The meals prepared by his mother and the other women taking refuge in Zora Vador's house were simple but tasty. They didn't use lots of seasoning to have some leftovers for future use and put most perishable ingredients into today's meals. After all, it was unsure how long the fridges would work. Electricity was bound to stop working sooner or later, the only question was 'when'. When electricity would leave mankind in darkness, would they have to resort to living like cavemen?
The sheer thought was enough to make a room full of people not utter a word. A gloomy atmosphere was all around the living room where close to two dozen people ate silently. Some suppressed their tears while others let tears stream down their face freely. Never did they imagine ending up in such a miserable state.
Xavier was among the minority, who enjoyed the meal. He was feeling hungry despite having taken a generous first helping.
"Sorry honey, we have to make sure that we have enough food for the next few weeks. You won't be able to eat as much as usual," Silvia told her son, smiling apologetically at him.
Xavier sighed but agreed. There was nothing else he could do – other than think about going out to hunt a blazing boar to feast on its tasty meat.
Now that lunch was over, Xavier got up. He cleaned his weapons and sharpened them with a whetstone they'd found in the basement before he would go out to hunt again.
My energy storage is full. Does that mean food replenishes energy faster as well? So meditating and eating like a glutton. Sounds nice!
By the time Xavier was done with the quick maintenance of his weapons, his mother pushed a wooden tray filled with food toward him. For a moment, he thought his mother took pity upon him and that she'd noticed how hungry he was. Unfortunately, his mother crushed his hope mercilessly.
"Can you take this to Leyla? She will probably be hungry once she wakes up."
"Hmmm," Xavier grumbled before proceeding to heed her command.
No matter how powerful he would grow, Xavier knew that he would always be at his mother's mercy. But, well. It could be worse.
Xavier took the food tray and went to his room to find Leyla sleeping. She was clutching the pillow tightly and a thin sheen of sweat was glistening on her face. Her hair was sticking to her temples as well.
Probably a nightmare. Even more likely a dream replaying the horrible incident about her grandmother turning into an Infected with glaring clarity and the memory of her having to kill the person she cared the most about.
Xavier felt sorry for Leyla, but he had no idea what to do. He placed the wooden tray on the side table and noticed that the Power Shot Card was not there anymore.
She must have linked it to her Deck. At least, she is not totally against Cards. That's good. Really good!
Xavier left the room to give Leyla the space she needed right now. On his way outside, he noticed that everyone resumed searching and collecting buckets, and all kinds of containers to store water. Tap water in the village was potable.
Therefore, they had to store as much as possible since they had no idea how long they had access to it. Just like electricity, the water supply could be cut at any moment.
While the loss of electricity was still acceptable and manageable, it was a no-brainer to say that they needed water to survive.
We won't need any more water once the Monster Gate is stabilized. Everyone will be dead by then.
That sounded pessimistic, but it was the truth- a bitter truth nobody wanted to know about. Xavier reminded himself of his task at hand and stepped outside to do exactly that.
After returning to hunting, Xavier used a shortcut to move to the main street of the village. He ended up near the spot where he and Leyla met in the morning, but something felt off. It was too silent, and too clean.
The corpses of the Infected have been cleared. Was it the Goblins? Could they be using the Infected to nourish and stabilize the Monster Gate as well? If that's the case…I, no we…don't have that much time anymore.
Xavier had been avoiding keeping track of the countdown of the Hidden Mission to not let the pressure weighing down on him increase. The less time left on the countdown, the higher his anxiety to eradicate the Goblins and get over with it soon. And that would make him fluster and lead to mistakes which could turn fatal in the worst scenario.
But now he found himself second-guessing his decision to not check the timer that was slowly ticking away. The uncertainty that began to plague him with the disappearance of the Infected's corpses was even worse.
[14H:19M:58S]
Luckily, it was not as bad as Xavier expected. He could do a lot in 14 hours. The only bothersome fact was that the sun would go down in less than eight hours. Xavier couldn’t see well at night, and given that most of the street lamps were broken, hunting at night was not feasible.
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Exterminating the Goblins in eight hours... That sounds fun. Yay! Xavier thought, his expression dead serious.
While paving his way through the main street until he reached the intersection that connected him to the street up the hill and the roundabout where the Goblin Community was located, Xavier stayed vigilant. The ruby katana was already unsheathed and resting in his hands. Upon reaching the intersection, Xavier retrieved a pair of binoculars that he had taken from his grandmother’s storage.
He could see well enough from his current spot, but since he didn’t want to reveal his presence and stare at the Goblin Community so openly, Xavier sneaked into the nearest house. For the first time since he upgraded his Star of Strength, Xavier made use of his physical strength. He kicked the door open with all his might, ripping the door out of its frame in one go.
Damn, am I a superhuman now?
