They kept walking, and as soon as they reached an intersection, Mary stopped Clyde beside her, clicked off her flashlight, and pressed herself against the wall of the neighboring ruined building; after that, they peeked around the corner down the street to the right, past the debris. Clyde’s eyes widened at the sight of a creature that looked like a two-meter-tall slime composed of soft, sticky organic hair; pitch-black, it squirmed like a ball of bait worms fused into a single writhing mass,
"What... is that?" Clyde whispered softly.
"A Swarmer... they’re failed experiments created by the Nephilim and simply thrown away... they can’t see and aren’t dangerous... as long as we don’t make noise and walk slowly, we’re safe," Mary whispered back.
"That thing... is alive?" Clyde whispered, asking.
"Yeah... the leftover remains of dozens, maybe hundreds of humans who served as their lab rats. Come on, we need to keep moving," Mary whispered in response.
Then, walking carefully, the two stepped across, making every effort not to cause a sound. Clyde kept glancing back at the creature they were passing, a barrage of questions filling his head; narrowing his eyes to look closer, he could make out faint, horrifyingly thin shapes of hands, mouths, legs, and even heads that formed part of the swarmer which look very disturbing. Shuddering, Clyde quickened his pace to follow Mary without making a sound. Once they reached the other side, both pressed against the wall again and let out a sigh of relief.
"Let’s keep going," Mary urged.
"Is it... still far?" Clyde asked.
"There’s an entrance about 2,000 meters ahead," Mary answered.
"Oh... okay," Clyde replied.
They walked slowly and cautiously, and just as Mary had said, a manhole sat in the middle of the street after they had covered 2,000 meters; Mary opened the manhole with Clyde’s help, whereupon they climbed down inside and sealed the cover behind them. Descending into the deep, Clyde’s eyes widened, they were clearly in a storm drain, but despite being dried out, the sewer was bustling with armed people, brightly lit, and looked far more like a subterranean street than a drain tunnel.
"Hey... why are you staring?" Mary asked.
"Um... this is... a sewer?" Clyde asked, bewildered.
"That’s right, but nowadays it serves as a transit route between cities and villages. We live underground. Come on... the way to the city is over here," Mary answered, pointing deeper inside.
"Oh, okay," Clyde replied.
They walked down the crowded sewer tunnel, passing numerous soldiers posted on guard detail; Clyde turned to look at the dry drainage channel, which was being used as a roadway for vehicles like cars and motorcycles, though they were few in number. He passed several people chatting as they walked by, causing him to glance back at them, before spotting others sitting along the edge selling goods, while a few stood buying their wares.
What left Clyde somewhat amazed, however, was seeing several people light cigarettes using fire generated straight from their fingers, chill beer cans using their bare hands, and create seating by placing their palms on the dirt to summon shaped stones from the ground; someone was even casually playing catch with a fireball over an open fire.
Beyond that, clusters of people carrying weapons etched with unfamiliar, ancient symbols had gathered together; yet one striking trait bound all these people together when Clyde looked at them, almost everyone wore a somber expression, looked severely sleep-deprived, and bore the unmistakable look of those who had witnessed horrifying terror in their lives and questioned their very existence, compounded by threadbare clothes that had clearly been worn until the fabric wore paper-thin.
Clyde, who understood nothing of this, looked like a clueless outsider and occasionally drew sharp rebukes, "What are you staring at?" from people he accidentally locked eyes with, prompting Clyde to lower his head and quicken his step without talking back.
"Is this... really Earth?" Clyde asked in his head.
Suddenly a massive shadow fell over him, "boom... boom," as everyone cleared the way; Clyde’s eyes went wide at the sight of a framework-like mecha piloted by a soldier inside, standing roughly three to four meters tall, its hands gripping a Gatling gun and a rocket launcher mounted on its shoulder, complete with intricate magic circle tattoos covering its arms and legs. The cockpit was an open frame exposing the pilot, a clear military operative standing inside, moving as if using his own body to drive the machine.
"Um... what is that?" Clyde asked Mary.
"A Mobile Armor called GEMA, short for Guardian Earth Mobile Armor. And to fight titan-class Nephilim, we also have GEAR, short for Guardian Earth Assault Robot," Mary explained in response.
"Oh... I see," Clyde replied, turning to watch the GEMA that had just strode past him.
They kept walking, and Clyde continued to witness staggering changes from the life he had known, feeling truly like an infant seeing the world for the very first time; yet though he desperately wanted to question Mary, he didn’t know how to initiate the conversation. He could only hope that in the city Mary described as humanity’s final stronghold, he would find answers to the endless questions spinning inside his head.
After walking through winding corridors without stopping for nearly an hour, they finally arrived before a brightly lit cavern that resembled a subway tunnel. Stepping out at the end, Clyde’s eyes widened at the sight of a colossal cavern whose ceiling was lost in the shadows, revealing a city ahead filled with neon signs, tall buildings, though not skyscrapers and all the hallmarks of an underground metropolis.
"Welcome back to the city of Neo Ark, Clyde," Mary said with a smile, turning to look at Clyde, who still stood frozen in awe at the sight before him.
"Ne... Neo Ark?" Clyde asked, staring at the city illuminated so brightly by the sea of neon signs.
"Yeah... you’ll understand everything soon. Come on, let’s head inside to the rehabilitation center," Mary said, taking Clyde’s hand.
"Rehabilitation center?" Clyde asked.
"A place for people like you who just woke up to see the world, so you can learn the rules of this reality and what actually happened to the world," Mary explained in response.
"Oh... okay then," Clyde replied.
They walked toward the rusty iron gates of the city’s fortress, which appeared designed to defend the settlement from attacks, mounted with numerous heavy machine guns along the top.
"Is all of this... real? Not a work of fiction?" Clyde asked himself, still finding it hard to believe what lay before his eyes, even though every bit of it was real and he could feel the warmth of Mary’s hand holding his.