Chapter 850 - 849: Another Monster's Explosive End."

The Root — or the Source — was a truly wondrous place that was invariably mentioned in all the most ancient records of the Cetra race. The ancients described this location as something absolutely miraculous, unimaginable and sacred — as that very starting point where everything that exists had only just been born.

The Source was not some single concrete point on the map; by its essence it was the very deepest centre of the planet Gaia, where from the interweaving primordial roots sprouted the purest source of life of all living things, forming a unique, unrepeatable ecosystem.

In those distant epochs when the Cetra race still flourished and carried the life-giving light to every corner of the planet, each of them could at their own desire come to this sanctuary in order to listen in silence to the measured hum of the planet, strengthen their spiritual connection and with their own eyes see those corners of Gaia where life had not even managed to be born yet.

But the Cetra came to the Source not at all as idle listeners and passive observers — their direct and sacred duty was to tirelessly care for the roots of life themselves, helping them properly spread and nourish the world.

However after one single catastrophe, when in the deep past onto this world crashed the unfortunate meteorite that brought with it the alien parasite Jenova, some sections of the Source began rapidly and nightmarishly changing — as if a well-tended garden of trees, part of whose branches had been struck by an incurable disease.

Having locked Jenova on the distant Northern continent at the cost of countless lives, the Cetra sincerely believed that they had forever saved their fragile world. But, like any aggressive infection, Jenova had managed to put down its metastatic roots too deeply into the very flesh of the planet, literally fusing with the ecosystem of Gaia.

And its filthy offshoots took the form of ugly, god-abhorrent creatures that continued mercilessly to parasitise and drink the very life from the planet. And now Alex and Dean had been granted the "honour" of personally dealing with one of such spawn after they had found themselves in the Source completely against their will.

"Everyone ready?! Dean and I will take this huge beast and distract its attention, while you clearly and methodically chop up all its offshoots crawling out of the ground!" Alex commanded, sharply yanking a thick writhing tentacle out of the stone floor, on the move casting a quick glance over his shoulder and sweeping the entire group frozen in readiness with a combat gaze.

"We're fully ready! Only for the sake of everything holy, be careful…" Tifa shouted, lightning-fast nodding her head, and immediately with a crushing kick of her leg threw aside yet another offshoot that had burst from under the cracked marble floor.

"Mother of yours by the leg… Why does this goddamn filthy crap reek for a kilometre with such repulsive stench?!" Barrett blurted out with irritation in his voice, at point-blank range planting a barrage of explosive shot from his machine gun right into the writhing offshoot.

"Fewer snotty complaints, more shooting!" Claudia tossed clearly, with one masterful powerful swing of her heavy Buster Sword cleanly severing the tentacle rushing toward them.

Before rapidly rushing into the attack on the Dreamweaver of Jenova, Alex with a quick glance swept Aerith and Yuffie to make sure that they were under reliable protection. And the moment his eyes met Aerith's warm gaze, she softly smiled and with a thud struck the end of her magic staff against the cracked marble floor.

At that very same moment across the entire enormous marble platform an emerald-green magical circle brightly flared up, and around each fighter small transparent shield crystals began spinning.

Seeing that Aerith had used a most powerful mass-protection spell, Alex contentedly smirked and raised a thumb upward. But Aerith did not stop at that at all: she again with a sharp motion struck the end of the staff against the stone, and on the marble a second magical contour flared up from which a whole swarm of shining pink butterflies fluttered out.

Seeing how Aerith easily and unforcedly activated two advanced spells in a row at once, Alex at first was sincerely surprised, and then a wide smile spread across his face when it finally dawned on him what the matter was here.

The Source was that unique place where Aerith could draw energy and use her natural power at full blast, not fearing any fatigue at all. Alex was already about to praise Aerith aloud for the excellent work when he suddenly jerked his head backward — right past his face with a whistle flew an enormous shuriken emitting bright lightning discharges which on the fly cut a thick tentacle in half that had almost seized him by the shoulder.

