They lurched forward, slamming into the ground. The group groaned, gathering themselves while Chrono's eyes flared. She scanned in front of her, looking past Evan's kinetic ball.
"I sense more of those things." Chrono warned the group. "There, there, there, and over there." She pointed out at the spots, turning to Lee Seng. "It surprised us, but it was fairly weak. It died to your quick thinking but Cultivating doesn't seem to have the effect I thought it did. You've retained a lot of your power."
"And lost a lot of it." Lee Seng turned to Evan and the others. "I don't have any of my powers anymore except what I was given by the twin gods and rune magic. Evan, put it down on my signal. Are you all ready?"
"Yeah." Ritsuka nodded.
"I'm ready to go." Calis nodded.
"Where did you put us this time?" Evan asked, shaking off his daze.
"Away from that monster's hole it ate through. Ready?" Lee Seng replied. Evan nodded and rolled his neck. He looked over to Chrono who nodded at him. Lee Seng looked back at Evan and pointed at him. "On your count."
"Three." Evan lifted his hand up to the kinetic ball. "Two. One. Go!" The wall pulled into Evan's hand, forming his kinetic shield. Ritsuka summoned Obsidian Glass while Calis summoned his trident. Chrono's arms lit up with a wispy white smoke. Lee Seng turned and grabbed Diminished Sun from the Void Storage. Monsters were marked in red.
"I've marked them for us." Chrono told the group. "Let's kill them and get going! We have to save Cargo Crew 4!" Chrono sprinted forward. She made it about ten feet when the ground began to shake. A large monstrous worm shot out of the ground, mouth wide open. Chrono punched the air, releasing a blast of energy. The gray smoke lit up for a moment, flying out of her fist and entering the worm's mouth.
The worm exploded in one hit as three more worms grew closer. Calis slammed his trident on the ground twice, producing tendrils. Ritsuka tapped Evan and the two of them ran off to the left.
"We'll handle these three!" Ritsuka shouted.
"I'll support Chrono." Calis informed Lee Seng. Lee Seng turned to the right, noticing the five worms making their way towards where the noise was.
"That leaves me with them." Lee Seng moved the sword, pointing it past his right leg. He bent downwards and watched as the red patterns quickly moved about. Lee seng sprinted off. The worms fell for it. They were now zoning onto him. He jumped, landing onto the ground and bending his knees while keeping his sword at his right side with his left hand. He watched as the five worms were on him before jumping into the air.
One by one the worms exploded out of the ground, baring all of their spiky teeth as they climbed on each other to reach Lee Seng. Lee Seng turned his body forward, pointing his head at the monster as he bent his legs. The sun had long passed high noon, but Lee Seng still felt the energy surging throughout his body.
"Altered art: Flaming Flash and Dash." Lee Seng exploded through the sky, pulling his sword and swiping horizontally. The sky lit up in fire and light, blazing straight down to Lee Seng's blade as he landed on the cracked ground. He pushed himself upwards, breaking the ground and continuing his attack. He soared through the air, slashing and listening to the worm's skin bubble with fire as they howled.
Lee Seng spun himself in the air, moving past the monsters and landing on the ground. He turned and watched as the worms' flaming bodies exploded into chunks, falling into the hole and ground. He turned his attention onto the rest of his companions, noticing Calis and Chrono easily worked together without missing a beat.
'A captain and one of Commander's warriors working together. You don't see something like that often.' Lee Seng thought. He watched a worm turn into a pancake with Chrono's strange blast power. 'I thought she would've been more time manipulation but I guess that has its limitations.'
Lee Sneg glanced over at Evan and Ritsuka. The two of his friends made easy work with the help of Evan's kinetic manipulation. He couldn't help but think about the time he fought these two with Olivia. His heart sank. He pulled himself out of it and turned his attention back onto his 'work.'
'We have about four to five hours before the sun sets.' Lee Seng thought. 'Chrono knows where the group is, but we have to go through much of the unknown… The city that rightfully boasted about it being a safe haven isn't a safe haven anymore…'
"Lee." Calis snapped Lee Seng out of thought.
