As Thorne stood in the distance watching as his comrade, friend and mentor got destroyed, he suddenly felt that something was amiss.
The Lurker that had been relentlessly assaulting the former mayor had suddenly stopped its attacks. Then in a strange twist it even turned to face them.
The distance that covered the battlefield where the Lurker stood and the place where they stood was almost 25 meters. And yet he could clearly feel the Lurker's gaze on them.
It made their skin crawl and sent shivers down their spines. It felt as though the reaper of death himself had the blade of his scythe to his throat and there was nothing he could do about it.
'Why is it looking here?' Thorne thought unable to shake off the bad feeling he was getting. As though disaster was waiting to strike at any moment.
"We need to move," the words barely left his lips when the Lurker moved. "NOW!"
Panic set in. Thorne felt his heart jump to the back of his throat. This was bad. This was very bad.
The other evolvers, hearing the vice leader's command and taking note of the panic that was as clear as day went to move however it was too late.
A distance of 25 meters to a creature of the second star order with speed as obscene as the eight legged arachnid wasn't an obstacle to it. There was a gush of wind followed by a pungent smell that made his insides curl.
Then, a large shadow suddenly covered him from above.
Horror finally set in as he looked up.
His face paled as he met the gaze of the Lurker. He could feel a dense pressure fall onto him. His heart beat so erratically that if a doctor were to take a look at him they would think he would have cardiac arrest at any second.
'This, Bennet actually fought against this?'
All hope seemed to vanish in the wind. His legs gave up on him and he fell to his knees.
There was nothing he could do. There was nothing they could all do.
The Lurker looked down on him with deep contempt before it slowly reached down. Its fangs separating to reveal an open maw. Thorne could only look into the dark abyss that was the Lurker's maw. The scent of death overwhelmed his thoughts.
'Guess this is the end huh?' this was Thorne's final thought.
Or so he thought...
"Veronica stop its movements!" the voice was neither too deep nor too demanding and yet it carried a weight that seemed to cut through all the tension and emotions that had been hanging in the air.
However that wasn't what really caught Thorne's attention.
It was the temperature.
If before the temperature had been chill and full of tension now it had suddenly dropped to the point of not just being cold but also snowing!
Thorne as well as the other evolvers nearby were shocked by the sudden change.
Why was it snowing? No the better question would be how was it snowing. And yet it didn't end there...
SKREEEE!
In what could only be considered a wail of agony the Lurker leapt off. Skipping several meters away from the coldness that had suddenly infected the area.
It was only when it moved that Thorne realized the sudden appearance of ice caps in the spot that the Lurker had been standing in just now.
'Wait ice?!' Thorne questioned. There was only one person in their entire camp who had ice related abilities!
Thorne turned his head to the side just as a white haired beauty in a white dress hovered to his side. Her very presence seemed to carry with it a certain breeze that calmed his senses. Her dress though it was not immaculate and even had burn marks and scorch marks on its various parts did little to hide or blemish the delicate beauty that she was.
Her skin was as white as snow, her hair a waterfall of white and her eyes shone with a pale blue that seemed to get brighter the more one stared at them. They were beautiful and yet they held a certain air to them that prevented men from starting trouble with her.
"Are you alright?" Veronica asked with a soft and yet firm voice.
It was only then that Thorne had to remind himself that this beautiful young woman who was standing beside him was young enough to be his niece.
How could he be easily captivated by her beauty to the point of staring in a daze?
Thorne couldn't help but feel embarrassed.
"Yeah, I'm alright thanks to you," Thorne spoke but his voice was shakier than he would have liked it to be.
"We made it just in time," another voice cut through the atmosphere.
Thorne looked over in the direction it came from and couldn't help but smile.
A young man with a large frame that could rival that of an average adult body builder stood. He was clad in bronze armor that consisted of a chestpiece, shin guards and thigh guards.
His fists were donned in dark gauntlets that rose up his arms all the way to his elbows. The gauntlets were thick and they made his arms look twice as large.
He had a head of black slightly curly hair, a well defined jawline that would no doubt become chiseled in the near future and eyes with pupils that seemed to take on a shade of black.
