"What was that sound? A movie advertisement?" The manager looked confusedly toward the direction the sound came from. Commercial areas of the city usually had large screens playing advertisements, and movie trailers were normal.
But wasn't that sound a bit too loud?
Eden also looked there with curiosity. She remembered that direction was the construction area that had been sealed off today…
Wait a minute, an area that was only sealed off today… why was a howl coming from there?
"Boom!"
A violent impact made them freeze in place, and the car's fierce shaking instinctively made them look at the source.
A bizarre, gigantic creature, a combination of pale white and fleshy pink, was now on the ground not far ahead, licking its claws.
Its enormous body blocked the entire street, and beneath it was a huge crater smashed into the ground.
"What… is that?" Eden hadn't yet realized what the appearance of that monster meant.
"Howl—"
The monster let out a roar toward the sky, then flipped an oncoming truck with one claw. Its massive body didn't affect its speed in the slightest, moving like a high-speed train, beginning to rampage. Buildings were like tofu blocks beneath its body, easily collapsing with just a scrape.
"Screech—"
The manager finally reacted now. She ignited the engine, put the car in reverse, and slammed the accelerator, wanting to get away from the monster.
"W-w-what is that!"
The panic caused by this monster instantly began to spread. People screamed as they scattered, and the monster recklessly stretched out its claws to try and crush the fleeing people.
However, they overlooked one thing: creatures often pay attention to more lively "things," such as… a car moving too fast and driving away from it.
"Roar!" It opened its huge, bloody mouth, stretching its entire body, aiming like a slingshot at Eden's car.
"No! Don't come any closer!" The manager cried out in terror, and Eden was also struggling to maintain her composure, staring with wide, sweat-soaked eyes.
It felt like in the next second, they would be crushed.
"Rumble!"
The monster's body leaped into the air, charging toward them like a cannonball.
This is bad…
Many things flashed through Eden's mind like a kaleidoscope.
Death was so sudden and merciless.
There was no romantic scene-setting like in an opera before death, no deeply moving lines, and certainly no profound words about death like in a song.
It simply arrived, and that was all.
"Thump!"
Eden slumped on the passenger seat, completely disoriented, her foggy mind unable to process what had happened. The deployment of the airbag stuffed her entire face into it, and the manager beside her had already passed out.
They were not flattened into a crumpled iron pancake with the car.
What exactly happened…
Just before the monster landed, it seemed like something collided with it, preventing it from directly hitting the car. The subsequent impact wave still flipped the car over.
Surviving the ordeal brought her no joy, because it was not certain that they were safe yet.
"Bang!"
"Roar!"
The monster's roar was nearby, accompanied by the deafening sound of the city being destroyed, making Eden tremble as she covered her ears.
But she also noticed that the monster's sound seemed a little different than before…
It was like the roar of a wounded beast trying to intimidate its enemy.
Eden hesitated repeatedly, then cautiously peered out the window…
"Bang!"
A light streak, barely visible to the naked eye, directly struck the monster's head. Purple blood sprayed from its wound like a showerhead.
The light streak stopped on the monster's head, revealing its figure.
A person wearing bizarre armor and a helmet. He held a long sword reversed, and in his other hand, a pistol. It seemed the bloody sword was what inflicted the wound.
Beside the monster and the helmeted man, a small, unfamiliar transport plane lay abandoned, very likely the object that had collided with the monster.
Who was that person? What was he doing? Wasn't he afraid of that monster?
Just as she was completely bewildered, the helmeted man's next action stunned her completely.
As the monster tried to use its terrifying eyes to catch the "insect" on its head, the helmeted man, with a sword in one hand and a gun in the other, both shot and stabbed the sword into the monster's eyes.
Blood splashed everywhere instantly.
The helmeted man, like a nimble, dancing butterfly, deftly grabbed the monster's haphazardly swiping claws to swing away. Hanging upside down in the air, he severed the monster's two pitiably small legs—compared to its claws—with a single stroke.
As he flipped up, supporting himself with one hand, the monster had already collapsed to the ground. Blind and legless, it could only lash out blindly at its surroundings with its two front claws.
The helmeted man leaped onto its body again, gripping the long sword with both hands, and mercilessly plunged it into a specific spot on the monster's body.
He violently twisted the blade—
"Swish."
Foul, pinkish-purple blood splattered onto Eden's numb face.
"…"
The monster stopped moving.
"Are you alright?"
Another voice brought Eden back to her senses. The hot blood on her face still smelled fishy , but ignoring everything else, she turned her head and saw a pink-haired woman in equally strange attire standing calmly beside the car.
"I… I…" Eden stammered. She didn't know what to say now.
What was all this?
The pink-haired woman asked calmly, "Is there anyone else in the car who needs help?"
"Yes, yes! There's someone else in the car! Please help!" Eden hurriedly nodded.
Just then, the helmeted man pulled his sword out of the monster's body and leaped down from the almost seven- or eight-meter tall body, landing in front of the car.
"Yes… speed-specialized Honkai Beast, a new type… caused chaos, please proceed with the cleanup immediately…" He seemed to be talking to someone. His steady voice sounded somewhat familiar to Eden. "…Failure to intercept Soon after birth, it broke through the perimeter and can jump approximately fifty meters high… Yes, understood."
After ending his communication, the helmeted man said to the woman who was stepping forward to cut open the locked car door, "New assignment."
"I know. Let's get them out first."
The helmeted man also nodded, then approached the passenger-side car door. The metal door was like the buildings in the monster's grasp to him; he effortlessly ripped it off, then released Eden's seatbelt and lifted her out.
"Thank you…" Eden breathed a long sigh of relief. Although she still didn't know what had happened, she felt she was safe now.
"…Eden?"
The helmeted man asked her name with a tone of confusion.