Angel Monarch

With a sore body, Adam slowly climbed back to his legs. His previously pristine glass armor now had a few cracks and chipped parts on it.

Around his armor, gore dripped to the wet ground, similar to Kim's own body. Even their smells matched, long-dead corpse marinated in puke, piss and feces, a truly disgusting scent.

A few people were already gagging and vomiting just from their proximity.

Adam looked down at himself, then he turned towards Will with an angry expression. The shorter man with long blue hair laughed as he transformed back and entered the bubble.

"Hey! Don't give me that look! It wasn't my fault you were inside there… You should even thank me. I killed the beast and saved your life!"

Adam scrunched his eyebrows and spoke in a low-voice, full of annoyance.

"I was already at its brain, hacking away with my sword, you dumbass! It was dead by the time you attacked!… And why did you eat the whole monster, even after killing it?!"

Will just smiled innocently and shrugged his shoulders.

"Why would I waste such an excellent meal?… Anyway, sorry for swallowing you… You are quite chewy., by the way…"

He whispered the last part, loud enough for everyone to hear. Sarah and Leslie shook their heads in disappointment, hiding their amusement, while Lucy and Cass both burst out laughing.

Adam just took a deep breath and sighed in exhaustion. Lilith was already standing next to him, carefully removing the larger pieces of dead flesh from his armor.

Will approached Lucy, attempted a kiss, but he got rejected immediately.

"Stay the fuck away from me with that mouth! You will need a lot of mouthwash before we ever kiss again!… Where does all that food go anyway, because it's clearly not in your human body!"

He laughed at her reaction, but didn't try pushing the boundary. It was a joke anyway, since he knew Lucy wouldn't let them kiss in this state.

"I don't know, but I will definitely have diarrhea for the next couple of weeks, and I probably won't have to consume any food!"

Few people made gagging sounds, while others simply laughed.

While everyone continued to talk, Sera walked to Kim and Astrid. The healer from the Ouroboros Cohort stood nearby, still fixing the giantess's face.

She was already conscious, but still looked quite miserable. Her golden eyes were full of shame as she turned away from Sera's approaching figure.

Sera understood her friend's feelings and knew empty compliments wouldn't help to elevate her bad mood. Instead, Sera opted for a more lighthearted approach.

"How you doing Astrid?" asked Sera with actual concern in her voice.

The tall woman's gaze showed disbelief as she looked at Sera. For some reason, Astrid seemed surprised by Sera's acknowledgment and worry. She also felt stunned by hearing her name used by her Lady.

Astrid felt stupefied for a long second. Kim had to gently kick her back, so she would show some reaction other than shock.

"Uh… Thank you, my Lady for your… concern! I'm healthy and can fight without issues. Just need another minute before my face fully heals!"

She tried jumping into attention, startling the heal holding onto her face. Astrid blushed from her childish mistake, causing Kim to giggle next to her. Sera just gently smiled and nodded.

"That's good! We will need your special ramming capabilities and interesting ways of exploring unknown terrain!"

The healer snorted a laugh, while Astrid just stared at Sera in awe and stunned silence. Kim was already rolling on the floor with laughter, and even Sera giggled a bit at her friend's expression.

It took the healer a few minutes to reconstruct Astrid's face. The pain was overwhelming at times, but it was manageable.

The room slowly began to drain, but waiting wasn't an option. Instead, they began walking towards one of the smaller doors. There were also hangar-like giant hatches, which were used by the giant monster most likely.

Sarah's air bubble held out well. They reached the door with ease, and luckily, this one had an actual interface that James could operate.

The bubble covered the entire doorway so no water could leak through.

James transferred data about the next room's properties, but they learned nothing interesting. The door allegedly opened onto a hallway, and sadly, that's all the new information James received.

After making sure nothing scary waited for them, he punched in the downloaded code and opened the door.

Despite suffering in the previous attack, the vanguard again led the group through the opening.

They decided on the five of them to lead every charge, since they either had the best melee capabilities or the most defense.

Substitutes were available, for example, Damien and some Ouroboros Cohort members. But, for now, the current five were perfectly fine to lead.