Having cut the first target, the gigantic shuriken in a wide arc caught several more offshoots bursting from under the marble floor. Having severed the last tentacle, the gigantic shuriken went into a turn and began returning to its mistress, and at that same second Yuffie lightly jumped over Alex, deftly and elegantly catching her massive weapon on the fly.

"Don't doze off on the move here, sleepyhead! Or else next time I'll really have to save you," Yuffie said with cheerful merry laughter, in whose eyes there no longer remained even a trace of the former fear before the enormous worm-like monster.

"Heh, well look at that… Seems now we have you here as the main princess in distress," Dean sarcastically laughed, absolutely carefreely holding a thrashing tentacle on one outstretched arm and with clear amusement looking at Alex.

"Just get off both of you… And now, seems, the official time has come to roll a couple of space chimichangas," Alex answered, rolling his eyes, heavily sighing and shifting a stern gaze onto the Dreamweaver of Jenova.

"Maximum effort?" Dean asked with a wide smile, with one sharp powerful motion yanking a thick tentacle right with the root from under the stone earth.

"Maximum effort!" Alex answered with an anticipatory smirk, with a confident motion pulling his "Jackal" pistol from the holster.

Smirking at each other, Alex and Dean with a ringing click bumped fists and prepared to lightning-fast attack the Dreamweaver of Jenova which was lurking at the very end of the enormous marble platform and without stopping was spawning new tentacles, trying with all its strength to protect its core.

But the moment Alex and Dean already tore from their places, right in front of them from under the cracked marble with a dull hum sprouted a dense solid cluster of thick tentacles completely obstructing the view and tightly blocking the path to the monster.

And when the guys were already about to independently cut through this living wall of flesh, right past them with a whistle flew an incendiary shell — accompanied by Barrett's habitual select-insulting commentary about what exactly he actually thought of the Dreamweaver and its entire family.

The shell sniper-hit exactly into the very centre of the cluster of tentacles and instantly ignited. The offshoots engulfed in bright flame began chaotically and wildly writhing in convulsions, smashing everything around themselves. And while the tentacles were paling and suffering in the fire, Claudia rapidly rushed forward and with one most powerful sweeping blow of her heavy Buster Sword at once felled a whole row of roasted offshoots, opening a clear passage further. Having cut a path forward, Claudia quickly turned to Alex and briefly nodded her head, making it clear that they would reliably cover them from the rear.

Smirking, Alex first tore from his place and with a light jump vaulted over the burning stumps, and after him Dean swiftly jumped, heading straight toward the lurking Dreamweaver. Seeing the rapidly approaching Alex and Dean, the Dreamweaver emitted a wild deafening howl from which the ancient marble columns around began tangibly trembling, and from the high ceiling small stones rained down.

Leaning its entire carcass forward, the Dreamweaver with a swing struck the marble floor with the massive tentacles sticking out of its body, creating for Alex and Dean a new barrier of an even greater number of writhing offshoots. But exactly at the moment when this mass of flesh was supposed to with full force crash down onto Alex and Dean, right in front of them from the air a shining swarm of pink butterflies wove itself which instantly stuck to and bound the flying tentacles.

"Not this time! This is not at all the place where you have the right to live!" Aerith shouted desperately and proudly, with a sharp wave of her magic staff catching and virtuously directing the swarm of pink butterflies.

"And I'll help too! Hey, get ready, nightmare monster, now comes my most super-duper dangerous technique number two!" Yuffie shouted ringingly, with a whistle spinning her gigantic shuriken over her head and already preparing to throw it with full force at the boss.

The pink butterflies that had tightly stuck to the writhing tentacles suddenly began shining blindingly brightly, and at that same moment the flesh on the offshoots of the Dreamweaver began rapidly splitting. The Dreamweaver emitted a deafening piercing screech when its reliable protective tentacles began massively crumbling, turning into countless glowing particles of light.

