CHAPTER 152: ESCAPE FROM DANGER: PART-1

Third Person’s POV

Thuck... Thuck...

The sound of the boot hitting the wet, sticky ground echoed endlessly in the narrow, dark tunnel.

The air was thick, heavy with a pungent smell so vile it clung to his throat. A nauseating stench of rot and chemicals invaded Leo’s senses, biting at his nose and fogging his mind. He pulled a kerchief tight across his face, but no matter how firmly he pressed it, the odour still seeped through. His boots splashed on the thin strip of a path carved along the sewage’s edge.

After speaking with that shopkeeper, he had directly come here, the one place no sane person would wander at this hour.

Searching here, in this filth and darkness, was the only way he could hope to find her.

He had been walking in the sewage for what felt like hours.

His torchlight cut through the damp shadows, glinting off greasy puddles and dripping stone. All he had seen so far were grotesque things: bloated rats, their eyes glowing like embers when caught in the beam, and cockroaches so large their skittering echoed louder than his own steps.

Leo only had the map of the city, never of the sewage beneath it. Even if he wanted to buy one, there was no shop out there at this time—except that one drug dealer who had pointed him here.

He dragged a piece of white chalk across the walls as he moved, marking his path... just to be sure, after all, everything here looks similar and kind of hard to find the straight path.

Just as he was walking, a vibration jolted through his pants.

He flinched, the sound of his phone rattling against his pocket startling him... He snatched it out quickly and glanced at the glowing screen.

The name flashed clearly.

’Raphael?’

He frowned.

Why was she calling at this time?

She knew he usually slept at night, right? Unless she thought he was still awake... checking on him.

Was she making sure he wasn’t doing anything reckless?... Or was this about the previous incident?

Either way, it was best not to answer her now. He wasn’t ready to hear her voice in this place.

He shoved the phone back into his pocket and pushed forward into the dark, but his phone buzzed again—this time the short chime of a notification message.

Leo sighed. His thoughts muttered bitterly, ’I shouldn’t have brought the damn phone with me.’ He tugged it out again, intending to silence it, but paused when he saw the new message.

His brows furrowed. She had sent him... a recording?

Maybe... it was an audio message. Was she trying to apologise already?

His thumb hovered over the play button.

Should he listen to her now?

’Nah... better to finish this first and talk to her later,’ he told himself, though his chest tightened faintly.

Honestly, he knew he had been too harsh on her.

She was only looking out for him, and yet he had acted like a brat—like a bitter, cornered animal snapping at the only hand reaching for him.

Surely that was wrong. He knew it was wrong, but... sigh... he couldn’t think about it.

He tightened his grip on the phone. He would talk to her directly when he met her... he owed her that much.

He was about to slip the phone back into his pocket when another notification pinged. He let out a long breath through his teeth.

Another message.

Should he answer her now?

His fingers twitched, tempted to call her, to hear her voice.

Maybe he needed to... Maybe if he spoke to her now, the fire between them would die down.

Maybe she was worrying herself sick over their stupid fight, replaying it in her mind.

"...Raphael..." he murmured under his breath.

He should at least assure her that everything was fine and that he would talk to her directly. As he looked at his phone, Leo frowned when he saw a live location notification.

"Why did she send her live location?" he muttered, brows tightening as he clicked it.

The map app loaded sluggishly, a white screen flickering for a few seconds before finally revealing a single blinking dot in the middle of a street.

It just stood there.

Leo’s frown deepened. ’What the hell is she doing out there?’ he thought, but then the realisation struck him with a violent jolt... Raphael wouldn’t send this unless something had happened.

Something serious!!

His eyes darted around until he spotted a manhole ladder along the tunnel wall. Without hesitation, he rushed toward it, splashing sewage water in his frantic steps.

"What the hell now?" he whispered in a worried tone as he dialled her number.

Ring~ Ring—

Two rings... The call cut abruptly.

Leo’s face drained of colour as he immediately tried again.

This time, the line didn’t even connect... Not reachable anymore.

He gripped the cold iron rungs of the ladder and hauled himself upward with desperation.

The manhole cover scraped open as he stepped on an empty street.

