Continuing to race forward at full speed—straight toward the side where Claudia and Aerith were located—Alex glanced back from time to time to make sure that Barret and Tifa were keeping up with him and not falling behind. In one of those moments, when he again looked over his shoulder, Tifa suddenly cried out, calling on him to immediately look ahead. Hearing her warning shout, Alex sharply turned his head and saw how right in their path creatures that painfully resembled deep-water monsters came crashing down from the ceiling with a dull hurried thud.
Raising an eyebrow, Alex smiled predatorily and did not even think of slowing his pace. Instantly closing the distance to the nearest mutant, Alex grabbed it with a death grip right by the throat and continued his rapid run. Holding the squealing creature by the neck like an improvised club, Alex began swinging its body in wide sweeping motions, on the spot scattering the other attacking mutants, literally smearing them against the walls.
Seeing what kind of massacre Alex was arranging, Tifa and Barret running after him were slightly taken aback by such a spectacle. Continuing to race at the limit of their strength, Tifa and Barret exchanged surprised glances, but did not even think of reducing their pace, still not lagging a single step behind Alex. Having cleared the nearest passage for himself, Alex continued holding the thrashing mutant by the throat with an iron-concrete grip and was not going to let it go.
He needed a live and durable battering ram in order to break the road further as quickly as possible. Noticing a dead-end fork ahead, Tifa had already drawn air into her chest in order to shout and ask where to turn. But instead of any answer Alex only accelerated even more strongly, holding the writhing body of the mutant exactly in front of himself.
A moment later a deafening crash of crumbling concrete resounded throughout the entire corridor—and an enormous through hole formed in the partition ahead. Seeing what Alex had done, Tifa added a little more speed and nimbly slipped through the hole in the wall, gracefully jumping over the pile of smoking concrete debris.
"Damn it, kid! Could you at least have warned in advance that you decided to go for a damn battering ram?!" Barret loudly cried out, on the go flying through the breach in the wall after Alex.
"It's simply faster this way! And try not to fall behind!" Alex cried out in response, on the spot punching yet another concrete wall with the broken body of the experimental mutant.
"Do we still have far to run?!" Tifa cried out, continuing to race after him and not lagging a single step behind Alex.
"We're already very close! Be extremely ready in case there turn out to be even more of these creatures there!" Alex answered, with wild force slamming the half-dead mutant into yet another barrier.
Barret and Tifa nodded their heads with readiness, perfectly understanding exactly what Alex was talking about. And while they continued to race at the limit of their strength through the path freshly laid by Alex, far behind rang the desperate cry of Johnny, who simply physically could not keep up running at such a crazy pace and was already gasping from the continuous sprint. Alex, for his part, was absolutely indifferent whether Johnny was keeping up with them or not—he wanted to reach Aerith and Claudia as quickly as possible, who right now clearly had far more problems.
With every punched wall Alex did not for a second cease using magical vision in order to clearly control in what situation the girls found themselves and to be one hundred percent certain that everything was in order with both of them. Seeing that only a few rooms remained to punch through to the testing ground where Aerith and Claudia were stuck, Alex once again with all his might slammed the mutant into the wall, punching yet another through hole.
After this crushing blow against the concrete the broken body of the mutant practically completely fell apart—in Alex's hands remained only the head, part of the torso, and the stump of one arm. But for Alex this was still quite sufficient in order to smash through the remaining partitions.
At the same time on the testing ground the situation was becoming critical. Claudia and Aerith were fighting off the mutants with the last of their strength, who without end continued to crawl out from all the cracks and did not even think of ending. From this continuous stream of enemies Claudia clearly felt how it was becoming more and more difficult for her to swing the heavy Buster Sword, and strength was rapidly leaving her body.
Exactly the same situation was with Aerith: she had to without pause wind one spell after another and at the same time dodge the clawed attacks of the creatures. Under this frenzied onslaught Claudia and Aerith in the end had to retreat to the farthest wall.
