The realization of who they were felt like accepting that he was already dead. He could feel a sharp pang in his chest, looking at their eyes and recognizing the species.
He wanted to curse the spaceship AI so badly. Why hadn't it told him there were subspecies of brutenecks and carapace brutenecks apart from the normal ones?
If he had known, he would have come prepared.
And these weren't normal brutenecks, these were carapace brutenecks!
Damn!
They all held bones, probably from dead brutenecks, covered in some weird-colored blood, like they had killed a large bruteneck and ripped its skeleton apart.
Their mouths were bloody, smeared with the same strange blood.
Tatehan tried not to look back so often to avoid tripping and falling, but he couldn't help it because the more he ran, the closer they drew, and for a second there he almost slowed down to catch his breath…which, if he did, would be the end for him.
He could see many boulders as he ran, but he couldn't hide behind any of them because the lunatic carapace brutenecks had their eyes locked on him.
Before embarking on the journey, the spaceship's AI had briefed him that it would be easy to pass through the bruteneck area.
Maybe the spaceship's AI had been far too optimistic, because as it stood, Tatehan wasn't sure he would make it out alive.
The lunatic brutenecks, as expected, ran like lunatics.
Tatehan hadn't been around mad people back on Earth to know how long they could run. But then, this wasn't about normal humans. This wasn't even about humans at all, so he couldn't compare them to anything familiar.
Monsters!
These were monsters whose creator he didn't know. And if there was one thing they excelled at, it was doing the opposite of what normal beings would do.
If a normal bruteneck would do the opposite of what a normal human would do, then lunatic brutenecks would be even more unpredictable.
So he wasn't sure these lunatics were going to slow down at all.
Seven minutes in, Tatehan was still running, panting heavily, his vision blurry and his breath now coming in ragged gasps.
He persisted though, trying as much as he could not to give up, but it felt impossible. If it were his normal human body, he would have reduced his speed or probably collapsed to the ground, exhausted and dying for breath.
But with this enhanced body, Tatehan was running at the exact same speed he had been when he started. And that was the only reason his neck was still attached to his shoulders, because if he had slowed down even once, he wouldn't be breathing now.
The lunatic brutenecks howled, doing deranged things like beating their chests, and some even paused to bash their heads against each other.
Tatehan was running really fast, on par with the speed of the supposed fastest man alive (who was now dead).
It wasn't enough to be like some superhero with super speed, but it was enough to take him far—very, very far—and before Tatehan knew it, he saw words flash across his retina for a split second:
[91 percent out of the bruteneck area]
[9 percent remaining]
His lungs were screaming at him, and he could barely move his legs. But he was still running.
Seeing this flash across his retina made him surge with hope. He could swear that he was probably at 30 percent when he encountered the carapace brutenecks who were still chasing him.
And now this very intense running at the same speed for over ten minutes had brought him to 91 percent.
How fast was he?
He looked back and saw that the carapace brutenecks weren't even tired. They were running like they had just finished gulping down gallons of energy drinks.
But the ferociousness, the vigor…it felt like they themselves were being chased by something worse.
Tatehan couldn't take it anymore. He felt like he could die at this point.
He couldn't keep running.
But…91 percent…kept flashing across his mind.
He was almost there. Giving up now would just be stupid…
Or would it?
His kidneys were bone dry. His lungs were empty of air. His heart was beating very…very…very slowly.
Even if Tatehan survived this, he would need a whole day of sleep and another day of rest to fully recover.
If it were his choice, he would have simply stopped and surrendered, maybe pleaded for mercy…
But he couldn't. Pleading was no solution at all—as distant as A is from Z, as fire is from water, as the sky is from the ground.
Literally impossible.
Impossible in every sense. Before he could even utter a word, his head would be off his neck.
Tatehan kept running, but after twenty-one seconds, he started to slow down. Of course he didn't want to, but his body was forcing him to.
In the state he was in, he could not maintain that pace anymore. Doing so would mean just collapsing to the ground and dying.
"HAAAAAA!"
The lunatic carapace brutenecks roared as they increased their pace.
Tatehan, who had been quite far ahead, started to fall back.
Rapidly…
Quickly…
Sharply…
Whoosh!
He stumbled and collapsed to the ground, totally exhausted.
As soon as he fell, he tried to breathe, but all he could hear were footsteps storming straight toward him…or rather, toward what would soon be his corpse.
He couldn't even draw breath. He tried, but his chest felt like it was stuffed with candy.
And then came the large bones swinging down at him.
Three of them struck, one to the side of his stomach, one to his forehead, and one to his left leg.
Hits that felt like being trampled by a baby elephant.
The impact should have sent him into unconsciousness, but just before the darkness came, he saw movement, a blur of motion between him and the brutenecks.
A kick!
A punch!
A tornado kick!
Another punch!
Kick!
Kick!
Double kick!
Flying knee strike!
Underhook facebuster slam! (Peak move)
Someone, or something, was fighting them off. Each strike landed with brutal precision, sending the lunatic carapace brutenecks staggering backward.
Tatehan could barely process what was happening. The pain from the three bone strikes radiated through his body, but confusion kept him clinging to consciousness.
Why was he still alive?
And who had appeared out of nowhere to fight off the lunatic carapace brutenecks that had been seconds away from beating him to death?