At this very time Yuffie continued furiously spinning her enormous shuriken over her head, holding a complex hand seal right in front of her face. Around the gigantic weapon immediately fierce gusts of wind boiled up, forming deadly blades from compressed streams of air.

Sharply turning on the spot, Yuffie with all her strength launched the gigantic wind shuriken right into the largest cluster of enemy tentacles. And the farther this gigantic wind projectile flew, the larger and more massive it became.

Continuing to rapidly run forward toward the main carcass of the Dreamweaver, Alex heard behind his back the powerful roar of rising wind and for a second turned around. Seeing the gigantic wind shuriken which on the move cleanly felled the remains of the tentacles, in Alex's head instantly matured an excellent destructive plan.

Briefly nodding to Dean and giving him a conditional hand gesture that it was time to soar upward, Alex sharply pushed off from the cracked marble floor and highly jumped. Elegantly flipping in the air, Alex lightning-fast folded his fingers into familiar hand seals and took a deep breath filling his chest with air.

"Fire Style Technique: Gigantic Fireball!" Alex clearly pronounced, bringing his joined fingers to his lips and preparing to with terrible force exhale flame.

The moment Alex finished pronouncing the name of the technique, he vomited an enormous fireball which sniper-hit exactly into the centre of the rotating wind shuriken. Instantly the powerful air streams caught the roaring fireball, and around flared up a real deadly fire tornado which began swinging and felling the tentacles of the Dreamweaver while simultaneously burning them to ash in the red-hot cinders.

Seeing what incredible beauty had just happened, Yuffie literally squealed from turbulent delight and on the move began feverishly inventing a cool name for this lethal combination in order to definitely shout it out in the future.

Keeping farther from the raging fire hurricane, Alex and Dean deftly jumped onto a marble column that wove itself right in front of them in the air. Turning his head back, Alex saw how Aerith smoothly waved her magic staff, literally on the move commanding the space itself and the surrounding landscape. Having concentrated too strongly on admiration for Aerith, Alex did not even notice how toward him and Dean right from the high ceiling rapidly rushed rotting roots solidly covered with pulsating yellow filth.

Noticing this danger, Aerith again with a sharp motion waved her staff — and at that very same moment right above the heads of Alex and Dean with a deafening clap two heavy marble columns collided, with a repulsive crunch crushing the rotting roots into pulp.

Alex and Dean simultaneously stepped back when through the formed slits between the collided columns black viscous liquid began actively seeping. Barely had this dripped sludge fallen right at the feet of Alex and Dean when it immediately emitted an ominous hissing sound and began in seconds to corrode the strongest marble rock.

"Listen, did your mad alien girlfriend by chance also stuff into this filth some fucking Alien?" Dean asked with a smirk, with full force delivering a most powerful uppercut blow to the collided columns in order finally to seal the slit and stop the acid-liquid rain on a deadline.

"I somehow didn't ask her about that. And in general — right now it's completely unimportant. Come on, the very last dash remains! Time finally to tear this beast into small pieces, or else it's already been lying around on this light far too long," Alex answered, rolling his eyes, and with one smooth wave of the hand instantly felled new tentacles that had suddenly appeared around them.

Casting a glance downward, Dean saw the Dreamweaver which at that very moment was horrifically looking back at him, being located exactly under them. Turning back to Alex, Dean decided on the move to clarify exactly how they were even going to descend in order finally to finish off this beast.

In response to Dean's reasonable question Alex only widely and predatorily smiled, deeply leaning forward and strongly drawing his clenched fist back. On Alex's right arm instantly materialised the massive Beowulf gauntlet which immediately shone with a blinding silver light.

Quickly realising exactly what Alex was about to do right now, Dean tighter grabbed Tonberry Steve by his dark hood and without unnecessary words instantly jumped downward from the marble platform hanging in the air. Barely had Dean jumped aside when Alex at that same second with crushing force brought his fist down right into the centre of the platform.

