"Do not scatter!"
Promet shouted aloud as he sprinted forward, pulling off the cloth wrapped around his face to reveal his dusty golden hair.
BOOM!
A roaring sound erupted from Promet's position, and the bleak gray reality seemed to be torn apart by streaks of white lightning.
The white lightning spread rapidly in all directions before gathering back at its source, forming a glowing cage around Promet.
He lunged forward, aiming directly for the elongated black shadow right before his eyes.
Of course, no one was foolish enough to charge headlong into a creature like that; Promet melted into the cloud of dust, disappearing entirely from the worm's sight.
After his disappearance, faint circular traces resembling stellar specks or brilliant white fireflies suddenly materialized amidst the swirling dust.
Immediately after, arcs of white lightning began coiling around the pitch black body of the worm, pinning it down and halting its movement.
Clearly, Promet was holding it back, though it was unlikely he could maintain it for long.
"Do not worry, my Path will repel it for at least three more minutes!"
Promet burst out from the dust cloud, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily as he forged ahead.
...
"Hah."
The gray haired young man exhaled a heavy breath, partly due to the suffocating cloth around his face and partly due to the shapeless monster from earlier.
He leaned a hand against the wall, clutching his face as if overcome by dizziness.
In truth, not everyone was skilled in magic or combat; most people naturally steered clear of becoming warriors, even though the path to gaining power was vast and open.
It was just like Earth: in daily life, no one actively craved becoming heavily muscled just to march off to war; at most, people worked out a bit to find a romantic partner.
Fortunately, a student from The Gate Academy was present—an institution dedicated to training warriors and officers, essentially a military school.
The young man glanced around, holding his breath to feel his own heartbeat as he surveyed his surroundings.
Realizing that everything had seemingly stabilized, he collapsed onto the ground, his legs trembling uncontrollably for a moment.
"..."
The gray haired youth clutched his stomach. He felt a sharp abdominal pain and desperately needed to use the restroom, his mouth whispering curses at the wretched situation while his teeth gritted tightly to hold it in.
However, his strained expression caught attention, and the man named Promet walked over toward him.
"Are you injured anywhere?"
Promet, driven by his natural instinct to help his companions, came over to inquire about the gray haired youth's condition. The young man simply kept a stern face, staring intently with gritted teeth while shaking his head.
"...I will take your word for it then."
Afterward, Promet went around asking everyone about their current condition.
"As everyone can see, we were accidentally fleeing from a monster that resembles a giant worm."
Promet raised his voice with an inspiring clarity, first reminding everyone of their present reality.
"However, since that worm is still actively searching for us, we must temporarily stay away from the police shelter..."
Promet stated an obvious truth, skipping useless pleasantries and getting straight to the point.
"Currently, as we have observed, only two corpses were spotted, and the three rapists have fled. With that worm appearing so close to us, those three can essentially be presumed dead.
This is extremely dangerous, but do not worry. If everyone can share their capabilities with me, I, Promet, will help draft an escape plan for us all."
Promet rallied everyone to unite, as surviving together was currently the utmost priority.
The gray haired youth felt the same. As he pictured the prospect of escaping this prison, a strange surge of excitement welled up inside him, making his heart beat faster.
His pupils quivered slightly, and a tense tear even rolled down his eyelid. Still, his hands remained wrapped around his stomach, making it hard to tell whether that tear sprang from physical agony or emotional relief.
To dodge Promet's gaze, he looked down at the ground, and as another abdominal cramp hit him, he glanced to the right, doing his absolute best to distract himself from the stomach pain.
Yet... meeting his gaze was another set of eyes.
A strangely hollow pair of eyes, reaching out from the darkness to meet his own...
His hurried breath seemed to freeze on the spot, slowly catching in his throat.
In the corner of the room... lay a blood soaked corpse pinned under collapsed walls.
The body was completely mangled, making it impossible to tell whether it was male or female.
Yet those eyes, opened wide, seemed to engage in an invisible dialogue with the gray haired youth.
Suddenly, he thought of himself, and of the people back inside the shelter.
Through those eyes—eyes identical to those of the dead girl from before—he saw himself blending in with the living.
Would he die like that one day? He did not know.
He stared at the splattered brain matter surrounding the corpse, then looked down at his own hands.
"...Sorry... I need to use the restroom, do not worry about me."
Holding his stomach, he stood up and walked away without waiting for a reply.
Strangely enough, his eyes bore nothing but the raw disgust typical of a growing teenager.