All Novel Full 23 End Crawler
Looking around, he coughed, waving his hand as the interior of the vast, abandoned building was dusty, “Anyway, where are we?”
“Looks like some sort of factory,” Kamou answered, walking around, curiously looking.
“Yeah, but for what?” Myung-Hee poked around some of the boxes.
They stood by the built, short-haired woman in a sleeveless uniform as she took the top lid off of one of the crates, revealing what was stored inside: paper.
“Ah…”
“That’s not very useful in this day and age, is it?” He sighed out in disappointment.
“Nope,” Myung-Hee agreed.
Moving on, the factory was surprisingly huge, though the periodic creaks of the old, unintended shelves provided a slight sense of unease in him as he looked around still.
Reaching the entrance to the factory, Myung-Hee parted the large, metallic doors on her own, opening them up to reveal a part of the city he wasn’t familiar with. It seemed they had been brought to an industrial section of the city, that wasn’t blatantly open to the public–at least, before the fall of the world..
Abandoned transport trucks were left in the private parking lot behind the factory, though there were still visible, decrepit corpses strewn about the secluded lot.
“Any clue where this puts us in the city?” He asked.
He wasn’t exactly well-versed in the layout of the city itself as he was a homebody–a nice way of putting it, at least. It’s not as if he didn’t go into the bustling parts of town at all before Armageddon began, but it was few and far between instances he found the need to.
“Urr…not really, no,” Myung-Hee scratched her head.
Surrounding them, the tall buildings of Jung loomed over while the swirling clouds kept to the sky, leaving them traversing the vast, empty parking lot carefully.
“I don’t hear the Defects anymore,” he said, “Think they gave up?”
“Please don’t jinx it…” Kamou said with a wry breath.
“Ha-ha! In any case, I think I know where we are,” Myung-Hee finally said, getting a look at the area once they reached the exit of the private lot.
“Really?” He looked at her.
Myung-Hee nodded, pointing her thumb towards the west, “We’re just a few blocks down from the subway entrance now–I think.”
“You think…?” He looked at the woman with an exasperated expression.
“Just kidding! I know–probably,” she replied with a bright smile.
“Stop playing with me!” He sighed out, though the two women just laughed.
Journeying down the block, it was more of the same; desolation to the once bustling, populated city. Verdancy had clung to the once modern, high-standing buildings that sought the clouds; even some sparse wildlife could be seen briefly, though they hardly wanted the attention of the humans.
“It’s weird seeing it like this, isn’t it?” He asked quietly, looking around as he walked the streets beside the two.
“I’d say it’s more…sad, rather than weird,” Kamou answered with a bit of melancholy lacing her words.
“That’s true…” He agreed, nodding softly.
It wasn’t long until they reached the entrance to the subway that led beneath the surface of the street; the steps were cluttered with overgrowth and blood, making it difficult not to slip on the way down.
“You think any Behemoths will be down here?” Myung-Hee sighed out, scratching her head.
“I wouldn’t bet on it,” he laughed a bit, “I’ve never fought one myself, but they’re a bit too big for a subway station, right?”
“A girl can hope,” Myung-Hee ruffled her own brunette locks.
Kamou looked at her with a reassuring smile, walking between the two, “Don’t worry, we’ll help you find one after this.”
“Are they tough?” He asked.
They reached the end of the stairs that descended into the subway station, finding themselves in the abandoned subterranean area. As always, it wasn’t out of reach of the world desecrated by Armageddon; blood stained the billboards propping advertisements, the electronic displays were dysfunctional, glitching and shattered.
It reeked off decrepit, spoiled corpses, but that was the norm for this depraved world.
“Chungmuro Station, huh? Definitely not the same station I remember as a kid,” he commented, kicking one of the fallen lights.
“I don’t think much is anymore,” Kamou said wryly.
“I’m just surprised we haven’t run into many others,” Myung-Hee said, “There are bound to be some people…right?”
He continued to wander around with the other two, investigating the state of the station, kicking trash around as he replied, “Probably trying to avoid the city. We found out how dangerous it can be–almost.”
It wasn’t until reaching the subway tracks did it become apparent where the Defects were inhabiting. The walls had been torn and filled with an unknown, living substance; from the small distance they stood at on the ledge of the tracks, they could see the End Crawls that inhabited the burrowed holes of the station.
[Enemy Identified: “End Crawler” | Level 12]
As expected: the name “Crawler” was fitting to their skin-itching, disgusting forms–they were quite large still, like bipedal creatures forcefully contorted to scale the land on all-fours. Each of their joints seemed to protrude against their white flesh that had been stained with blood and slickened with grime.
“Those are our targets, huh?” He said quietly, drawing his daggers.
“We just need three,” Kamou said, almost as if assuring herself as she lifted her staff.
“Let’s get this done then find me a Behemoth!” Myung-Hee declared with a fearsome smile, raising her claymore.
The moment the trio jumped onto the abandoned tracks of the subway, the two visible Crawlers noticed their presence, howling out before beginning to rapidly crawl towards them.
“Here it comes!” Myung-Hee called out, preparing for the encounter.
Taking the initiative with his inherent swiftness, he dashed towards the first of the Crawlers before using a [Blink Step] to fake it out, instead going for the farthest of the two.
“I’m leaving that one to you!” He called out to Myung-Hee.
“Don’t gotta tell me!” She replied, already preparing a heavy swing towards the juked Defect.