Breathing heavily, Claudia with one hand shielded Aerith, hiding her behind her back, and with the other barely held the Buster Sword, directing its tip at the approaching mutants. Understanding that they had been finally driven into a corner, Aerith more tightly squeezed her staff in her trembling hands, feeling how a wave of sticky panic was rising inside her. Gathering the remnants of her strength, Aerith took a deep breath and with despair threw her head toward the ceiling.
"And where the hell are you in such a critical moment?!" Aerith loudly cried out, raising an emotional gaze upward.
"Don't be afraid! Why? Because I'm here!" Alex's deafening voice rang out right from behind the wall behind the backs of Aerith and Claudia.
As soon as Alex's loud cry rang out, Claudia's sensitive ear slightly twitched, and she instantly reacted. Hearing the growing crash behind her back, Claudia, not losing a single second, more tightly pressed Aerith to herself and made a sharp yank to the side. At the same moment a deafening impact rang out, and the concrete wall next to them with a crack flew into pieces.
Heavy concrete debris flew in all directions with such terrible force that they mortally crippled and crushed several nearby mutants at once. Looking at the risen dense cloud of dust, Aerith exhaled with deep relief, gradually getting out of Claudia's strong embrace.
The cloud of dust settled very quickly, and Claudia and Aerith finally saw Alex, who was standing among the debris with a wide, predatory smile on his face. In one hand he habitually had the Chainsword roaring, and in the other he was squeezing all that remained of the unfortunate mutant used by him as a living battering ram. Patting the heavy blade of the Chainsword against his own shoulder, Alex slowly stepped forward, and the mutants surrounding them instinctively retreated backward, for the first time feeling real, animal fear.
Taking yet another confident step, Alex with contempt threw the twisted, bloody corpse of the mutant right at the feet of its hissing kin. Seeing this, the monsters began howling wildly and baring their teeth, not taking their bloodshot eyes off Alex. Slightly narrowing his eyes, Alex turned to Claudia and Aerith, who were literally with the last of their strength holding their balance on their feet. Seeing their exhausted, drained appearance, Alex smiled softly and warmly.
"You're late, you dummy!" Aerith said with a sigh, bestowing upon Alex a feigned displeased gaze.
"Some small… technical obstacles arose along the way. Further we'll deal with everything ourselves," Alex answered with a light smile, briefly waving his head toward the hole in the wall.
Seeing Alex's gesture, Claudia slightly nodded her head and carefully led the tired Aerith toward the fresh breach in the wall. But the moment they approached closer, Barret and Tifa jumped out of the passage, who instantly froze in place from the picture they saw. Before them stretched an enormous crowd of mutants that were standing in place and wildly hissing in their direction.
Not understanding why the monsters still had not rushed into the attack, Tifa and Barret instinctively shifted their gaze to Alex, who was standing closest to this raging pack. One of the mutants, noticing that its light prey in the form of Claudia and Aerith was retreating, emitted a frantic howl and in a desperate jump rushed in their direction. But before it could fly even a couple of meters, it was grabbed by the neck with a death grip right in the air.
Intercepting the jumping mutant, Alex slowly shifted his gaze to the thrashing creature and began systematically squeezing his fingers. Feeling how its neck was being crushed as if under a press, the mutant desperately thrashed and squealed, trying to reach Alex's face with its long claws. The monster continued to writhe until a distinct, dry sound of breaking cervical vertebrae resounded throughout the entire testing ground.
Following this sound the mutant instantly went limp and weakly hung on Alex's arm. Without even changing expression, Alex released his fingers, and the carcass of the mutant fell like a sack right at his feet. Slightly snorting, Alex highly raised his leg and with all his might brought it down right on the head of the dead creature. From the crushing blow the mutant's skull burst with a disgusting pop, and its contents flew in all directions. In the next moment the twisted body of the monster turned into bright-green shimmering particles that quickly dispersed in the air.
Seeing yet another death of one of their kin, the remaining pack hissed even louder and more aggressively. Noticing that the mutants had finally prepared for a mass rush, Barret and Tifa immediately assumed stances, ready for a hard fight. And as soon as Barret's cyber-arm with a characteristic metallic click transformed into a heavy multi-barreled machine gun, the wave of mutants rushed forward.
