My heart was still pounding from the constant fear that something might suddenly happen. The uncomfortable feeling in my stomach has returned with a vengeance, making it very hard to walk, but I need to keep going, else… I don’t really know what will happen.

We’ve been walking aimlessly for about half an hour now along the tunnels, not knowing exactly where we were going. Basically, we were just a wandering band of strangers looking for trouble.

“Don’t worry, it’s going to be fine” A short, adult female with long braided hair said from my side while smiling brightly towards me. She must have noticed my strained face as she said that.

Her name was Miel, she was the first one to introduce herself to me before we went into the tunnels. She was a nice person who tried to ease my worries by reassuring me with her words, that everything was going to be fine. She gives of a feeling of an older sister looking after her neighbor’s kid when the mother was out of the house to take care of something.

I look at her and nod my head, but I knew, that once something started, there’s a big chance that everything wasn’t going to be fine. From what I heard from them, those dolls were made to kill Enforcers like them. Fighting one unprepared with only a few people is already akin to throwing away ones life.

“Tell me again why we’re doing this, Sir?” A man who wore some sort of camouflage gear that you’d see in war movies said. I didn’t know his name, since he was one of the two that didn’t bother telling me.

“Cause that big oaf plans to hijack one of those stragglers, so we can trace it back to him” He replied.

“That guy shouldn’t be able to manually control all of them at the same time, so, we might get lucky and find one of them autopilot ones roaming around" Worth explained.

"We should have at least spared one of those fucks back there if I knew this was going to happen. It would've saved us the damn time that we're wasting right now"

“I know that” The man replied. “But, why do we have to come along with him, if all we needed was someone to act as the bait?”

I could clearly tell that he was pissed off for being with me. He’s been like that ever since he was asked to come along.

“Didn’t you listen to what that big oaf said a while ago?” He asked. “He’s going to be the pin that’s going to pop the balloon”

“But, still, why are we the ones that needs to come along with him?”

“Who else can get this job done, but us?” He asked with a snicker.

“Jov’s group can do it. They’re better at this sort of thing” The man immediately replied.

“Heh, I’d be amazed if you can talk him into doing this without something in return. And besides” He shrugs. “He’d probably throw everyone under the bus if he thinks we’re going to fucking lose”

Miel nodded, and added some more into what Worth was saying. “Yeah, last time his gang went out on a job, reports said that they just straight up and ran away when they saw that they were outnumbered by a dozen. Leaving those poor siblings to fend for themselves”

She then looks back. “Talk about being a professional. We can’t trust someone like him to do this sort of thing, and I’m still a little bit ticked off that he’s with us right now”

“Shush, you’re too loud, they might over hear you” A big man who was horizontally challenged frantically said. I don’t know why I used that term to describe him, but I think using that is much better, rather than the alternatives of calling him fat or obese.

“IS THIS QUIET ENOUGH FOR YOU!?” Worth shouted. Although, it would still be too far away for them to hear clearly when he shouted. Way too far. The horizontally challenged man was just like that, worrying too much.

“Sir… please, let’s just move along” He was wearing almost the same attire as the man who first questioned why they were here, but his was at a few sizes bigger.

His name was Gunther, and he was the second most timid man among our group, second only to me, of course. Not that being timid was something to be proud of, but still, if your number one in something, it feels nice being acknowledged.

There was also that last person along with us, but I’m not too sure what he or she is thinking. I’m labeling that person as a ‘he' for now, I suppose. Since his body was being covered by a gray cloak from head to toe, and he’s wearing black sunglasses to cover his eyes. He doesn’t seem to talk much, too. I haven’t heard him utter a single word this whole time, and the people with me don’t seem to talk to him, either, besides Worth, that is. He just follows us around, but since he was one of the people Worth asked to come along, I think he’s capable. And when I say ‘capable’, its that he can escape from those things alive type of capable.

You’d definitely find a lot of weird and interesting people here, or I guess not the normal folks that you’d normally see walking down the streets. But who am I to judge? Maybe in their eyes, I’m the abnormal one.

“… My hairs standing on end again” Gunther suddenly said.

Huh, he has that feeling off somethings about to go down like I do. But I have that most of the time, though. Especially when something or someone smiles at me creepily and waves their hand. Every hair in my body would stand and salute.

“Hasn't it been like that ever since we started walking in here? ”

“No… okay, maybe. But this time, it’s different”

“How so?” Worth asked.

“I don’t know… just a feeling”

“If you say so” Worth stops walking, and looks at the person covered by a gray mantle. “Do you feel anything, too?”

He doesn’t answer.

“Guess that’s just you, then”

“… But I really think there’s something up ahead”

Worth looks at the man for a good few seconds. “Gah, your paranoia is making me paranoid now, too” He said, a little bit annoyed. “Don, tell the back to let Vic get ready just in case before we move forward”

“Yes, Sir” He saluted and ran towards the group in the back. They were quite a distance away, but he easily arrived there in but a minute of running. If I was the one that ran, it would take longer. Much much longer.

