The Z-Eyes hovered over their heads as they went about preparing a meal and then quietly feasting on the end result.
After the tension from earlier, and the pain biting at their bodies, the soft and succulent taste of meat had never been more welcoming to their tongues.
This was the most they had eaten ever since entering the Z-Tower. The group had almost gone through their entire stock of meat, as the sweet savoriness of the meat made having enough an uphill battle.
Everyone feasted, even Dok-su, who ate his outside. Each of them ignoring the fact that they were gorging themselves with meat gotten from a monster.
Such things needn't be said or thought about. The Spectors were the best source of food in the Z-Tower, and they weren't going to pass it up because of stupid moral dilemmas or anything like that.
Once they had finally made the decision to stop eating and save what they had left, Im-hee had returned all the cooking items back to her Inventory. The stains and debris covering those items falling to the ground as they faded to smoke.
That was one way to wash the dishes.
Though they were now full and given the energy they needed to carry on, there was just one problem left.
Min-ho was the first to summon the potion Blood Burner into his hand.
It was in a narrow vial with a cork on its tip. The liquid inside was red and shimmering with a strange light reminiscent of the embers of a dying flame.
Everyone held their Blood Burner in their hands, hesitation a gross understatement of what they felt looking at the potion.
"I could heal you guys, you know?" Im-hee said, rubbing her now healed hands.
Luckily for Im-hee, healing herself brought about no pain. But it did take time.
No one responded to her gesture immediately. Min-ho once again was the first to do so.
He gave a faint smile, then said, "You don't have to, Im-hee. Not if there's another option."
Im-hee stared at Min-ho for a moment, then she fell her gaze.
"Is your wound that bad?" Jang-book asked Min-ho.
"It feels that way. I think I broke a rib," Min-ho responded.
"Sucks to be you," Dok-su said, before gulping down his Blood Burner.
Once he had done so, he gritted his teeth and shut his eyes involuntarily as the pain spread throughout his body.
Though it was intense, it didn't last too long as his wounds were not that major. Within the second, the pain subsided and he was a hundred percent again.
He rested his head against the wall and left his eyes shut as he exhaled.
Im-hee tensed up, wishing they would let her heal them. She thought it was better she was the only one who felt pain, instead of all of them.
Ji-su sat in silence beside Im-hee, his eyesight still eluding him.
Min-ho gulped, then uncorked the vial. As he did so, his Z-Eye zoomed in on him, seemingly eager to capture all of this.
"We're wasting time," he said, steeled his nerves and gulped down the vial.
---
Twenty minutes later, the group had recovered from their supposed healing potion.
Once done, Min-ho reiterated their plan and tried to encourage everyone.
This time, they had changed up their formation. Since Jang-book was the strongest of the bunch, he would stay at the back so as to not be the first to go in case of an ambush. As for who would take point, Min-ho had given himself this role.
Though he wanted Sae-wee and Dok-su to stay in the middle, she protested and instead decided to join his side.
With that, Dok-su was left in the middle, where he would protect Im-hee and the still-blind Ji-su.
After finalizing everything, the group set out once more. This time fully prepared for whatever the Z-Tower would throw at them. Which for an hour, was nothing but rough terrain.
The group had to go around a fallen building or two that got in the way, and then once again go around a small rift in the earth they came across.
The sun reached higher into the sky, radiating its heat on the landscape below. The temperature had risen, making walking harder than it already was.
The sounds of their footsteps had become heavier, yet it was nothing major.
Glancing over her shoulder, Sae-wee placed her sights on Dok-su for a second, before returning her gaze to the path ahead.
"Is something bothering you?" Min-ho whispered.
Sae-wee paused, then spoke up.
"I don't think Dok-su was the right candidate to be our second Second Tier," Sae-wee said.
Min-ho digested what she had said a bit before responding.
"I think he's just scared. He doesn't know if he can trust any of us, and I don't intend to give him a reason not to."
"He seems unhinged, not all there."
"And we are?" Min-ho asked, and Sae-wee went silent.
As he asked that question, a sudden thought sprang up in his mind.
"You have the power of divination, right? Why did you bring him in if you don't trust him?" Min-ho voiced his thoughts, and Sae-wee lowered her gaze.
"It's complicated," she said, curling the fingers of her left hand.
Min-ho's gaze landed on her left hand, and he remembered something.
"I see," he said, then returned his attention to the road.
He waited for a moment, before asking the next immediate question on his mind.
"What happened to your finger?"
Sae-wee froze, her steps planting in place without her consent.
Everyone halted upon seeing this, and Min-ho turned to face her.
She snapped out of her daze and made her way forward.
Watching Sae-wee's odd behavior, everyone hesitated a bit before shrugging it off and continuing forward.
Though Min-ho continued forward, he didn't shrug off the question.
He waited patiently for her to respond. His nerves eating at him the longer she didn't speak.
'Is it something deadly?' he asked, wondering what could have taken her finger clean off without any injuries.
"It's my Whiplash," she said, her words landing like a hovercar crashing from the air into the earth.
Min-ho's breath caught, his words hanging in his throat.
"It happens at random, since my visions happen at random," she added, tightening the thread around Min-ho's heart.
He lowered his gaze, suddenly solemn by the news. She had practically said that her fate was sealed, and she would be dead sometime in the future.
He didn't really know how to take the news or what to respond.
Luckily for him, he didn't have to.
CRUNCH!
CRUNCH!
Everyone paused, their breaths ceased as the sound reverberated.
A Spector was nearby.