Erik was inside the shelter, worrying about the situation. He didn't know why, but he had a bad feeling about the situation. Having no one in the world besides his friends, he sent Amber a text message asking her where she and the others were.
Immediately, the young woman replied and told him they were inside the Red Palace shelter, calming the young man down. Apparently, the teachers brought the students to the Red Palace before the attack, so they were inside its shelter with many other students.
Erik was seated on the ground while reading the text, and after a short conversation with Amber, he stopped worrying and started training again. There wasn't much to do inside the shelter but wait for the situation to be solved. But a few minutes later, everything, including the walls, started to shake, which alarmed Erik and the other students right away.
"What the hell?" Someone said.
"Is this an earthquake?" Another shouted.
Erik's worry increased. It was unlikely that there was an earthquake.
<What is happening?> Erik thought.
…
Outside the shelter, the Blirdoth was sniffing the air and advancing with slow and heavy steps toward the Red Palace. He could smell humans around him, but he could not see them. However, it was able to understand that the scent they emanated came from the front, inside a huge garden with many weird structures inside.
The creature relied on his senses to search for the humans, but it wasn't easy since countless bodies were scattered on the streets.
The monster saw some corpses on the ground, and a strong urge to give a couple of chomps to them arose. It spent a lot of time eating, getting its strength and energy back, and soaking up the mana that was inside their bodies.
As the beast ended his meal, it started sniffing the air again; there were still humans to eat, but it could not find them, which sparked its rage. It grabbed cars and threw them toward the nearest buildings; the sound of the collision reverberated through the place and could actually be heard by the students inside the shelters.
The smell came from around it, but it was stronger inside a certain building. The Blirdoth turned around toward the tall building, the Red Palace, which was thick with the scent of living beings. The beast walked slowly towards the structure, but once it was near the walls surrounding the place, massive turrets came out of holes in the ground and aimed at the creature.
After a couple of seconds, the defensive systems started shooting at the beast, but the bullets couldn't pierce the tough skin or the mana armor protecting its body.
The Blirdoth didn't care about these small projectiles; it simply stepped forward when they shot and continued walking forward until it stepped inside the Red Palace garden. The weapons kept shooting at it, but the Heniate's avatar seemed uncaring as well.
Once inside the gardens, the Blirdoth moved through the trees, looking for the source of the scent; however, it started releasing its poisonous gas as the defense system started getting on its nerves. The surrounding vegetation started withering, and the cannons stopped working after a short period of time.
The creature was still unable to find the humans, but the scent became stronger. The Blirdoth looked at the huge, tall red building reaching the sky; it sniffed the air but couldn't smell anything from it. The source of the smell didn't come from it. Nearby, there was another building, a yellow one, and from there, the Blirdoth could smell several scents. It was clear there were people inside.
It decided to check what was going on over there, so it went deeper inside the garden, heading toward the Yellow Palace, where Erik was currently hiding. As it approached the building, the Blirdoth noticed that the scents were getting stronger and more distinct, making it even more curious about what was happening inside. It cautiously made its way toward the entrance, ready to investigate.
The Blirdoth then started spreading its poisonous gas into the air. The miasma started seeping inside the shelter's air vent, slowly entering the room. People started coughing, and the poisonous mist became visible to the naked eye; it was brownish, so it was hard to miss it.
The people inside the shelter quickly realized the severity of the situation and started covering their mouths and noses with whatever they could find. Panic ensued as they tried to figure out how to block the air vent and prevent further exposure to the deadly gas.
"Damn," Erik said. He didn't know what was happening; however, the gas had strangely the same effects as a thaid he knew. Though it was weird, the beast in question couldn't produce so much gas since, to do so, it needed to be several times bigger and stronger than it normally was. The truth was that Erik was right—the gas belonged to a Blirdoth, but he had no idea how dangerous this particular one was.
COUGH COUGH COUGH
A cacophony of coughs started like deadly music inside the shelter room. The miasma accumulated to dangerous levels, and people started having blisters; their skin became as red as a tomato. For some, it started becoming painful, so they started moaning in pain.
"AAAAAAAAH! HELP ME!" someone shouted. His skin was peeling off on itself.
"Fuck," Erik said. The situation was turning for the worse, and he couldn't understand why.
<How can this mist enter the shelter?> Erik thought. <The ventilation system should filter it!> He realized that the ventilation system was clogged with dirt and debris, which was preventing it from functioning properly.
Erik had to get the hell out of there. If the filtration system didn't work, then the only thing that awaited him was death. The young man saw the other students coughing and noticed the previous effects the miasma was producing. Some people started losing their skin; others had their faces partially melted. Others lost their eyes completely, while most of them just screamed in agony.
"Goddammit," Erik whispered. "I'm screwed. I'm really screwed this time." He quickly realized that the chemical spill was much worse than he had anticipated and that he needed to get out of there as soon as possible before it was too late.
The first person who was exposed to the poison gas died. A girl with blonde hair, wearing a black dress, was crying. Her face was melting like wax. Her skin was peeling off, exposing the muscle underneath, and she let out a horrible scream, followed by silence.
She collapsed onto the floor. Thus generating panic inside the shelter room. Unbeknownst to Erik, the gas didn't reach the Red Palace, so Amber and the others were safe for the time being.
The young man stood up and rushed to the door; the other students started doing the same. Erik didn't want to waste more time and risk death and decided that he had to leave the shelter right away. However, someone was already at the door.
"Open the door, open the door!" A girl suddenly screamed; she then ran toward the metal entrance to the shelter; she pressed a button, and suddenly the door opened, and she went out of the room. She started coughing badly and taking deep breaths of fresh air. The pain was unbearable.
The other kids started rushing outside in droves. They knew how to fight and had suffered their share of pain due to training and sparring, but what they were feeling today was unbearable. Their bodies felt hot and burned, and their lungs ached terribly.
They all wanted to vomit, but nothing came out; instead, they kept dry, heaving uncontrollably. However, they were all relieved to be finally out of the cramped shelter, and they eagerly looked around at their surroundings, hoping to find a safe place to hide. The girl who had opened the door looked back at the shelter with a shudder, grateful to be free from its claustrophobic confines and far from the corrosive gas.
Erik got out of the room, too; his head was spinning, his vision was blurred, and everything around him seemed weird. He heard people screaming and smelled something burning. However, if he heard them, the Blirdoth did too. In fact, as most of the students came out of the shelter room, it found the source of the scent, as it thickened once the students came out.
It was at that moment that a roar reverberated throughout the Red Palace. It could be heard for kilometers, and everyone in the vicinity froze in fear, wondering what could have caused such a deafening sound.
However, it was clear that it wasn't anything good. The ground beneath their feet started to shake, which was due to the massive size of the Blirdoth, which was following the scent and heading toward the students' position. Panic spread like wildfire as people tried to flee the area, realizing something terrible was about to happen.
"We are fucked," Erik said.
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