Solflare: The Painter's Secret-Chapter 135: Sector 8 of Chaos City (3)

"Fuck this." Leon stumbled back, the gravel beneath his boots threatening to give way and deliver him to the creatures.

"There has to be another way..." His muffled voice echoed like a blast in his ears.

The more creatures crowded his front, occupying the space, the more the echo of his voice vibrated through the walls and sent dust drifting down to the ground.

Before he could figure out the path he wished for, two of the ironhide turned toward the direction where he stood, their teeth grinding.

’No! No!! No!!!’ His eyes blazed as the temperature in his body increased, a tiny gold light moving across his eyeballs, glittering.

With lightning speed, the two creatures detached themselves from the pack, their tails whipping the air.

Leon ran back, his boots slamming hard against the ground, without knowing where he was heading.

He stumbled, hit the ground, and rolled like a ball, then crashed against a thick wall that hadn’t been there at first.

"Ooouch." His left arm, which had loosened its grip on the war disc, flew to the back of his head and pressed hard against it. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

As soon as he managed to stand, sweat began to drip from him. The two creatures stood just five feet away from him and the wall.

The ironhide on the left moved back, snarling. But the one on the right—the D-ranked one—lashed its tail forward, its sharp tip nearing Leon’s neck.

Saliva snaked down Leon’s throat as he ducked low, the tail whipping part of his hair and carving a deep line into the thick wall.

Leon swiped the sword, cutting the air in front of the creature as it skidded to the left, its red eyes glowing like fire.

It lunged again, this time not with its tail, but with the claws of its front legs.

Sparks ignited and blasted in front of Leon as soon as he thrust the sword forward, its flat surface crashing against the claws.

The impact pushed Leon closer to the wall, his shoulder bone slamming into it and sending dust cascading down.

Before Leon could regain his stance, the creature’s tail dashed forward, followed by a swing of its left leg claw.

Caught at the center of both strikes, the gold lights in Leon’s eyes flared to life, creating an energy shield around his left arm.

The claw slammed onto the shield the moment it shimmered to life, shattering it completely. But the tail was cut in two as it touched the sharp edge of the raised sword.

"If I’m dying, I’m dying with all of you." With a strange power that felt alien even to himself, Leon dashed forward and swung the sword at the creature’s neck, chopping it off.

He stood in front of the collapsing body as acidic bursts sprayed from the pulsing inner skin. The new mode of Leon remained there, as if it were only rain.

Evaporated air shimmered around him whenever the liquid touched him. The glow in his eyes blazed as he dashed toward the second creature, which kept stumbling back as if planning its attacks.

The creature gave out a strange groan as soon as Leon’s blade sliced through its back, then through its head, splitting it perfectly in half.

The tip of the sword pierced through the acidic ground as Leon regained full consciousness and began panting heavily.

He jumped out of the pool of acidic blood, removed his burnt boots, then brushed his palms hastily over the remaining parts of the clothes that hadn’t burned.

"Did I do this?" The realization shocked him so much that a glob formed in his throat, threatening to make him gag.

His own movements replayed in his vision like a reeling movie being displayed in a theater. He stretched his right arm, grabbed the sword, and pulled it from the acidic blood.

"That wasn’t me." He denied his own actions, then stared at the reflection looking back at him on the flat surface of the sword.

Glowing gold eyes. A wide smile he never wore on his face. And a dark aura that accompanied the reflection made Leon nearly throw the sword away.

"Maybe it’s because the sword is black." He brushed it off with a silly explanation, then moved forward and grabbed the war disc.

Just as he bent down, his right arm touching the surface of the disc, he saw three other ironhide dashing toward his direction at great speed.

"Are they coming after me in queues or what?" Leon grabbed the war disc quickly, changed his stance, and began calming his breath.

This time, all three creatures lunged at him at once—the first one’s tail whipping toward Leon’s head, the second’s claw aiming at Leon’s waist, and the last striking at his legs.

"Are they kidding?!" Leon stumbled back into the very acidic ground he had fled from. Although his foot burned, he had no other choice.

Standing by the wall, two of the creatures moved back.

’Why are they moving back?’ Leon’s thoughts reeled in his mind as he turned his head slightly, glanced at the wall behind him, then back at the creature moving toward him at a slow pace.

"Let me try something and see." Leon moved two steps away from the wall, then focused on the strange reaction of the creatures.

The other two lunged, their tails whipping the air.

"Ohhk... so they fear this wall." Leon stumbled back until his spine pressed against the wall, then watched the creatures recoil from their actions.

But the first one kept moving forward.

"I have to kill them if I don’t want to grow old standing here."

He inhaled deeply, tightened his grip on both weapons, and dashed at the first ironhide.

The creature swiped its claw forward, but the round edge of the war disc chopped it clean when Leon raised it slightly.

"Take this." He pierced the tip of the sword into the creature’s head, burying it deep within the center of its middle eye.

As soon as the same strange groan escaped from the creature, another four broke free from their position and lunged toward the same direction the three had taken.

Unable to pull the sword free, Leon shifted his grip on the war disc. He tightened the fingers of his right hand around its handle, then clenched his left into a fist.

Leon moved like the ghost of Tashima, fighting the two creatures that had already been waiting, then dashed toward the extra four that came as a bonus.

Meanwhile, outside the ironhide nest, Hei Yung, Hei Luo, Wu Ze, and a few other higher ranks of the Special Force roamed through Sector 8 of Chaos City.

"Are you sure you guys took this route?" Hei Luo asked, wearing a confused expression.

"Yes, sir. This is the right path we took." Wu Ze answered, her tone more polite than usual.

At the front, Hei Yung’s head kept shifting left and right whenever something flickered past his gaze.

’This part of Sector 8 hasn’t been operated in for years.’ He turned, gave Wu Ze a swift glance, then faced the path ahead again.

His blue eyes scanned every green tree looming at their sides.

’These aren’t just trees... I can feel them pulsing with life.’

He squinted at one root that seemed to rise and fall whenever air brushed past it.

After a couple of hours, they arrived at the exact place where the untouched building stood.

"Hei Yung, come check something out." Standing by the open door of the untouched building, Hei Luo gestured to him.

"Look at the shape on the ground." Hei Luo pointed at the black box resting at the center of the pentagon lines. "What does this remind you of?"

Hei Yung focused his gaze on the black box, then traced it down to the mixture of black and red lines forming the pentagon shape.

’This looks like Andrew’s signature print.’ He gave a silent sigh, then closed the gap between himself and the box.

"This is just sand, nothing else." He brushed the substance from the tips of his fingers after touching the line, then moved past Hei Luo and Wu Ze.

’Is Andrew even dead?’ He folded his arms across his chest, stopping at the entrance of the building. The sky above Chaos City began to bleed with red lightning.

"Hei Luo!" Hei Yung broke from his relaxed posture, his folded arms dropping to his sides.

He stared at the reeling sky with an intense gaze.

From a distance, countless screams echoed from the pitch-black section between the two conjoined buildings.

The walls shook with devastating force, sending large bricks crashing down from the top. Dust rose five feet high as soon as the stones hit the ground.

A series of debris—metal poles, iron rods, and other building materials—rained down as both buildings collapsed inward.

As soon as the dust from the collapse settled, a hellhound ironhide’s roar tore through the air.

"Hei Luo, leave it to me." Hei Yung’s face twisted into a welcoming smile, then he gestured at Hei Luo.

As if bound with wings, Hei Yung leaped into the air like a bird.

’This kid has some guts.’ Hei Yung smiled to himself, then dashed forward like a jet, a ring of blue lightning forming at his back.