Platinum Skies (The Manifests Series #2)

[9] Snowmen Delivery

While Erythos' icy, spiky abilities were dangerous, it's nothing compared to his echolocating abilities, which were absolutely not a force to be reckoned with.

Since his assignment in Daegu's Line 2 subway tunnel two months ago, he has heard every single thing happening around and above him---from loud skirmishes of Koul'ins and humans fighting each other on the biggest avenues, to even the faintest of squeaks of survivors dying in the cold, dark sidewalks of the city.

This ability made him a great locator when it comes to assigning delivery routes and pathways to and fro Daegu for the next few weeks. This was also handy for locating human settlements so that the other Koul'ins will be able to hunt them down.

Everything was going smoothly, until Erythos noticed something strange nearly two weeks ago.

For some reason, the other Koul'in General, Khera, suddenly stopped requesting deliveries for the construction of her small base. Then, he also heard more humans across the city fighting back over the next few days.

Erythos soon realized General Khera and her subordinates have fallen.

Soon after, a settlement team discovered his cover under the subway. It was Sanghoon's team, composing of an all military squad.

Both Erythos and Sanghoon were hellbent on not letting each other escape, and the clash took nearly an hour. The battle dragged on, with both sides taking heavy injuries.

Erythos was forced to flee deeper into the subway, while the remaining members of Sanghoon's squad limped away from the battle on the opposite side.

That was a week ago.

Now both combatants have recovered, the only thing that's left is to settle the score...

5:00pm, Naedang Station.

Erythos suddenly fell silent, and for the next few seconds, no sound was heard except for the train's movement.

There was no sign of him attacking either.

Or so they thought.

CRASH!

The front of the train seemingly gets hit by something big. It suddenly quivers, and it tilts slightly to the left before it stabilizes again.

"YAAAA!" Sana shrieked. "Wha---"

Hyungwon returns from the front car,  a bit bloodied as he held his shoulder and kneels.

"Hyungwon!" Zeke exclaimed as he assesses his injuries. "Your wound, what happened there...?!"

"A giant stalactite pierced through the front car. The energy source and the control panel are okay... but... the train operator is dead."

Zeke, Jihyo, Sana, and Sanghoon's eyes widen.

Suddenly, without warning, another huge stalactite bursts in where Zeke and Jihyo were. Jihyo immediately sets up a crystalline shield to deflect it, but the force of the attack sends her slamming her on the wall of the train. The huge stalactite stayed on the wall.

"Tsk...!" Jihyo tries to stand up, but before she could even do so---

CRASH!

Another strike from another part of the train shakes the it a few seconds later, and Zeke, Jihyo, Sanghoon, and Sana wobbles as they try to keep their balance.

5:02pm, Bangogae Station.

The sound of crashing metal came from the fourth car of the train, where Hangyeol, Jinwoo, Ryujin, and Youngsook were.