I thought that our immediate backup was quite far away, too, but there’s a good reason for why they were that far. It had something to do with how those things were operating, but from what I gathered and understood, they use some type of built in radar device that identifies Souls. So, the larger the gathering of Souls there are, it’s more likely that they’ll target that last to keep safe, or he might do something again to split us up. That’s why there’s quite some distance between us and the main group. Making sure that if something comes along, they’d target us first.

“…” Not a great sign when you’re basically a fruit for fruit flies to swarm on. But that's the role of the 'bait'. To look scrumptious so that we could lure in the predators.

A minute later, Don came back. He wasn’t out of breath from the run, showing off how physically fit he was. Or maybe, I was just too physically weak. I’d bet on the latter.

“Already informed them, Sir” He said.

“Good, let’s keep going, then”

We were about to start walking forward again, but there was ‘that' blocking our way. We could vaguely see it from this far away, but it was definitely there. It just appeared out of nowhere and was standing inconspicuously at the end of the tunnel. Talk about timing, it feels like someone from somewhere was listening in on us.

“WE GOT A FUCKER UP AHEAD!” Worth yelled so loud that it shook the tunnels and hurt my ears, but as if on queue, the giant man that was blocking the way charged at us. Its footsteps creating small tremors that shook the tunnels, as he was covering the distance between us quite fast.

“See! My sixth sense was right!” Gunther enthusiastically said.

“Great, now go do your goddamn job before I throw you at it!”

“Yes, Sir!” He salutes, as he throws away his timid personality and puts on an expression as if he was about to go off into war, and courageously runs forward into danger… not. He runs towards the opposite direction of what I was expecting him to do. Worth didn’t seem to mind that the man was abandoning his duty, as he looked on with confidence. The other’s, also, seemed to be undisturbed about their comrade running away.

Don and Miel took out and held their guns, and started shooting at the giant’s legs. Hoping that it would slow it down, but it wasn’t having any effect whatsoever. The bullets just dug into it, and since I think that they couldn't feel any pain at all, it was just adding on to the materials that it was made of.

“Save your ammo for that man” Worth said. “It’s not going to do anything unless it’s an RPG or a grenade”

When the giant man was already half way to where we were, I was about to tuck tail and run, but someone grabbed the collar of my shirt before I could dash.

“And where do you think you’re going? ” Worth said.

“… Going back?” I replied, very worried for what was coming towards us from the front.

“…” I moved again, trying to pull my collar away from his grasp, but his hand had a tight grip on it. A vice like grip, if I might add.

“No no no, you’re staying right here”

“Put your all into it! You can do it! Use your legs and push against the earth! More power!” Al said to pump me up. He wasn’t making much sense right now. He’s been acting rather weird the more time we stayed here.

I tried it again a few more times while looking at the thing to give me the strength I needed to break free. It didn’t give me any strength whatsoever, though. It just made me want to stand there and wait for the inevitable.

As I was about to give up and accept my fate, a miracle happened, in the shape of a large metallic ball.

“What?” Al was surprised by the suddenness of it while I, too, was speechless with my mouth gaping.

It swished and bounced past us with such great speed that I was almost dragged along with it because of the air pressure. My hair was now a total mess because of it. Not like keeping appearances would do anyone any good here.

“It’s been a while since I last saw him run like that” Don said, looking in wonder. “It would be nice if he doesn’t need a large jump start when using that. It’s not practical when everything happens in the snap of a finger”

Worth nodded to that. “That’s why Cal's always with him. By the way, where’s Cal, anyway?”

“Cal is dead, Sir. He died back when we first entered” Don replied.

Worth looked at him in exasperation when he heard that. “What the… Why the fuck didn’t anyone tell me about that?”

“You were busy, Sir. And we didn’t want to interrupt your reunion with Sir Knight”

The metallic ball crashes into the thing, sending the both of them across the tunnel and crashing into the wall. It shook the place strong enough to throw me off of my feet from where I was standing.

“Should we go check?” Miel asked, to which Worth shook his head.

“Let’s wait till that big oaf comes” He said. “It shouldn’t take too long”

And it didn’t, as a few seconds after he said that, Mr. Cobalt came running to where we were.

“Good job” He said, with a large smile plastered on his face.

“Yeah yeah, just go already. We don’t have all day”

Mr. Cobalt then goes to where the metal ball was and knocks it a few times with his fist.

“Everything okay in there?” He asked.

To my surprise again, the metal ball stuck on the wall talked.

“Yes, Sir!” It was Gunther’s voice, so that means this large metallic ball was him, or he was inside of it.

“Good” He said. “Open up a small hole where his chest is. Just big enough for my arm to get in”

The metal shifts, creating a hole just big enough to fit his arm. It really wasn’t small at all, since his arm was like three or four times the size of mine.

The group in the back soon catches up, and we all went to where Mr. Cobalt was tinkering something while having the expression that he was enjoying it.

“Ah!” Mr. Cobalt suddenly jumps up from where he was, pulling his arm out of the metallic ball.

“What is it?” Worth asked.

Mr. Cobalt looked at us with a scrunched face, as if he was about to deliver devastating news that one of our family member’s died from a car accideny. He then shouted, “He’s already out!”