"Ha-ha-ha! Well then say hello to my little friend, you bastards!" Barret loudly laughed, aiming the humming barrels of the machine gun right at the horde racing at full speed.
As soon as Barret finished shouting, lead shrapnel flew out of the red-hot muzzle of his machine gun, piercing several attacking mutants through at once. And barely had this first deafening volley sounded when Tifa instantly tore off from her place, rapidly rushing forward. Using Alex's back as a convenient point of support, Tifa gracefully jumped over him, delivering a crushing blow with both legs in the air.
From this powerful lunge the mutant instantly flew backward, knocking down with its own torso the kin standing behind. Deftly landing on the concrete, Tifa spun in place and made a sharp sweep under the nearest mutants, forcing them to collapse onto the floor with a crash. Having toppled several monsters, Tifa straightened up and highly raised her leg. Slightly narrowing her eyes, she with all her strength struck with her heel exactly into the nape of the lying mutant. Following the blow a distinct, dry crunch rang out—the body of the creature instantly went limp on the floor and began disintegrating into shimmering green particles.
Despite all her natural kindness and mercy, Tifa perfectly understood: in these unfortunate mutants there remained absolutely nothing human that could still be saved. The only thing that caused her dull sadness was the realization that these terrible creatures had once been ordinary people until the Shinra corporation turned them into disgusting monsters.
Briefly shaking her head in order to drive out extra thoughts and fully concentrate on the current battle, Tifa managed to notice how one of the mutants had approached her too closely. Already drawing her fist back for a counter blow, she saw how the creature that jumped in her direction was grabbed by the head with a death grip. Slightly blinking, Tifa saw Alex, who once again had covered her in battle.
"Thank you!" Tifa said with a warm smile, delivering a whipping kick with her leg backhand in order to beat off yet another approaching mutant.
"That will cost you yet another full hug! And don't forget, I'm keeping a strict count of how many you already owe me. If in the end it turns out to be even one hug less—I'll bite you on the leg," Alex said with a cunning smirk, demonstratively tapping his sharp fangs right in front of Tifa's eyes.
"And why exactly on the leg?" Tifa asked embarrassed, delivering yet another crushing blow with a precise toe to the head of the nearest mutant, sincerely not understanding where such a strange threat had come from.
"I don't even know… Simply thought that it would be much more fun that way!" Alex answered with a smirk, with a habitual motion crushing the head of the captured mutant and squeamishly tossing the corpse disappearing into green particles to the side.
"Enough flirting in the middle of the battle! First finish off all these creatures, and then do whatever your soul desires!" Barret sternly barked, using a writhing mutant as a living shield, pouring out all his accumulated anger on the approaching horde.
Hearing Barret's cry, Alex lazily turned his head in his direction and saw a rather amusing spectacle. Barret on the spot drove his cyber-arm right into the torso of the nearest mutant and conducted continuous fire through it until his improvised living shield finally disintegrated into shimmering green particles. Slightly whistling, Alex deftly jerked his head to the side, dodging the lightning-fast lunge of the claws of another mutant.
Stepping aside at the very last moment, Alex casually avoided the repeated attack of yet another creature that had arrived. Quickly evaluating the situation, Alex began softly retreating backward, with jeweler's precision dodging the continuous claw strikes that rained down in his direction like rain. Leaning forward, Alex easily avoided the jump of the mutant that flew over his head, after which he unhurriedly straightened up and brought a thin cigar to his lips.
Paying absolutely no attention to the raging mutants around, Alex with a habitual click lit the lighter and brought the flame to the tip of the cigar. And right at that moment when the sharp claws of one of the monsters were supposed to dig into his body, a bright-pink barrier flared up right in front of Alex, resembling a blossomed flower bud.
Looking at the claws frozen a centimeter from his face, Alex turned his head to the side and met the gaze of Aerith, who cutely wrinkled her little nose and with her entire strict appearance made it clear that it was high time for him to start fighting normally instead of showing off.
