Maki contemplated the problem a bit before speaking,

[Victor, get that crossbow of yours ready. If I start running, fire at whatever comes after.]

I gave her a puzzled look, but still nodded. I took a deep breath to stabilize my shaking arms a bit, then leveled the crossbow in her direction.

Maki began inching towards the edge of the alleyway, back against the wall. She stopped right before reaching the edge. She then slowly and carefully peeked into the alleyway hiding the monster.

One second… two seconds…

The girl didn't start running, so that was good. I dropped my arms, lowering the weapon.

She carefully retreated towards us.

[There's a beast there, almost the same size as the crawler. It looked just as fleshy too.]

'A Matured Fledgling then.'

Fighting wouldn't do us any good. While we weren't out in the open, the main road wasn't too far off from here. Meaning if that bastard screeched like the crawler, we would be well and truly fucked.

I sent Maki a message.

[Can you describe it?]

[I didn't see much of it, since I wasn't keen on staring for too long. I did find it to have corpse-like skin, with abnormal pairs of limbs. I also spotted two large protrusions from its head. I think they were ears.]

Ears?

'Hmm…'

That gave me an idea. Sadly, it would require parting with another bolt of mine, but it was a necessary sacrifice.

[I'll create a distraction. The moment it leaves, we bolt down the alleyway.]

I waited for them both to nod before inching towards the edge of the alley, in the same manner Maki had. I already had my crossbow raised by then.

Slowly turning the corner, I could see a large figure lingering at the edge of my periphery. I paid it no mind, though. Instead, I sent my gaze upward, towards the top windows of the apartments that formed the walls of the alleyway.

I found a relatively intact one before raising the weapon and firing at it. The distinct sound of glass shattering rang through the tight space, and I immediately retreated to our alley.

Almost immediately after, I heard thumps and crashes against the wall, like something massive was trying to scale the wall.

I wasted no time in checking the alleyway the moment it stopped.

Clear.

[Move!]

Then we were moving again, running as fast as we could through the alley in fear of the beast's return.

When we'd moved about an alley away from the beast's territory, I heard the sound of something landing heavily on snow.

That made us run even faster.

It was only when we were five alleys away from there that we reduced our pace.

I collapsed on my knees then, and the girls halted their advance at that.

It took everything in my power to stop myself from spilling the contents of my stomach onto the cold, snowy ground.

When the urge had finally gone down to a tolerable level, I removed my palm from my mouth as I let out an exhausted sigh of relief.

I found myself breathing deeply and rapidly to calm my now shivering body down.

"Are you alright?"

It was Lily asking, and Maki stood right behind her. I forced myself into a standing position, taking a moment to maintain my shaky balance.

"Somewhat, just a little tired is all."

Maki gave me a deadpan look.

"You're sweating."

I shakily wiped my forehead, and sure enough, there was moisture on it.

'Oh.'

It was no wonder I felt so bitterly cold.

Maki just sighed.

"Lily, take the rear. Victor, take the middle and just focus on walking for now."

Lily hesitated, but still obeyed in the end. As uncomfortable as I was with this arrangement, I knew it was for the best.

I moved into the safety of the middle wordlessly, but still made sure to hold my crossbow at the ready. Maki shot me a suffering look before deciding to just leave things there.

Instead, she looked at Lily.

"Lily, does that position affect your range by much?"

The girl closed her eyes, focusing, before replying.

"A little. I can sense about a meter or two meters less up front than I could normally."

"Let's tighten the formation then."

They both stepped much closer to me. There was still enough space to move between us, but now it was such that you had to be mindful of the person before you.

"How is it now?"

"Much better."

It wasn't long before we were slipping through alleyways again, though at a much slower pace this time.

---

We were close to our destination now.

My condition hadn't gotten any better, but then again it hadn't gotten any worse either. Mainly due to our slower pacing now.

The main road lay ahead of us now. There was only one time in this entire path that we would have to cross it. That time was now.

Leaning against the wall edge of the alley facing the road, Maki kept peeking at the section of the empty road that faced us.

She turned back.

"The path looks clear."

I shook my head wearily.

"That doesn't tell us much."

It honestly didn't. The road before us wasn't just any road. It was the one separating the outer and middle rings, and it also encircled the city.

Simply, it was a very wide and long road. Just this small section being clear didn't mean there weren't any monsters hiding out of our view.

"We need to get a better view."

And for that, we needed to get closer.

Maki nodded before slipping into the final alleyway. I gave Lily a look before silently following. The steps behind me told me she wasn't far behind.

I moved to the wall opposite that of Maki. Seeing me stand there, she nodded before raising three fingers.

Three… Two… One…

We both poked our heads out.

The snow-buried road stretched beyond my line of sight, its edges blurring in the ever-present snowfall. Car wreckages lined its solemn expanse.

I spotted figures moving in the distance, but they'd certainly be too far away to see us properly.

Unfortunately, however, Maki soon pointed out the reason none of them dared stray close.

And perhaps once again, I understood the insanity of this world I'd written.

It was a centipede made of pale, roughly fused human torsos. Tens of black, desiccated limbs burst out from the torsos, wrapping around the metal post it perched on.

Like a snake, the mass grew thinner and thinner further down its body. The last few segments lacked skin entirely, just dark red muscles with a sharpened spinal cord serving as its stinger.

Luckily, its lumpy, pale head was turned away from us. The thing was resting.

I quickly dragged my head back in.

'Haaa…'

The slight pressure I felt from it was unmistakable. That thing was an entirely different rank from us.

Even Maki looked a bit shaken. I just thanked my lucky stars that Lily hadn't seen it too. The poor girl might have broken down.

'Are all Beasts like this?'

The predator was likely at an even higher level than this.

'And that's the guy I plan on killing?'

I completely understood Song's sentiment about me being crazy now. Perhaps I was.

I took a deep breath before looking at Maki and Lily carefully, then sending a message.

[Under absolutely no conditions are you to make a sound. That thing is entirely beyond us.]

'At least like this.'

I sent another.

[I see a path that can block us from its line of sight. Can you see it too, Maki?]

The girl paused, scanning the road again, before nodding too. I silently thanked all the drivers that abandoned their cars on the road.

It was the only thing saving our asses now.

I shifted my gaze to Lily.

[I need you to focus on using your ability to scan ahead for any movement. There can be no mistakes, if we make any slip-ups this time, we will die. There will be no escape.]

The girl had a grim look on her face, but still she nodded.

I sent another message.

[So no pressure, yeah?]

That very quickly transformed her solemnity into a glare. But at least it washed some of her gloominess away.

I added seriously this time.

[No matter what you do, do not look away from my back. You do not need to see what we are hiding from, just tell us if you notice anything.]

[I will]

'Good.'

I turned to give Maki a thumbs up, to which she nodded before motioning me to come to her wall. I did so with no arguments, taking my position between her and Lily.

Maki slowly crouched, and we promptly followed.

'Ugh…'

Perhaps it was because I lowered myself, but my dizziness suddenly felt a lot worse. I took deep breaths, trying to focus through the haze, through the fever, through the pain.

'I'll be fine. I'll be fine. I'll be fine…'

Maki sent a message.

[We move on the count of three.]

'I'll be fine. I'll be fine…'

She raised a hand.

Three…

'I'll be fine. I'll be fine…'

Two…

'I'll be fin-…'

One…

Then we were off.

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