Jae-Hwa was watching in bewilderment as one of the creatures began attacking the others, at one of the massive piles of corpses. The way they were devouring the dead made her feel slightly sick, thinking of how all those people likely didn't imagine that they would become food for monsters.

"What is that thing doing?" Amanda asked, who was next to Jae-Hwa and having similar thoughts.

The sounds of the creatures screaming pathetically made Jae-Hwa's skin crawl.

"It looks like we'll see another one emerge," Ji-Min said in a quiet voice. Seeing both Jae-Hwa and Amanda turned to look back at her, Ji-Min continued, "I've only seen one, so I could be wrong about this. But, if I were a betting woman, I would guess that those things can use biological material to alter their own bodies."

"Well... That explains many of the Modified Humans inside of this place... Especially that creepy Centipede Woman," Amanda said, clearly weirded out by what she was seeing.

Ji-Min shrugged her shoulders at Amanda's words. "I wouldn't know. I wasn't here when that thing was created, though you may be right. The one I witnessed is just like the ones that easily grabbed us when we tried to attack. What was even more disturbing was how it could hear what we were saying, even utilizing private chat functions." Amanda shivered at the memory.

"What did you say?!" Amanda sharply asked, horrified by Ji-Min's words.

Ji-Min nodded her head, stroking the helmet of one of the girls resting their head on Ji-Min's lap. "We were just as surprised as you. Though it looked like a combination of a spider and man had a child, it's head having multiple eyes and the mouth appearing like an arachnid's... It still was able to communicate with us." Her voice began to shake. "It sounded amused that we were trying to fight our way out of this hell."

Jae-Hwa was silent, not realizing that her mouth was open and her mind had blanked at hearing Ji-Min's retelling of the experience. Her mouth felt dry, the saliva in her mouth sticking to her tongue and the roof of her mouth. Looking down at her hips, she felt the weight of the gloves that guards used. The weapons had the shape of a dragon's mouth, the way it clamped down on the opponent. It had always made her feel secure and safe, keeping anything that wanted to kill her away but allowing her to support her teammates.

Now the gloves felt like dead weight, useless in her current circumstance. If Ji-Min, who was a veteran in fighting, couldn't go up against these creatures, then how was she able to fight against such an enemy. Her mind kept twisting with thoughts that ultimately led to her being eaten by the monsters.

Both of the gloves had a gem that boosted the power of her weapons, though it was unlikely such a thing would bridge the gap between her abilities and the enemies.

"Damn...," Amanda cursed, likely due to her reaching a similar conclusion as Jae-Hwa had reached.

The two of them slowly looked back at the monster that had begun consuming its comrades. Just in the short time they were talking, the thing was already several times larger.

Jae-Hwa estimated that it was around ten times larger than a long-haul truck. Thinking about trying to fight against such a monster didn't seem possible. What she thought was odd was the way it continued to shake and shudder as if it was experiencing indigestion or seizures.

Time seemed to pass by quickly, like sand falling in an hourglass soon marking their death. There was a feeling that everything would end once the monster was completed in its evolution, though she couldn't pinpoint where such ideas were coming from.

"I'm guessing you're thinking the same thing?" Amanda asked Jae-Hwa.

Jae-Hwa didn't bother answering and just nodded her head, sweat dripping down the side of her face. The suit compensated by activating the internal cooling system, helping to relieve some of the anxiety.

The sound of scraping metal was heard as Amanda pulled out her blades and held them in her hands.

Hearing Amanda getting ready, Jae-Hwa was startled that she had also readied her gloves, feeling controls on the inside. Her gloves began glowing as the power from the gems coursed through it, giving it more power than was inherently in the weapon.

They felt a tremor as the monster stopped moving and the back split open, revealing a disturbingly beautiful woman. All over her body, a sticky residue clung to her exposed skin and dripped down her face. The way she moved her body was mesmerizing as if she had awakened from a deep slumber. In mere moments, the slime covering her faded away likely absorbed by her.

As if already aware of what they were planning, her eyes looked in their direction, and she gave them a seductive smile. The woman's lips moved across its lips, making them seem more tempting in appearance.

"You're looking at the next stage," The creature spoke in a sensual tone. Her eyes bore into their being.

