Immortal In A Death Game-Chapter 198: M-monster

"Shh. I hear someone."

Harvey moved like he was walking on paper, his back pressed to the concrete wall as he reached the corner. With his body being able to twist and twirl, he looked almost like a gecko.

"Wait..." He leaned his head out, slightly extending his neck just far enough to see the corridor beyond, the bonnet covering his entire head, only showing his eyes.

"Be careful." He squinted. "I see light approaching, someone is probably—"

Then Mira walked past him and turned the corner without stopping.

"Hey—" Harvey whispered loudly, trying to grab her, but she was already outside his reach. "Hey! Bruh."

Mira didn’t break stride. She moved down the corridor with her hands in her pockets, her feline ears relaxed, and tails wagging like she was just strolling.

"Mira. What are you doing?!" Harvey pressed himself to the wall further, his body folding 90 degrees vertically as he tried to catch her. But alas, Mira didn’t even glance back at him. "Mira. We need to be careful, we don’t know how many people there are!"

"I don’t smell anyone," Mira called back from down the hall, once again not glancing back.

"You... don’t smell anyone?" Harvey blinked, then looked back... and Ryan and Buster were there. "Why did we even bring your monster...? Mira’s doing all the work that’s supposed to be for him."

"That..." Ryan gently brushed Buster’s toilet paper-like fur. "Buster’s nose isn’t really that good."

"What the—then why did we bring him?!"

"Y-you’re the one who said I should bring him."

"Well, yeah. You said you were coming! Aren’t you useless without Buster? You come as a pair."

"T-that’s not true!"

"The giant rat’s literally your emotional support monster. You can’t function without it. And it’s useless here! We didn’t bring Caleb because he’s too big not to be noticed, and we brought someone even bigger!"

"H-hey, Buster," Ryan murmured, stroking its fur. "D-don’t mind, Harvey. You’re... you’re not fat, bud."

Mira blinked several times, finally glancing back at her teammate. Just moments ago, Harvey was telling them all to be quiet; now they were screaming all over the place.

But that didn’t matter at all, however, as any noise they would make wouldn’t even make a dent in what they’ve already done.

Mira glanced further behind them, and everything was trashed. The cargo boxes were ripped open, there was a hole in the ceiling, large crevices on the walls, and the catwalks above were hanging loosely.

They’d already made all the noise they could make moments ago.

Stealth... wasn’t even an option anymore.

Mira stopped, her nostrils flaring as she tried to find any lingering scent that might lead down. But alas, even after half a minute, there was nothing else there.

"Nothing here," she said before pressing a finger to her ear. "Leona. Status?"

No one answered at first, then a light tap.

<There’s something big underground. I can feel the pressure of it through the rock—large chambers, reinforced. They built deep.>

"Can you feel an entrance?"

<Not yet.>

"Why can’t you—I mean, we just dig through?" Harvey asked. "Straight down. Fast."

<And risk collapsing the entire base onto whatever they’re keeping down there?> Leona sighed. <The Hospital’s probably already been alerted by Adam’s presence. We need to find the entrance before they seal it."

"W—" Harvey opened his mouth, but a third voice interrupted him.

<She’s right.> It was the Forger. <I’m reading significant electronic activity—all converging on one area.>

"You found the entrance?!"

<Maybe. Sending you the location now.>

Harvey’s display blinked once as the marker landed.

"Alright! Let’s go fuck these nerds."

<You know... I’ll be honest,> the Forger continued, and there was almost something like amusement in the voice. <I’ve been through a number of heists in my time. High security. Tight windows. Real nasty situations, and all that...

...But this is the most ridiculous one. Heroes really are a different breed from us puny mortals.>

"...You’re not a Hero?"

***

"Run... run! Get to the choppah!"

"We’re not leaving here alive, just shoot him!"

"N-no!"

Outside, the soldiers scattered across the base like ants, their voices drowned by the constant gunfire and screaming that filled the air—but their panic wasn’t the only thing that filled the base.

It was now completely veiled by smoke, and it was difficult to even see three feet ahead. The flashes of their rifles lit up the haze in rapid bursts, creating a strobing nightmare. It almost felt like they were under the ocean, being lured by the glow of an angler fish.

"Hold the line! Do not break ranks!" Meanwhile, while every other soldier completely forgot the training that had been drilled through them for years, Sergeant James roared over the chaos, his voice cracking as he tried to maintain order.

But alas, his words fell on deaf ears—panic had completely taken hold of his men.

"You!" James grabbed a soldier running past him, spinning the man around to face him. "Running is deserting! You stay and—"

The soldier vanished. One moment he was there, the next he was gone, snatched away by something moving too fast to see. All James caught were two bright green orbs floating in the smoke before they disappeared.

"What the hell—" James raised his rifle, firing wildly into the haze. "Die! Die, you mons—"

And all of a sudden, a hand emerged from nowhere, rippling away a small part of the haze. The hand grabbed the barrel and ripped the weapon from his grip before vanishing again.

"Where... where did he go?!"

"What the fuck even is this smoke?! Where did this come from?!"

"Bubba?! Bubba, where are you?!"

"God... please... please let me return to my cheating wife!"

The screams intensified. Men called out for their squad mates, for backup, for God himself. The sound of metal being torn apart echoed across the base like thunder.

"Fuck..." James held his breath, forcing himself to think. He knew the difference between a Hero and a normal person—that had been drilled into them during his training.

Assess, talk... then run. That was protocol.

But where could they run? This was their base. The only option was to fight back.

James had faced a Hero before. A-tier, same as this Adam character. Granted, they’d lost that encounter, but at least they’d put up a good fight before being completely neutralized.

But this? This was completely different. Adam was something else entirely.

"Where... where are you?!"