CRUNCH. BOOM.
No landing roll. No technique. Seorin slammed shoulder-first into cement and tumbled. Without the enhancement shot the government had pumped into her veins, her collarbone would've shattered on impact.
"Nnngh..."
Copper taste flooding her mouth. She groaned and lifted her head. Through the haze of dust, the other five were scattered across the debris. Tossed around like garbage bags.
"Son of a--!"
First one up was Cha Runa. Berserker type. The idiot didn't even assess the situation before swearing -- just ripped something from his waistband. A blunt chunk of rebar. Not even shaped right. An unfinished excuse for a sword.
"Hey! Shut up and stay still--!"
Seorin tried to shout him down. Too late. Runa was already charging at the nearest shadow.
"DIE!"
His scream was a flare gun.
The shadow crouching in the rubble woke up.
SKREEEEEE--
A sound like nails dragged across glass, and the shadow tore itself open. Tier-1 monster. Residual Echo. The thing had no fixed shape -- it shimmered like dark smoke, edges constantly dissolving and reforming. It reacted to noise and large movements. Meaning Runa's psychotic war cry had just given it the fastest, most aggressive wake-up call possible.
The Echo stretched like a whip and cracked across Runa's solar plexus.
"GHK--?!"
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He ragdolled backward. His flying body slammed into Jeong Noah, who'd been standing right behind him.
"Dude! Move!"
"You crashed into ME!"
Noah -- the big one, defense type -- staggered sideways. His shield (more of a steel plate, really) swung wide and blocked Seorin's entire line of sight.
"I can't see past your giant ass! Get that thing out of the way!"
Seorin kicked Noah in the hip. This wasn't combat. This was a circus.
Six people. Not a team. Just six terrified animals crammed into a small space. Yoon Serin -- the calculator type -- was crouched in a corner, hands clamped over her head, screaming.
"Pathing overlap! I can't run the numbers! Four, Five, fall back!"
"Who made you the boss?!"
Kang Gayeon -- counter type -- blew past Serin's call and lunged forward. Her blade cut nothing but air. The Echo was vibrating wildly, feeding off the kids' chaotic movement like it was running on their confusion.
Attack from the left, it slips right. At the same time, it swings from behind. The thing seemed to enjoy the mess.
SLASH.
"AAH!"
Blood erupted from Gayeon's thigh. At the same moment, Baek Isol -- the assassin -- got tangled with Runa's legs and went down face-first.
"...Idiots."
Seorin bit her lip. Everything was going dark, and it wasn't because the monster was strong. It was because her so-called allies were blocking every lane, cutting every sightline, pulling aggro in six different directions at once.
This was heading for a total wipe. Not even a cool death like the veterans in the prologue. They were going to trip over each other's feet and die like dogs.
I need to live.
Her pupils contracted. A faint glow crept along the iron spike in her hand.
She didn't move to save her teammates. She moved because if those morons all died, she'd be the only target left.
"Get your head DOWN!"
Seorin planted her foot on Runa's back -- he was still on the ground -- and launched off him like a stepping stone.
"Wha-- HEY!"
She ignored his yelp. Airborne now. And from up here, she could see it -- the Echo's core. The one fixed point inside all that shifting smoke.
But the distance was short. She wasn't going to reach it.
Then a shadow slipped beneath her feet. Baek Isol. The kid with zero presence had rolled across the ground and sliced past the monster's ankle in passing.
The Echo's stance broke. Just for a heartbeat.
Luck? Or calculated? No time to think about it.
Seorin threw her full weight behind the spike and drove it down. No technique. No form. Just one strike loaded with the ugliest, most desperate thing a human being can produce -- the raw, snarling will to not die.
SQUELCH.
A sickening give traveled up through her palm.
