Since Xavier didn’t have any bandages with him, he walked over to the nearest car and smashed the rear window with a feisty punch.

The window shattered, spraying glass in all directions, and would have cut Xavier if his Vitality wasn’t high already. The shards didn’t even leave scratches on his skin.

Xavier opened the car’s rear and retrieved a medic kit.

Good thing that you need a medic kit in your car in this ‘beautiful’ country. Xavier thought, stressing the word ‘beautiful’ with a tinge of sarcasm.

He nearly chuckled, but it was a good thing that he suppressed his dead humor. The elderly couple and the girl were bawling their eyes out while holding the young teenager’s body in their arms. Laughing aloud would be a bit – no, quite a lot – inappropriate.

“I am sorry for what happened, but I need to tend to your wounds first. Your house is not safe anymore.

If you want to, I can take you to my grandmother’s house. We gathered some survivors there. Adding a few more won’t do any harm,” Xavier offered while moving next to the girl. She flinched upon seeing Xavier but recalled that he’d helped her.

Xavier’s face was drenched in blood just like his clothes. However, he’d shed the blood to rescue them. The girl told herself that over and over again as Xavier opened the medic kit.

“You are drenched in blood. The bandages won’t help her if they absorb monster blood. In fact, it might infect her,” The elderly woman said, gently picking up the medic kit. She forced a smile on her lips as she looked at Xavier. “I know who you are. You’re Zora’s little star. Thank you for saving us.”

Xavier wanted to say something, but he noticed movements to his right. The elderly man’s trembling hand reached out to him. He grasped Xavier’s shoulder and looked at him with teary eyes.

“My wife is a retired nurse. She knows what she’s doing,” The elderly man added, “I would like to thank you as well. We thought that it was over…for all of us…”

The elderly man looked at the teenager who was probably his grandson and grit his teeth. “If I knew that something like this would happen I would have never invited my grandchildren to come over for a meal…”

Xavier didn’t know what to say. He was the worst at consoling others. All he could do was stare at the elderly man. Fortunately, Glut was a little bit more helpful in that regard.

Glut chirped loudly and released small sparks around his body as he circled around the grieving pair of grandparents and their granddaughter. The girl looked up to watch the Ember Sparrow dive down. He stopped right in front of her and chirped loudly before swaying from left to right.

Good job, Glut. Continue distracting her. That should make everything much easier.

Xavier got up to survey if the coast was clear. He looked to the left and right just to see a bunch of Goblins at the other end of the street. They were still far away – for now.

“We have to move. I need to pick up another family before they…” Xavier didn’t have to speak any further. The elderly couple understood what Xavier meant. Tears kept flowing down their eyes as they nodded gloomily. Their house was not safe anymore.

“Give us ten…no, five minutes…please…” The elderly man said, wiping his tear-streaked face with his wrinkled hand before rushing inside the house.

He came outside a minute later with some stuff and a blanket which he used to cover his grandson’s body.

In the next few minutes, the elderly man moved through the house to collect clothes, food, and various necessities to survive.

He was also holding an old hunter rifle. Xavier used this time to collect the Common Card Shards the Goblins had dropped. There were enough to form a new Common Card.

Pierce

Common - Level 1(0%)

Weapon Enhancement

Active

Requires Energy

Effect – Enhances the penetrative force of a projectile

–

Enhances piercing effect according to Card Level.

Energy Consumption adjusts according to Card Level

“Am I Leyla’s card creator or what?” Xavier grumbled quietly to himself as he read through Pierce’s effect.

He figured that he could use Pierce on Air Bullet, but Pierce’s effect suited Leyla much better. She could use Power Shot and Pierce as a combo to assassinate Goblin Warriors and maybe even Insightful Infected.

It was better than nothing, but certainly not the most efficient for Xavier. That was a little regretful.

He glanced back to the group of Goblins that inched closer slowly. They’d encountered a small group of Infected, but it wouldn’t take long before the Goblins reached them.

“We’re ready,” The elderly man said, his chest pounding.

He cloaked his grandchild in blankets and picked his body from the ground. They didn’t want to leave their grandchild behind for the Goblins to trample on.

