Writhing white bones.
Hodge found it hard to understand how those two words could possibly go together.
But he soon had no time to dwell on it. Jogging in short strides, Hodge looked back at the white fog behind them, his face turning ashen.
"Damn it, damn it! How can they run so fast?!"
Their earlier estimates, made by Hodge, Ash, and Gwen, had all been based on the movement speed of the fog.
But the white bones chasing after them were clearly anything but normal.
"Look closely. The fog itself isn't moving quickly, but the white bones are!" Gwen pointed into the distance.
The white fog drifted slowly toward them like a gauzy curtain, while that mass of writhing white bones was like a semi-truck crashing through the curtain, dragging the entire veil along at high speed and pulling long arcs out along both sides.
"That's right. The white fog is only rolling southward, but those white bones are chasing us." Ash's voice came from above. Hodge turned to look back.
There did not seem to be many white bones, but they had successfully dragged the entire expanse of white fog along with them. And their target was unmistakably clear: the retreating Expeditionary Force!
"This won't do. We can't keep this up!" Hodge grew anxious. The white bones were moving far faster than expected. At this rate, they might not make it to the train before it arrived!
"How far away are the white bones now?" Hodge looked up and asked Ash. He was a Transcendent, and his eyesight far surpassed that of ordinary people.
"Less than five kilometers. They've already passed the marker we left behind."
"Five kilometers... Looks like we'll have to clash with them."
The soldiers of the Expeditionary Force had clearly sensed that something was