst.

But the events that followed only made Arion more apprehensive. Cracks began to appear on the ground as the rumbling intensified.

"Shit, how are they coming here??" Cayden mumbled in a terrified tone as he continued to run along with Arion by pushing his wheelchair.

Cayden found it hard to run because of the constant shaking of the earth, and his eyes widened when the cracks began to spread at an insane speed and even passed through his feet.

Arion tried to calm himself down by collecting his thoughts since he knew panicking more wouldn't help him in any way. But then, thinking about his own condition, he wondered what he could even do in such a state.

He was completely helpless!

If it were not for Cayden dragging him away, he might have even injured himself by falling on the ground due to the violent shaking.

He couldn't help but feel gratitude for Cayden since not everyone would be willing to save a disabled person during a disaster. He could even see the other five youngsters turning back occasionally to see if they both were alright.

However, this time when they looked back, their eyes widened as they shouted, "Cayden, Arion, look out!!"

Cayden didn't stop running and twisted his head around. But suddenly, the earth violently shook as crevices opened up, making Cayden and Arion lose their balance, thus making them fall to the ground.

"Ugh...damn it…" Arion got thrown off his wheelchair and hit his elbow as he fell on the ground. The stinging pain stemming from his elbow made him wonder if he broke his arm.

Cayden quickly got up on his feet right after he fell on the ground. At the same time, everyone, including Arion, saw something terrifying emerging out of those crevices.

An eight-legged humongous body with tentacles on its head climbed out from the crevices. It seemed no different than the giant scary spiders Arion had seen in horror movies, and indeed, it looked scary with dark scales around its body and was about one meter long.

'A Dreadling! Impossible...how could they be here?!' Arion inwardly shouted.

All of them stood frozen in their spots as if they were staring at a creature they had only seen in their nightmares.

"A Jawfiend…" Cayden mumbled as his hand slowly moved towards his sword.

The Jawfiend had eight ominous-looking eyes that seemed to look at all of them as if it was taking a good look at its juicy and young prey.

Its strong and sharp fangs were hitting against each other constantly as if it was getting even hungrier just by setting its sight on these humans.

*Kreee~* The Dreadling screeched as it noticed Arion lying on the ground and was nearest to it with Cayden just behind him.

It quickly shot towards the helpless Arion, who was frantically trying to crawl away since he did not want to get torn apart alive by its pincer-like teeth.

"No, you don't!" Cayden shouted as he mustered up his courage and lunged forward with his sword to save Arion.

Within just a few seconds, the Jawfiend reached where Arion was. However, it saw Cayden trying to attack and quickly dodged sideways to avoid his sword.

Arion felt as if his heart almost fell out seeing such a horrendous looking creature trying to attack him and let out loud gasps of relief seeing that he got saved for now.

The three girls and Alv rushed towards were Arion and Cayden were to offer them a hand while Bari seemed quite shaken up so much that he was still standing frozen on the spot.

His hands and feet were trembling, and even after seeing his friends and brother rushing towards Cayden and Arion to help them, he couldn't help but feel even more scared after seeing that scary monster up close.

Ina stopped at a certain distance as she took out an arrow and aimed towards the Dreadling while the other three, even Nena, rushed towards Cayden to help him out despite the alarming fear numbing their hearts.

Since they all grew up together, each of them had a sibling bond towards each other and thus wouldn't abandon each other just because they were scared. Even though they never fought against Dreadlings before, they were still trained by experts to never lose courage during a fight and to never abandon their comrades and friends.

The Jawfiend avoided other's attacks with its nimble yet hair-raising legs and moved backward till it saw five youngsters standing before it as if challenging it to take them on together.

*Kreeee~* The Jawfiend let out another spooky screech, making everyone's hearts thump even faster but gripped their weapons even harder.

"Come at us, you ugly monster!" Cayden shouted with a taunt.

*Kreeeee~* The Jawfiend, as if sensing his taunt, let out another screech before opening its eerie-looking jaws.