Free Web NovelChapter 60: _Berserk
"Hey, can you slow down a bit?" Ambrose yelled out, the speed of their movement making it hard for him to even hear himself. "I can barely think—"
"Thinking isn’t going to save Leo." Devon halted midair, the flames blazing around his feet reducing a bit.
His arms tightened around Ambrose subconsciously as he scoured the area. The buildings here were still intact. No signs of beasts.
A perfect part of the city for someone to seek shelter in.
"He should be somewhere around here," Devon slowly descended. "I can feel it."
Ambrose didn’t respond, instead focusing on the system screen glowing before him.
[A-Rank Esper signature detected.]
His silver-eyed glinted with relief. "I think you’re right."
They touched down on solid ground, Ambrose hopping off Devon when he noticed he was holding on to him longer than necessary. His chest rose and fell with heavy breaths, cheeks flushed red as the Esper stepped forward.
"Look there." Devon, unaware of the Guide’s disorientation, pointed at a sidewalk.
A monster’s dead body lay there, half melted into the pavement. Just like the rest of the dead monsters around the rest of the city, this body trickled into the air rapidly, heading toward the direction of the Rift.
But that wasn’t what caught Devon’s attention.
The beast’s head and neck area looked seriously burned. Its mouth was melted at an unnatural angle, signs of a violent Esper attack.
Whoever brought it down probably poured out a lot of rage doing it. And he knew one Esper capable of doing that.
"Leo," a smile played on Devon’s lips as he and Ambrose approached the body. "This was his doing. He was here."
Ambrose squatted beside the body, ignoring the black goo floating out of its melted parts. "It looks recently deceased too. Maybe thirty minutes or so."
Devon gawked at the Guide, astonished.
Since when did he have enough field experience to approximate a body’s time of death? If only he knew Ambrose did a quick reading with the system to deduce that.
’Just pinpoint the dude’s exact location so we can be out of here,’ he gave Aura a mental sigh, straightening off the ground. ’I’ve got a bad feeling about this. We haven’t seen any monsters but—’
[WARNING: A-Rank dungeon beasts detected.]
’Fuck my luck!’
Almost instantly, low, guttural chittering resounded from the tallest buildings around them. Devon went on alert, placing an arm in front of Ambrose.
"Shit." The S-Rank scowled. "You still have that dagger with you, right? The one you pulled out during the S-Rank dungeon raid."
Ambrose couldn’t give an answer for that.
How does he tell the guy he sold the blade to the system for bloody seduction coins?
"I take your silence as a no," Devon rolled his eyes. "Remember what I told you. Stick close. Don’t move away for even a second or—"
One of the beasts leapt from a window. Ambrose’s heart fell to his stomach, his head lifting in time to see the exact window the beast burst out from.
"There!"
Devon reacted quickly, pointing a palm at the incoming beast.
BOOM!
One fireball shot it down, making it plop away from them as its guts and blood sprayed out. Yellow flames coated Devon’s body as more beasts burst out of the windows around them, coming in their tens.
"There are too many," Devon gritted his teeth, his feet rooted to the ground. "Hold."
He spread out his arms, lifting them above his head. Two walls of fire erupted from the earth, converging above them to form a force bubble of pure flames.
Devon swung his arms around, eyes flaring like suns about to go supernova while he did. The flame bubble shook at the fall of some of the beasts, scorching them when they tried to tear through.
Meanwhile, Ambrose worked with Aura, searching for Leo.
[The target is one hundred meters east of your current spot.]
’Bold of you to assume I know the difference between east and west.’
He could almost hear the system sigh as it flashed a screen in front of him. The screen created a virtual map stretching for hundreds of meters. It had images of buildings and streets, two glowing dots blinking on it.
[The red dot is Leo. The blue dot is you and Devon.]
Ambrose frowned. ’Is there a specific reason why the guy’s dot is red? Or...?’
"Brace yourself, Ambrose!" Devon roared all of a sudden, bringing his arms to his chest.
With a grunt, he spread them out again, causing the flaming bubble to explode outward. An omnidirectional wave of flames spread out around them, sweeping back most of the beasts like flies while leaving others scorched.
By the time it was over, the area around them was covered in ash and soot, smoke clouding their vision. Ambrose’s eyes teared as the smoke filled his lungs but the heat didn’t affect him.
Eager to leave, he tugged at Devon’s arm. "I think I know where Leo might be," he sputtered. "A convenience store. It... makes sense because—"
[WARNING: Aether energy spike detected.]
[Target’s Psyche eroding. Berserk mode imminent.]
BOOM!
A deafening explosion echoed from a building close to them. Too close. Devon cleared the smoke with a wave of his palm, letting them see where it came from.
Ambrose’s pulse stuttered. ’... God, that doesn’t look good...’
Standing ahead of them was a silhouette. Head lowered. Body covered in red flames. Clothes were almost completely ripped off apart from his tattered pants.
And then—those eyes.
They locked on Devon and Ambrose. Feral. Bloodlusted.
Devon’s shoulders stiffened. "That’s... that’s Leo."
Crap.
The guy had gone berserk.
Regardless of rank, a berserk Esper was an out-of-control cannon. Let alone one who was close to the only capable fighter among them.
The heat rolling off Leo hit first.
Ambrose’s body reacted before his mind did—his foot sliding back against the ground. "Devon... I know he’s your nephew. And I know all you’ve wanted to do since last night is confirm he’s alive."
His heart hammered as the A-rank took a lazy step forward. Then another, his head tilting as the flames around him burned hotter.
"But that man is no longer Leo," Ambrose’s fists balled, his mind already calculating chances. "... He’s gone berserk."
A/N: Hey, hon! Now that we’re at Chapter 60, I decided to check in. Is the story enjoyable so far? Do you have any thoughts about the pacing, character dynamics or anything at all? Please, let me know in the comments. <3