From Alex's monstrous blow the strongest marble slab instantly exploded from within, and its countless sharp fragments flew downward in dense shrapnel. The rain of flying marble shrapnel was so dense and deadly that the Dreamweaver had to in a spasm cover itself with absolutely all its tentacles. But even so the stone shrapnel flying at frenzied speed pierced through the sturdy flesh of the Dreamweaver, literally tearing its protective offshoots into bloody pieces.

Emitting a wild painful howl, the Dreamweaver raised its empty eye sockets to the falling Alex from above and immediately with hatred launched at him a whole swarm of surviving tentacles. Dean located a little lower sharply thrust the silent Tonberry Steve right in front of himself, still tightly holding him by the hood. Steve himself remained absolutely imperturbable and phlegmatic, still emotionlessly holding in one paw his sharp chef's knife and in the other a smouldering oil lamp.

"Steve, fucking hell, I choose you! Use your damn grab!" Dean shouted throughout the entire Source, holding Steve in front of himself and aiming his green little face exactly at the carcass of the Dreamweaver.

The moment Dean's cry sounded, the oil lamp in Steve's paws flared with a soft mysterious yellow light which instantly enveloped the entire body of the Dreamweaver. The tentacles that had just rapidly been flying toward the falling Alex from above suddenly froze dead in the air — as if someone unseen had simply put the Dreamweaver on pause.

Slowly around the carcass of the Dreamweaver a dense purple fog began forming which smoothly wound around its body, spreading to the very top. Even those offshoots with which at that very moment Tifa, Claudia, Barrett and Yuffie were furiously fighting finally froze in place in the most strange and absurd positions.

Seeing that the tentacles were no longer attacking them at all, Barrett loudly and triumphantly laughed. With one deft motion he ran a finger over the sensor panel on his cyber-arm, switching the mode to flamethrower and cranking its power to the very maximum.

Hearing a new stream of cheerful insults from Barrett who was blasting with the flamethrower, Tifa and Claudia quickly came to themselves, instantly taking advantage of the rarest chance while the Dreamweaver was completely immobilised. Tifa loudly shouted, attracting Claudia's attention, and expressively pointed a finger upward.

Claudia understood everything without unnecessary words and only briefly nodded her head. Gaining rapid acceleration, Tifa jumped forward. Turning on the spot, Claudia waved her heavy Buster Sword and sharply tossed it upward exactly at the moment when Tifa's foot stepped onto the flat side of the blade.

The moment Tifa soared high into the air, after her Claudia also swiftly jumped. Finding themselves in the air at the same level, Claudia nodded to Tifa, instantly coordinating the final actions. Clenching the hilt of the Buster Sword with both hands, Claudia directed the razor tip strictly downward, and Tifa immediately delivered a most powerful spinning kick — exactly against the hilt of the sword.

From this crushing blow Claudia began rapidly falling downward at frenzied speed, and the massive blade of the Buster Sword shone with a blinding bright green glow of Mako energy. Claudia with a deafening crash landed in the very centre of the enormous cluster of tentacles, causing a powerful green shockwave which instantly tore the flesh of all the nearest offshoots. And at that same second after her Tifa landed, delivering yet another crushing fist blow against the hilt of the Buster Sword and causing an even more powerful wave which finally smashed the cluster of tentacles into small pieces.

"Excellent work!" Tifa said with a cheerful smile, readiness extending her palm to give Claudia a high-five.

"Uh-huh. Excellent work," Claudia spoke in a calm tone, carefully giving a return high-five to Tifa and carefully hiding the rising embarrassment behind her habitual impenetrable mask.

Not at all offended by Claudia's habitually dry answer, Tifa with friendly warmth patted her friend on the shoulder, tuning her to the fact that they needed methodically to continue destroying all the crawling tentacles — until Alex and Dean finally dealt with the main monster.