Pursing his lips, Alex turned to the mutant that was straining with all its might to punch through the magical barrier with its claws. Exhaling a dense stream of smoke, Alex raised the Chainsword and immediately crushingly brought the sword down right on the head of the creature. The spinning steel teeth with a deafening crack dug into the flesh of the mutant, instantly tearing it to shreds.
Sharply jerking his arm downward, Alex backhandedly bisected the mutant into two parts and took a confident step forward. In the next moment Alex slightly shifted to the side, and right next to him a new mutant fell from the ceiling with a dull thud, its claws on the spot digging into the concrete. Flipping the Chainsword in his hand and catching the hilt with a reverse grip, Alex with all his might drove the sword right into the torso of the monster, nailing it to the floor. Feeling how the wildly spinning teeth were tearing its insides, the mutant emitted a frantic howl.
Slightly snorting, Alex with force jerked his arm forward, tearing through the body of the mutant from the very chest to the groin. With a careless motion shaking the blood from the weapon, Alex more tightly clenched the cigar between his teeth and immediately on the fly intercepted the clawed paw of the next mutant with his free hand. Not giving the creature time to react, Alex twisted its torso and began choking the creature with its own limb. Slightly pulling the mutant's arm backward, Alex sharply struck it from behind on the knees, forcing the monster to collapse onto the concrete with a scrape.
"And now your breath will completely seize up, buddy," Alex said in an absolutely calm tone, rigidly placing his foot on the mutant's back, beginning to press with his sole forward and at the same time forcefully twisting its arm backward.
Having finished speaking, Alex pressed even more strongly with his sole forward—and at the same moment the mutant's ribs with a crack and crunch protruded from its chest cavity. Jerking the creature's arm toward himself, Alex heard yet another dry click, and right after that the mutant's head weakly tilted backward, swaying like that of a broken marionette.
Lowering the arm of the killed monster, Alex pulled his Chainsword out of the cracked concrete and took a step forward. Quickly evaluating the situation and making sure that Barret and Tifa were perfectly handling the remaining mutants without his direct help, Alex saw how a figure with a huge sword in its hands raced past him like a rapid shadow.
Running past Alex, Claudia highly jumped upward and began powerfully spinning the Buster Sword above her head. Very quickly the massive blade of the sword in her hands covered itself with a dense, bright-green Mako glow. Having gained sufficient inertia, Claudia crushingly landed exactly in the center of the largest accumulation of mutants. Not giving the creatures time to react, she brought down a terrible blow from top to bottom.
The massive blade of the Buster Sword with a deafening clap drove into the concrete floor, causing a most powerful spatial shockwave. Small stones and debris of the flooring flew in all directions, turning into red-hot shrapnel that tore the bodies of the mutants to pieces. Having destroyed several monsters at once with a single blow, Claudia took a deep breath in order to quickly catch her breath, and immediately straightened up.
Hearing a sharp yank behind her back, Claudia, without even looking back, delivered a whipping blow backhand. The blade of the Buster Sword easily passed through the torso of the approaching mutant, bisecting it evenly in half. Before Claudia could return her heavy sword to the starting position, she heard yet another rapid noise behind herself.
Understanding that she already physically did not have time to raise the weapon for a block, Claudia raised her left arm, intending to take the claw strike on the durable metal bracer. But before the creature managed to dig its claws into the steel, Claudia noticed out of the corner of her eye how some carcass flew past her, knocking the attacking mutant off its feet.
Seeing what had happened, Claudia noticed how both mutants turned out to be nailed through to the concrete wall by Alex's heavily humming Chainsword. Turning her head back, she saw how at that very moment Alex was slightly yawning, covering his face with his palm, while his second hand in parallel was pressing the snout of yet another mutant into the metal partition. Slightly smiling, Claudia deftly pulled the Chainsword out of the concrete and immediately with a habitual motion threw it back toward Alex.
"Catch. This is yours," Claudia said, carefully throwing the Chainsword to Alex.
"Thank you! But honestly speaking, I'd better prefer that you let me play with your toy," Alex answered with a smirk, catching the thrown Chainsword on the fly and expressively looking at the Buster Sword in Claudia's hands.
