Theo slowly pushed the debris off his body.

’’Fuck...’’ he breathed out sorely.

Frozen concrete and shattered wood slid across the floor as he barely managed to free himself.

But it was nothing compared to what had just happened.

’That damn fucking Jellyfiend screwed me over hard!’

Theo slowly crawled through a tiny tunnel, seeing light on the other end.

Finally, he found himself back out on the street.

Except... it had completely frozen over.

Neither human nor monster was spared, their corpses frozen solid left and right.

Theo glanced at the trail, spotting the massive serpent far in the distance.

’Let’s get the fuck out of here,’ he thought, turning around immediately.

He glanced at the main road ahead, finding it completely frozen over too. Even the gap leading to the sewer hadn’t been spared.

Without hesitating any further, he dashed over to the other side.

His eyes constantly scanned the surroundings, half expecting more creatures to appear.

Fortunately, that wasn’t the case though.

Once he reached the other side, he slipped into a narrow alleyway and continued sprinting on at full speed.

After the ice vanished, the thin trail of water reappeared.

With each step he took, it splashed up over his body, soaking him.

House by house went by.

In one of them, Theo briefly spotted movement through a cracked cellar window.

A family was huddled together in a dark corner, desperately covering their mouths to avoid making noise.

Tiny trails of water kept pouring inside from the cracked window, slowly flooding their cellar.

Theo only glanced at them for a second, then forced himself to continue.

Not even five steps later, a loud scraping noise echoed out in front of him.

Taking his spear off his back, Theo’s eyes locked onto the smaller creature instantly.

Its body resembled a hairless dog covered in dark blue scales, while rows of needle-like teeth stuck from its mouth.

’E-rank Tidehound,’ he thought, dashing forward.

The hound noticed him and immediately let out a loud gurgling bark.

Theo lunged forward and swung down.

SWISH!

His spear flashed through the air.

The Tidehound’s body split in two instantly.

Thud!

Its corpse collapsed behind him as he continued onward.

But after passing just one more house, loud gurgling barks started to echo out all around.

Theo’s expression darkened slightly.

’It called its pack.’

Not even a second later, a dozen hounds slid out of another alleyway.

More Tidehounds crawled out of the surrounding buildings too, some still with fresh blood on their bodies.

Theo’s grip around the spear tightened slightly.

’Twenty... no, over thirty?’

The hounds spread through the alleyway, surrounding him from all sides.

Theo let out a quiet breath, then jumped up and locked his spear into a window above him.

Six bright yellow flashes appeared above him nearly instantaneously.

’Let’s see how that water treats you!’

The next second, the lightning bolts shot forward.

BOOM!

The flooded alleyway lit up bright yellow for a split second.

Several Tidehounds vaporized on the spot, their bodies turning into ashes in the wind.

CRACKLE! CRACKLE! CRACKLE!

Electricity spread instantly across the entire alleyway, branching out in violent arcs as the water lit up in a blinding flash of yellow light.

Even those who weren’t directly hit but were still in the water felt their bodies go numb in an instant.

’Now I definitely need to move,’ he thought, kicking off from the wall.

Landing on the ground, he was about to dash forward—

When a window from another cellar suddenly slammed open.

Theo’s spear snapped toward the noise immediately, but stopped.

’’Y-you...!’’

A man stammered, his hands and head sticking through the cellar window with a desperate expression on his face.

’’I recognize you!’’ he said in disbelief.

Theo’s eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn’t lower his spear.

The man looked to be somewhere in his forties, wearing a soaked dress shirt covered in dirt and blood.

One side of his face was bruised badly.

"You’re Theo Lane, right?!" he said desperately. "The guy who won the tournament!"

Behind the man, Theo could see several other people hiding inside the flooded cellar.

A woman was clutching a little girl tightly against her chest while another injured man leaned weakly against the wall.

The man’s voice immediately became frantic.

"Please... please help us," he begged. "There are monsters everywhere outside... we can’t get out..."

Theo’s expression fell.

’Shit,’ he thought, eyes widening. ’I... can’t.’

Then more distant barking echoed through the alleyway again, accompanied by different sounds this time.

He gritted his teeth, then shook his head.

"I can’t," he said quietly.

The man froze immediately, as did the others inside the cellar.

’’N-no...’’ he muttered weakly. ’’W-we’ll die!’’

Theo’s jaw tightened for a moment.

But in the end—

He forced himself to turn away and continue again.

There was only one thought on his mind the entire time.

’My parents come first. My friends and their families come second. I’ll see what else I can do afterwards.’

Theo continued sprinting through the alleyways as fast as he could.

Splash! Splash!

Each step soaked his body even more.

But the further he ran, the more voices started appearing around him.

"Hunter!"

A trembling hand suddenly reached out from beneath a pile of soaked trash bags.

"Please help us!"

Theo’s eyes widened slightly.

Not far away, two people were hiding underneath several corpses near a collapsed wall, their entire bodies trembling violently.

"You’re a hunter, right?!" one of them shouted desperately. "Please don’t leave us here!"

Another window slammed open above him.

"AAAHHHH!" a woman cried out hysterically. "Please save my son!"

Theo’s breathing slowly became heavier.

Everywhere he looked, people appeared.

From underneath debris and corpses, inside cellars, curled up in destroyed cars...

Everywhere.

Others just stared at him with desperate hope in their eyes after seeing the lightning earlier.

Theo clenched his jaw harder and harder.

’Keep moving!’ he told himself. ’Please keep moving!’

The voices continued echoing out around him.

"Please!"

"Hunter!"

"Don’t leave us!"

"Please save us!"

Theo shut his eyes for a split second.

Then he forced himself to run even faster.