Thud, and something fell.
Little fragments fell from the cracked ceiling.
The hallway, which seemed impervious to any shock, now lay in ruins, looking like a wasteland.
On the pitiful stairs that seemed about to collapse at any moment,
the sound of three figures hurriedly stepping down echoed.
“C-Couper…!”
With a gasp, Eleanor called out the name of the man running beside her.
The unknown shape pursuing them showed no sign of slowing down.
What initially seemed like a leisurely chase had turned into a life-or-death marathon, just like when they were racing through the hallway earlier.
“Why?!”
“About that thing, doesn’t it seem like it hasn’t attacked us since earlier?!”
As he reacted with a nervous voice, she asked about the behavior of whatever was trailing them.
That thing, which had seemed intent on wrecking the entire staircase just moments ago, was now merely following them, making no sound of its former rampage.
“Definitely, its aggression has noticeably decreased.”
“Dammit, I thought we were almost there…!”
Couper clicked his tongue, glancing at the door they had just brushed past.
After suffering repeated shocks from being pursued, the hinges of the door were now crumpled and ragged.
Even in its miserable state, it showed no response to their efforts.
They only needed one last push to open it, but that thing seemed to know what they were planning and had stopped its inaccurate attacks long ago.
“How about we close the distance and lure it into attacking?”
“Are you insane?! Remember how fast that thing was flying before! We could actually die!”
As Eleanor gasped while running, she caught sight of the two of them arguing about something.
Rapid breaths, sweat covering their faces.
And legs creaking as if they were forced to move beyond their limits.
It was clear that their stamina was at its breaking point.
Her own condition was no better than theirs.
“But we can’t just keep running forever. You know that well.”
“Wait! There’s got to be a safer way than that suicidal plan…”
Well, it wouldn’t be unreasonable.
Having just been chased through the staircase with everything they had,
and considering one of them was seriously injured from what had happened in the hallway,
if they were just untrained ordinary people, they would have collapsed long ago.
Eleanor glanced back for a moment.
Still pursuing them, that thing.
Could she really escape from it?
Maybe the two in front of her would come up with some miraculous solution.
They seemed quite capable, unlike her.
But would that really be enough?
Having left most of the decisions to others until now, she somehow had kept her life.
But as if paying the price for it, death had always followed those around her.
Even if she could survive here,
if it meant sacrificing the lives of her team members,
would she truly be able to say she survived?
Under her feet, the stairs trembled with a clunk.
An unstable step that could collapse at any moment, her breath growing heavier.
In the little time left,
as if deep in thought, she tightly closed her eyes—
“I-I’ll do it!”
After a brief moment, perhaps having made up her mind,
she shouted with a trembling voice at the two ahead.
“What?!”
“I’ll draw it in! If I stick close to the door, it’ll have no choice but to attack it sooner or later!”
Her proposed solution was not so different from what they had been doing until now.
The door only had one attack left before giving out completely due to repeated shocks,
and if someone waited in front until it closed in, it was bound to launch an attack.
If everything went as planned, she thought she could easily open that door.
“What do you mean… Are you actually considering what it just said?!”
However, that was a plan fraught with considerable risk.
After all, the force behind its attacks was nothing short of extraordinary.
Just being close enough to hear it could make your legs wobble.
Moreover, the speed wasn’t something one could react to with their eyes,
so suggesting to directly draw its attack was essentially the same as asking for a death wish.
“That’s true! At this rate, we’ll get caught eventually! If we’re going to do it, we might as well do it while we still have some strength left!”
But they had no other options left.
Seeing Couper take a skeptical stance, she seemed determined to stick to her opinion.
She turned to Elijah, who was voicing a similar sentiment, seeking his agreement.
“Eleanor’s right. But it should be me, not you, who draws it in.”
“Look! Elijah’s saying—wait, hold on.”
As he agreed with her, she proudly pointed at Couper.
But after considering the meaning of what had just been said, she felt something was off,
halting her words and once again turning back to him.
“What are you talking about? You’re injured!”
“Yeah, I’m injured. That’s why I want to go first. Even if I fail, we can gather information on how it reacts.”
His explanation came right after her protest.
When you think about it calmly, it was a reasonable point.
Inside the cramped emergency exit where there was no place to hide,
it was clear that the smaller and less injured individual would have the advantage in evading its attacks.
