The Last Dainv-Chapter 126

The Last Dainv-Chapter 126

A growl up ahead made him stop. The wall blew apart. Chunks of concrete flew past Gale's face. A see-through hound burst through, trying to bite his throat.
Gale threw himself left. Phased his whole body. The hound's teeth missed his throat.
He hit the floor running. More growls joined the first from behind. Tendrils picked them up, speeding through the walls on both sides. His trail was invisible, but they tracked something else. His scent?
Didn't matter. They knew where he was.
Gale sprinted down the corridor, jumping over a worker who fell back. The worker's shout cut off as the first ghost-hound ran right through him.
Three more hounds broke through the walls, jaws snapping with what looked like TV-style ectoplasm dripping from them.
The tunnel shook. Dust fell from the ceiling. A crack formed in one wall with water leaking through. Just a trickle at first, then faster. They were under the lake.
Dad always said the unpredictable is the most dangerous enemy. Rachel had her fire while Ollie had his guns. It was easy to know what would happen. But the man in front of him? This idiot was about to flood the whole damned place.
The crack got bigger. Water sprayed into the corridor. The ghost-hounds didn't care, running through the spray not affected by the torrent.
Gale skidded around a corner and stopped. Five men in tactical gear blocked the way. All Awakened. All pointing guns at him.
"Stop right there!"
Gale dropped his Distort, then phased through the wall to his right. Bullets hit where he just was. He came out into another corridor. Alarms blared through the hallways. Red lights flashed. Water pooled at his feet, rising fast.
A wall burst open behind him. Two ghost-hounds charged through, leaving a smoky trail as they ran at him. Tendrils spread further out. Hound ran on all fours behind his pack. Actually on literal all fours.
Ducking under a burst pipe, he rolled and came up running. Water splashed at each pound of the concrete floor. The corridor sloped down, water running down caused his steps to slightly slip, but balance and orientation didn't matter to Gale as he pushed his legs to burn even more.
Something moved to his right.
Hound burst through the ceiling, flying through the air with claws out.
Gale twisted, reaching for his storage box. His fingers moved across the interface. The notebook and papers went in. His hand grabbed his sword hilt as Hound landed beside him.
Claws slashed. Gale brought the sword up. Metal hit bone. Sparks flew. The hit knocked him back into the wall. His hands went numb, almost dropping Weber onto the floor.
"Got you," Hound growled, his face continuing to deform into something between man and beast.
That hit confirmed it. All he could do was just run away from this beast man.
Hound clawed at him again, hitting the metal of Weber, scraping and sparking against the circuits. The man's warm breath could be felt as he was just inches away from Gale's face.
"Nothing personal," Hound said. "Just business."
Gale's arms shook against the pressure. Feet planted against the wall, mustering up all the muscles in his thighs to push with all his strength, launching Hound away from him.
Caught off guard, Hound's back hit the other side of the tunnel. Gale twisted the sword, slicing across Hound's forearm. Blood sprayed out.
Hound howled. Actually howled.
Tendrils saw the ghost hounds answer the call.
No time to finish this or fight against whatever this thing was. Gale activated Phase Touch, engulfing his whole body. He backpedalled, phasing through the wall behind him. He jumped backwards again, through another wall.
This room looked different. Big pipes ran along the ceiling. Control panels lined the walls. Two men in lab coats looked up, both already reaching for their guns.
Gale didn't stop. He ran toward the next wall, phasing through before they could do anything.
Back in a corridor. Water was now halfway up his knees. The alarms still blaring too loud, tendrils feeding him needless information about scent and sound. He couldn't see where the beast was.
A wall burst open beside him. Hound charged through, now covered in fur wet with water and blood. The wound on his arm had already stopped bleeding and began closing.
"Run all you want," Hound said. "I've got your scent."
Hound charged again. Weber slashed while Gale jumped backwards. Hound dodged the blade, too fast for something the size of the man’s above 2m stature.
