"It's under me, isn't it?" Alex questioned.
Siviel nodded his head with a gulp as he confirmed it, "It's under you."
The tremors felt could only strike fear and uneasiness in the hearts of those that felt it.
Alex was ready with his M68. The weapon was aimed at the ground and he waited patiently, completely focused on killing the monster that could come out at any given moment now.
However, to his disappointment and confusion, no such monster came out. Just as he expected the attack, the ground stopped trembling and everything came to a silence.
Alex frowned and his eyebrows creased together as he questioned, "Where is it?"
"It's right behind you..."
Alex gritted his teeth as he heard this and sharply turned around only to be met with empty air and a thick wall.
There was nothing there, but this did not calm him down nor did it give him a sense of reassurance.
Alex aimed the M68 at the wall and waited, counting in his mind as he did so.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
BOOM!!
The wall broke and out came a Gigantic snake head that looked as if it had been created in hell by the devil himself.
The creature had no intention of playing around. It was hostile and angry. It had the full intention of biting off Alex's head.
"Professor X!!" Jess cried out in horror.
Stephen's eyes widened in shock and cold sweat trailed down his forehead in fear.
Siviel wanted to turn away from the scene, but at the same time, he couldn't look away. He stayed there with a stiff face and clenched his fist as he mentally prayed for the safety of Professor X.
Alex took a deep breath in and as he let it out, he pulled the trigger of the M68.
The bullet went inside the monster's mouth and so did Alex.
For a second there, no one could believe their eyes.
Professor X was dead...?
It seemed as if everything had ended in just a split second, leaving the spectators unable to believe their eyes.
"Did he...?" Stephen couldn't even dare to finish the question.
Jess gulped as she shook her head and firmly spoke, "Impossible. He won't die like this."
Stephen couldn't bring himself to argue with the woman so he stood there, waiting for a miracle to happen.
"He's alive," Siviel spoke as he confirmed.
Suddenly, before anyone could question Siviel and his conviction, the earth snake's mouth burst open, and out came Professor X, completely covered in sticky saliva but alive and uninjured.
Jess sighed in relief and couldn't help but beam from ear to ear.
"The M68," Stephen commented, feeling both surprised and impressed by the blasting gun.
Professor X shook the sticky saliva off of him and looked at the earth snake that was regenerating its head that had burst into a thousand pieces just seconds before.
"That could have been dangerous," Alex casually commented and Siviel couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle as he heard this.
The earth snake let out a blood-curdling cry that only Professor X could understand.
"How dare you?! You took him away!! You killed him!! How dare you?!" The earth snake continued to scream in despair.
Professor X gulped as he heard this and once again pointed the M68 at the earth snake as he spoke, "Your friend killed innocents. He had it coming."
"He didn't kill them! He didn't kill any of them! He was innocent! He never meant to hurt anyone! You're the monster! You killed him! He was innocent!"
Alex frowned as he heard this.
He wanted to ask who killed all those people if it wasn't done by that A-class monster, however, he didn't question anything since he already had an idea of who it was.
"I see... That thing didn't kill any of those people, did it? It was you. This lair belongs to you. You killed them."
"That's right," The earth snake hissed, "I killed them!"
"But why? Although you were the one who killed them, it didn't look like you were the one that was feeding on them."
The earth snake monster did not say anything and once again attacked Alex.
This time, Alex swiftly moved away and avoided the earth snake's mouth as he pointed the M68 at the monster's head and once again pulled the trigger.
"You were the one who killed them all but you didn't do it for yourself, did you? You were helping that thing hunt. You were doing all the killing so that he could feed on them and live."
"He was innocent!" The earth snake shouted before the bullet once again blasted away the monster's head.
"Tch- What a cute relationship you two had," Alex sarcastically commented as he shot at the monster a few more times.
As the monster regenerated itself, it spoke, "We are not the monsters. You are! You people are sick! You take innocent people and use their desperation to run tests on them! You lie to them. You say you are going to help us but you don't care about us at all! Curse you all! I'll kill you all! I'll kill you!"
All the bullets blew up at the same time and the monster was completely destroyed, a state which made it impossible to regenerate itself.
Professor X frowned as he repeated the monster's words in his head, unable to understand what it had been talking about.
"Professor X, right now... Were you talking to that monster...?" Stephen hesitantly questioned.
"Professor X has the special ability to understand monsters," Jess spoke up, not letting Alex answer the question, "It's not like he can talk to the monster. It's more like he can understand them after observing their behavior. Kind of like a psychologist."
This was clearly a lie that Professor X had made Jess and Siviel believe, however, it was quite convincing.
"Psychology? A monster psychologist...?" Stephen questioned, feeling a little unconvinced.
Jess nodded her head firmly, confirming it.
Professor X did not pay any attention to the conversation between Stephen and Jess. He was distracted by what the monster had said as it died.
It was highly likely that the monster was spouting nonsense, But at the same time, for some reason, it was making Alex feel a little uneasy.
"Professor, I think you should take a break. You must be tired," Siviel spoke with a small sigh.
"There's no need for that," Alex shook his head as he spoke, "What's the next mission?"
"I'm not kidding," Siviel spoke, his eyebrow creasing together in worry, "At this rate, you really might make a mistake and get yourself killed. How you dealt with the earth snake was quite sloppy. I'm not trying to offend you, I'm only saying this for your own good."
"Siviel, have you forgotten who I am? Just tell me where's my next monster? I can take care of myself."
Siviel could not argue with Professor X any further and sighed in defeat as he spoke, "Okay, give me a minute."
"Professor, do you want me to come with you?"
"No," Alex replied without even bothering to think about it, "You'll only get in the way."
Stephen pouted unhappily like a child as he heard this, "I can help!"
"I appreciate your enthusiasm but there's no need for you to come out here. Working from the office is also helping me in a way."
Stephen huffed and puffed but soon admitted defeat.
Although he was more than ready to head down and help Professor X, in all reality, he already knew that he was not qualified enough to do that.
Of course, he thought that he could help, but deep inside, he also knew that if he were to come face-to-face with an A-class monster, he would freeze up and become a nuisance for Professor X. However, this did not stop him from overestimating himself and bluffing.
When he saw Professor X killing A-class monsters with ease, his teenage blood made him think that he could do it too and hence, he detached himself from reality and blindly kept claiming that if he were allowed to go out in the field, he could help Professor X.
"Your next target is currently on the move," Siviel spoke as he informed Professor X, "Headed West. To the Lyne graveyard."
"It's headed towards a cemetery?" Alex asked, "Is it already getting ready for its demise?"
"It's certainly getting ready for a funeral. But I wonder whose it would be."
Alex pursed his lips together in a thin line as he heard this and refrained from saying anything in response.
"It's a grim reaper," Siviel chuckled dryly as he spoke.
"Damn it," Professor X cursed under his breath, "I hate those things."
"Am I missing something here?" Stephen asked with a small frown, feeling confused, "Grim reapers are monsters...?"
"It's not your conventional grim reaper. It's a type of monster. Made of bones and wears a cloak. Goes out at night to hunt and pretends to be a human. Only when you get close and see its face do you realize that it's a monster."
"It pretends to be a human?" Stephen's eyebrows creased together as he questioned.