The Gamer's POV-Chapter 206: Home of the Hollow Ones [22]

"Hearts!"

The moment the words left Audrey’s lips, the four hollow ones staggered as they were suddenly struck by an invisible force deep within the openings in their chests.

It didn’t matter if they were facing away or wandering absently in the distance. They all felt the impact at the same time. The vacant expressions on their distorted faces shifted into a jarring mix of confusion, agony, and primal shock.

The ones pacing the plaza halted in their tracks, and staggered while turning slightly to toward the temple. Even the sentries guarding the entrance turned back toward the source of the magic.

In that heartbeat of hesitation and pain, Audrey released her physical arrows at the stunned monsters. Four shafts of steel whistled through the air, streaking out from the shadows of the temple and burying themselves deep into the hearts of the four creatures.

It all happened within a few seconds, leaving the creatures no time to comprehend or react. And just like that, the four monsters collapsed to the ground one by one.

Inside the temple, Audrey lowered her bow and dropped to the ground.

The others were all impressed and were staring at her in awe. However, they did not linger for long because Aurora’s voice suddenly rang out. "Let’s go!"

She was the first to dash out, followed closely by Xavier. The rest of the party quickly followed, their boots thumping against the stone as they cautiously hurried past the fallen creatures.

As they crossed the plaza, making their way towards the basilica, the cadets kept looking around, especially at the tops of the buildings in case of archers.

When they safely reached the basilica, they leaned against the wall. Then, although they were all aware of the escape plan, Aurora repeated it in a low voice.

"Listen here, guys. As per the plan, we have to cautiously make our way out of the city and head towards the misty marshlands where we’ll meet up with the rest of the surviving cadets."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Then, Aurora looked to Cedric and asked politely, "How’s our way out?"

Cedric, who had his eyes glued to his screen, replied quickly. "It’s clear. It looks like many of the creatures have headed deeper into the city, including the few that were on the walls. If we use the same route we used when coming here, we should be able to make it out without any problems."

Aurora nodded, then after a breath, she looked to the others and muttered, "May the gods be with us."

Everyone replied in a solemn manner. "May the gods be with us."

With that, she signaled for the group to follow. They stayed low, sticking to the shadows of the buildings as they retraced their steps with Cedric’s guidance.

The city at this point was noisy and the air was filled with the distant clashing of weapons and the voices of some of the hollow ones that were chanting in their foreign language. The cadets could even hear loud thuds as if giant statues were walking somewhere in the distance.

Ignoring the sounds, the cadets hurriedly pushed forward and the minutes flew by.

After moving in silence for a while, Cedric began to feel like the end was coming. Even as his heart hammered against his ribs, a sense of relief began to wash over him. Because not only had they successfully invaded the home of the hollow ones, they even destroyed the red bridge and were now heading out. More than that, against all odds, he was alive and had not died!

’I hope...’

He began to make a small prayer to no god in particular. However, right at that moment, Aika’s panicked voice snapped his attention.

"What the..."

He turned to look at Aika, who was following closely behind him. She had stopped dead in her tracks and was studying a screen in front of her.

"What is it?" Cedric asked as he shifted closer and glanced at the display.

Then his eyes suddenly widened in horror.

"What? What have you seen? Tell me." Aurora asked desperately as she also stopped and drew closer to Cedric.

At this point, everyone halted and were now staring at him with wide, questioning eyes.

Ino sighed and cursed, as she knew by now that anytime Cedric made this face, it usually meant something horribly bad was about to happen.

"Guys..." Cedric began to frantically tap his feet on the ground while gesturing with his hand. "I think we are going to need to run."

"What... what do you..." Audrey started to ask, but Cedric cut her off, yelling in horror.

"Run now!"

Everyone suddenly became pale. Cedric didn’t wait for them. He grabbed Aika’s hand and began running as fast as he could.

The others looked at each other and, without wasting much time, they straightened and began running as fast as they could too.

No one cared about keeping quiet and just ran blindly forward.

"What is this? Why?" Cedric muttered in disbelief as he looked at the screen.

The reason for his panic was because so many red dots, more than he could count were suddenly moving fast towards the direction that they were in.

What confused him even more was that, somewhere far away to the east, a large group of moving blue dots signaled that other cadets were also escaping from a large building that looked like a palestra. Several meters from that group, a few hollow ones had been heading toward them. Yet, all of a sudden, they stopped, turned around, and began joining the other hollow ones heading straight for his direction.

’Why are they coming this way?’ He thought as he veered around the massive, curved exterior of a ruined amphitheater and continued running.

It didn’t take long for the cadets to reach the rubble at the opening in the city wall.

As they hurriedly approached it, Xavier could no longer contain his anxiety and asked hoarsely, "You are going to have to tell us, Cedric. What the hell have you seen?"

Just as he spoke, the sound of galloping horses in the distance could be heard echoing through the narrow streets.

Some of the cadets turned to look back as they ran, likely wondering what was happening.

Cedric didn’t stop and began climbing over the rubble of the broken wall. Then he finally took his eyes off the screen and replied, "They are coming this way! So many of them! They are all coming this way!"

"What?!" Xavier bellowed, nearly tripping over a loose stone.

"Why?!" Aurora asked as she quickly got over the rubble.

"I don’t know!" Cedric replied as he began running up the hill. As he did, three feathers appeared and turned into ravens, then shot toward the top.

Slightly behind him, Uriel suppressed her panic and narrowed her gaze. "I’m going to check what’s happening as well."

Leon, who was running beside her, looked at her and shook his head. "Don’t be rash! You’ll go completely blind, Uriel. You have just one good eye at the moment."

"I can just assume my dormant form after, Leon."

"But.."

He was still speaking when a massive eye appeared in the sky, causing him to look up, and then a frown creased his face. The iris of the giant eye, only visible to both of them, pulsed with a sickly light high above as it surveyed the entire city.

***

A large, menacing dark silver horse was galloping across the streets of the city. Every heavy hoofbeat sent up thick clouds of soot, and its red eyes glowed with a fierce, unnatural hunger. Atop this terrifying horse sat a creature who looked both like a man and a statue forged in the pits of some ancient forge.

He was dressed in flowing, high-collared robes that billowed like funeral shrouds and on the chest was the emblem of a weeping sun.

The creature sniffed the air twice and his eyes narrowed a bit, then he tugged sharply on the reins and the horse sped up.

Flanking him on the left and right were similar creatures dressed in the same robes. One was a slender female looking regal and cold, with a large claymore sword on her back.

The other resembled a heavy brute of a man, and a massive spiked mace hung from his saddle. His metallic skin was complete obsidian and he had a large permanent jagged grin on his face that displayed its sharpened, white teeth and two gold incisor teeth that glinted through the soot. His eyes were wide, revealing nothing but twin holes of white.

Behind the three leading creatures, over a hundred hollow ones were following behind, some on horses, others on foot. The collective sound of their approach was a discordant symphony of clattering bone, rusted mail, and the frantic panting of beasts.

Up above, the eye watching and studying them suddenly faded. At that moment, Uriel gasped and her face turned a ghostly, ashen pale.

By now, the cadets had already reached the top of the hill and were now descending rapidly down the other side. The loose gravel shifted under their boots, but none of them slowed their pace despite the treacherous footing. They all looked at Uriel with the same mixture of horror and confusion.

Suddenly, Uriel began to speak feverishly as if she was repeating after someone. "We have failed to protect the red bridge. He will not be happy. Furthermore, he will be even more wrathful if we also lose the scent of the decay."

Uriel turned her gaze to Cedric, and as her vision began to fade, she added in a trembling voice, "They... they are following the scent of the decay, Cedric!"