Chapter 147: "You’d Better Be Alive, Zeke!"

All three snapped their attention forward. Ahead of them, cracks were spreading rapidly across the icy floor, spiderwebbing outward from a central point and revealing glimpses of an endless, hollow darkness beneath the ground.

"Move!" Ares barked.

They scattered instantly. Torrin and Feyd threw themselves in one direction while Ares pivoted toward the source of the disturbance, his blade already drawn to face it. The cracks in the ground intensified as something massive forced its way toward the surface.

Ares struck first, driving his sword down into the widening fissure with all the force he could summon. For a single suspended moment, whatever was coming up through the ground went still.

But the second they thought they could breathe a sigh of relief, Ares’ expression turned grim.

"Stay back!" he shouted at Torrin and Feyd, who were starting to step forward to help him.

A heartbeat later, he was flung backward through the air, landing hard on his feet several paces from where the ground finally split open completely. A massive armor-plated worm erupted from the earth, its faceless head splitting open into a tooth-lined radial maw.

A Churrworm had appeared!

Fortunately, Ares had warned them in time. If they hadn’t stopped when they heard him, they would’ve been in serious danger. This type of monster was classified as a mid-level threat, with annoyingly corrosive acid that it spat out, and it lunged at any human it sighted.

The three of them tensed up, raising their weapons and bracing themselves against the Churrworm’s attack.

But the attack they expected to come never did.

Instead, the Churrworm recoiled and thrashed violently before diving back beneath the floor. Its massive body slithered away from them quickly. The instant it disappeared, they thought it would come back up to attack one of them.

However, it didn’t.

It continued to dig through the ground and went past them, as though it was running away from something!

Ares, Torrin, and Feyd exchanged looks.

They didn’t need to voice what they were thinking aloud. Whatever had frightened a Churrworm badly enough to make it run was not something they wanted to meet head-on.

They turned and sprinted after it as one, following the path of destruction it carved through the tunnel.

Their suspicion was confirmed within seconds.

Behind them, the same chittering and scraping cry rose again.

Cruuk, cruuk, cruuuk.

The sound was accompanied by the same vibration that had shaken the ground moments before.

They ran faster until the mouth of the tunnel they had entered through came into view.

The shaking of the ground intensified so much that some loose rocks from the ceiling and walls fell in their way. Fortunately, they were able to sense the danger ahead and avoided being crushed alive. Staying inside the tunnel and continuing forward would only become a suicidal act because no one knew if the tunnel would end up giving out under the circumstances.

When they reached the mouth of the tunnel, the three expected their Admiral’s group to be there, waiting for them after having sensed the same dangerous situation they had.

But no one was there.

They skidded to a halt once they got out of the tunnel and glanced toward the other opening where the other group had entered.

"Did they already leave?" Feyd asked.

Torrin shook his head. "The Admiral would wait for us to come out. He won’t leave us here to die."

They knew Zeke well enough to know his character. He was never someone who would choose to live and watch his subordinates die. They had personally seen how he saved many others despite the dire situations he was in, even disregarding his own injuries. That was why the soldiers under his direct command swore their absolute loyalty to him and would even die for his sake.

Ares glanced into the other tunnel, his senses on overdrive as he tried to see farther into the dark. But even after pushing his senses to the brink of overload, he didn’t see anyone inside.

He could only hope that Zeke had left before they did. Ares would rather believe that Galithe had complained until Zeke’s eardrums burst and that Zeke had taken them back to the other contaminated zone they were originally in than think that he and his group hadn’t come out.

"What should we do?" Torrin asked, waiting for Ares’ command.

"Let’s wait for them here..." Ares decided.

He focused his senses again toward the tunnel, but his ears caught something. He turned his head and saw the Churrworm continue its frantic escape, burrowing directly into the passage that connected back to the annexed dual contaminated zone.

And it was then that Ares noticed something far more alarming.

The passage had shrunk!

What had been a wide opening large enough for several people to walk through side by side was now barely large enough for one person to squeeze through.

And that wasn’t all. It was still shrinking even faster!

Ares’ irises constricted at what he saw.

The other two Sentinels had also realized this.

"We need to get out of here now!" Feyd shouted, already breaking into a full sprint toward the shrinking passage.

Torrin followed immediately behind him. Only Ares didn’t move. He stood there staring down the tunnel that led toward the path Zeke had taken.

Torrin and Feyd both turned back the second they realized he hadn’t followed. Understanding flickered across their faces. They knew that Ares wouldn’t leave this place if he didn’t see their Admiral leave first.

Without exchanging words, they both turned and ran back to Ares, each grabbing one of his arms and hauling him toward the exit.

"What are you doing?" Ares glared at the two of them. "Let go of me!"

They didn’t let go of him.

Just then, the creatures that had nearly bitten Cavendish’s face earlier surged into view at the far end of the tunnel they had just come from. They were innumerable, an endless, churning wave of monster bodies flooding forward with terrifying speed!

Torrin and Feyd tightened their grip on Ares, dragging him toward the shrinking passage. The Churrworm blocked their path as it tried to squeeze into it, but its massive form couldn’t get through.

Feyd used his own ability to push it aside, giving them a fraction of space enough to get through the gap. Feeling the danger closing in behind them, Ares had no choice but to act with the two of them.

With their teamwork, they made it through just as the passage was sealed completely behind them. The opening shrank down to a space no larger than a baby’s clenched fist.

Thud! Thump!

"Whooong!"

Behind the wall, the sound of the Churrworm’s scream as it failed to get through the sealed passage rang out.

The three of them panted on the ground, almost passing out from exhaustion.

Ares punched the wall, but it didn’t break under his strength.

With bloodshot eyes, he said, "You’d better be alive, Zeke!"