A sharp hissing followed by metal snapping echoed through the ventilation system underneath Piltover. One by one, valves broke as the pressure became too much and the Gray surged upward toward the surface.
Manhole covers and ventilation towers violently burst and large mushroom clouds of toxic Gray smog exploded out before blanketing the streets. Streets already coated in blood and filled with distant screams were now streets where survivors struggled to breathe and squinted through watery, burning eyes.
Xander was no exception as visibility shrank to only a few meters. He had been left with a difficult choice to have the crew join him or bunker down. The problem with them accompanying him was that only Powder and Sevika had the means to confidently and safely take down a single necromorph, let alone a horde. As a team they could handle a few, especially with Silco's thugs using Shimmer to defend themselves, but not out in the open where necromorphs could drop down from above or sprint in from any direction.
I need Sevika to show me the shortest path to the vents. She's the only one I need to deal with all of this, honestly.
But no one wanted to be left without their strongest fighters. Vi, Powder, and Vander wanted to stay close to Xander while Silco and his crew insisted they needed Sevika. It turned into an intense, heated argument that ultimately ended with a hasty decision.
If they'd had time, Xander would've taken Powder, Vi, and Vander back to the Diablo world to level up. But time didn't stop in Arcane while they were in Sanctuary. As far as he knew, it was a four-to-one ratio, four hours in Sanctuary for every hour here, but they were racing the clock.
Every minute more people died and every corpse meant another necromorph added to the growing hordes and abominations.
"I don't know how time will flow with people from this world entering that side but with me remaining here," Xander warned them as he opened a portal to Sanctuary. "But don't go to the opposite side of Tristram. Stay in the graveyard area and kill the creatures up to the cathedral. Don't go inside the cathedral either. There are dangerous creatures you aren't familiar with."
With that, he ushered the crew in along with a very hesitant Silco. Sevika stayed behind because she was needed, but the thugs were split. A few thugs who refused to enter the portal and insisted on staying loyal to Sevika tried to survive with them but were killed before they made it few the first few streets after panicking. Before the Gray toxic smog fell upon the city and even with seven skeletons surrounding them.
I've reached the level where I can siphon blood, but siphoning necromorph blood is suicide.
He shuddered as he recalled the comic where a scientist injected himself with DNA replicated from a necromorph, and how he mutated into a horrific, twisted creature.
I need to be at least level twelve before I can use Death Nova to push back this smog…
His eyes watered as he squinted and coughed, lungs burning with every breath. Sevika's belt had been refilled with Shimmer before they left. Her mechanical arm was raised defensively while her other hand gripped a machete she'd taken off one of the dead thugs.
"Stay close," Xander muttered, voice strained as he covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve. "That's the only way we can protect each other."
She didn't argue. Her mismatched eyes narrowed, scanning what little she could see through the haze. Shimmer pulsed faintly along her mechanical arm, gears whining from strain and earlier damage. Xander could tell she was struggling to stay calm, suffering the same symptoms as she quickly stepped up alongside him.
"We're almost at the elevator. From there it's a straight shot," Sevika rasped, coughing between words.
He nodded and fired a bone spike at the shadow of a necromorph moving through the mist. Its distorted cries and howls echoed eerily before more bone spikes silenced it.
Skeletons collided with necromorphs sprinting full speed at them several times. One even slipped through, forcing Sevika to catch the blow on her mechanical arm before Xander could kill it. By the time they reached the elevator and began to ascend, they were panting and drenched in sweat.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Something wet hit Xander's shoulder. He flinched and reached up. His fingers came away smeared with warm, fresh blood.
Sevika slowly lifted her gaze.
Above them, barely visible through the fog, a corpse hung on the metal chassis, split open from the sternum down with intestines dangling and one leg missing entirely. Blood dripped rhythmically, tapping the metal floor beneath them.
This ain't no Dead Space elevator, Xander grimaced, raising his arms and ready to act on a split-second decision along with Sevika.
But just like in the game, nothing happened. Only the eerie grinding of metal and distant screams kept them on edge. Neither spoke, afraid something would attack the moment they did.
Cla–Clunk.
The elevator hissed angrily as it jerked to a stop. The metal gates slowly slid open. The fog was thinner up on Promenade, but Xander couldn't decide if that made things better or worse.
"There!" Sevika hissed, pointing with her mechanical arm.
Xander's gaze followed and leaned up against an alley wall, a corpse was slumped with a winged creature attached to it.
An Infector…
An appendage was rammed into the corpse's forehead. The body violently jerked and convulsed before the creature suddenly ripped free and skittered into the alley. Meanwhile, the corpse convulsed harder, groaning and screaming as fresh limbs with scythes erupted from its shoulders while its human arms shank and distorted, curling inward.
Second by second it stood up, its flesh twisting and warping until it completed its change. The newly formed necromorph glared at them with bloodthirsty eyes.
It didn't even get the chance to charge before Xander skewered it. Sevika, however, doubled over and vomited onto the ground.
"Are you good now?" Xander asked as the skeletons circled them protectively.
Sevika wiped her mouth, wheezing. "Yeah. Let's keep moving."
Squinting, Xander pointed toward a red, eerie glow pulsing in the far distance. An aurora of colors branching out and collapsing back into a familiar arcane blue shimmer forming a dome-like shape.
"Is that the entrance to the ventilation system?"
Sevika raised her head, squinted, then shook it. "No. That's too far south. I don't know what that is. But that red glow matches the red light from before."
"What about the other colors?"
"What colors? There's only red."
"..."