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Chapter 3: Chapter 3- Escape

The warmth, her beautiful smell, the intimate position they were in, and finally the kiss itself. Talon found himself completely under the hypnotizing effect this girl cast on him. Nothing around him mattered anymore as if time itself froze.

What was in reality a few seconds felt like an eternity for Talon. Eventually, the girl released Talon\'s lips. Her mouth was still parted slightly as she stared directly at Talon. Her breath felt even more sensitive on his skin.

Eventually, the boy broke his trance and finally spoke. "... Why?"

He didn\'t even know what to say or do and instead just asked the only question that came to mind, \'Why?\'.

He didn\'t know why this girl kissed him when they had never even met before. Hell, he didn\'t even know anything about her, including her name.

The girl stared at him for a second before she replied. "Behind you..." Her face was as expressionless as ever.

"What?"

"A Dimension Walker is behind you." She repeated as she pointed behind him.

Talon\'s mind took a second to register what she said before he felt a looming danger behind him. Immediately, he ducked down, barely avoiding the sharp teeth of one of the monsters. The entity had sneaked behind him and tried to bite his nape which ended up failing and even backfiring as it lost its balance.

"You bastard!" Clenching his fist, he launched a punch toward the monster\'s stomach, knocking it back.

Then, he followed with a kick to the face which completely knocked the monster over. Without waiting, Talon jumped on it before he grabbed its head, digging into its very essence, and then pulled out the orb inside.

Immediately, the monster stopped moving.

[Ding!]

[You have killed a level 1 Dimension Walker. +2 Strength, +3 Stamina.]

[Ding!]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have gained +2 Free Points.]

\'I leveled up, huh? That\'s good and I did receive some nice free points.\' He mused as he read the notifications.

"Too noisy though..." Rubbing the inside of his ear, Talon looked down at the things in his hand. He had weird glowing orbs. One was a very faint faint blue color while the other was an extremely bright rainbow color.

"What are these?" He asked himself, not expecting an answer. Only that, he did receive an answer.

"Monster cores. You can break them to receive some good rewards." The girl replied casually.

"Huh? You know what these are?" He asked in confusion.

"If I answered then that obviously means I do, human." She retorted.

Talon ignored her arrogantly casual responses and looked down at the two cores. He didn\'t know what kind of \'rewards\' she was talking about, but he was very curious to know.

However, he quickly shook his head and pocketed the two orbs as he quickly turned to look at the girl.

"I don\'t know what\'s going on or even who you are. But, I saved your life, so you have to pay me back." He said.

"..." The girl\'s expression didn\'t change but he noticed subtle confusion in her eyes.

"The building was going to collapse and I brought you with me. I only ask that you explain to me what the hell is going on here."

Talon was never someone who would abuse his own kindness to use people. But, he was in dire need of a good explanation for what was happening all around him and the girl in front of him seemed like the perfect person to explain that.

Besides, he didn\'t really know if she was trustworthy or not.

\'She kissed me for fuck sake! Ugh! Ok, it\'s not time to think about that!\'

"Since you\'re now mine, I will naturally explain everything to you."

"Yours... Excuse me, what?" Rubbing his temple with a tired look, he sighed. "I won\'t even ask why you said that because I need to move. Can you run?"

"I can fly." She replied as suddenly, the girl\'s feet slowly elevated from the ground and she started floating quietly.

"..."

\'Yeah, she\'s definitely not human.\' Talon noted down to himself.

"What\'s your name, human?"

"... I\'m Talon."

"You can address me as Acrypha for now." She replied in a casual yet elegant tone. This whole time, Acrypha had a very strong royal-like demeanor that wasn\'t too overbearing or unnatural. Nor did it feel too arrogant or condescending yet also leaves a very deep effect on anyone who talks with her, Talon included.

"Ok, Acrypha. We need to go!"

Saying that, Talon turned around and dashed toward the exit of the building. Everyone inside the apartment complex was heavily injured, died, or turned into one of those abominations that walked around freely.

Naturally, when they saw that Talon was still alive, they immediately targeted him. Dozens and dozens of Dimension Walkers rushed after the young man.

"Shit! There are too many!" As he dashed as fast as he could, Talon picked up rocks and threw them at every monster that tried to get close. The hit didn\'t kill them but it was enough to stagger them.

\'Ten more meters!\'

Looking ahead of him, Talon noticed that the gate was completely closed. He had no time to open it considering the situation, so he could only do one thing... Jump over it.

Then, his eyes moved to the flying silhouette next to him. Acrypha had a casual look on her face as if the situation wasn\'t already terrifying.

She simply followed Talon, not even sparing the monsters around them a single glance.

Shaking his head, Talon hurried his steps as he reached the gate before he leaped into the gate and grabbed the edge as he tried to lift himself up. He was one step away from leaving the building. Unfortunately, one of the Dimension Walkers grabbed his leg at the last moment and tried to pull him back.

Talon almost lost balance at that moment and his grip on the gate loosened. Clenching his fists he looked back and kicked the monster away before its teeth could bite him. Because of that, his jeans were ripped as a huge part of it went down with the monster.

"Those were new! Ah, man!!" Cursing inwardly, Talon immediately jumped over the gate, and landed on the street outside. Immediately, he heard a loud banging behind him that made him flinch slightly.

"Did you get bit?" Acrypha asked as she stared at him.

"No, I barely escaped..." He replied.

"Good, if you got bitten, I would\'ve had to kill you."

"Thanks for the optimistic remark!"

Looking around him, the streets of his neighborhood that he grew accustomed to were nowhere to be seen. Everything was completely destroyed with barely any buildings left intact.

Talon\'s face changed as he noticed the bloody corpses everywhere along with the powerful stench of blood. His stomach churned as he immediately threw up everything he ate that morning.

He felt sick, extremely sick. Seeing all these dead people, he really couldn\'t hold it in any longer.

"This is messed up..." He murmured as he wiped his mouth using a handkerchief in his pocket. "Why is all of this happening?"

He didn\'t realize the sheer size of the disaster till he saw the outside world. His heart ached greatly.

\'Wait... My parents!\' Suddenly, he realized something. A detail that he forgot about because of the situation. He didn\'t know if they were able to survive the catastrophe or not and his worry instantly rose to the highest level.

"I need to go back to them."

But, he knew that was going to be way easier said than done. His parents lived in the far south of South Korea. It would take him at least 8 hours to reach them, if he used a car that is.

\'I need to calm down. They\'re going to be fine. I just need to find a way to go get them.\' He thought to himself as he calmed his racing heart.

"This is merely the beginning. Far worse things will happen in the near future. You have to accept it. The sooner you do, the higher your chance of surviving and growing stronger will be." Acrypha declared, waking Talon from his own thoughts.

His grimace remained, but he understood what she meant. Whatever is happening is going to change the world completely for a long time if not forever. If Talon wanted to survive, he had to adapt quickly.

"I understand... Thanks for telling me..." He replied as he inhaled another deep breath and cleared his mind of any unnecessary thoughts.

Acrypha noticed the change in his eyes from before and nodded faintly. "Where are you going now?"

Thinking for a moment, Talon went through his potential choices. What he needed most was a safe place so that he could rearrange his thoughts and also get food and water if he was going to survive.

\'A safe place with food and water...\' It didn\'t take him long before his thoughts landed on the perfect choice.

"The warehouse!"