The young man, Jordan, narrowed his eyes at the Lurker that was now standing in the distance. Thanks to Veronica's attack it had been covered in a layer of frost and hindered its joints and slowed down on its movements. It was part of the reason why the Lurker had hastily retreated, had it stayed in position for a long time it would have been frozen in place leaving it vulnerable.
"Is that the bastard you were talking about Huey? The Lurker?" Jordan asked the other young man beside him.
The other young man was a head shorter than Jordan's 6 feet inches of height, standing at a mere 5'7" and yet it didn't dull his presence at all. In fact it made people notice him even more.
His eyes that shone like two bright brown marbles were locked onto the Lurker as well. His body was wrapped in a black trench coat whose tail ended right behind his knees. Though it had a rough looking appearance as it was stained with blood and looked to have a hole in his left shoulder, it still suited him just fine.
In his palm rested a sword with a blade so black it reflected a black light as well. Running down the center of his blade were intricate dark runes as well as marks that almost made the blade look segmented somewhat. They made the blade look strange but gave the entire sword a unique feel.
The sword vibrated in his palm as though it were alive... well that wasn't entirely false.
In a way the sword really was alive. It had an ego and although it wasn't well developed currently, it was enough for it to recognize Huey Coleman as the master of the sword.
This sword was one that had been with him throughout much of Huey's journey. The Heaven Grade treasure [Black Salamander].
Huey didn't seem to mind the sword that was constantly vibrating since the moment he got here. His eyes were entirely on the Lurker in the distance.
Even from where he stood, the Lurker's soul pressure was enough to make his palms sweaty and his heart beat rapidly.
They couldn't approach this next fight carelessly. They needed a strategy or else they would be seeing the grim reaper sooner than they imagined.
Huey didn't reply to Jordan's question and Jordan didn't seem to mind. To him the answer was already obvious. He had only asked that question in order to ease some of his tension.
To Huey's side Lydia stood as well. Her breathing sounded somewhat heavy as though she was having difficulty breathing and her dark hair clung to her temples as sweat fell down her face. Her emerald eyes seemed to tremble as she looked at the Lurker.
Even before the apocalypse Lydia never liked spiders, they made her skin crawl. So seeing one as big as a small car standing right in front of her and exuding such a frightening aura too well... you could say it wasn't a pleasant feeling at all.
Her body trembled slightly. Goosebumps forming on the surface of her skin and a shiver going down her spine. She felt her head spin as though the longer she looked at the Lurker the more likely she was to lose consciousness.
But then a strong hand landed on her shoulders and she seemed to forget everything. She turned her head to the side and met Huey's bright brown eyes. She found reassurance within Huey's gaze that gave her the confidence to push back her fear.
Candice stood to Jordan's other side looked at the scene and couldn't help but shake her head.
How could the lovebirds be flirting even now?
Beside her Conrad seemed to be whipping his head side to side as though he were looking for something or rather... someone.
After failing to find who he was looking for he finally turned towards Thorne.
"Uncle Thorne... where is uncle Bennet?"
The moment Conrad asked this question a deafening silence swept through the area.
Nothing but the sounds of the Lurker struggling against the ice could be heard for a moment and everyone seemed reluctant to give Conrad a response.
Thorne's head however unconsciously turned towards the direction the Lurker was in... no he wasn't looking at the Lurker but on the spot just beyond where the Lurker was currently positioned.
Conrad turned his head and followed Thorne's gaze. It wasn't just Conrad though, everyone—Jordan, Huey, Lydia, Candice, Veronica and Arina, looked in that direction and shock couldn't help but be painted on their faces.
There in the distance was a small crater, no more than a meter deep. Lying within it was the figure of a broken man, soaked in blood from head to toe. His armor was broken and shattered, his arms were nothing but stumps of crushed meat and his face was bloodied as it was bruised. Beside his body lay a sword that was all too easy for everyone to recognize.
How could they not? It was the weapon of the mayor and leader of Camp White.
And now that they could recognize the large weapon they could also easily put a face on the figure lying in the crater. And the result was one that left them shaken to the core.
Mayor Bennet had fallen.