Solflare: The Painter's Secret-Chapter 95: A 17% Survival Rate

Leon’s body went cold as his eyes screwed shut against the realization that he was going to die.

He forced his bones and crossed his arms at his face, the speeding air rumbling around him.

The sharp tips of the birds’ claws grazed Leon’s back, drawing a line in his back suit. A dome of bright gold light tore free and formed a violent bubble.

The bubble grew larger, then vaporized the first two creatures to ash before his mind could even register what he’d done.

Another three sets of the flying creatures slammed into it and got vaporized, joining the cloud of chitinous ash.

The blast sent the remaining creatures drifting back, but only a few could escape as the dome rose rapidly, capturing fifty of them mid-flight.

The impact of the blast arrested Leon’s fall and slowed him just enough. He hit the steep canyon wall in a tumbling, bone-jarring roll.

Fungi cracked under his weight, brittle stalks breaking against his arms and back as he rolled, until he finally came to a gasping stop.

The golden light guttered and died. In its absence, Leon’s limbs trembled uselessly. His chest felt hollow, wrung dry, like every drop of blood had been squeezed from him mercilessly.

As he raised his head, he saw Lieutenant Prince land gracefully on an outcropping in a controlled descent.

He tilted his head and looked down at Leon.

Then a shadow slid across Leon. His skin prickled, sweat beading instantly as he whirled around, trying to find the direction the shadow was from.

His heart dropped dead when he raised his head and saw the creature clinging to the canyon wall above him, its mandibles clicking, eyes fixed on him.

"Oh no!" Leon’s face turned white as snow as he tried to lift his hand, the one carrying the black book.

The creature lunged, a high-pitched whine which was barely audible, pierced the air, and sent it spasming in mid-air.

Its coordinated attacks turned into a twitching crash, and it landed in a heap a few feet from Leon.

Leon scrambled backward, his breathing coming in ragged gasps as he stared at the jerked limbs of the creature.

Suddenly, when he turned, Lieutenant Prince stood on the ledge above him, one hand extended.

Stretching his hands forward, Leon saw a faint distortion like a heat haze shimmering around Prince’s fingertips.

"Come on if you don’t want it to get up and come after you again," Prince said in a calm voice, then jumped to Leon’s level.

"This is easy to disrupt." He nudged the twitching creature with his boots, then tilted a grim grin at Leon.

"It will recover. Let’s leave before it does." He jumped high above human strength to the ledge, then stared at Leon. "Grab my hand and let me help you up," he offered a hand to Leon.

"Why should we climb up?" Leon asked in a confusion-filled voice.

"Do you want to adventure through these parts solely? Mind you, this is far worse than the part you and your colleagues were sent to thirteen months ago." Prince withdrew his hand, then folded it at his chest.

"At this section, a solo asset has a 17% survival rate," he stated, then extended his arm again.

Leon stared at the hand. "And what survival percentage will it be after we pair?"

"A paired asset rate increases to 44%. And since you’re an E-ranked awakened and I’m a C-ranked awakened, the rate can increase to 55%." Prince paused, then smiled.

"The math is simple. My only purpose is to survive and ascend to a B-ranked. And lastly, you are a variable that will improve my odds. The moment you are not, I will leave you for them."

"Leave me for them! Are you crazy?!" Leon screamed at him in his thoughts and pulled his hand back.

The twitching sound erupted again from the creature lying a few feet away from Leon.

"It’s recovering. You should grab my hands now or become a meal for the C-ranked beast bat," Prince said, then laughed.

Instinctively, Leon took the hand. Prince pulled him up with a bizarre strength.

"Your gold power is out of this world. Do well to contain it, or it will kill you from the inside," Prince said, releasing his hand and turning to scan the canyon.

He pointed toward the depth of the canyon. "The rendezvous is that way. I will create a distraction. You will handle anything that gets past me. Understood?"

With a confirming answer, Leon nodded. "Yes. I understand." As Leon stared in the direction Prince pointed to, another wave of chittering rose from the shadows below.

Rrrrrrr... Grrrrrraaaaaooooh... GRRRRROOOOOOO...

His shoulders sagged as the sound rattled in his chest like a reminder—this uneasy alliance was all that stood between him and the swarm.

Their legs moved hastily and drove them forward, dodging falling shale and vents that hissed acid.

Lieutenant Prince moved like he’d rehearsed the path a hundred times, wrist flickering, and entire patrols collapsed into twitching heaps.

His calm precision turned chaos into a map Leon couldn’t read.

When the subtle tricks weren’t enough, Leon’s fists took over. Each strike cracked with a flash of tight gold sparks.

His arms ached, his breath tore at his throat, yet he still swung, grinding fear into something that resembled discipline.

After an hour of struggle, Prince stopped at an unremarkable stretch of rock. Without hesitation, he pressed his palm to a narrow fissure.

The wall shimmered and melted away with a soundless retreat, revealing a dark, hexagonal tunnel.

"In," he said, stepping inside without a glance back. Leon swallowed hard, then followed into the dim light.

Slam!

A loud crash echoed from behind him as the entrance sealed behind him, leaving a silence so heavy it felt louder than the canyon itself.

"Finally at a safe place," Leon whispered in his head and sighed. At his front was a cot bolted to the wall, rations stacked on a shelf, and a water reclaimer humming faintly beside them.

Prince moved to the water reclaimer, drank deeply, and started cataloging supplies with a clinical focus.