Solflare: The Painter's Secret-Chapter 119: Chaos City (2)

"Ran, we’re not alone!"

As if summoned by her words, a sharp clattering sound echoed from above the buildings.

Glittering shapes dropped from the sides of the buildings, glass breaking aside as their limbs unfolded midair.

"Don’t let the glass skitters touch you!" Wu Ze screamed, pressing the green button on the four-inch pencil in her arm.

The creatures slid down from the walls, destroying almost half of the building as their sharp claws screeched against it.

Millions of sparks filled the air, giving it an ozone taste. Their limbs splayed, claws biting into the concrete like spiders as they jumped and landed on the street.

With translucent bodies that made their intestines visible, Leon saw how their four hearts pounded in their chests.

Then, as he focused on them, the notification chime erupted in his head once again, followed by the panel.

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]

Presence Detected. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Scanning.

Name: Glass Skitters

Rank: C

Hostility: Positive

"C-rank creatures," Bao Xiong barked. "Liu Yan, take Leon aside. He will die if they touch him."

Just as Liu Yan dashed toward Leon at god-like speed, her face convulsed when she saw one of the skitters moving toward Leon from behind.

"Leo—" she tried to speak, but swallowed her words when a bright gold light flickered to life from behind Leon, just as the creature’s claws moved on top of Leon’s head.

WHOOOOMP

The impact slammed the creature backward, its limbs flailing as it smashed into the distant vault wall five hundred miles away.

The reinforced metal crumpled inward, followed by dust, smoke, and tiny pieces of metal falling as the creature slid onto the ground.

Liu Yan’s face turned pale as she stared at Leon. The square glass on her helmet shimmered with a faint light, then dimmed.

She forcefully closed her mouth, turned her head in a full circle, and watched as Wu Ze and Bao Xiong dashed toward the creatures.

’Did that come from Leon?’ Her pale face tightened to white, as if all her blood had been sucked away, when she tilted her gaze back to him.

From the front, Wu Ze dashed forward, her katana singing as she whipped it ahead, slicing through the air.

"Wu Ze, formation!" Bao Xiong roared as he reached her side.

The two moved like twin blades. Wu Ze’s sword slammed onto the crowned head of the first creature, splitting it in perfect half, then chopping off all seven of its legs.

Bao Xiong, on the other hand, moved as if he had no life. He ducked under the unattacked creature and struck his bare fingers into its chest.

Ichor splashed onto his face, but he cared not, crushing one of the creature’s hearts inward. A loud groaning sound erupted as the heart blasted within the creature’s own body.

The creature whipped its front three legs at him, but he blocked them with his left arm, grabbed two with his right arm that extended unnaturally, then broke them in half.

He smiled as he saw the creature convulsing backward, then lunged toward it and dipped his arms into the creature’s chest again.

This time, he wrapped three of the creature’s hearts together, then pulled them all out in a flash.

The last air gushed out of the creature as Bao Xiong jumped onto it and devoured the hearts with his mouth.

"Eewwww," Wu Ze’s face changed as she watched her boyfriend commit the act.

She shook her head, then dashed toward the two others that had just joined from behind. ’I will never let him use that mouth on me again. What a disgrace.’

Her katana sang as it sliced upward, severing two limbs in a single swing, then whipped back to her side.

The skitter recoiled, its organs spilling, hearts stuttering visibly before she added a downward thrust.

Meanwhile, while Bao Xiong and Wu Ze fought tirelessly with the creatures, An Lang remained frozen in the same shocked posture.

He locked his gaze on Leon’s completely unharmed form, then shifted it to Liu Yan’s shock-filled face. ’Did he just make the creature flee without a single swing of his arm? The news was actually true.’

A smile tore across Leon’s face as he moved forward and tapped Liu Yan’s shoulder, waking her from her shock.

She gasped heavily, then shook her head once, twice, then on the third time she blinked. "Whatever that was... don’t do it again."

She moved Leon back toward the vault and stayed by his side, her instincts kept on a tight hinge.

After thirty minutes, Bao Xiong called out, "This place is cleared. Let’s continue."

"You heard it. Let’s move." Liu Yan tapped Leon’s shoulder, then began to move forward.

Leon scanned the ground and grabbed a jagged piece of metal that had fallen beside the skitter he unintentionally killed.

"This will at least enable me to give them a helping hand in the next area we’re heading toward."

He quickened his steps and closed the gap between himself and Liu Yan.

The two of them joined An Lang, Bao Xiong, and Wu Ze, then continued their journey through Chaos City.

As they moved past the collapsed stadium, the notification chime erupted in a chilling tone inside Leon’s skull, without a panel.

’Is there something here we are not seeing?’ He stopped, breaking formation, and scanned the surroundings. That was when the panel appeared.

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]

Presence Detected.

Scanning...

At an open window on the third floor of the stadium, black curtains flickered, whipping through the air as they wobbled.

"Leon," Liu Yan called out, "what are you waiting for? Come on. Time is not on our side."

Leon shifted his gaze away from the third floor and rejoined his squad.

But just as they exited the stadium’s angle and entered a four-way street, blazing blue eyes appeared at the same spot Leon had been staring at.

Inside the room, its windows open, stood Tiger and four other men, dressed in full armor, long and sharp weapons resting at their sides.

Tiger loosened his grip on the curtain, turned, and looked at the red-haired man’s face before smiling. "They fell into our trap."

The twin ladies smiled with eerie delight, then slammed their palms together. "Let’s see how they survive our next trap."

Tiger brushed his hands across his face, then shifted his gaze from the girls back to the road where Leon and his colleagues had disappeared.