"You'll manage," Claudia answered in a dry tone, looking at Alex with an absolutely empty and imperturbable gaze.
"What a grump you are after all… That's it, no more hugs for you!" Alex said in a feigned offended tone, slightly pressing with his hand on the head of the held mutant and finally crushing it against the metal covering.
Bestowing upon Alex yet another empty gaze, Claudia silently turned around and rapidly rushed to help Tifa, who at that moment had to single-handedly hold back the onslaught of four mutants at once. Seeing that Claudia had gone to cover Tifa, Alex with lightning grace pulled his pistol "Jackal" from the holster and, without even turning his head, made a dry shot behind his back.
At that time Aerith, who was located on a small technological elevation of the hangar, was so focused on the magical support of the squad that she did not even notice how right behind her along the concrete wall yet another mutant was silently sliding down. And when the creature had already prepared to make a deadly jump onto her back, a shot resounded throughout the testing ground—and right at Aerith's feet a dead monster with a blown-out chest cavity collapsed.
Lowering her gaze to the smoking corpse, Aerith raised her head and met Alex's gaze. Brightly and with gratitude smiling, Aerith playfully sent him an air kiss, from which Alex merely slightly laughed. Cheerfully winking at Aerith, he immediately redirected the muzzle of the "Jackal" in another direction and again pulled the trigger.
Johnny himself, participating in this large-scale battle exclusively as a "moral support group," was fully shouting encouraging phrases and stupid instructions, fearfully sticking out of the breach in the wall. He was so carried away with handing out completely unnecessary advice to anyone that he absolutely did not notice how right above his head along the wall a mutant was slowly and predatorily approaching.
Only when the monster practically dug its long claws into Johnny's nape did he feel how a large, sticky drop fell right onto the top of his head. Touching his hair with his fingers, Johnny with horror saw viscous, disgusting slime on his palm. Slowly raising his head upward, he met the gaze of the mutant that had already fully opened its gigantic maw full of crooked sharp teeth, ready to dig into his face with guts. Johnny's eyes widened from wild primordial fear, and his mouth widely opened in a panicked howl.
"HELP MEEE! THIS DAMN THING IS ABOUT TO EAT ME WHOLE!" Johnny howled frantically, instantly collapsing onto his backside and desperately scraping his legs along the floor, trying with all his might to crawl away from the monster falling onto him.
Continuing to howl frantically and at the same time scrape his legs along the floor, Johnny with indescribable horror looked at the mutant falling onto him. And when the creature had already made its deadly jump, yet another wild cry burst from Johnny's throat. And so, when he had already said goodbye to life, certain that he was about to be finally eaten, a dry shot resounded throughout the hangar—and a headless corpse collapsed onto Johnny like a heavy sack.
From such wild unexpectedness Johnny grabbed the headless carcass with a death grip, and at the same moment thick, cloudy blood sprayed right onto his face. Freezing in place from horror, Johnny did not even immediately notice that several drops of this crap had gotten right into his mouth.
Blinking in surprise, Johnny took a convulsive, relieved breath and slowly lowered his gaze downward. Seeing that he was still frantically embracing the headless, thrashing in convulsions corpse, he emitted such a frantic and thin howl that anyone standing nearby would have had their ears blocked, and began with all his might trying to push the dead man away from himself.
Observing this grandiose picture of how Johnny was in panic fighting with a headless corpse, Alex slightly tilted his head to the side, with a smile recalling the words of this idiot who had earlier proudly named himself "Lucky." Barely restraining laughter from the sight of the ridiculous situation Johnny had again found himself in, Alex sharply waved his palm to the side.
The mutant that was trying to silently attack Alex from behind suddenly froze in place with its claws extended forward. A moment later a thin bloody line cut across its neck, from which dark liquid quickly oozed. Slightly turning his head toward the frozen creature, Alex slightly pushed it with his index finger on the forehead. From this light touch the mutant's head with a quiet thud fell off and fell onto the concrete, and the torso itself collapsed like a sack onto its knees, instantly disintegrating into shimmering green particles.
