"Hyuk Min, check the map," Stugox ordered.

The tunnel that we forbiddingly entered did not lead downstairs. It continued into a straight pathway with Imsothy lighting our trail with the beams coming out from his eyes. The tunnel had abandoned solo pressure boards used for transportation.

Extraterrestrials were not allowed to own pressure boards on planet Aecha because they could use that as a medium to execute plans of terrorism. If they wanted to make their transportation easier, they must pay for a ride on pressure ships that were also heavily guarded by Paragons in case of a hostage incidence. Mocksians had a long history of an imbalance relationship with our planet. They always cause turmoil here and there and the only reason why Hesein — our divine leader— hadn't cut off friendly ties yet was because of our debt of gratitude for their aid from the last Necron invasion one hundred years ago. But seeing that they have taken advantage of such gratitude even I did not think that these ties should continue on.

It could have been a complete darkness if not for Imsothy's light. I was already skeptical of my decision of coming here but so far we have not yet encountered any enemies. Hyuk Min brought out a metallic thin stick and clicked its tip. A hologram was produced by the pen and showed a complete structure of the city with eight moving and blinking dots indicating our location. Hyuk Min began to operate the image with his hand while Stugox, Ki, and he talked. 

I didn't know if anyone noticed but Joe was trembling. He looked very much distressed and he kept on drinking water while breathing heavily.

Without warning him, I placed my hand on his shoulder which made him scream so loud that it echoed throughout the tunnel. I heard his limb transform and Hoets pulled me aside knowing that Joe was going to shoot me or anyone who was behind him.

Joe swayed his machine-gun left to right and sustained sounds of gunshots filled our ears. We all waited for his panic to dissipate and once the bullets finally ended, it divulged his heavy breathing.

Loud laughter broke out from the six men and Hyuk Min engulfed Joe in a hug while comforting him in a teasing way.

"Aw is our Joe scared again? Did Scion scare you? Poor Joe, poor Joe!" Hyuk Min comforted dramatically while petting Joe's head.

"Ahh, stop it! I was just startled that's all!" Joe protested and shook Hyuk Min off of him before storming away leaving the six men in a hush snickering.

I went after Joe and followed his sulking form. He was really walking fast that the light being produced by Imsothy was gradually fading.

"Joe, I apologize for startling you, I just notice your tremble so I was going to ask if you were okay," I told him.

 I did not know that he was actually going to use a machine gun for a mere pat on the back. I was impressed by the amount of preparation he had. 

Joe slowed down and abruptly stopped before releasing a breath of sigh. He turned around and I found him slowly smiling at me with the dimples in his cheeks deepening.

"Ah man, I'm sorry for being dramatic and thanks for being concerned," he replied.

"You can hold my hand until you feel better," I offered and extended my gloved hand to him.

Joe snickered and scratched the back of his neck. "Damn it, I can't refuse when you're so nice about it. Usually, the other guys do the same but I know that they are still teasing me behind my back," he said and connected our hands. "Thanks Scion, it's nice to have someone sane in the group."

I was flattered by Joe's comment and grinned back at him. "You are most welcome."

We waited for the six to get to our spot. Hyuk Min was discussing the areas which they have already explored and the shops that they have already looted while Joe and I swung our connected hands.

"We already went here and here," Hyuk Min said and pointed at two random locations. "And we have already explored the entire shop section," he added and swiped the entire map with his open hand.

I was enjoying the movement of Hyuk Min's hand and listening to things in which I did not completely understand until Stugox ordered Hoets and Joe to move an obelisk towards a square shape tile which was distinct from the whole dark flooring.

The two of them worked together to push the stone pillar that had a rectangular body and a pyramidal top. Once the obelisk had a part of its squared base press down on a part of the tile on the flooring, the tile lit up with blue and the once pitch black place finally started to brighten up.

My eyes wandered around. This place was really huge even when there was only one floor. It felt like forever walking in the tunnel that I didn't realize that we finally arrived here. The walls were grey in color with carved designs of rectangular bars on them. There were various spacey pathways left and right that if it was your first time in here, you will definitely get lost.

Obelisks were lined up against the wall pressing down on their respective buttons. There were entrances of shops which were completely destroyed and there were shops which were free from any debris.

"Where are all the animalias?" Ki asked.

"They must be sleeping," Stugox replied.

"The light will wake them, don't worry," Hyuk Min assured.

"We are here again in the abandoned city Zhekson, This is our 150th night and we brought our new team member Scion," Hoets spoke to himself with a little device facing him. The device mirrored us and Imsothy waved. "And in this 150th night I just wanna say that..." Hoets run his hand through his hair and licked his lips before completing his sentence. "I'm so handsome tonight," he complemented himself before laughing obnoxiously.