Claudia calmly nodded and, clenching the hilt of the Buster Sword with both hands, from a run rushed forward, rapidly and uncompromisingly chopping absolutely all the offshoots that only came into her sight. The most complex and exhausting task at that moment was occupied by Aerith, who had to continuously cleanse all the affected and infected sections of the Source so that they could finally be destroyed.

Despite the fact that in this sacred place she could practically in full measure engage her hidden ancient power and almost not feel physical fatigue, she still distinctly felt how her internal spiritual reserves were gradually depleting.

With the root tearing yet another enormous piece of rotten roots right from the high ceiling, Aerith with a sharp and authoritative wave of her magic staff launched this gigantic piece of stone right into the carcass of the Dreamweaver. At that very same moment Alex and Dean were fully occupied with the fact that they were with all their strength pulling in opposite directions the main, thickest tentacles of the Dreamweaver, sincerely wishing literally to tear this monstrous creature in half.

Even though it was in the literal sense being torn into two pieces, the Dreamweaver was still desperately trying to resist and break free, dreaming only of soon escaping. But no matter how it writhed and thrashed in spasms, Alex and Dean held its tentacles very tightly.

Hearing a strange rapidly growing whistle coming from somewhere above, Alex and Dean managed only simultaneously to tilt their heads when at that same instant a heavy piece of marble with rotten roots at enormous speed sniper-hit exactly into the head of the Dreamweaver.

Having received such a crushing and unexpected blow, the horrific torso of the Dreamweaver reeled far backward, and the horrific human skull instead of its face covered itself with a network of deep cracks through which thick murky blood immediately seeped. The Dreamweaver had only just prepared to emit a deafening howl of agonising pain when right into its very face on the run flew yet another massive fragment of rotten marble that extremely precisely smashed into the broken face.

Simultaneously turning their heads back, Alex and Dean saw Aerith who was continuously waving her staff, continuing virtuously to command the complex surrounding space while right around her Nanaki and Yuffie were tirelessly fighting, tightly protecting her from any arising threat.

Meeting a direct gaze with Alex, Aerith only softly and a little tiredly smiled, with her entire demeanour making it clear: although she was weary, she was still quite capable of continuing this fight. Seeing the clear traces of fatigue on Aerith's cute face, Alex and Dean expressively exchanged glances between themselves, instantly realising that they definitely should not further prolong this already rather drawn-out duel.

"You're right now thinking exactly the same as I am?" Dean asked with excitement, still tightly and powerfully squeezing the main tentacle of the Dreamweaver.

"Tear off this filth its ugly face? And finally give our Steve an excellent chance to shine in all his glory?" Alex asked with a wide predatory smile, with a light pass summoning into his hand five sharpest silver spikes and immediately with a swing nailing the thrashing tentacle to the marble.

"O-o-oh, damn it, ye-e-es!" Dean answered with no less wide and anticipatory smirk, with full force nailing the second tentacle to the marble floor with the help of his Blade of Cain.

Having coordinated the final plan of complete destruction of the Dreamweaver, Alex cast a short glance at Tonberry Steve who amicably waved his little chef's knife, showing absolute readiness for work. Briefly nodding to each other, Alex and Dean already prepared to proceed to the most spectacular stage of the operation.

But when they were about to tear from their places, right past them at colossal speed flew an enormous pointed piece of marble which pierced the Dreamweaver through and through, tightly nailing it to a massive marble column. Not even turning his head, Alex lazily drew his hand back and formed from his fingers a neat heart, expressing sincere praise for Aerith's excellent sniper blow.

Instantly jumping to the same level with the broken face of the Dreamweaver, Alex and Dean delivered a synchronous monstrous-in-its-force blow with their fists. From their joint blow across the entire space rolled a most powerful shockwave which instantly destroyed the surrounding infected marble columns.

