Death (2)

"Argh!" Liam groaned as he hit the soil with his back. The area between his shoulder blades was especially sensitive. 

Ava, meanwhile, was thrown a little further away, her head meeting a rock. 

"My head..." Ava complained, turning onto her back as she clenched her jaw and squeezed her eyes shut. She tried to stay awake, but dizziness began to set in. The adrenaline numbing her pain didn't help much. 

"Ava!" Liam shouted his sister's name, ignoring the dull pain pulsating around the base of his wings. 

He quickly got up, rushed towards his sister, and knelt down beside her, lifting her head. 

Liam's hands began to tremble as he saw a thick, red liquid slowly oozing from her forehead, near her hairline. 

"You're too loud..." Ava groaned, cracking her eyes open to look at her annoying, alien brother. It must be nice to have such abilities. 

"I only hit my forehead on the rock. Don't worry, I'll be fine..." she tried to reassure her overly protective brother, gently hitting him on the chest. 

"No... You're not fine..." Liam spoke slowly, his voice low and gentle, but beneath it, there was undeniable tension and anger. 

'This is all my fault...' he thought, his chest tightening with guilt as he clenched his fist, hating this feeling of helplessness. The worst part was that he had the power to avoid this... 

[New mission: survive the encounter] 

[Reward: 100 XP] 

"You..." he growled after seeing a blue, holographic screen pop up in front of his eyes. All his blame and frustration at himself disappeared as if someone had snapped their fingers, and it was redirected towards the real culprit. 

Liam was ready to have a heated argument with whatever that thing was, but time was up. 

"Tch," the young hybrid had a terrifying look on his face as he felt the monster getting closer—it was right below them! 

Quickly, he picked up Ava in a bridal carry and started to run, trying to get her to safety as the death worm resurfaced, using the earth as its ocean. 

"Myla! Support me!" the male lieutenant shouted, taking a step back before blinking a few meters forward, leaving a purple residual mist where he once stood. 

He repeated this process a few more times until he found himself above the worm, covered in a black exoskeleton. The lieutenant charged his white rifle before firing an eggplant-purple bullet made of pure energy. It left a small open wound, revealing bright red flesh that began to smoke. It smelled like burning hair. 

At the same time, the female lieutenant, Myla, aimed down her scope. 

Her weapon looked similar to her partner's, except it was slightly bigger. Its barrel was split apart and had a light blue charge indicator at the bottom that began to light up. 

Once fully charged, a bolt of electricity flew towards the creature, followed by a few smaller bullets of the same nature. 

After being hit, the worm let out its first monstrous sound—a sinking ship falling to the depths. 

'Nice one!' the lieutenant thought as he watched the creature shake, becoming paralyzed as every muscle in its body began to contract uncontrollably. 

He teleported right on top of it as it started to fall. 

With one click of a button, the lieutenant's weapon began to transform. The barrel elongated, and from it, a sharp, energy-based, dark purple blade appeared. 

He raised the sword over his shoulder, holding it with both hands before swinging it down, slicing through the creature like butter. He then teleported to another part of its body, repeating the action. 

The lieutenant continued this in quick succession, each attack filled with precision, until the creature sank below the earth. 

After landing back on the ground, the lieutenant took a good look at his cadets but stayed in his battle stance. They weren't out of danger yet—the worm could attack at any moment. 

The future military power was on their knees, helpless sheep awaiting their doom under the wolf's teeth. 

But among the eight cadets, one person stood out in particular. The lieutenant glanced at Liam, waiting for the status of the situation. 

From blocking his punch earlier to being the first to notice something was wrong, it was clear to the lieutenant that Liam had some kind of perception ability. 

'Awesome!' Liam thought in amazement after seeing the lieutenant move like that. It was hard to swallow, but even with his full power, Liam doubted he could do something like that. 

The display of power alone made him feel slight respect towards his superior. 

He tilted his head to the left after seeing the lieutenant looking his way. Only after the lieutenant gave him a slight glare and glanced between him and the ground did Liam figure out what he wanted. 

"Oh," Liam slightly raised his head. He placed Ava gently on the ground before pressing his hand against the soil and closing his eyes, trying to concentrate and visualize. 

Everything was black, except for faint ripples moving in the depths before everything went quiet. 

"All clear!" Liam announced, opening his eyes to see the lieutenant reverting his weapon to its original form. However, the rest of the cadets were far from relaxed.

"Next time, make sure to warn the others," the lieutenant said, looking away. He felt glad there were no casualties, but he knew this could have ended very badly if the death worm had targeted someone else. 

'Jerk...' Liam thought, glaring at the lieutenant's back. He'd expected some acknowledgment, maybe even a word of praise, but instead, he'd gotten nothing.

[Mission completed: survive the encounter]

[Reward: 100 XP]

[200/300 XP]

'Wait... You mean I need one more death encounter to level up?' 

[Yes.] 

Liam groaned in frustration. He was sure by now that the system was trying to kill him, one way or another. 

[Or you can complete daily and upcoming missions.]

'Why you...' he was getting pissed off, wanting to scrap the system and delete it out of existence, but his anger was short-lived. 

The blue holographic message disappeared as soon as Liam noticed something approaching from behind. He quickly turned around to see what or who it was, still on edge after everything that had happened. 

"Relax... I'm just going to treat your sister's wound, all right?" Myla explained, slowly crouching down beside the two, carrying a small first aid kit. 

"This might sting a little," she added, opening a transparent bottle of alcohol before lifting Ava's head and pouring the liquid onto the open wound. 

Ava hissed at the burning sensation, clenching her jaw and tensing the muscles in her hand. 

"Ava!" Linx called out, running towards her after everything settled down. It was too soon to lose a possible comrade. 

"I'm fine... No need to worry about me," Ava reassured the two, forcing a smile. But the world was spinning, and the nauseous feeling in her stomach was getting harder to ignore. 

Before Myla could wrap her wound, Ava slowly sat up, determined not to show weakness.

"Just sit down, all right? Do you maybe want some water?" Liam asked her, ready to share his supplies. 

"That would be nice." 

Liam nodded at Ava's response and went to look at Luka, who was still crouching. 

"Luka!" he called out, making the poor boy flinch in response. 

"Y-yes!" 

"Bring me a bottle of water!" Liam demanded, using Luka as intended. 

The boy slowly nodded and went to grab the water from Liam's black travel bag. 

His legs were visibly shaking, as if made of jelly, but he forced himself to do as Liam asked because, after all, there was no way he could have survived that encounter alone. 

Without saying anything to Luka, Liam snatched the bottle from him and opened it, handing it to Ava. "Here, take it." 

"Thanks," Ava raised an eyebrow after seeing Liam's relationship with Luka, making her wonder what exactly had happened while she wasn't present to babysit her brother. But she accepted the water anyway, making a mental note to dig into their relationship later. 

The last thing she wanted was her brother trying to enslave someone—and given his personality, she wouldn't be surprised. 

"Well then, I'm going to treat the other cadets," Lieutenant Myla said to the group as she got up, giving a slight glare at Liam, who laughed nervously. 

As Myla left, the other lieutenant's voice echoed across the field, announcing that the break would soon be over.