Sera marched through the door first, with Leslie and Adam close behind. She looked both ways, not getting surprised by the bright environment. The walls, ceiling, floor, everything was bright white, and above fluorescent light buzzed gently, illuminating the wide corridor.

They stepped outside to secure the area, but the whole place felt empty, almost abandoned.

Everyone filed out of the water filled room. Sarah was the last to leave, and after James closed the door behind her, she finally released the air bubble. A sudden blast of air released in every direction, while Sarah sighed and stretched with satisfaction.

While everyone stood guard in deathly silence, James and Mary opened a panel in the wall and began looking through the floor's plan.

They could map the entire floor just by analyzing the energy lines, plumbing pipes, electrical cables, and other scientific methods like sound or electromagnetic waves and the structure's vibration.

It was simply mind-blowing how much new information they could gather from such unimportant places, like a random wall.

The only problem was, the mapping and analyzing process took ten minutes at least, which made them prime ambush targets.

After learning how much time they would require, Sera began setting up a defensive plan.

In less than a few minutes, her prediction became reality. From one side of the hallway, a blindingly bright light appeared, while on the other end, mist filled the way and gentle, beautiful singing echoed from inside.

There were also lots of screeching sounds, and soon they spotted the unnatural monsters running in their direction.

Despite the corridor's immense length, the mutated monsters' speed meant they would arrive in about a dozen seconds.

Sera looked between the two sides, but eventually her eyes settled on the bright creature. Unlike everyone else, she easily saw through its mirage, making her the only person who could fight it.

The mist creature was a different issue. By everyone's account of the rescue mission, this monster attacked the mind, which made it extremely dangerous, and meant only one person could reliably fight it.

Sera glanced down at the small woman standing beside her. Lilith's swirling purple eyes stared into Sera's own, understanding reflected in its depths.

They didn't need to exchange words. Both nodded at each other, and soon Sera was flying near the low ceiling with her wings out, heading straight for the bright monster.

Lilith, on the other hand, stayed put and grabbed Will by his shoulder. He seemed surprised momentarily, then glanced towards the approaching mist, and understood what she wanted.

With an exhausted sigh, Will closed his eyes and placed his hand on top of Lilith's head. He raised a strong mental shield around her, which empowered her dream ability.

Lilith then transformed, closed her eyes, and did something very dumb… She entered the mist monster's mind.

The group standing in the middle of the corridor watched as both the mist and bright monster halted in their imminent approach. The sound of fighting echoed from the blinding light, while the mist receded closer to the creature's body, but still hid it well.

The relentless monster onslaught left them scant time for consideration. They quickly went into formation and awaited their enemies' arrival.

The monsters were seemingly 3rd Tier Corrupted or maybe 1st Tier Horrors. Nothing too outstanding, but something felt wrong about them. The feeling was hard to describe.

The creatures seemed strange, almost unnatural. It was ironic to call monsters unnatural, since they were all inherently artificial to some degree; however, that's what the gist of the feeling everyone had.

Monsters were normal Evolved beings corrupted by Madness, but these felt different. They were less Mad and more coordinated, like they actually received commands instead of mindlessly running into danger.

There were also dozens of different types of beasts within their ranks, each more terrifying than the last.

What brought even more curiosity to everyone was their uniqueness. Every creature looked different. From everyone inside the group, nobody saw any of their kind before, which was basically impossible.

Humanity's exploration of Madness-ravaged worlds revealed a commonality among corrupted beings.

The similarity wasn't easy to pinpoint. It wasn't a physical disfiguration, since all of them looked nothing alike. It wasn't a common behavior either, because some Mad monsters acted like mindless beasts, while others could retain some of their consciousness.

Madness's corruption felt perfect, unbreakable, permanent. These monsters, however, were the complete opposite. They might've gained full control over them, but the authority over their minds seemed much more brittle.

The source of the unusual feeling, and its implications, remained unknown. For now, it didn't matter. Everyone put these thoughts to rest and instead stood firmly in the formation, preparing for the approaching horde of death.