Having killed the last mutant on the testing ground, Alex looked at his white gloves stained with the cloudy blood of the monsters and slightly smirked. Bringing the bloodied fingers to his lips, Alex carelessly licked the dark drop in order to practically check what this crap tasted like. And the moment the blood touched his tongue, Alex raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Are you seriously deciding to put this disgusting filth right into your mouth right now?!" Barret cried out with the deepest disgust and shock in his voice, stepping toward Alex and observing this strange gesture with his own eyes.
Hearing the stern voice behind himself, Alex lazily turned his head back and met Barret's gaze, on whose face open, unconcealed disgust was frozen. Slightly blinking, Alex looked around and suddenly realized that absolutely all the mutants on the testing ground had already been finally finished off, and the testing premises itself had turned into smoking ruins. And right now the entire group was looking at him with unconcealed, puzzled interest.
Claudia merely slightly raised one eyebrow, distrustfully folding her arms on her chest. Standing nearby, Tifa anxiously pursed her lips, looking at him with a worried gaze. Aerith, on the contrary, with sincere excitement tilted her head to the side, burning with curiosity why he had even decided to taste the blood of these creatures.
Dryly coughing, Alex with a careless motion shook the remnants of the dark liquid from the glove and squeamishly spat out the saliva lingering on his tongue. Making a maximally imperturbable appearance as if he did not notice these suspicious gazes from the side at all, Alex put the Chainsword behind his belt and unhurriedly took out yet another thin cigar.
"Actually… this blood tasted exactly like ordinary raw fish," Alex answered calmly, lighting the thin cigar from the lighter and slightly twirling his index finger in the air.
"Yeah, incredibly useful information! Only why the hell did you even decide to taste the blood of these disgusting creatures?!" Barret said, shaking his head, still continuing to look at Alex as at a finished fool.
"They say blood is the money of the soul. And in general, you yourselves understand everything perfectly well…" Alex issued, pronouncing with an absolutely serious face the first outright nonsense that only came into his head.
"Is this somehow directly connected with the Ancients?" Tifa asked in a quiet, cautious whisper so that Johnny sitting nearby on the floor with a pale face would not accidentally hear her words.
"Exactly so. As in the case with concentrated Mako, in the blood of any living creatures too much hidden information is stored," Alex answered, affirmatively nodding his head, continuing to maintain an imperturbable expression on his face.
"So you want to say that you are capable of extracting other people's memories right from blood clots?" Claudia assumed with open doubt in her voice, slightly raising an eyebrow and intently looking at Alex.
"Everything works a little differently, but right now you are maximally close to the correct answer," Alex nodded, carelessly shaking the ash from the cigar under his feet.
"Really?! Wow, I'll definitely have to somehow try to do that myself!" Aerith exclaimed with a shining smile and, instantly jumping up to Alex, tightly embraced him by the arm.
"Don't even think about such a thing. You seem to be far from a little girl already, and still the same—you try to put all sorts of unspeakable filth right into your mouth," Alex answered with a sigh, slightly and lovingly tugging Aerith by her rosy cheek.
Feeling how she was again playfully tugged by the cheek, Aerith cutely wrinkled her nose and immediately with a swing bit Alex on the finger. Feeling the light bite, Alex quietly laughed and began carefully stroking Aerith on the little nose so that she would finally release his hand. Observing this cute scene, Claudia, Tifa, and Barret were seriously pondering those words that Alex had spoken a moment earlier.
For them everything that was somehow connected with the mysterious race of the Ancients was something distant and absolutely incomprehensible. The only thing they reliably knew about the Cetra was that they were the first race inhabiting this planet and could speak directly with the Lifestream.
But what exact other powers and knowledge the Ancients possessed, they completely did not imagine. And the only thing the group could do in such a situation was simply to take Alex's word for it. After all, in their entire life they had met only three representatives of this people—Alex himself, Aerith, and Dean.