…

“What!?” Worth yelled at him. “Then who the fuck have we been following all this time!”

“This…” Mr. Cobalt said.

“And how the fuck did he get out!? I thought that he couldn’t get pass your ‘hardened men and women meant for these types of situations'!?”

“…” Mr. Cobalt was for once, speechless. He was standing there, wearing a blank expression.

The whole group stayed like that, and the only one making any sort of sound around here was Worth. He was spouting all kinds of words that meant the same thing, and it wasn’t the nice complimentary ones.

After a few minutes of fuming, Mr. Cobalt broke Worth’s barrage of words.

“What if this is all a trick to get us to go out?” He said.

“For what!?” Worth's anger being portrayed by kicking the tunnels wall while he replied. It cracked after a few times his foot made contact with the wall. "I thought you said that he was after us now!? Being fuel for those things and all!"

“I don’t know…” He replied. “Or maybe…”

“Or maybe what?” Worth asked impatiently.

“Maybe… it wasn’t just him”

“What?”

“... He has someone else helping him ” Mr. Cobalt said. “Maybe there’s another puppeteer controlling those dolls outside”

…

“Shit” Worth cursed. “Where did the link lead to?”

“On top of the old radio tower” He said.

Worth then looked at a group of eight people to the side. “You lot, go outside and hunt that person down. I don’t need them alive, so you don't need to hold anything back”

They all gave a satisfactory nod and happily ran back towards the entrance. If I was right, I think that was the group that Miel didn’t particularly like.

“Good riddance” She said from my side.

Yup, definitely the group where that person called Jov is a part.

“Let’s get a move on people” Worth said. “We still need to make that motherfucker pay for ruining such a lovely day”

“No, I think we should sit still and wait for a while” Mr. Cobalt said.

“… It’s been a hell of a day, and I don’t know why I’m going to say this again, but… why should we do that?” He said, tired of asking the man.

“If we could wait till those who you sent out cause a distraction for the other one, then, those dolls would just be on auto pilot for some time. Leaving us, to roam around with just dolls not doing any tricks”

He had a point, I guess. If it would make things easier for us, then there’s no reason not to sit and wait again. And I was also getting tired, who knew that I was this physically unfit… those days staying in and reading until early morning wasn’t really good for me, but it was enjoyable, so there’s that. Time well spent, if I do say so myself.

“Fine, but we’ll move after half an hour. I don’t want this operation to be delayed much longer”

And so, we waited. While we were waiting, the huge metallic ball opens up and Gunther makes his way out of it. Leaving the metallic ball stuck there in the wall, with a giant man buried along with it.

“Why do you look so uptight? Relax and enjoy the view~” Al asked.

Was that what I really looked like right now? I guess… maybe.

…

Now that I really think about it, playing the waiting game isn’t good. Don’t get me wrong, taking a good rest is well needed when you’re planning on finding and fighting the boss next, but this isn’t a game where the boss is just waiting inside a large dark room. No. This is a boss that moves and reacts to what we do, making him more of a challenge than some super hard to kill boss with a ton of HP and damage. Plus, he has a whole bag of tricks that he’s hiding under his sleeves from what I was seeing.

“So… what have you been doing in the past three years?” Worth asked towards the hulking man that was standing a few meters away from me.

“Ay, you know, adventuring and the likes. Can’t keep still when there’s all sorts of things waiting for me to see”

The man sighs when he heard his answer. “Isn’t it about time that you go back and apologize?”

“… No”

“I’m sick and tired of listening to her problems for hours and hours because of you, you know?”

“I’ll bring you back a souvenir for that, I swear”

“I don’t want your goddamn souvenirs! Just apologize already you shit for brains!”

“Ay, I’m not apologizing for anything. She’s the one who started it”

The whole thirty minutes was about how it wasn’t his fault and Worth screaming at the man that he go and apologize the instant after this is all over. Honestly, the both of them were acting like kids arguing which type of game to play. Not willing to concede to the other.

“Sir, it’s been half an hour already. It should be enough time” Don said.

“… Let’s go” He said, a little bit annoyed that he couldn’t convince the man.

As we were heading towards the next cavern.

“…ye” I heard someone. It was as if someone had whispered it directly into my ear.

I turned around to see who it was, but to my surprise, there wasn’t anybody close to me, or anyone at all. I thought that it might be Al, but he wasn’t, when I silently asked him.

“I don’t know… but I've been feeling slightly dizzy for a while now” He said.

…

Can Al even get dizzy? He was a disembodied voice, right? Or maybe my assumption was wrong and he has a body that I couldn’t see.

Worth notices that I stopped and was looking towards the back.

“What is it?” He asked.

…

“… Nothing” And I started walking again. It spooked me out, but I just reasoned that it was because of fear and stress. That’s been happening a lot lately. So, I’ll just ignore and not question it for now because there’s something else that's going on, and that’s just how it’s supposed to be. Time wont stop to let you process everything bit by bit. No. It would just keep on going, and all you can do is to adapt and react to it.

“We got four of them in the back!” Somebody yelled.

“Well, shit, there’s also three up ahead of us!” Worth said.

Or you can just stare at it in abject horror if you can’t adapt.