CHAPTER 71: CHAPTER 70- BRUTALITY

Chapter 70- Brutality

The scene almost happened in slow motion for Jack. He saw every morbid detail in full clarity. The blood splashed onto the floor, and the brain matter scattered everywhere around the woman as she started falling to the ground.

For a second, the boy was completely shell-shocked, as if every fiber of his being spasmed at the same time and made him freeze.

Then, as if he snapped out of it, he quickly dashed forward, his heart racing and his breathing turning erratic rapidly. A sense of overwhelming danger took over his mind. He didn’t understand what was happening, but he knew for a fact that this was a bad... very bad situation.

Reaching the woman, he quickly held her before she hit the ground. Blood was gushing endlessly out of her ear as her eyes turned lifeless and blank in a split second. She was dead.

"..." Jack’s eyes flickered before he looked up. Nobody seemed to have noticed yet as it only happened two or three seconds ago.

Jack’s eyes then wandered back to the woman as he looked at the gushing ear and at the blood. That was when he noticed something odd about it. Mixed within the blood itself were small white dots, many, many white dots.

Those white dots almost instantly started expanding before Jack’s eyes at a rapid pace. From dots to spheres, and those spheres started morphing and changing, taking a shape that Jack quickly knew.

The elongated, disgusting insects he had seen earlier with their morbid shapes and horrid anatomy.

"No... way..." Jack sucked a deep breath as he quickly pushed himself back. ’This is bad, this is really bad!’

"EVERYONE!!! MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!!! NOW!!!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. At the same time, everyone finally noticed what happened as they looked over their shoulders.

It didn’t take long for the first scream to break as everyone moved back in fear.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO HER?!!"

"So much blood! Is she dead?!"

"Oh my lord!"

"Mom... Mom?"

One of the crowd stepped forward, his eyes shocked to see his mother on the ground.

"Don’t get close! Alex, move everyone out of here immediately!" Jack yelled. "Hermann! Get everyone away!"

"... Y-Yes."

"Right on it."

Alex and the other two didn’t waste time as they quickly sprang into motion, pushing everyone away. They tried to create a space for Jack in the open field.

Meanwhile, Jack quickly pulled his sword as he channeled his red lightning into it. He didn’t even bother to wait a second as he quickly blasted the entire body with the strongest attack his Aether can create.

The high wave of energy wrecked the body and the blood around it and many insects were fried in an instant before they can even grow properly. Countless died and even more

[You have killed 500 Larvae.]

[You have leveled up 3 times]

[You have gained +4 in all stats.]

Jack ignored the notifications and the power he gained as he quickly charged his hand to attack again.

’This is bad! The blood splattered everywhere, including possibly some citizens. I won’t be able to kill all these things before they grow.’ He clenched his teeth as he looked left and right. There were stains everywhere, as far as several feet away from the dead body.

Even if he killed the majority, the rest were bound to escape and catch victims.

"EVERYONE, I WANT YOU TO CHECK YOUR BODY NOW!! SEE IF YOU HAVE ANY BLOOD STAINS ON YOU." He yelled. "It doesn’t matter if it’s small or big! Just step forward if you have a blood stain on you!"

’Shit, shit, shit.’ He cursed as he blasted the body again, killing more of the larvae. ’I have to hurry!’

"B-Blood? I don’t have any on me right?"

"Help each other check, now! This is an emergency!"

"What is going on, Jack?!" Luna, who heard the commotion, came rushing back.

"This place has been invaded by these insects. This body somehow caught so many of their larvae, and it spewed them everywhere. These things are growing, and they will soon start taking down people." He explained. "We need to kill them all before things get out of control!"

Staring at the burnt corpse and the sharred blood, Luna quickly understood the situation as she turned around and rushed to the crowd. Her eyes started inspecting the masses while ordering them to check their clothes and bodies for any possible stains.

"I-I have some blood on me!"

"Step forward and get rid of it!" Jack said.

The man quickly took off his shirt, and Jack used the lightning to burn it and everything on it. Then, another one stepped forward. Then, another, and one after that. Quickly, more and more people started discovering the blood stains, and Jack had to get rid of all of them quickly.

He used his Aether at a rapid pace, charging, blasting, and recharging. Beads of sweat formed on his face, and he started feeling lightheaded after using the lightning for a while.

However, at the same time, with all that usage.

[Red Lightning has leveled up!]

[Red Lightning has leveled up]

[Red Lightning has leveled up!]

With each usage, his efficiency with the red lightning increased rapidly. Without even thinking about it, he started using less and less Aether to get the same exact result. His aim, control over the lightning, and even the manipulation of its size and accuracy, were also improving greatly.

However, none of that mattered at that moment. Jack needed to get rid of all these larvae before they took over the entire base. It would be a disaster unlike anything else.

After burning many of the clothes and helping others wipe all the stains off their bodies. Jack quickly lined everyone up and asked the group to quickly start inspecting them and looking for any sign of insects growing within their ears.

Even though it had been several minutes since he discovered the infection and nothing had happened yet. He was only growing more and more anxious.

’Those guys earlier said that their friends started showing signs of behaving differently. That’s what we should be looking for.’

He looked at every face, traced every detail his eyes could take in, searching for any potential signs of change. For a few minutes, he just did that under the anxious and erratic looks of the masses.

Nobody knew what was happening or if they were in danger or not. They just stood there while Jack and his friends walked around inspecting them.

After a while, Jack clicked his tongue and then turned around. ’Nothing happened so far. Did we catch it in time? Did we kill all the possible larvae?’

A part of him wanted to be optimistic and think he was fast enough. But, another part knew not to believe such a thing immediately. They were far from safe.

"Luna. Keep an eye on the group and tell me if anything bad happens. I’m going to talk to the captured folks we brought with us." Jack said.

"Ok, I’m here."

Nodding his head, Jack moved inside the building again to a secluded room where they put the captured ones. Jack was going to deal with them immediately after, but with this emergency, he had to do it immediately.

Walking into the room, he found them sitting lined up against the wall. They all flinched upon seeing him.

"W-What do you want?"

"We need to talk. One of the people outside died, and her blood contains insect larvae." He said as he crouched before them.

"... T-They’re here?! Oh no... Oh lord no!! Let us out! We can’t remain here! We won’t bother you, just let us out!" The leader of the group reacted first as he heard the news. His face paled and he went into a panicked state almost immediately.

"Relax. I need you to tell me if you know how long it took before the change happened. If you remember any encounter on your way to that building. Just tell me anything." Jack asked.

At this point, Jack didn’t care at all. He just needed any kind of useful information, even if it didn’t lead him immediately to the answer.

There is an urgency, and every second counts. He could find when the changes could occur and then prevent them before they could quickly spread.

"I... I can’t exactly remember everything that happened... But, we did get close to the area where the laboratory was... We also smelled something bad, but didn’t think much of it. We possibly caught the infection."

"When was that exactly if you remember?" Jack asked.

"A few hours before settling down in that building... 6 or 7 hours if I have to guess."

’Several hours? That long before we can start seeing changes?’ Jack frowned. ’That’s not good at all. Keeping everyone under supervision for that long is impossible. Nobody can focus for that long period of time.’

Jack was certain... The actual infected would slip out of their attention.