The ghost hounds smashed through the opposite wall. Five of them now, circling, pushing him toward their master.
"You know," Gale smirked, backing away from the advancing pack, "when I came to check out your underwater secret base, I kinda assumed you guys wouldn't start tearing holes in the walls."
Hound laughed, a sound like rocks falling through a garbage disposal. "Walls can be fixed. Catching the
hunter
? Priceless."
A pipe burst overhead, spraying them all with freezing water. The corridor groaned. More cracks spread across the walls.
Hound growled. He dropped to all fours, muscles ripping out of the coat he had on.
Gale braced himself. Sword up, held high, pointing towards the charging beast man.
Hound jumped.
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So did Gale, except in the opposite direction. He phased through another wall, coming out in what looked like a pumping station. Big machines vibrated, pushing water through giant pipes. Three workers shouted at each other over the alarms. Something about how the hound was doing his thing again.
Gale splashed through the now knee-deep water, heading for the exit sign on the far wall.
The wall behind him exploded. Hound and his pack rushed through. The workers screamed, running to the walls like they already knew what to do.
"Guide," Gale called, not slowing down. "What do I do!?"
[Analysis: Structural integrity compromised. Facility flooding imminent. Hound tracking method: scent-based, unaffected by Phase Touch or Distort.]
"Tell me something I don't know!"
[Recommendation: Water disrupts scent trails. Complete submersion may confuse pursuit.]
Gale practically swam through the rising water, but it wasn't deep enough that he could actually swim, making it much harder to get through. Guide's suggestion was complete submersion, meaning he'd have to get out of the tunnels completely.
Lake Ontario in November. The water was basically freezing, and he'd have to walk back home. He'd practically freeze to death.
Behind him, concrete groaned. Another wall exploded. Hound followed through, slowly gaining on him, also splashing against the current, followed by his ghost hounds. Water sprayed everywhere, and the beast didn't even look fazed by the freezing temps.
Hound jumped over the water to lunge.
Gale ducked. Claws slashed where his head had been. He rolled through the water, came up running, treatment plant water entering his mouth. Hound's own momentum smashed him into another wall, causing the facility to shake even more as more pipes burst overhead.
"You're flooding your own base!" Gale shouted over his shoulder.
Hound laughed loud enough to shake the walls even more. His pack split up, three ghost-hounds going left, two right. Flanking him. The beasts moved, unimpeded by the water and not making any ripples in the hip high water.
"Do I look like I care?" Hound's tongue hung from his mouth.
He jumped again. That jump alone closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye. Gale barely twisted, causing the claws
and
maw of the beast man to pass by him. A ghost hound managed to catch him by the shoulder, fangs sucking up the blood that came up through the torn fabric.
A fist met the hound, surprisingly it was solid.
"Shit," Gale staggered back.
Hound dropped to all fours. Sniffed the air. His face changed once again, nostrils flaring and a red smidge on his tongue appearing.
"Yes," he growled. "I can taste you now."
The ghost-hounds moved closer. Their blue forms and red eyes locked on Gale's bleeding shoulder.
Backing up, Gale glanced at the corridor behind, splitting ahead. Left or right? Breath of the Void's tendrils checked the path. Left went deeper into the facility while the right sloped upwards.
Up. He needed to go up.
Gale ran to the left, allowing Hound to follow him, then suddenly bolted to the right by phasing himself through the wall.
That was no use, Hound burst through the wall again, causing even more water to rush through. The ghost hounds themselves broke their own parts of the wall, keeping the chase going.
Water rose faster now. Above his hips now. Each step harder than the last and his feet starting to go numb from the freezing water.
"Your men are going to drown if you keep this up!" Gale called back.
A mundane worker appeared ahead, shouting into a radio. The man stopped when he saw Gale, eyes going wide at the sword in his hand. The man bolted back into the room he came from.
"Haven't had a chase this good in months!" Hound panted like a dog. "Worth it!"
