The acid became airborne, spraying in every direction.
Several splatters landed on Min-ho's back.
"No."
"Min-ho!"
"Shit!"
The others exclaimed as they watched the acid eat into his clothes.
Reacting as fast as he could, he pulled off his jacket, then used the side that wasn't affected to clean his trousers and parts of his body the acid had touched.
He winced as he felt burns across his body. The pain only seemed to grow by the second as the splatters began to eat deeper into his skin. Blood seeped out of his wounds, staining his green inner shirt.
Once he had cleaned off as much of the acid as he could, he tossed his jacket into the pool.
"Min-ho?" Ji-su called out, unsure of what had just happened.
Min-ho turned around, facing his back to Ji-su.
"Get on my back," he said, eyeing the pool that had now risen higher.
Everyone watched in silence and dread as Min-ho tried his best to survive.
Ji-su got on, and Min-ho held him tight. Then he turned to the jetting stone he had used to get here.
Seeing it, his heart thumped when he realized the surface area had shrunk as the acid levels rose.
Damn it, Min-ho thought, but he didn't dally.
He took in a deep breath full of acidic, hot air, then leaped. Upon landing, Min-ho wobbled several times—offset by Ji-su's weight, he almost lost his footing.
In an attempt to regain balance, he spread his legs apart, dipping a bit of his shoe into the acid.
The acid didn't penetrate, but he could still feel the heat seeping into the soles of his feet.
The others watched with held breaths.
QUAKE!
His feet vibrated. They wobbled again. The acid splashed, spilling on his leg.
"Ah!" he cried out as it ate into his flesh.
"Min-ho?"
"It's nothing," he said, shaking the liquid off his leg.
CRUMBLE!
Another pillar fell. Though it wasn't near them, it elevated the acid levels.
"Shit," he let the word slip, then jumped to the next stepping stone, ignoring the pain in his leg.
The farther he went, the more he grew accustomed to Ji-su's weight, and the more efficient he became. He managed to make it to the small landmass, where he and Ji-su crumbled to the ground.
As they did, the land shifted just a bit—sinking further into the pool for a second before returning to its original position, completely unbeknownst to Ji-su and Min-ho.
They had taken a moment to catch their breath, but they knew it was far from over.
QUAKE!
QUAKE!
CRUMBLE!
The quakes returned in full force. Pillars gave out and fell one by one.
They were far enough to not be a problem, but the acid levels were getting dangerously high.
"Come on!" Min-ho said, getting to his feet and pulling Ji-su along.
Looking ahead, Min-ho could see the land farther along was a bit more elevated than the ones on this side. They just had to get to the walls before the acid levels covered what little land remained, so Jang-book could create a stairway to get them out of here.
He glanced over his shoulder, and it seemed the acid was following like a tidal wave.
"Damn this!" Min-ho said, gripping Ji-su's hand tight as he led the way.
They ran through the small stretch of land, maneuvering around the corpses of Spectors—both giant and small alike. Paying them no mind as the waves swept them up, dissolving them into nothing.
Now nearing the edge of the small landmass, Min-ho peered at the distance between this spot and the wider landmass on the other side.
The space was about five meters. And the stepping stones he had been hopping on were now completely covered by the green liquid.
Instinctively, Min-ho lifted his gaze to the others—and almost immediately, Jang-book gave him a reassuring nod.
Placing all his trust in him, he tightened his grip on Ji-su's hand and ran faster. He didn't falter in the slightest as they approached the edge, where the pool of acid was roiling in every direction.
With only a foot left till they fell in, Jang-book willed the ground to rise.
CRACK!
A small surface area of the ground under their feet shot up. They were propelled across the air—yet they were still a ways off.
Jang-book then willed the ground in front of them to stretch into an inclined slope.
They fell onto it and slid the way down.
Min-ho wrapped his arms around Ji-su as they crumbled to the ground.
"Ugh," Min-ho groaned before forcing himself up, ignoring the pain.
"Come on," he said, pulling Ji-su to his feet and wasting no time making a run for it.
They still had a hundred meters to cover, but the wave of sinister fluids behind them was gaining.
The pillars crumbled one by one, raising the acid levels higher and higher.
The others couldn't do anything but watch, their fears physically manifested in the deadly liquid, rising by the second.
QUAKE!
Min-ho and Ji-su slipped and fell into a roll.
"Isn't there anything we can do?" Im-hee asked, her voice low and weak.
Sae-wee turned to her, her eyes sunken and almost void.
"Only Jang-book can do anything," Sae-wee responded before turning back to Min-ho and Ji-su.
As they rolled, they crashed into an outcropping stone with a groan. Min-ho faced the liquid that was chasing after them. His heart skipped a beat.
"Get up," Min-ho said through gritted teeth, the taste of iron lining his mouth.
He forced himself up and pulled Ji-su to his feet.
Holding his hand firm, he pulled him along and they continued to run.
"We're almost there," Min-ho panted.
They made their way up a narrow slope, putting them that much closer to the others—and farther from the rising acid.
QUAKE!
He held his feet firm, swaying as the vibrations threatened to tumble him and Ji-su off the slope. He maneuvered Ji-su, holding them both in place.
After a second, the vibrations stopped—but what followed was the collapse of an enormous pillar to their right.
It wasn't close enough to hit them, but its size would more than make up for that.
SPLASH!
The pillar fell, and a wave of acid was sent rushing toward Min-ho and Ji-su.
He pulled Ji-su close and turned his back to the incoming wave.
"Screw that!" Jang-book said as he willed a wall to arch over them.
CRASH!
The wave hit, spraying acid in every direction and pouring over the arch.
Min-ho hesitated for a moment. When he opened his eyes, he saw what Jang-book had done.
"Keep moving, the acid is rising!" Dok-su screamed, desperation in every fiber of his being.
Min-ho couldn't help but look down—and when he saw the acid rapidly rising, he gasped and shot forward like a coiled spring.
Ji-su still held on, unable to do anything else. He tried to numb himself to it all, but he couldn't help the fear threatening to cripple him. Yet he fought against it nonetheless.
They kept going until they were once again nearing a dead end.
The edge of the slope had come, leaving a space of seven meters between them and the others.
Like last time, Min-ho chose to trust in Jang-book. He steeled his nerves and ran as fast as he could.
They inched closer and closer. Once they reached the edge, Jang-book… did nothing.