From this synchronous hit the human skull on the face of the Dreamweaver instantly shattered to pieces, exposing a filthy bubbling void inside which chaotically swarmed dozens of horrific tentacles. Grimacing from deep disgust, Alex and Dean immediately again simultaneously delivered a crushing blow to what a second ago was supposed to serve as the face of the Dreamweaver.

From their new blow rolled an even more powerful shockwave which completely swept away yet another infected section of the platform. From this second hit the head of the Dreamweaver finally split in two, even more strongly exposing the swarming mass of writhing tentacles floating in thick yellow pus.

But before these bubbling tentacles inside the Dreamweaver managed to burst outward, little Tonberry Steve again highly raised his smouldering oil lamp. The body of the Dreamweaver was instantly shackled in dense purple fog which completely paralysed it, not allowing it to make a single movement.

"Fuck… Honestly speaking, even Chuck in his true form did not look nearly so filthy," Dean pronounced with sincere disgust in his voice, sharply jerking his wrist and summoning the Blade of Cain right into his palm.

"Yeah, agreed, it looks like repulsive space spaghetti. And now let's quickly open up its carcass so that our Steve can finally deliver his deserved final blow," Alex said with a smirk, extracting the karambit from behind his back.

Alex and Dean simultaneously drove their formidable weapons right into the neck of the Dreamweaver and rapidly jumped downward. Holding onto the hilts of the blades, Alex and Dean synchronously slid downward along the colossal body of the Dreamweaver, mercilessly cutting its flesh in order in the end to expose the vulnerable core hiding deep inside.

Having cut the chest of the Dreamweaver into two parts, Alex and Dean tightly seized its edges and began with all their strength pulling in different directions, exposing the filthy worm-like innards from under which continuously seeped acrid yellow pus. Stretching the edges of the torn sternum, Alex and Dean quickly noticed that the core of the Dreamweaver was still reliably hidden behind a thick layer of writhing flesh.

Already preparing to provide the remaining members of the squad the opportunity to earn deserved team points, Alex did not even manage to turn his head back when rang out Barrett's loud and demanding cry with a request to immediately step aside. And in the next moment right into the centre of the torn chest of the Dreamweaver at frenzied speed flew a heavy explosive shell. Touching the living writhing flesh, the explosive shell instantly detonated, tearing out a gigantic piece of meat. But even this powerful explosion turned out insufficient finally to expose the cherished core.

The next one who lightning-fast attacked the enemy was Red — he emitted a terrifying loud howl, right above his muzzle instantly formed a powerful energy sphere. Emitting a final rolling roar, Red launched the clump of pure energy exactly into the centre of the torn chest of the Dreamweaver. After Red's crushing blow the yellow pulsating core of the Dreamweaver became visible even more clearly.

Noticing that the core was still not fully exposed, Aerith, despite all the accumulated fatigue, resolutely waved her magic staff. Before her a blinding magical circle flared up from which a bright piercing ray of pure energy shot out, striking exactly into the centre of the chest of the Dreamweaver. From this last magical blow the remains of the flesh hiding the core of the Dreamweaver finally evaporated and disappeared.

"Well come on, Steve. Your star hour has come — your time to shine in all your glory," Dean pronounced with an anticipatory smirk, tightly seizing the Tonberry by the hood and with a strong motion throwing him straight toward the exposed core of the Dreamweaver.

Despite the fact that he had been thrown right into the very centre of the horrific torn flesh, Tonberry Steve reacted absolutely not at all to this, only imperturbably thrusting forward his little chef's knife. Landing exactly on the pulsating yellow core of the Dreamweaver, Steve made a light precise poke forward with his knife right into the flesh.

And at that very same moment the yellow bubbling core began strangely and wildly writhing, and then began rapidly compressing into itself, greedily absorbing all the infected rotting mass around. Because of the risen monstrous trembling Steve could not stay on his feet, clumsily plopped backward and began falling downward, where at the very last moment the running-up Dean timely caught him.

