The Anima that he just fought was a low-level Calamity class, and it was nothing like the high-ranking disaster classes! This calamity class could probably take on fifty disaster classes all on its own and it would be fine! That meant that the high-level calamity class would be far stronger than the low-level calamity class!
Mark knew he had to be at his very best if he wanted to stand a chance against it.
Mark turned and began to walk out to continue down the tunnel again, but footsteps from down the tunnel made him pause as he immediately brought up his guard again. Mark peered with narrowed eyes into the darkness of the tunnel and he finally calmed down when he noticed that the people coming towards him were human. There were two men and a woman coming to him.
One of the men was holding the woman upright with her hand over his shoulder, and the second man there was leading the way. Mark didn't recognize any of them, but it was obvious that they recognized him because they immediately started coming towards him.
"Vanitas. Is that you? What in the world are you doing here?"
Greg was the one leading from the front, and he couldn't stop his surprise from showing once he saw Mark. He thought that Mark would get stuck on the surface since he didn't come with the other superhumans. The monsters up there were far more than the monsters down here, so Greg assumed that Mark would not be able to come down here.
But the fact that Mark was here immediately made Greg optimistic about the surface. Mark being here must mean that the superhumans up on the surface managed to defeat the Anima there!
"Where are the other superhumans? Are they going down the other tunnel? Are they coming from behind you? We need a healer to help with some of the injuries here… Why aren't you saying anything?"
Greg just kept talking optimistically as he looked down the tunnel, but his voice slowly died out as he realized that Mark was not saying anything in response. Mark was just looking at him with a hard stare that showed no emotion. Greg asked Mark what was wrong and why he was looking at him like that.
"Where is everybody, Mark?"
Mark didn't like the look that Greg was giving him. That hopeful shine in Greg's eyes would only make things worse for him when he learns about what happened up there.
"I don't know how many survived exactly, but most of the superhumans up there were killed by the Anima. They were overwhelmed by the sheer number and they couldn't fight back or change their strategy quickly enough to survive. I was only able to save about five or six people but for the rest… I don't know. They might be dead, or not."
Greg felt all his energy leave him at once immediately after he heard this, and it was only through sheer will that he didn't fall to his knees. He closed his eyes in despair as he felt a great wave of anguish pass through him. What is the meaning of all this? They came here with almost fifty people and they were all dead? Was this really how great the difference between them and the Anima was?
The two superhumans behind Greg were also bowing their heads and they were silent as they contemplated what they were going to do now. The only thing they could hope for was that the helicopter pilot was not killed. That was the only way they could get off this damn island of death.
Mark suddenly spoke up to break the depressing silence that settled on the three superhumans. He knew that they were sad about their comrades dying, but he didn't have time to waste here. He had to find Arit before something happened to her.
"You said that there was another tunnel. Do you know which of the tunnels leads to the main chamber here? I need to find my way deeper into that chamber."
Once Mark said this, Greg looked up in shock! What nonsense was Mark talking about!? He still wanted to go deeper into the main chamber? After everything that already happened?
"Don't be crazy, Vanitas. This mission is already messed up and there is no need for you to go deeper into the tunnels! What we need to do now is to find a way out of here so we can get back to the mainland!"
Mark narrowed his eyes and spoke dismissively.
"You can leave if you want to, but I am not leaving without my friend. I came here without any of you and I will finish my mission alone if I have to."
"Don't be stupid! We should go back and tell the government about this so they can blow this island to hell! Your friend is probably already dead!"
Mark grabbed Greg by his collar and dragged him off his feet easily! Greg was shocked by how easy it was for Mark to lift him off his feet and into the air so that his toes were barely touching the ground! Greg was no pushover, and he knew that he was fast, so how in the world was Mark able to grab him so quickly!?
"I'll only let it go once because I don't know who the fuck you are, but if you ever talk about letting her die again, I'll tear your heart out of your chest. No one is blowing anything up until I have my friend. Now, what is the direction to the main chamber?"
Greg glared at Mark and immediately thought about attacking him in anger! This fool was going to get them all killed because of his teenage crush! Mark was still just a teenager and Greg was sure that this was just his hormones telling him to keep moving forward like some sort of stupid superhero!
He was only doing this because it was a female friend that was captured and he wanted to feel like a hero!
But then an image of his own children flashed in front of his mind, and Greg closed his eyes and forced himself to calm down. He was being too rash right now; it was only his fear that was telling him to abandon a young girl to these monsters and kill her. If James heard what Greg just said to Mark, then James would have beaten the crap out of him!
"Yeah, sorry. I shouldn't have spoken about your friend like that. Can you drop me? I'll tell you whatever you want to know."
Mark raised a brow at how quickly Greg agreed to help him. He thought that Greg would put up more of a fight than this.
Greg was a very level-headed person and he always thought about things from more than one perspective before taking action. Greg knew that Mark would not agree to go back, and Greg understood because he would have done the same if it was his son or daughter that the Anima took.
Mark finally set Greg back on the ground calmly, and Greg straightened out his shirt with a small frown before turning to point down the dark tunnel.
"There is a blockage leading down that way, so I don't think this is the main tunnel leading to the chamber. If you follow us back, then you can follow the other tunnel down the left side and go to the chamber. I think you will have a better chance if you follow that path."