Exchanging glances among themselves, Claudia, Tifa, and Barret silently decided not to focus any longer on Alex's strange act, but to fully concentrate on finding the path to the exit from this underground complex as soon as possible. Meanwhile Johnny, who until then had been off to the side, finally came fully to himself, and the deathly pallor left his face.
Carelessly wiping the remnants of the cloudy blood from his cheek with the sleeve of his jacket, he noticed that all the others were standing nearby and animatedly discussing something while he was sitting in solitude on the cold concrete. Deftly jumping up in order to rise to his feet, Johnny immediately with a hurried step ran to the squad, intending to immediately join the conversation.
"Hey, friends! We just defeated all these creatures! We're simply the most excellent team in the world with you!" Johnny blurted out with a wide, self-satisfied smile, on the go running up to the group.
"'We'? Somehow I don't remember you doing anything useful in this battle except shouting completely useless advice," Claudia said in an absolutely calm but piercing with cold voice, bestowing upon Johnny an icy gaze.
"Hey, why are you like that right away, beauty with the sword! I also made my invaluable contribution to this victory!" Johnny declared with a smirk, making toward Claudia a characteristic gesture with his fingers in the form of a little pistol, from which her gaze became even sterner and colder.
"Yeah-yeah, you're a real hero with us in general. And now be so kind as to shut up and take a step back," Alex answered in a lazy, tired tone, slightly waving his palm as if trying to drive away a persistent fly.
"But why?! We're already practically best friends with you, we must go through this entire trial hand in hand!" Johnny exclaimed with a smirk, assuming the most pompous pose possible and emotionally pointing with two index fingers right at Alex.
"I definitely don't need even more unlucky friends than myself. My own troubles are already enough for me up to the brim. And now step farther away before because of your phenomenal unluckiness some more crap crawls out here," Alex said, retreating behind the back of the quietly giggling Aerith and continuing to wave his hand at Johnny.
"What else can even crawl out here?! We just finished off all these creatures to the last one…" Johnny began speaking with a wide smirk, when suddenly his voice abruptly broke off right in mid-sentence.
Johnny did not even manage to finish speaking when a deafening crash rang out from the underground depths, as if something truly colossal was rising from below. Right after that the wide smile on Johnny's face slowly slid off, and he himself nervously swallowed the lump that had risen to his throat. Turning his head toward the chatterbox, Alex bestowed upon him a heavy, expressive gaze, without words making it clear: "Well I told you so!"
Johnny embarrassed rubbed his hands on his jacket, frantically trying to pick at least some justification and prove that what was happening was in no way connected with him. Meanwhile the vibration and rumble were becoming louder and closer with every second. Understanding that something very dangerous and massive was breaking through to them, Alex with one motion scooped Aerith up by the waist and made a rapid jump backward.
Following him Tifa and Claudia instantly reacted, tearing off from the spot and jumping as far as possible from the potential epicenter of the impact. Barret and Johnny also in panic ran back when with their own eyes they saw how right in the center of the metal flooring of the hangar deep, snaking cracks began to spread.
And already a moment later from under the cracked floor with a wild scrape an enormous blue webbed paw appeared, crowned with razor-sharp claws. Seeing this creature, Alex immediately recognized its mana response—this was that very Alpha-mutant whose presence he had sensed at the very bottom of this complex even during the scanning.
"The appearance of this crap is exclusively your direct fault, Johnny," Alex said in a dry, imperturbable tone, casting an absolutely empty gaze at the guy.
"IT'S NOT MY FAULT-A-A!" Johnny cried out, staring with indescribable horror at the gigantic paw punching through the metal and concrete.
To be continued...
(This cold is driving me absolutely crazy. My head is splitting; the meds only help for a couple of hours before I start feeling awful again. Ugh, I hate this. As for the plot—well, I tried so hard to cram everything into a single chapter that I simply ran out of space for the big monster to show up. So, I had to save that for the next chapter. Yeah, yeah, I know—I'm a real jerk. Nothing I can do about it. But in my defense, I've been checking the wiki along the way to brush up on my memory of certain events. Sigh. Now I can finally rest easy. Peace, love, and love is magic—and magic is heresy.)
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