38 - Rean to The Rescue

The only reason Rean uses the normal stairway is because he's trying to barricade the way to the 18th floor's emergency stairs. The team will be using it to get to the roof, which means that he has to do his best in minimizing their encounter with monsters.

And he was right to do that.

It's really hard for him to even get to the stairs because the area near the 18th floor's normal stairway is crowded by monsters. He has to slash through Direwolves to make way, and then he would encounter a bunch of Prattas right in the stairway.

But thanks to his marvelous swordsmanship, he could get through the crowd.

By the time he arrived in 20th floor's lobby, the place is swarmed by Prattas.

Pratta is a plant type monster. It's 1 to 2 feet tall creature with multiple vine-like tentacles moving around their bodies. They have no eyes, but they're able to sense where things are using their tentacles and the hearing holes on each side of their bodies.

SRRK SSRRK –is the sound they make when they move.

Rean bites the bottom of his lip when he sees two doorways. He doesn't know which way to go, so he speaks to his Arrow. "Which way?"

There's a static noise before the operator said. "Right!"

Their conversation is immediately heard by the Prattas in the lobby. The one that is on the water dispenser, drenching itself in water and in result, also the floor, stops what it was doing and slither down. Along with the others on the receptionist counter and potted plant.

They all slither to the sides of the receptionist counter and effectively blocking both paths for the doorway.

Rean attacks the left one first because there's only one and he can't risk it jumping at him. His blade slashes diagonally, effectively cutting the Pratta's body and tentacle in half. It immediately stops moving.

Then he turns to the other two.

One of them jumps at him when he's turning around, latching onto his side. The monster's tentacles move slightly and a big mouth with rows of sharp, thorn-like teeth, opens up and bites him.

"Tch." Rean clenches his teeth as he holds the pain.

He immediately takes his sword in his left hand and thrust right above its opened lips. It cries out in pain.

HRRKK –it's like the sound between a hiss and a gargle. It's eerie and sickening to the ear.

But Rean is used to fighting Prattas. Nothing about them could scare him at all.

He brings the sword deeper into its core, and it soon stops moving. Green liquid pools inside its mouth and flows out of its thorny teeth.

He immediately grabs the dead Pratta off him and look down. There are two latching onto his feet: one is climbing on his right leg while one is moving its tentacles to reveal its mouth. He didn't give them a chance to have a bite as he slashed them all in half.

Then he runs to the right doorway.

There are two more Prattas in this hallway, each latching on a corpse and sucking their blood.

'They're workers.' Rean realized. But there's nothing he can do since they're already dead.

He goes to the first corpse and slash the Pratta sucking his blood. "It's the least I can do."

Then he goes to the second one and slashes it too.

Then he hears a growl. He turns to the corridor on his right and sees a Direwolf.

The wolf beast is staring at him in anger with its fangs barred. It's missing an eye and blood is flowing out of that eye socket.

'Terrence must've done that.' The redhead thought.

BARK!

The wolf runs at him, but he's always ready. The wolf lunges at him, but he dodges. It crashed into the wall instead, and that's when he brings his sword down to the wolf's side. A big slash wound appears its wake, drawing more blood.

The wolf whimpers in pain and tries to back away. But Rean is merciless. As the wolf staggers away, he calmly catches up to it and grabs its tail. Then he slashes its lower back to its hind legs, resulting in a long and deep cut.

The poor beast plops down eventually, wheezing. Finally, he thrusts at the beast's heart, ending its life completely.

After it stops moving, Rean rubs his sword on the wolf's fur to clean the blood off the blade.

"Terrence?" Rean calls in the hallway.

"He's in the Control Room, in the corridor in front of you." The operator said.

Rean walks to the corridor where the wolf was at before, and three dead Direwolves and another human corpse.

He examines them quickly with his eyes and he realized that the human corpse is terrorist, and all of them have gunshot wounds.

It's obvious that his classmate is the one behind this, and he might've had a very hard time in here.

There are also drops of blood leading inside the door, which led him to think that— 'He must be hurt.'

There's a small panel with numbers on the door. He doesn't know what the password is, but before he could ask the operator, the door opens swiftly.

It reveals another corpse, a Direwolf, and three empty potion bottles on the floor.

There seems to be no one inside, but he knows that Terrence should be in here. So he enters the room. "Terrence?"

The door closes behind him, then a familiar golden-haired guy appears from the side.

His hair is messy, his clothes are disheveled, and his white shirt is tainted with blood, also his face. He looked tired, but the look on his face shows mild annoyance.

"You're late." The guy said.

Rean is surprised by how well he's behaving. With so many enemies around, a newbie like him shouldn't have been able to stay standing. He should've been scared and cowering somewhere in a corner.

And yet there he is, standing straight and acting like it's not a big deal.

'He has only trained in the Training Center's 1st floor all this time. He has never gone to any sweeping missions before I invited him yesterday. How come he adapts so fast?'

As these questions swarms Rean's brain, the blonde's face turns more annoyed. He approaches the redhead and flicks his forehead. "I'm not a ghost."

Rean wasn't suspecting him of being a ghost, but surely, he has doubts that the guy can do this all by himself. But if he was with someone, the Captain wouldn't rush him here to save him. Which means… The guy really killed these enemies by himself. And he looked fine. But… Is he okay?

"Are you alright?" Rean asked out of reflex.

"I'm still alive."

"That's not what I meant."

"Haish, you're noisy. How's the stairs?"

Rean frowns.

'No. Surely, he's not okay. But he's thinking of the mission more than himself. He's a good cadet. I should make quick assessment before continuing the mission.' Rean thought to himself.

-

"Hey! Hey! What are you doing?!" I try to get away from Rean. He's suddenly touching me: like raising my arms, patting my shoulders, sides, and feet, and I feel so weird.

"I'll be quick." He answered.

I frown at him. "Do you hear yourself?"

I'm glad it's only me and him in here. What would others think?!

"You have a wounded shoulder, but it's recovering. Besides that, you're fine. How do you feel?" Rean looks at me.

"Uh. Duh? I'm still standing, Rean. Focus more on the matter at hand." I cross my hands on my chest.

"Because I need to know if you can still keep going." Rean takes my hands and keep them from crossing. "Don't do that. You'll tear your wound."

Oh. He wants to know if I should be moved to the wounded team. I was too focused on being embarrassed that I forgot it's Rean. He would never do anything indecent that easily.

"I'm still good to go. How about you? You look like a bum."

He looks at me flatly. "Speak for yourself."

I don't need to look at myself. I know I look like a bum. But I just want to make myself feel a bit better because his hair is messier than mine and yet he still looked breathtaking.

'Stupid protagonists and their privileges…' I curse in my mind but I grin away in reality. "My hair still looks amazing, unlike yours."

'This guy...' Rean looks at him flatly.

There are still so many monsters and yet here they are, talking about their looks. He could not comprehend how this guy's mind works.

"Let's go. The others should've also passed this floor already." Rean turns around to leave. But the door is closed. "How did you open this door?"

"Oh it's scripted. Wait." I walk to the Control Panel.

At the same time, Natalie's voice speaks in our Arrows. "Rean and Terrence, you're now Team Rean temporarily. Your mission now is go to the roof and rendezvous with the others."

Rean immediately responds. "Got it. We will—"

But I cut him instantly. "Negative. We will move on our own."

Rean looks at me in confusion. "What?"

"What?" Natalie repeated.