Croak

The five players behind us ran as fast as they could. I couldn't see their actual expressions but, with those creatures behind them, the image of their faces in my mind must be accurate.

One of them threw a timer bomb, another threw a poison gas bomb. But it didn't faze the monsters that remains stationary. They aren't moving even an inch.

When they saw that their bombs didn't do anything, they just focused on running away from those creatures.

I saw Aran gulp, then while staring at the monsters with fear in his eyes, " I'm glad that the vote was in favor of Gray's opinion," he said.

Then, the thundering noise that signals the tower's activation came back. Followed by a gust of wind that is a bit stronger than the one a couple of minutes ago.

We braced ourselves. Looking away from the tower and also preventing the stream of sand from getting on our eyes, we observed the thousands of monsters standing at the edge of the slope.

When the gust of wind stopped, many of the players ahead of us didn't hesitate and started running towards the tower. Including Hector's group. I saw them drag their feet through the sand in hopes of being further away from the monsters behind.

On the contrary, our group became alert and wary. We also held a poison gas bomb ready to fight the monsters from behind. When I saw the other player's instant reaction to moving away from the cliff, one thing came to mind. What if there are also monsters waiting on the other side?

Not long after the wind subsided, the hissing sounds returned. It is louder, like a symphony made by smaller hissing sounds. Explosions began to occur everywhere and are more frequent. Though we could still hear them and manage to dodge.

"The-they're moving!" Aran shouted.

It was different than the wave of fighting zombies on the first wave. This time, the monsters are far more terrifying. They released an earsplitting growl that sends shivers down everyone's spine.

The players closest to them who already managed to go down the slope began tumbling as they tried to sprint when they heard the growl.

I saw the monsters slide down the slope, some ran like those lizards that run on water, in their case, they were running on sand. And some of the monsters dived into the sand. I felt a bit relieved to see that there are no more monsters waiting in line.

Urick took out a poison gas bomb, "Damn, we take turns every three minutes and throw a gas bomb around us!"

He realized that everyone gazed at him with dumbfounded expressions.

"Bro… I'm a detective, I timed it earlier when the others used it," he said.

Since I also considered the duration of the poison gas bombs, I know that he's correct. But before I managed to back him up, Finnley already did.

Aran whose face is filled with fear spoke while stuttering, "Sho-shouldn't we go as well?" he said.

"There could be more of those monsters waiting for us," Finnley said.

As we are still facing towards the slope, the five players running for their lives began throwing bombs on the ground. One of them threw a timer bomb mistaking it as a poison gas one. The bomb explodes on one of them, taking both his legs. With fast thinking, the injured player drank his first aid pill.

But, when he stood up, from the sands came a monster that swooped his head out of his body. It happened in a blink of an eye.

Stupefied by what happened, we became startled when a non-familiar voice asked,

"So, what's the order?!"

Alerted, everyone looked behind to see Siti standing. She's covered in sweat she tries to wipe with her hands.

Though, a hissing sound below us interrupted our conversation. We moved away a couple of steps to the tower.

Urick looked at Siti, he pointed at the four remaining players who are still far from us and is being chased by the monsters. "Ain't you one of them?" he asked.

"Stupid, I'm here, aren't I?"

I could tell that Urick felt an immediate annoyance soon as he heard Siti's response.

Even though we are in the middle of an area where there are explosions every second, we could still hear each other.

"So, why are you here?" Jin asked. When Siti faced him, she became a bit wary as she looked up to him as if she is looking at one of those monsters.

"I... I'll join your group or whatever it is." She said.

"Man. Great, another rude bastard wanting to join. Ain't it so fun?" Urick said with a forced smile.

Since we are in great danger at the moment, Finnley allowed Siti to join the group as long as she follows the decision of the group. And everyone trusts Finnley, so no one argues. Seeing that there are only two players running for their lives in Siti's previous group, she agreed with Finnley's condition.

"Okay here's the order."

Finnley assigned the order on who will use the gas bomb. The order is Finnley, then Urick, Amelka, Aran, Fionn, Jin, Siti, then me. No one has any complaints. He started it by throwing one of his on the ground. A second later a green smoke of poison gas emerged from the circular bomb. It took almost ten seconds for it to cover all of us.

We are enveloped by the green poison gas, yet we could see through it clear as day. The two remaining players from Siti's previous group also stopped, threw a poison gas bomb on the ground, and stayed there.

Like Siti, the two of them just stared at us earlier and didn't say a single word. I couldn't see their actual faces but one of them is as tall as Finnley but is buffer and has brown skin. The other one seems to fall around me and Aran's height, has lighter skin, and a body similar to mine, a lean and a bit muscular one. But, I'm not sure since they're still far away.

Though most of the monsters passed them and started to go after us and the others, some stayed circling around them and waited for the poison gas to subside. Now that the monsters are near, I could see something pop out of the sand. It's their pointed and webbed dorsal fins.

"Amelka, throw yours now," Finnley said. We counted every second of the poison gas bomb and decided to throw it fifteen seconds before the current one ended. But not long after Amelka used her bomb, we heard hissing sounds under where we are standing.

Since we are at the center of the gas, we moved in the direction of the tower and to the edge of the area the poison gas reaches. Finnley looked at Aran and told him to use his around the area, which he did.

"Those monsters are getting closer, if we want to move forward we must move now," Jin said.

At this point, if we decided to run, those monsters will catch us without a doubt. I mean, with that speed even if we decided to go soon as the wind from the tower stopped earlier, they'll still catch up to us. And we still don't know if there are also monsters coming from other directions just like the zombies.

Finnley also thinks the same as he told everyone exactly what I thought.

When the monsters reached our location, like what they did on the two players furthest from the tower, most of them passed us running or swimming on the sand. Some going in different directions. Tens of those monsters stopped and circled around us. While I counted eight of them went closer to the area the poison gas reaches and wait.

Now that they are up close, I could see how they really look. They appear to have a body similar to a lizardman from those common fantasy games or movies and a long tail probably the same length as their bodies or longer.

They have buff arms and dinosaur-like legs. Their heads are from a crocodile and they have a huge webbed and pointy dorsal fin at the back. Though compared to us they appear humungous, towards Jin, they are only a couple of inches taller.

Staring at them, a description appeared.

"Croak"

"Dwellers of the land of sand. They are loyal subjects of the tower who thinks of it as their mother. Though they look unintelligent, they can communicate and are prideful warriors."

The zombies on the first wave didn't have a name or description about them. I guess everyone could tell what they are in a single glance and the ones behind the stage didn't bother putting in some lore.

It didn't take long for the Croaks that passed us to reach the other players ahead of us. Hector's group seems to think the same as us or maybe they copied what we did but they are already inside of a huge poison gas area when I looked at them. The other groups that saw them did the same while the monsters just stopped and waited around the areas of the poison gas.

Most of the time, the area made by a single poison gas bomb brings enough space for us to dodge an incoming burst of air on the ground. But when a couple of hissing sound happens, we use another one in the direction towards the tower and move there.

After a short whine, Siti spoke, "How long should we do this?"

Before anyone could answer, an explosion occurred at the poison gas we are in. We didn't hear any hissing sound before it. The explosion threw someone in the air. We all glanced up in the sky and saw Jin flying.