Observing how the Dreamweaver was rapidly collapsing, Alex in fractions of a second clearly realised what would happen further. Not pronouncing a single extra word, Alex heavily clapped Dean on the shoulder and instantly tore from his place, running with all his strength toward the remaining members of the squad — he clearly did not intend to be located in the very epicentre at the moment when all this flesh compressed under enormous pressure would regularly explode. Not taking his gaze off how the last remains of the rotting mass from all sides were madly flowing to the centre, Tifa first noticed how toward them at full steam was racing Alex with such a face as if behind him they were chasing with a bucket of slops.

"Run, fuck, with all your strength! Right now this goddamn crap is going to explode to hell here!" Alex howled throughout the surroundings, desperately waving his arms and demanding everyone immediately run.

"What… What are you saying?!" Tifa asked back in surprise, blinking and getting confused from such pressure, having heard this unexpected cry.

Not answering Tifa's quite natural questions, Alex continued running forward with all his strength, on the move casting a quick alarmed glance over his shoulder and noticing that the Dreamweaver had finally turned into one solid pulsating clump of biomass ready at any second to fly apart into pieces.

Understanding that there was no more time for reflection, Alex lightning-fast found himself next to the confused group that was still standing motionless in place. Not saying a single extra word, he scooped Yuffie, forcing her instantly to jump onto his back, immediately scooped Aerith and Tifa into his arms, and to top it all off tightly clenched with his teeth the dense collar of Claudia's turtleneck.

The girls did not even manage to figure anything out when Alex was already racing together with them in his arms at incredible speed. Barrett and Nanaki managed only to blink in surprise when Alex literally dissolved ahead, and after him past them like a whirlwind raced Dean tightly pressing Tonberry Steve to his chest.

Shifting their gaze back to the pulsating clump of biomass, Barrett and Red at that same second clearly realised what exactly was about to happen now, and without unnecessary words tore from their places, running after Alex and Dean.

Not reducing the pace, Alex continued racing as far as possible from the epicentre, desperately not wishing to find himself under a repulsive rain of bile and alien flesh of the horrific creature. The very last thing he wanted right now was then for a whole month unsuccessfully trying to wash off the filthy stench that had eaten into the skin. Claudia far from immediately realised in exactly what absurd position she had found herself until her body once again sharply jerked from Alex's powerful jump over a fallen marble column.

"Just let me go! I can quite run myself!" Claudia shouted indignantly, acutely feeling how the tight collar of her turtleneck was dangerously stretching from every movement.

"Just don't jerk so sharply if you don't want to then for a whole month stink of this dead biomass!" Alex gritted through tightly clenched teeth, trying with all his strength not to release Claudia's collar with his teeth.

"Hey, where are we even racing so?! And why did this strange thing suddenly turn into this horrific ball?!" Yuffie fearfully howled, hanging on Alex's back and with horror turning back in order to assess the scale of the threat.

"Because this goddamn filth is about to fucking fly into the air!" Dean shouted on the run racing right nearby, who also least of all in the world wished to be smeared from head to toe in toxic pus.

"Then we need to run even faster!" Aerith commanded with a very serious face, who was hanging in Alex's arms and for greater conviction lightly patted him on the thigh, calling on him to hurry.

"I'm… fuck… already trying with all my strength…" Alex gritted through clenched teeth, reasonably deciding for now modestly to keep silent about the fact that right now he was carrying on himself four girls at once.

Not knowing exactly what was happening right now behind them, Claudia nevertheless finally stopped resisting in order simply not to hinder Alex from running, but still aloud expressed her extreme dissatisfaction regarding the fact that she was being dragged, held by the teeth by the collar.