"Hm?" Lee Seng turned. The group was moving over to him.
"Let's continue forward before dusk. It'll get harder for us." Chrono suggested.
"Sure." Lee Seng nodded. Chrono turned and continued on their path deeper into the city. They were going to the North side of town. Lee Seng couldn't help but let his mind wonder. Was the city nothing but a dream?
"Hey." Ritsuka elbowed Lee Seng. Lee Seng snapped out of it, again, and looked at Ritsuka. "Stop spacing out and focus."
"Sorry." Lee Seng replied. "I thought I'd lose all of my earthly attachments, but I guess I still care about the city I've called home my entire life." He looked ahead and noticed the buildings climbing to the sky. It was a hot day with spotted clouds in the blue sky.
"Hold on." Chrono threw her hand out. Calis, Evan, Ritsuka and Lee Seng came to a stop. They looked around for whatever Chrono was searching for. Lee Seng narrowed his eyes and saw it. There were energy signatures everywhere.
"What the hell is that…?" Lee Seng asked.
"You sense it too." Chrono commented. "I'm not sure. This wasn't here yesterday."
"That means someone did this today." Calis sniffed the air. "It smells like dirt and wet stone."
"I forgot you could smell the energy." Lee Seng commented.
"What do we do about this then? We can't possibly avoid all of them, right?" Ritsuka asked.
"We could do it." Chrono responded. "But it would take so much time and precision. Something we don't have right now."
"We need to get to the crew before they're all dead." Lee Seng nodded.
"Explosions would draw whoever did this to us." Calis added.
"So, we fly." Lee Seng drew the wind rune and then the flying rune. Gold and silver trickled from his fingers as he readied himself to strike it. "I'll take us wherever we need to be. Chrono, you can tell me where to go." Chrono nodded and Lee Seng slashed the runes, activating them.
The group lifted into the sky, flying over beads of energy. A surge of energy grew somewhere behind them.
"Sniper! Evan, behind us!" Lee Seng barked. Evan spun around as the wind pushed him to the back. The kinetic shield strapped on his wrist grew as the energy blasted. The kinetic shield blocked the attack, singing as the shield's color grew two shades darker.
"They're going to do it again." Chrono informed Evan. "Go that way!" She pointed Lee Seng to two large buildings. It would get them out of sight. Lee Seng pushed them faster while Evan took the shots.
"Where are they? Maybe I can shoot them." Calis asked, turning.
"They're already moving." Chrono answered. "We'll lose them here!" Lee Seng turned, barely making between the buildings as another blast went off. Lee Seng moved quickly, following Chrono's directions.
"They're moving." Calis looked behind them. "I can't sense them anymore."
"Good." Chrono replied, taking a look at her phone. "We're two minutes away." Lee Seng kept them higher. He didn't want any annoyances. "There. We're coming up on it. Slow down." Lee Seng slowed down. "Where are they…?"
Lee Seng noticed traces of fighting. Cars were flipped over like they were used to guard against attacks. Other cars looked like they were tossed. A car somehow hung on the side of a building.
'It's too quiet.' Lee Seng thought.
"I don't sense them." Chrono whispered. She looked at Lee Seng. "Let's go down." Lee Seng lowered the group onto the ground. Lee Seng's senses were ringing. Something was wrong and he couldn't quite—
A quiet charging noise grew as the spell dissipated around Lee Seng and the group. They had landed right into their trap! Before Lee Seng could say anything, five beams fired in unison in all directions. The group cursed. Lee Seng felt the bullet collide with him, sending him backwards, out of the smoke and sliding on the ground. Chrono and Calis flew out of the smoke, caught by the same tactic, leaving Evan and Ritsuka in the smoke.
"We got them!" A voice shouted.
"They were right. Someone stupid enough would come for them! Ha! Get them locked up and ready with the rest! We'll take them to Queen! She'll sift through these sorry lot herself!" Another voice ordered. Lee Seng's ears rang, making it hard to hear all that was happening. He struggled to get up. The wound on his body was still healing.
'Crap.' Lee Seng managed to think. 'The others… I need to get to the others before they do…'
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