Jae-Hwa felt her legs begin to tremble. Ready to give out at any moment, as the thought of their death loomed in her mind. Everything inside of her screamed that she should run as fast as she could. Even though she was aware that the chances of escaping were slim to none, her body kept sending the thought into her mind.

"There's no reason to be huddled together and frightened. All of you should be honored to have witnessed my birth," The woman spoke out.

Jae-Hwa felt a little confused, wondering if she was talking to them. It didn't make sense, considering the monsters put them inside of the cave in the first place. Why had the woman wanted them to come out and make it sound as they were hiding from the creature?

"And, yes, I can hear you, all, chattering. I hope you don't make me use these beasts to get you guys to come out?" It continued as if ignoring their thoughts.

Amanda's body tensed, and she said, "Get ready."

"You're not thinking of trying to fight that thing, right?!" Ji-Min called out to Amanda, sounding as if what Amanda had said was pure madness.

Neither of them answered Ji-Min's words, concentrating on the figure in front of them.

Jae-Hwa thought how some of her friends would talk about facing the final boss inside of a game. Sometimes, they would get together and research the various bulletin boards to figure out any clues that could help them out. Then there would be hours of training to prepare themselves. When she watched them, Jae-Hwa always thought they were acting childish, spending so much time on silly things. Now as her legs were trembling, it would have been nice to have her friends with her and have a plan for beating the opponent.

"Jae-Hwa, don't worry. If I'm right, we won't be fighting alone against that thing." Amanda said, though her voice wasn't completely filled with confidence.

Even hearing Amanda's words, Jae-Hwa couldn't bring herself to answer. It felt like if she were to open her mouth, then she would start begging for someone to save her.

"I want to feast on their bodies! They will go nicely with my current strength!" The monster yelled out at the things nearby. All of them stopped what they were doing and ran towards the small opening.

Flinching from the savage words spoken, Jae-Hwa looked to see a group of people charge out of the tunnel that the two of them had used to enter the chamber. It took her a few moments before she realized what she was seeing. Three of the people rushing out were quickly making their way towards where Jae-Hwa and Amanda were located.

"I knew it!" Amanda yelled out in a happy voice, atypical of her usual calm persona.

On Jae-Hwa's screen, she saw that they were Jessica, Ivy, and Hina. Seeing them, Jae-Hwa understood that they were coming to protect both of them. Looking out at the battle, she watched as Ruby and Lexi were making their way around the large group of monsters, making a beeline towards the monster woman.

Seeing the flames, it looked like Jennifer was already busy utilizing her powers and taking out as many of the monsters as possible. Crowd Controllers and the way they controlled the flow of the game was something that amazed her, though Jae-Hwa knew that she didn't have the temperament to just jump into battle.

"Are you, guys, okay?" Jessica yelled out at them when they were close enough.

Amanda directed her arm to point at Ji-Min and the two girls. "We found the missing team that entered before us," she said to Jessica.

Ivy looked at the women and raised a hand to where her mouth would be if not for the helmet. "Are those clothes...," she asked horrified by the sight.

"What's the plan?" Amanda asked the three, not wasting any additional energy on pointless things.

"We're here to keep you guys safe," Hina explained, though a little distracted by the unexpected elements.

Shaking her head, Amanda said, "We can't just stay here. I'm good enough to fight."

Jessica looked at Jae-Hwa, noticing the trembling legs. "Jae-Hwa?"

"I'm guessing that if we don't fight them now, then we're probably not getting out of here, right?" Jae-Hwa asked rhetorically.

"Jade, we found the members from the previous team," Jessica messaged.

"How are they looking?" Jade responded, her breathing heavy from moving about.

"I don't think they're going to be much use," Jessica said bluntly.

"What about Jae-Hwa and Amanda?" Jade asked and cursed over the comm. "Kimberly, I'm going to need you to get that!"

Off in the distance, they could see cascading explosions, likely from Kimberly's attack.

"We're going to need you guys," Jade yelled out. She then shouted, "Let's show these kids how we do things!"

Hearing the urgency in Jade's words, Amanda said, "Let's go."

From somewhere deep inside of her, Jae-Hwa pulled out whatever strength that was still inside of her

and nodded her head at Amanda's words.

The five of them raced towards the clash between two forces, a flash of light going off from an attack from Jade.