The ghost-hounds moved faster through the deeper water, getting closer. One jumped at Gale's back. He ducked just in time. Its teeth snapped on empty air.
He slashed backward with his sword. The blade went right through the hound's chest. No effect, just like what happened with the ghost at the learning centre.
Always the fucking ghosts that can't be killed!
The beast-man charged through his own pack, scattering them like smoke. His claws reached out, aiming for Gale's throat.
Gale dropped down. The water cushioned his fall. Cold water closed over his head. For a second, silence. Then he pushed up, breaking the surface with a gasp.
He could either keep doing this goose chase or he could go through the lake to lose them.
"I see you!" Hound roared, splashing forward.
Gale moved back. If it wasn't for this idiot flooding the whole damn place, he could definitely outrun the idiot.
Only way was up. Literally, up.
The ceiling wasn't high. He could jump and get to the water immediately.
Gale put his sword into the storage box interface. He crouched, gathered himself, then jumped, phasing his whole body, pushing through the ceiling.
Cold and darkness hit him right away as he released Phase Touch after meeting the water. The lake's surface felt far above him. Pressure crushed his ribs, making his breath run out faster. His clothes pulled him down. His muscles hurt from the effort.
Far below, muffled by water, Hound's howl followed him up from the flooding facility.
Gale broke the surface and gasped for air. The cold air hit his wet skin. The shore looked like a kilometre away. He swam, hands and feet going numb from meeting the chilly night air. Teeth chattering non-stop. Each stroke took every effort and concentration to stop himself from passing out.
Behind him, something splashed. He turned in the water. A dark shape thrashed near where he'd come up.
Just keep swimming, Gale. It's probably the idiot.
His feet touched bottom. Mud and rocks. He almost tripped forward, using his feet and hands to make it to the shore. His legs burned, almost giving out as he reached dry land.
He looked back at the water treatment plant. Flashing lights from emergency vehicles were already there. Flashlights swept through the darkness of the water.
The lake bubbled, taking in more water into the tunnels below. Water rushed into the broken facility underneath. Alarms blared from the treatment plant.
He reached for his phone to call Rachel. Or Ollie. Anyone with a car. His fingers found only a wet brick in his pocket. The screen, already cracked before, had completely shattered. The phone wouldn't turn on. Of course not from that deep in water.
"Perfect," he muttered.
His apartment was across the city on the other side. Soaking wet, bleeding, and quickly getting hypothermia, he had to go through this neighbourhood and unfamiliar streets on foot.
One foot in front of the other. That's all he could do.
Gale walked away from the lights and chaos at the water treatment plant. His sneakers made squishing sounds with each step. Water dripped from his clothes. Cold wind felt like knives against his body.
Breath of the Void guided him through the darkness. He stuck to the shadows, avoiding the occasional car or person walking by.
Gale sneezed hard. Great. Because hypothermia wasn't enough fun without adding a cold to the mix.
Was it really worth it to do this? To get my ass handed to me just because of trying to figure out what the hell was happening?
When Gale thought of Mia's mom giving him 6 servings, the answer was obvious. It was totally worth it to not let these assholes get away with what they're doing. The Path isn't doing shit. Someone has to do something.
The Ann family could've done this too. Cleaned up their territory, but knowing Rachel's grandma, that was never going to happen.
Gale exited the woods, and in front of him was a suburb neighbourhood. Getting onto the sidewalk, a cold gust of wind blew through him, causing him to shiver even more.
The ring Rachel had given him suddenly glowed a soft orange light. The air around him warmed up, similar to when Rachel's feelings would warm up the air. His shiver stopped immediately, and the numbness in his hands and legs slowly disappeared.
[Cold resistance effect activated]
It wasn't as warm as when Rachel would be beside him, but it was warm enough to take away November's chill. Hypothermia wasn't a problem anymore. Now he just needed to not fall asleep as he walked back home in wet clothes.
Best thing that happened so far in the day, I guess, Gale sighed.

.
!
Chapter 126