"Wait behind and stay on guard at the entrance," Gray said, gesturing to the eight soldiers trying to enter the trembling building.
He inhaled, clenched his fist, and began walking toward the building's entrance, tilting his head sideways and scanning the corners of the shattered mirror door before crouching and carefully stepping inside.
The dark, empty space inside showed bent and collapsed chairs and tables either suspended by a live wire sparking electricity or shattered into different pieces and lying around unarranged.
Shadowy figures dashed around him, sending metallic screeching and clinging sounds in the room. Gray focused his gaze on each and every movement but kept on walking toward the direction the scream came from.
On the second floor, a soft chittering sound echoed from behind the door at the far distance.
'This building feels more hostile than the land itself,' he thought, raising his hands and touching the handle of the katana sword wrapped around his back with his right hand and clenching his left hand into a fist.
He cracked the door open with his right leg and rushed inside, pulling the sword and letting its silver metal surface shimmer under the circular lights that lit the room, flowing through the holes on the wall like torches.
"Jinx," he said, his eyes widening, seeing a creature similar to the one he'd ordered them to kill lying there without a head, and on its chest, three claw-toe marks dressed it.
"Come," Gray said, gesturing toward the lady to rise up and come to him, but no matter how much he tried, the lady remained at the hiding spot where she hid, sweat dripping from her face as her body trembled heavily.
And when Gray made the move to go to her, she shook her head and tilted her head slightly, alerting him of something far more dangerous than all the creatures he ordered them to fight against.
Gray, peeking his head slightly to the left side of the room where no light touched, tightened his grip on the sword and raised it, making himself ready for whatever creature she was scared of.
Under the silent and hostile air, he saw blood drops moving from where he was and following in a perfect line to the other side of the door on the left, where the shadow was.
'No creature is above a skill grade E, and if there's some, it would only be at most a D,' Gray thought to himself, tilting his gaze from the marks on the wolf creature, the blood on the floor, Jinx, and the shadow beneath the creaking door.
He closed his eyes, placing a step into the room, and when he heard a slight chittering sound, he cracked his eyes open and surged toward the direction, changing the sword's position and moving like a ninja.
Gray moved his elbow upward, slamming it into a figure's neck and pushing it to the wall, but when he realized it was one of his men, he quickly loosened the elbow and moved two steps back.
…
"You nearly made me kill you! Where are the rest?" Gray said, his face changing into a mixed expression of anger and worry. He knew if it wasn't the light that shimmered at the last moment, his junior soldier would've been dead within seconds.
"We-we scattered after being attacked by a creature – it was – it was—"
"It was what?!"
"I – I… can't… breathe."
"Take your time and talk, I'm listening," Gray said, placing a hand on the second soldier's shoulder, tapping and helping him to breathe.
"Sir, we were a–attacked by an obsidian creature with sharp claws and wings that is able to cut through any metal," the soldier said, shaking heavily as he pointed his hand to something behind Gray.
He stumbled back, clutching himself to the brick wall, almost trying to phase through it. But Lieutenant Gray just closed his eyes, studying his breathing and heartbeat.
He slid his boots on the ground, drawing an invisible circle using both left and right legs and making his knees meet. He moved the sword downward, letting the sharp square tip of it meet his eye level and began moving his left arm up and down, using it to follow his breathing pattern.
…
The sound of clashing swords echoed outside the building, sending chills down the spines of the soldiers who had now welcomed Jinx and were helping her to be free from the trauma she had been through.
Two of the soldiers escorted Jinx to the bus they had brought earlier, while the other six stood there exchanging confused glances.
"Jinx, where is Mike?" the short guy, who was of the same height as Jinx, asked in intense worry.
He kept on turning even as they reached the bus, pressed the green button on the black triangular key, and helped Jinx by handing her a bottle of water.
He ran toward the six soldiers left behind after noticing shimmering swords moving hastily through the window on the second floor of the building.
"We need to leave! They won't come," he said, trying to convince everyone to join the bus so he could drive them away, but they resisted his claims and stood there, their weapons drawn and ready to face head-on any creature that might exit the building.
…
The blade of the katana sword spiraled, driving through the wind and surging through the obsidian fur of the twelve-foot eagle that wasn't falling.
Gray moved his hand upward, drawing infinite 'S' shapes in the air with the sword and slamming it toward the creature, but it got blocked just an inch above the temple of the creature, which clapped its feathers together, sending out a clanging sound in the air.
The soldier clutching himself on the wall trembled, seeing the red eyes of the creature as it tilted its head slightly toward his direction.
Gray's hand shook but still tightened his grip on the handle of the sword, changed his stance, and moved the sword in a thousand-sword move...