Alex reacted absolutely not at all to this and commented nothing — simply because he sincerely feared: should he open his mouth for an answer, and he would immediately with a swing drop Claudia onto the marble floor right during the rapid run. Planning to get as far as possible from the epicentre of the inevitable explosion, Alex suddenly heard a sharp growing sound of dry cracking.

Instantly realising exactly what this shitty sound meant, Alex sharply braked, releasing the girls from his arms, and immediately with full force drove his fingers into the stone rock, with one powerful yank tearing an enormous marble slab right out of the earth. Thrusting the massive slab in front of himself as a reliable shield, Alex together with the girls tightly pressed his back to it and called Dean into the cover.

And exactly a second before everything was supposed to explode, into the marble cover managed to whirl in the out-of-breath after such a wild marathon Barrett and Nanaki. In the next moment rang out a deceptively quiet dull clap, and Alex at the top of his voice shouted for absolutely everyone immediately to cover their ears. Heeding his emergency demand, everyone immediately tightly covered their ears with their hands.

And literally a second later into the sturdy marble slab with full force struck a terrible-in-its-force wave after which followed a filthy smacking sound — as if tons of juicy flesh at frenzied speed were colliding with a hard surface. The shockwave turned out so powerful and destructive that it literally cleanly swept away absolutely everything that was located beyond their marble shield.

The after-death consequences of the grandiose explosion rather quickly settled, and in the frozen air hung an extremely unpleasant acrid and thick smell of rotting flesh and acrid pus. Slightly pushing away from himself the heavy marble slab that had saved them from the filthy rainy shower, Alex saw a quite habitual picture for himself — that very one which always happens when yet another repulsive monster decides to effectively self-liquidate after its death.

Absolutely the entire surroundings around was repulsively smeared with thick yellow liquid and stinking black blood mixed with small pieces of torn flesh. However incredibly quickly all these filthy remains began before their eyes turning into dry black ash which was immediately carried away by an unknown internal wind. And after that across the entire space rolled a ringing clear sound of crackling glass — the surrounding space of the Source before their eyes covering itself with deep cracks.

In the next instant absolutely everyone was blinded by a piercing but unexpectedly pleasant green light of the Lifestream which forced the fighters to reflexively squint. When the blinding green light finally completely went out, Alex with deep relief sighed: they had again safely returned to the destroyed office of the President of Shinra. After his heavy sigh the others also gradually began opening their eyes, with amazement noticing that they had indeed found themselves back on the seventieth floor.

"That was… fuck… The strangest and craziest crap that has ever happened in my entire goddamn life!" Barrett heavily spoke, vigorously rubbing his wet forehead and trying fully to realise what wild otherworldly madness had just occurred with them.

"Yeah… That was simply super-duper strange! Some real horror…" Yuffie agreed, quickly nodding her head, still dazedly looking around with eyes rounded from shock.

"The most important thing is that we all managed to get out of there alive and unharmed… Right?" Tifa pronounced with a sigh of relief, slightly patting herself with her palm on the chest in order to restore the disrupted breathing.

"You can consider that all this is only the most modest beginning. I have a persistent feeling that further us awaits even more hopeless shit," Alex gloomily spoke, lighting an elegant thin cigar and slightly rubbing his tired eye, perfectly knowing that the real trial for them was indeed only beginning.

To be continued...

(Yeah, sure—kill the monster quickly and move on. I know, I'm being a real jerk here, but even I didn't expect that to happen. On the bright side, I got to showcase another one of Aerith's abilities, along with a proper team battle—where everyone actually fights the monster instead of just standing around like cardboard cutouts while the protagonist does all the heavy lifting. One fight I'm definitely going to skip is the one against Rufus; I mean, how's he supposed to put up a fight if his weapon gets swiped as compensation? I could write more about the plot, but anything else would be a spoiler—assuming, of course, you haven't played the game and don't know what's waiting at the end of the Midgar section. Anyway, I'm off to fix myself something to eat. Peace, love, and—seriously—why do monsters love going "boom" so much?)