Chuckling to himself, Xavier entered the house. Not a single Infected nor survivor was left inside. Xavier could only hope that the owners of the house were doing fine. A good thing was that he didn’t really have much time to think about the property owners.
The two-story building had a window to the main road. He could look straight at the Goblin Community, and observe them, which was exactly what Xavier did for a few minutes until he understood how the Goblin society moved and functioned.
Every few minutes new Goblins spawn. They seem to know what they have to do as they group up naturally before they move away from the roundabout. But they never leave the Monster Gate’s vicinity. There are always more than 100 Goblins at or near the Monster Gate. Dealing with those 100 Goblins at once is not something I am capable of even if I’m physically stronger. There are simply too many and they can use tools as well. How about agitating some other monsters to lead them to the Goblin Community? Gathering all Infected might take a while, but if I can lure the Infected to the roundabout, it should be possible to destroy the Monster Gate in the chaos.
A few plans formed in Xavier’s mind, but none of them sounded like ‘THE plan.’
Therefore, he chose to act while continuing to think of more plans to solve the Monster Gate issue.
The Monster Gate was all that mattered. It was not really necessary to kill every single Goblin in the next 14 hours as long as the Monster Gate was destroyed. Xavier wouldn’t receive all rewards in that case but surviving was definitely more important than raking in some rewards.
Using the binoculars, Xavier saw something that attracted his interest. He caught sight of the green skin of the Goblins in a narrow, cobbled path. The path came into existence when two elderly neighbors began to fight each other a few years ago.
Both sides were adamant that a small strip of land located between the two houses belonged to them. The scuffle soon turned into a full-blown fight until the officials had to intervene.
The building blueprints were retrieved and it was found out that the small stripe of land belonged to none of the two. It was still owned by the government. To show the elderly homeowners that they couldn’t act as they pleased, the officials decided to create a cobbled path over the small strip of land.
And that was exactly where Xavier saw a group of Goblins. They were heading to the neighboring street while making all kinds of weird noises. Just like that, Xavier found his first targets to test his new powers.
Xavier felt much stronger, a lot faster than before, his entire being was overflowing with vitality and energy, and he was more perceptive than before. However, Xavier had yet to find out the true extent of his powers.
Was he really a ‘superhuman’ now, or did he just feel like one and his power was actually not that impressive? There was only one way to know.
Leaving the house, Xavier pocketed the binoculars. He jogged to the side path further away from the roundabout and disappeared. From one second to the next, Xavier used his full strength to cross the cobbled path. He used Dash to accelerate further and shorten the gap between himself and the Goblins.
The Goblins’ pointy ears twitched when Xavier’s steps resounded on the cobbled path. They turned around and cackled loudly, exhilarated to find a prey charging at them. The Goblins readied their weapons and adjusted their stance before charging at Xavier.
But before the Goblin Archers could even think about pulling their bowstrings back and shooting Xavier, an invisible force impacted heavily. Something heavy crashed onto their bows, breaking them in one go.
Xavier’s surprise attack with the Air Bullets was a great success. He saw the Goblins cackle loudly and roar in their high-pitched voices as the bows cracked, but he didn’t have enough time to focus on the Archers.
A group of Goblin Spearman, Goblin Swordsman, and Goblin Assassins charged at him with bloodlust in their eyes. They didn’t even consider him a worthy enemy nor did they seem to fear death.
All the Goblins could think about was blood and slaughter. They were no better than starving beasts.
Xavier lowered his upper body and accelerated further. Dash was still fully utilized, yet it felt completely different than before. His muscles contracted and he kicked the ground with a bit more force than before. All of a sudden, he accelerated further.
I can go even faster than that? How about now? Can I move faster than that?
Surprised by the sudden boost in speed, Xavier emerged in front of the first Goblin. But instead of slashing the Goblin with the ruby katana, he pushed past the green beast. Xavier evaded the Goblin Spearman’s spear thrust with a smooth side-step and pushed himself further. Defeating the Goblins was what he ought to do, however, the strength that surged through him all of a sudden distracted him too much.
Faster…I can go faster! Much faster!!
Xavier didn’t even realize that his subconscious had put a limit on his body. His physical strength and perception advanced rapidly, but his mind was finding it hard to keep up. His subconscious still thought of him as an ordinary young man, and that he couldn’t be stronger than the most powerful man of mankind. But was that really the case? Xavier looked athletic rather than bulky, yet he felt like the Star of Agility improved his speed to run on par with the fastest sprinter in the world.
What if he went all out now that the Star of Agility reached the next rank? Would he still be slower than the fastest human in the history of mankind?
Xavier’s eyes glimmered brightly as they overflowed with vigor and excitement. His desire to move faster, strike harder, and perceive everything in his surroundings reached a crescendo, and at last…the limits his subconscious had put on Xavier disappeared.
At last, Xavier accepted that he couldn’t go back anymore. There was only one path for him. The path straight ahead!
****
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