His eyes darted to the blinking location mark... but it hadn’t moved. And in the next breath... the live location vanished.

All that remained was "last seen."

’Fuck,’ Leo screamed inwardly.

He shouldn’t have called her. If it really was an emergency—if something dangerous was happening—then his call might have ruined her only chance.

He cursed himself. He was so goddamn fucked.

With no choice left, he bolted in the direction of the marked street, ’Wait—she sent a recording, didn’t she?’

As he unlocked the phone while running, his thumb trembling as it clicked open, the recorded message.

A crackle, a rough voice, then—

"We got enough food today. Let’s leave this place before those police come."

Leo froze mid-step.... His eyes widened, pupils shrinking in pure shock.

That voice.

That voice... he knew it. He fucking knew it.

It belonged to Dracula.

He turned his gaze toward the street ahead—the location that had disappeared. It sat right above the sewage line.

’Shit, shit... FUCK!’ he screamed in his mind, running back to the manhole, tearing the cover open.

Meanwhile,

In the underground somewhere,

Crack—

Camazotz’s long, obsidian nails sliced through a handbag, tearing cleanly into the phone inside. Sparks flickered before the device died, its screen giving one last dying flash.

"I almost freaked out when it shouted," Camazotz muttered in an amused tone, lips curling into a grin. He tossed the shredded handbag into the sewage water.

His crimson eyes shifted, settling on the trembling figures huddled against the slime-coated wall.

Seven of them.... Their Prey.

They quivered like cornered rabbits, whimpers spilling from their throats.

"There are seven foods here..." Camazotz said slowly, counting them with a tilt of his head. His gaze slid toward Dracula and Nergal, who stood a few steps away.

"But only three..." he paused, tilting his head in confusion, "...we had one extra, it seems. What should we do?"

Dracula’s lips twitched faintly,

"Of course, I get the extra. It was I who waited. It was I who captured the food."

However, Camazotz smirked, his grin stretching unnaturally wide.

"Oh dear... it looks like someone still forgets where they belong," he sneered, his voice dripping with mockery. His nails gleamed in the darkness, black mist curling and dripping from their tips.

Dracula’s eyes narrowed. His expression darkened, but instead of rising to Camazotz’s taunt, he merely let out a cold snort. Slowly, he turned his crimson gaze toward Nergal.

"You say... what should we do?" Dracula asked.

Nergal stiffened as if struck, his shoulders jerking. "W-Who? Me?" His voice cracked, a mixture of surprise and dread.

He had not expected the question.

While the three were caught in their unsettling exchange, Raphael’s lashes fluttered weakly. Her eyes opened, the blur of shadows sharpening into shapes. The first thing she saw was it—

That monster.

A bat-like creature, grotesque in form, was standing far too close. A strangled scream almost ripped from her throat—until a hand shot from behind and clamped tightly over her mouth.

Raphael froze, breath caught. She turned her eyes sideways, heart hammering violently, and saw her friend. Her friend’s wide eyes locked with hers, silently begging—no, commanding—her to stay quiet.

Her whole body trembled, sweat rolling cold down her face. She forced herself to nod faintly, eyes still stretched wide in terror, as she dared to look forward again.

The monster stood like a nightmare given flesh, black wings twitching faintly. But it wasn’t alone. Raphael’s breath hitched as she noticed two more figures.

One—a hulking man, massive shoulders and heavy build, his face half-hidden in shadows. The other—a man whose wrinkled skin clung to his bones.

’What’s going on here?’ Raphael screamed inside her mind... Her gaze darted again to her friend, who stared ahead with a hardened, fearful expression, lips pressed tightly shut.

Raphael swallowed hard, adjusting her glasses with trembling fingers. That was when she noticed the others. Five more people. Huddled close, shivering in fear.

Raphael’s hands shook uncontrollably. She searched blindly for her bag, for her phone—anything that could help—but her handbag was gone.

Her face paled further, but then a warm hand clasped hers. She flinched until she realised—it was her friend again.

Their grip was tight, steady, a silent message: I’m here. Don’t break. Don’t give in.

Raphael’s lungs burned. She forced herself to take a breath, then another, struggling to calm the fear.

’W-We need to escape... we have to,’ she thought with a desperate expression.