Free Web NovelChapter 58: _A Call From The Dead
Downtown Norfolk, Virginia
In an abandoned convenience store, the water level had gotten close to knee level. Debris, blood and body parts floated on the murky water’s surface.
This part of the city felt and looked like a ghost town. Although the Hunters at shore worked hard culling the beasts and attracting most of them away from the city, growls and low chittering could still be heard from some dark alleyways.
Everyone had been evacuated through every available airport.
Any outsider coming here for the first time won’t believe anyone could still be alive with such conditions. Unless they listened closely. And picked up the raspy breathing of an A-Rank Esper trying to stay alive.
Leo’s back rested against the cold door of the lone refrigerator in the store. One hand clutched his stomach which had a long bloody gash. The other lay on the floor, twitching slightly under the dirty water.
He was alive.
Barely.
Throughout the night he had fought desperately, trying to get to the evacuation zone. But the more he fought, the more unstable he got.
"Sarah," he whispered, blinking back tears when he remembered the gruesome way his fiancée and permanent Guide was taken from him.
They’d made it out of the yacht, running past the harbour. Hand in hand. Brushing past screaming people. Only for more monsters to pour out of the black Rift.
So many of them.
All A-Ranks.
Leo struggled to fight them off, being the strongest Esper present at the time. But he also had to simultaneously look after Sarah.
As anyone could imagine... It ended terribly.
Her screams when her heart got ripped out by one of the beasts were still fresh in the back of his mind. The pain, fear and despair in her eyes as she got discarded like trash.
And then—the painful way the permanent link snapped once she breathed her last.
It was a miracle that Leo managed not only to survive but also not to go berserk till now. He had some Guiding pills to help. But even those had run out, and with each passing second, he could feel what was left of his aether energy swirling erratically through every cell.
His unstable state made him distance himself from the evacuations. There was no telling if something during the process would trigger him into going berserk.
"Uncle Devon..." he pulled out his phone, attempting to call the only help he could think of in a situation like this.
The screen had cracked badly, making it frustrating to operate. But he worked through it.
Earlier this morning he saw on TV that the Federation had summoned the top Guilds in the country to Norfolk. That would definitely include Phoenix Flight.
Which meant he needed to warn them that something was horribly different with these sea monsters. Since last night, he has noticed that the bodies of the beasts that died were melting.
It was a slow, almost unnoticeable process at first but this morning it seemed to be happening more rapidly. That wasn’t normal at all.
He’s been to numerous dungeon raids and recalled a few where the bodies of beasts were brought out almost perfectly intact. They always stayed that way for weeks, and that’s without preservation.
Upon opening his phone, he saw a few missed calls, not only from Devon... but his great-grandfather.
It was only two but still...
"So the old man does care?" He chuckled dryly, sliding the notifications away as he dialled Devon’s number. "Come on... pick up..."
The number rang too long. Or maybe he thought it was too long because of the way anxiety rippled through him.
The moment his uncle picked, a relieved exhale escaped him. "Uncle—"
"Leo?" Devon cut in with disbelief. "Y–You’re alive! My fucking God, you’re actually alive!"
His voice was loud from the other end but Leo let him. Heaven knows that after the hell he’s been through since last night, he was beyond glad to hear any voice right now.
"Uncle," he winced. "I felt like I should... warn you. And the... and the Federation—"
His words hung in his throat when the lights in the store flickered. The water around him trembled slightly while the air stilled.
"Leo?" Devon called. "Forget anything you were about to say and explain to me where you are. Did you join the evacuation?"
Leo’s eyes moved to the front door.
Lying on the wet floor there was a dead beast. Its mouth was opened wide, its neck ashen from the attack he left on it. Most of its lower body had already melted into a black sticky liquid pooling in the water around it.
"I’m still in the city." Leo let out, noticing something that made his pulse stutter.
The melted remains of the monster began flowing into the air. First levitating as small black bubbles. Before converging, moving in long trails and slipping out of a crack in the window.
"What?" Devon snapped. "Leo, I’m coming to get you, okay? Describe where you are in—"
"Uncle, I’m calling you because there’s something wrong with these monsters." Leo sputtered. "Their dead bodies have been melting all night. And now—now they... hello?"
He stared at the screen and cursed under his breath.
Connection lost.
When he brought his gaze back to the deceased monster, he watched as the rest of its body melted in real time, flowing out of the store like something was controlling it.
He stayed put despite his curiosity, head rising to the ceiling. "Now what the hell is happening out there now?"
★★★★★
Back on the battlefield, Devon was ecstatic, torn between the chaos the melting monsters caused and the call he just got.
Leo.
The boy was alive!
"I need to head deeper into the city," he turned to Ambrose, already making up his mind. "My nephew is still out there. And I—"
"You don’t need to explain anything to me." Ambrose interrupted, a wry smile curving his lips. He was probably going to regret this somehow, but a part of him couldn’t let the Esper do this on his own. "I’m coming with you."
Meanwhile, the Echo Rift kept on expanding, wisps of dark energy expelling out of it. More black goo flowed into it, making it bigger and bigger.
Soon, it was twice its former height and width, looming above Norfolk like a mini black hole. Under the black waters around it—the Leviathan roared.
Magnus and Irina exchanged glances from their respective ships, dropping any past differences in an instant. As the Leviathan rose from the waters, its large head swaying around, every Hunter on land and sea froze.
The titan roared again, making the air for a few kilometres tremble. Only this time... it wasn’t roaring at the Hunters.
