My Tribrid System: More than a Monster-Chapter 72: A Timely Saviour!

Chapter 70

Pfff—! Pffff—! Pfffff—!

The rhythmic, pressurized hiss of VMS gears echoed through the canopy as the surviving Aspirants leaped from tree to tree, occasionally igniting their thrusters to sprint through the empty air.

"Kai! Let me go now! Kai please, please let me go back for Ray! KAI!" Van kept screaming, his voice cracking as he thrashed violently against Kai’s iron grip to no avail.

Hot, stinging tears poured down from his eyes.

Behind them, the distance between their retreating forms and the Aberrant was growing, and Ray’s silhouette was thinning out until it vanished entirely as they fled farther and farther away toward the edge of the forest.

"I’m—I’m sorry. I can’t let you go," Kai croaked out, nearly choking on his words as he kept his gaze fixed resolutely ahead.

Trisha led the charge in front of them both, with Chloe flanking her side.

For some reason, the entire situation seemed to grate on Chloe’s nerves, sparking a fire of resentment in her chest.

’Wh-why? Why am I so incredibly weak? I don’t even know that boy personally, but I’m beyond annoyed! I am absolutely livid at myself for being so pathetic that I couldn’t even save a few fellow Aspirants today.

People died right in front of me, and all I could do was... watch? Aaaargh!’ Chloe roared in the silent confines of her head as tears slid down her cheeks.

Trisha, meanwhile, maintained a neutral, stone-like expression.

The exit to the forest was growing closer by the second.

"Bullshit, Bullshit! Kai, don’t give me that bullshit! What do you mean you can’t? You have power! You are f*cking strong!" Van continued his tirade, his rage fueled by grief.

"You could have saved Ray from that creature’s claws, but you chose to run instead? How could you?

You traitor! I thought you were a true friend to us! I thought you were different from the rest of these elites, but I see you are just the same as even Berg! You only care about your own skin! We don’t matter to you at all!" Van kept screaming in a blind rage as Kai listened in agonizing silence.

"What’s the point of all that power you flaunt when you can’t even protect those weaker than you? I admit you haven’t known us long, but for the sake of humanity, you could have done something, damnit!"

"...."

"Just shut up," Kai finally croaked out, his voice hollow.

For the first time since the retreat began, he turned his head to face Van.

The inventor froze instantly, his mouth quivering as the words died in his throat at the sight of the squad leader.

Unbeknownst to Van, while he had been ranting, Kai had been sobbing silently.

Tears were cascading down his eyelids and rolling in heavy tracks down his cheeks.

His eyes were reddened and puffed up from the sheer emotional weight of the loss.

Furthermore, blood trickled steadily from his lips and nose—a telltale sign of internal strain and meta-force exhaustion that plagued meta-humans who pushed past their limits.

It was glaringly clear that Kai was at his breaking point and couldn’t have sustained a fight much longer.

"K-Kai?"

"You think I don’t care? You think I’m not pained watching Ray get ripped apart?" Kai’s voice rose in a desperate tremor.

"If I didn’t fucking care, I wouldn’t be holding onto you and trying to escape! If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t have listened when Ray specifically asked me to protect you.

I would have let you stay behind to foolishly die! Damnit, Van! I’m also furious about Ray’s death..."

"NO! Ray isn’t and can’t be dead. We can still save him!"

"We can’t, Van..." Kai softly replied as more tears obscured his vision. "So please; allow me to fulfill his final wish of getting you out of here safely."

"But..."

Thud, Thud, Thud—!

The sound of thunderous, heavy footsteps approached them from the rear, followed by the terrifying symphony of snapping timber and breaking trees.

"Shit! The Aberrant is gaining on us. We need to go faster!" Trisha urged, a rare note of panic unknowingly seeping into her cold voice.

A moment later, she paused her flight as Kai and the others flew past her.

She spun around just as they reached the perimeter of the woods.

Now, she hovered in the air directly in front of the exit while the sounds of the approaching monster grew deafening.

"Hey, Trish! What are you doing?" Chloe shouted back at her urgently.

"... Trying to see if I can slow this bastard down."

Frozen mist began oozing out of her palms as she pointed them toward the two massive trees that framed the exit and entrance of the forest.

Without hesitation, ice rapidly began crystallizing around the gateway, forming a jagged, translucent wall intended to block the charging monster.

"NOOOO! Ray is still back there!" Van screamed at the top of his lungs as he watched the entrance being sealed off at an astonishing speed.

In under a minute, a thick, reinforced wall of ice completely covered the gateway to the forest.

Blood poured from Trisha’s mouth with every ragged cough she exhaled, but she didn’t care about the physical toll.

With the path blocked, Trisha spun around and vaulted forward at full speed, rapidly gaining on Kai and the retreating group.

The gate out of this world and back to reality was already only ten metres away.

The sound of trees snapping behind the ice wall grew louder by the heartbeat, but then—

A problem appeared!

Collectively, the boots of Kai, Trisha, and Chloe turned off, causing them to plummet to the ground.

Their gas had been exhausted.

"Shit!" Picking himself up, Kai gripped Van tighter before bolting on foot, trying to get to the gate.

Tak. Tak. Tak.

The sound of their footsteps rushing forward echoed as their heartbeats pounded in their ears with every stride they took.

Up ahead, a substantial number of Aspirants had made their way out of the world in the nick of time, while the others were still running... on foot.

It seemed as though it wasn’t only Kai’s boots that had gotten exhausted.

"Come on, come on." He muttered with every step as the gate drew closer and closer.

Then...

BANG!

They all turned their heads in unison to see a hairline crack appear on the ice wall Trisha had made.

"It won’t hold for long!" Chloe shouted out the warning.

Pouring more energy into their legs, they doubled their pace.

Another deafening bang deepened the cracks.

Then another. And then another.

After the fifth impact, the wall finally gave way as it shattered with a loud crash.

Now, the gate was two feet away, and it looked like they would make it in time until...

BOOM—!

The Abberant exploded from where it stood, taking a giant leap into the air.

A massive shadow immediately cast over the running group along with the few Aspirants out front.

Glancing up, they could see the Abberant descending back down at neck-breaking speed.

"Scatter!" Kai roared as he pulled Van closer to his body.

With a forceful leap, he darted to the side.

Trisha and Chloe sprang to the opposite direction along with the other Aspirants.

And all in the nick of time as the monster crashed in their midst.

The force created a five-metre-deep crater in an instant, with dust billowing violently into the air.

The impact disoriented them for a second as the ground beneath their feet trembled, causing them to stagger.

That lapse was all it took for doom to befall them as the Abberant moved.

Claws lashed towards Kai right in front of him.

’F*CK!’ was all the boy could say inwardly when—

"Huh?" The Abberant muttered in confusion as, for some reason, its hand was unable to move forward.

No matter how hard it tried, it couldn’t move its arm.

Looking at the massive limb, it could see a white glowing rope curling around it, almost like a lasso wrapping tightly around its wrist.

Then...

BOOOM—!

A clamorous boom echoed with so much intensity that it felt like a bomb had gone off for a moment, followed by a loud howl that reverberated through the battlefield.

"Don’t fucking touch his friends, you blasted creature!"

BAM—!

A crushing punch smashed into the Abberant from the side, sending the monstrosity skipping across the ground like a ragdoll.

Everybody blinked in confusion at this sudden turn of events.

Finally, the dust settled to reveal another monster standing in the crater.

Chloe’s eyes widened at the creature’s features. All the hairs on her body rose as she recognized the being from several fantasy tales.

"A werewolf?"