Won and the others grinned in a way that they showed that they were used to Hoets' great love for himself.

We continued our walk with no enemy so far. It was also completely quiet. "Hyuk Min, remember that Mocksian chant that became famous a month ago?" Hoets asked.

Hyuk Min looked up in thought and tried to remember what Hoets asked before clapping his hands excitedly. "Oh yeah, I remember that!"

"Maybe if you chanted that, you'll call out the animalias," Joe chuckled.

Hyuk Min cleared his throat and mumbled words in attempt to remember the chant.

"That chant is used to call out partners for sexual intercourse right?" Ki pointed out. "I still don't understand why they do that. What's fun in doing that weird humping and thrusting motions?"

"They do that to multiply," Won sleepily answered. "They push out this white gooey substance from their gray genital after they're done," Won further explained which caused everybody to cringe. "

"Ewww!" I heard them say with much disgust.

"I'm ready!" Hyuk Min cheered and rolled his shoulders. We all waited for his version and I listened  closely since I have never heard of this chant at all.

"Igong kunyang ba da da da igong igong kunyang ba da da," Hyuk Min chanted and began to do striking motions with his hands which increased in speed.

His shoulders popped up and down and his knees bent to accompany the mantra with his dancing. Imsothy aided with the chant and the two did a duet of it with Hyuk Min saying the 'ba da da' and Imsothy chanting the rest in a gruff voice.

I did not know if I should laugh at their silly antics or take this seriously because Hyuk Min had a stern face throughout this mantra.

They did this chant for a whole 10 minutes and during those 10 minutes they were able to urge everyone into joining with Ki even nodding his head to the beat.

"Chodaba!" Imsothy growled at the end.

Once the mantra was done, a long line of silence erupted among all of us. Usually, they would be laughing out after their ridiculous and playful actions and I would be smiling with them but we had a common impulse as of now.

There was something coming.

Heavy and hard stomps from various sources slowly became vivid to our hearing and feeling. We held our ground from the trembling sensation that can potentially knock our balance. Hyuk Min clicked on the map pen and we instantly saw a huge horde of animalias heading in our way.

"Rhinocerotidaes...and a horde of them," Stugox told us. "We'll be trampled by their numbers, time to run," Stugox calmly said and turned the other way. The seven of them ran and I waited for the rhinos to appear in my vision. I have not yet seen one and I would like to see if they were frien-

"Come on Scion, it'll take thousands of years before those things can learn how to cuddle!" Hyuk Min cried out and hauled me. We caught up with the others and I took glances behind me to get a glimpse of the rioting creatures.

"You did it now Hyuk Min, who knew that your chant was effective?" Ki asked.

Hyuk Min laughed. "I dunno maybe my six appeal is just that powerful."

Hoets burst out in laughter and slowed down in his pace of running before getting hauled by Won to run faster. I expected Won to be sleeping by now, who knew that he can run this fast?"

"What six appeal? What are those appeals?!" Ki asked in an amused tone.

"Should we really be talking about my proclamation in a middle of a chase?" Hyuk Min asked.

We all looked back and found the rhinos catching up. They were huge four-legged creatures with gray and rough looking skin. A huge horn rose from their noses and spikes ran from the top of their heads down to the tip of their tails.

"What do you mean proclamation?!" Ki asked him. At this point they were going to die from mirth even before the rhinos get to us. "It's pronunciation!"

"I know damn it! The pressure is just getting to me!" Hyuk Min replied with a face that wasn't offended at all.

"There, I see the exit!" Stugox announced.

A wide arched doorway was completely open revealing a part of the city with high skyscrapers. We got out from the shop center and Stugox instructed us to jump over the handrails of the stairs so that we were completely out of the rampaging rhinos' way.

The ground shook vehemently when the creatures descended on the stairs and once they passed, we all released a breath of relief.

"That was clo-"

Hyuk Min was cut off when the ground that we were standing on abruptly collapse without any warning. Our entire group fell into the unknown depths of the city and our shouts echoed throughout the dark and long chambers that we were shouting in. My back instantly hardened as protection in case I crash upon anything concrete and I did land on something solid. Because my body was hardened, I broke through the floor and descended once more. My body warned me of the damages that I was attaining which caused me to look around to grab on something.

I found a broken pipe hanging on the ceiling from the next floor I broke through and instantly grabbed onto it. I heard Won who was continuously shouting and take a hold of one of his legs once he got through the hole I created with my landing.

"Am I upside down?" Won groggily asked.