To increase the chance of success in their plan, it would be wise to let the more advantageous person go last,
sending a preliminary scout to test the waters.
“When we get to the next door, I’ll stand in front of it to lure the attack. If I fail…”
Of course, he wasn’t planning on throwing his life away.
After all, all he had to do was avoid its attacks.
Unless something unexpectedly went wrong, he wouldn’t find himself in a dire scenario.
He had made up his mind, and was set to explain his plan to them when—
“Ugh!”
Suddenly, with a disgruntled expression, Eleanor turned around,
and as if she hadn’t expected him to act, she reached out to her late.
“Hey! Where are you going?!”
Caught off guard by her sudden action, Couper called out to her in shock.
But despite hearing his call, she continued running ahead.
Was she trying to get herself killed? Couper shouted.
Well, it wasn’t entirely false.
After all, it was only natural for people to instinctively prioritize their own lives.
There was no reason for her to charge at that thing first.
But extreme stress can blind someone to their rational judgments,
and the multiple brushes with death she had endured, along with the fact that all her coworkers had died while she was unconscious,
had caused her a great deal of stress.
She now felt the overwhelming pressure to do something before someone else died.
“One moment…!”
One bit of good news was that she wasn’t running thoughtlessly into it.
As she was about to collide with the shape pursuing them,
it swung its massive arm toward her like a whip.
Whoosh!
The sound of slicing through the air brushed past her ears.
It felt like an ear-piercing sensation.
Even though that arm cleaved the empty air, it produced a terrifying sound.
And yet, as if not wanting to shake the space any further, it didn’t collide with the walls or floor.
Eleanor dodged the strike by a hair’s breadth, and once she confirmed that the horrifying sound hadn’t followed through,
she expressed a slight relief and quickly dashed behind it.
‘Up to this point, just as expected…!’
Her body reached the door atop the stairs.
A door that had been hollowed out and warped, looking like it could crumble with a single push.
Turning her head to face the unknown shape she had just passed,
she found it still wearing a distorted expression,
slowly turning its head toward her.
‘Stay calm… don’t shake…’
She steadied her thumping heart.
Matching her heartbeats, the sound of its approaching footsteps grew louder.
It wasn’t closing in on her as quickly as before, but merely watching it approach already felt like immense pressure.
Finally, as it neared her,
the twisted face began to contort in preparation for its strike.
Realizing it was preparing to attack her next, she instinctively crouched down.
Whoooosh!
Once again, she felt the sound of air slicing past her ears.
Cold sweat pouring down her face, she quickly pulled out what she had prepared.
“Take this…!”
A bright flash erupted from what she drew.
The sound of gunfire filled the cramped emergency exit.
Lowering her posture, she rapidly aimed and pulled the trigger.
The remaining bullets were sent hurtling toward its face.
It seemed to stiffen, as if in pain, and due to that, the trajectory of its swinging arm twisted slightly,
and it brushed against the door.
BANG!
With a loud noise, the emergency door swung open outwards.
Fragments scattered as if they were blown away.
Since it was only a glancing blow, it didn’t produce the same thunderous sound as before.
But it was more than enough force for the last blow on that tattered door.
The door, which had seemed like it would never open, now stood wide open.
“We did it! It’s broken!”
Her voice burst out in joyous exclamation toward the team behind her.
Finally, the only escape route here was now open.
However, she couldn’t leave alone just yet.
Seizing the moment while it was still confused, she moved to rejoin her teammates,
hurrying to step down the stairs.
“Now, all we have to do is shake it off, and we can get out of here—”
But suddenly, something snagged at her feet.
Awkwardly, she fell toward the stairs below.
“Argh?!”
A bewildered scream escaped her mouth.
As she toppled over, she caught sight of a small dent beneath her feet.
When she realized it resembled the one Couper had tripped over earlier,
her eyes met with that grotesque face just in time to witness it lunging toward her at the same speed as before.
“Ah.”
A sound like a gasp slipped from her lips.
The open door behind her meant that it no longer needed to restrain its actions.
By the time she realized this fact, it was far too late.
As she fell down the stairs,
with no time to dodge, she simply looked on as it approached her—
THOOOM!
A deafening crash filled the emergency exit.
