The clouds parted and the full glare of the shattered moon painted the world in red, even redder than the pools of blood drowning the earth below. Its shine reflected off of the spilled essence of life and intensified the thick stench of death in the air.

When the behemoth breached the surface and dove back into the earth, the shock wave blew apart everything that was around its vicinity, whether they were living humans or idle parts of the terrain. The ones without a mark were the lucky ones. They died to the sheer force of the monster’s appearance and almost instantly. Their bones were shattered and their fleshing innards burst into liquid. It was only an instant of pain, but their final memory would only be the terror they felt.

The weaker marked ones were not so lucky. Their mark was not strong enough to prevent them from dying, but it was strong enough to delay their death. Their bones were cracked and limbs were torn, but the strength of their mark kept them alive. It kept them alive long enough to be swallowed by the tide of stone. They lived long enough to experience unrelenting pain.

The land was cracked by the crash of the behemoth. The impact tore through the earth like a web of lightning, dissecting the terrain into giant shards and plates rising and falling like a chaotic tide. The earth crashed and slid against one another as if what was once complete yearned to return whole. However, it was futile. The chasms could be closed but never reunited, and their wish could only be realized by the soldiers as they fell into the chasm and their bones and meat were ground into one.

There were screams and they drowned out the sky, but the red sky and its moon were unmoved, unflinching in the face of total carnage.

Then, there was only silence, when those who were dying joined those who were already dead.

The entire situation was like lightning on a clear day. Without warning and came as quickly as it went away. The survivors struggled to comprehend what happened. The battle that they waged for days and the blood they shed during that time seemed so inconsequential. They forgot about why they were even here for, why they even raised their blades to cut down an enemy when a monster could simply mow them down to nothing with nothing but an appearance.

Would the monster leave them alone? Was its appearance like the first time they encountered it, that it was just passing by and what happened was nothing more than an unfortunate natural calamity?

Of course not.

The earth was still but the air shook with contempt and arrogance. Its hostility was clear and the intent behind its release left no room for doubt. The monster came to kill every single one of them. The behemoth rose slowly from the earth as if it was swimming onto the surface to reveal its majesty. It wanted the humans to know who was the one responsible for their demise.

The shell of the monster rose first. It was a giant dome of plates of varying cuts, all of them large and moved subtly as if they were drifting on water. It was not until the full size of a large settlement was revealed before the shell completely emerged. The behemoth’s body was that of a deformed whale, with bone protruding and had fins of various shapes and sizes, some even connecting to tendrils of various lengths. The most unsettling part, however, was its face. It had none. It only had a mouth that was stitched into a perpetual grin by its thousands of teeth hooking its lips onto its skin.

The monster raised its head, its mouth struggled to open as teeth clamped the lips in place. Its moan leaked out from the gaps between the sharp fangs and drops of blood large enough to drown a human spluttered from within his mouth. It sounded like someone dying, but its final gasp was that of raging life. Its lips tore and the mouth opened and a scream shattered the sky.

The monster dove back into the earth and floated on its surface.

Rana grimaced. She was observing the monster, and the more she realized what it was, the more she realized how outmatched they were currently. It seemed like it would be difficult to defeat the monster, but it also seemed like it would be difficult to pull off an escape. Whatever the case, the first order of business was to gather reorganize their forces, to see what options are available to them by analyzing what cards the humans had.

She turned to Hamilton, who already legged it the instant he recovered from his stupor. She clicked her tongue and followed.

“Are you crazy, woman? This is no time to be fighting among ourselves!” Hamilton called back as he saw his pursuer. “Is this what the duke was planning, to wipe us all out by unleashing this monster? Or could this be the result of a failed conquest on your part?”

“Don’t be stupid,” Rana said as she ran by the side of Hamilton. The Fire Shield Guild captain made no move to stop her from doing so. It seemed he was just trying to vent away his fear. “If I wanted you all dead or if I wanted to run why would I even show myself? I discovered the truth behind its first appearance and came back to warn the others. It seemed like I was too late, however.”

Hamilton gave her an incredulous look. He did not fully trust her, but he had no intention of fighting her.

“The unfortunate truth is that we have to fight that monster,” Rana said as she continued to explain. She also raised a hand to stop Hamilton from objecting. “That is a guardian monster, and the only reason it appeared, is that with methods unknown, the Sunset Spears managed to infect a large portion of the land and claimed it as its territory. The monsters I’ve witnessed in the Dungeon can swim through stone as if it were water. If we judge between here and where we first met it, we won’t be able to retreat successfully without a strategy. We don’t need to defeat it, but we do need to make use of our surviving forces.”

Fortunately, the monster was still bound by the System, and its numerical advantage in terms of Stats, should not be high enough to completely wipe out the better trained marked ones. If the humans consolidated their forces, they could at least make retreat possible.

Hamilton grunted his agreement and lead Rana to a group he was leading. When they approached, an instant hostility flared from one of its members but the Fire Shield Captain quickly shouted him down. She recognized the face, it was the one who was angry at her interruption during the first expedition meeting she participated.

“I won’t say this twice,” Hamilton said as he looked around at his subordinates. “Taye, you lead the shield group and pick up any survivors along the way who can still fight. I saw the destruction the monster brought and although its Stats are powerful, a good defense formation with our warrior-class marked ones should at least hold its attention. Everyone else, gather survivors, those from Nye and those not from there. We will need to regroup at the exit point here. Denver, follow me. Go.”

Hamilton was quick on the uptake and his allies did not question his orders. Taye, a young woman in armor departed with a group of marked ones. The others departed solo and Denver, the one who was hostile towards Rana, stayed.

“What will you do?” Hamilton asked.

“I will observe the monster, to see what it is capable of.”

“Here,” Hamilton said as he handed her a ward and ignored Denver’s protest. “This is our communication ward.”

Without another word, Hamilton and Denver departed.

Rana headed towards the direction of where Taye went, of where the monster was. However, what was on her mind was not the future. It was the past, a brief moment, one that shocked even her. When the behemoth screamed, it was screaming its name, and she understood what it said.

The Chrysalis Abominations.