"Yes you are..." I replied. "I assume that you are in pain because I am."

Won wheezed. "Yeah, I feel it."

Where are the others?

My eyes scanned the area and found nothing but debris. My vision was glitching because of the sustained impacts from before. "I'll pull you up and you hug one of my legs. I'll support your legs against me so that we can drop down without damaging your head."

Won approved of my plan and I pulled him up. He hugged my left leg and I let go of the pipe that I was holding on. Once we were down, I slowly laid the lanky man and pulled him up.

"That was a painful fall," he sighed. "The others must have fallen in a different section of this floor."

 The both of us gazed up and found the previous place we were crouching on completely crumbled. I can probably jump to get there if not for the damage on my body.  I sustained 35% damage. It could be higher if my body did not solidify. 

"I don't have signal here," Won said. "I can't contact them and strangely, the map of Zhekson that I installed in my system doesn't include this floor," he informed me.

Won and I tensed when we heard the sound of the rhinos growling. They must be circling back to where we came from above.

"This is bad, we should get out of here, and rhinos have a habit of pushing boulders in any hole they can find. The ceiling will collapse on us," my companion alerted me.

"Before they can push those boulders, their mere weight can make the ceiling collapse," I said.

I darted my gaze at the door and I jogged towards there. It was a security door with a humble green light flowing through the thin lines. The door withdrew upwards and we got through just in time before the ceiling from the previous floors collapse on top of us. The door behind us closed and the floor gave off a light blue illumination. We were in a narrow hallway leading to another security door.

"It's you and me," Won said. I looked at him and he gave me a soft smile. "Please take care of me. I'm not good with close combat."

I beamed back at him. Even without him telling me, I shall protect him whatever the cost. I feel very great because he was placing his safety on my shoulders. I shall not fail him.

Oh yes, before I forget to tell him.

"Won, I have no-"

"Let's go, I really wanna sleep."

Ah...If I tell him that I didn't have any combat experience that will just dishearten him. I must not let his will die.

A staff materialized in Won's hand and I decided to use Hyuk Min's claws. I had hoped that there were no animalias in this floor but fate wasn't that merciful at all. Fate decided to test us because it was concerned about our experience and our future as paragons. I was now very grateful for it even when I had no combat experience besides that incident a few days ago.

We got through another door and the sound of the door withdrawing caught the attention of eight foot tall 'Lobster Strikers' as Won called it. They were red with pincers that continued to snip through the air. Their broad bodies were armored with a red hard shell and they had these pointy antennas just below their black eyes.

When they saw us their rounded mouths opened on their abdomen with their layers of teeth circling inside. They growled really loud. They did not seem to be friendly and welcoming.

"Prepare your body, warm up, I'll temporarily paralyze them," Won informed me. He positioned his staff horizontally and stroked its length with his palm. Electricity shot out from the staff and hit the lobsters which electrocuted them.

The lobsters continued to tremor with sparks of electricity coming out from their forms and I was shoved by Won to start.

"I know you don't have any experience so I'm giving you the chance," he chuckled.

My ticker fastened and my face flamed from the knowledge that he knew that fact. I looked at Won and he winked at me with his sleepy eye.

"Thank you, I shall not fail you!"

...

...

...

It took me awhile to get a hang of punching and striking things. Actually, I never got the hang of it. I have never hit anybody. The very first time I punched the striker, Hyuk Min's claw let out a whine of a pooch puff which made it even more difficult for me to hit harder. My first hit didn't even make the lobster budge.

The sound of the pooch-puff whining because of what I was doing was tearing my heart apart. I believe these claws weren't designed to hurt anyone. They were made to be loved and adored and treasured. 

"Don't use those claws, you'll die from guilt even before you can make a proper punch," Won advised.

Yes, that made sense.

I switched to Stugox's Stream Sword which was heavier than I thought. It was a thick and tall sword that was wavy at the sides with a bluish white light radiating from it. I dropped the sword on the lobster's foot when it materialized in my hand. The lobster shrieked which caused intense guilt to swirl inside my ticker.

"I am terribly sorry!" I panicked. "I shall help you!" I stated with alarm. I cannot bear to see such confused creature shriek in agony. 

My arms strained a little from trying to lift up the sword from the ground and from the foot of the lobster.  With full strength I was able to lift the sword up and accidentally hit the lobster's head in the process which instantly slain the creature.

  I was...a terrible terrible man.   

"No! Lobby-ssu!" I cried out.

"It's a good thing Hoets is in the other side or else I'll go nuts..." Won deadpanned. 

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A/N: I'm starting to enjoy writing this!