Xavier respected their wishes and didn’t say anything about that. He decided to distract himself by focusing on Glut, who’d been circling around the girl for a while now.

Glut noticed Xavier watching him and descended onto his shoulder, chirping happily.

Integrate eight Soul Essence into Glut(Lightly Injured)?

Xavier agreed to use the Soul Essences he’d farmed to strengthen Glut further. He was strong enough to deal with Goblins and Infected easily. Goblin Warriors and Insightful Infected might be a little bit more complicated, but Xavier was certain that if he strengthened Glut, it would be feasible.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

If he focused solely on his own advancement, Glut would be left behind and he would obtain less Soul Essences and Card Shards from killing Goblins.

His current Foundation was perfect to farm Soul Essences and Card Shards. Creating a proper deck – even if it was with mere Common Cards – seemed feasible. Furthermore, Glut was an exceptionally useful asset in combat. Strengthening Glut had already proven to be a great investment.

[Glut’s Foundation reached 50. Common rarity Evolution Path has been unlocked.]

[Integrate 50 Soul Essences into the Common Evolution Path ‘Ashen Sparrow’ to initiate evolution!]

50 Soul Essences? Glut should have less than that… Oh, obviously Glut obtains Soul Essences from killing enemies. It makes sense. It is an Evolution Path…Common rarity. Does that mean Glut can unlock Evolution Paths of higher rarity as well? Probably…And other monsters can probably do the same…

Xavier couldn’t really tell if all monsters had higher Evolution Paths but he presumed so. It was something he and Glut could test out. They didn’t have 50 Soul Essences to integrate into the Ashen Sparrow Evolution Path, either way. Xavier might as well focus on integrating more Soul Essence into Glut’s Foundation.

As they departed, Glut ascended into the air once again. The little Ember Sparrow began to distract the young girl by circling above her head. That made their departure much easier.

Xavier led the small group of the three survivors.

He ushered them through the streets and walked in the direction of the fighting Goblins and Infected. Once they were less than ten meters away from the skirmish, Xavier gestured to the others to move left and stay away from the predators.

The survivors could only nod. They returned to the cobbled path that connected to the village’s main street.

There were no monsters in the cobbled path. All there was was a bunch of corpses Xavier left behind when he first walked through the cobbled path.

He returned to the main street a minute later to check on the girl and the elderly couple, but he didn’t head to the intersection leading home immediately. Instead, Xavier told them to stay hidden for a minute while he rushed back to pick up the survivors he’d seen earlier.

Now that he had already started a rescue mission, Xavier figured that he should do it properly. He jumped on top of the wall compound and crossed it smoothly.

His movements were rapid and fluid, allowing him to climb up with the support of pipes to reach the first-floor balcony of the same old house where he saw a family hiding earlier.

The family saw him but they didn’t dare to open the windows and talk to him. All they could do was cry as they stared at him. And he could understand their hesitation. He was covered in blood and bits of flesh so he looked more like a killer than a savior.

“That is…” He mumbled, shutting his mouth as he saw one of them pressing a piece of paper against the window for him to read the hastily scribbled note on it.

–We cannot leave. Julian is not himself anymore. He is on the ground floor. We cannot leave with him roaming around. –

Xavier was not sure who Julian was, but he was pretty sure that he knew him. One way or another, Julian must have turned into an Infected. The others didn’t, and they made it to the second floor without getting scratched or bitten.

“Time to kill Julian, I guess…” He sighed deeply and unsheathed the emerald dagger set. He moved around the house and reached the front yard where the bloody skirmish from earlier was about to end.

Xavier kicked the ground and joined the battle, killing three Goblins and two Infected to end the skirmish by being the sole survivor.

He turned to the entrance of the house and activated Air Bullet to burst open the lock. Xavier kicked open the entrance and charged inside with another Air Bullet ready to be released at any moment.

He moved through the first floor but quickly noticed that someone, or something was banging against a door near him. Julian had turned into an Infected just like Xavier expected. He peered at the young man for a second and faintly recalled having exchanged pleasantries sometime ago.

That young man was now reduced to just an empty shell of a human, his soul long gone. Infected Julian was scratched at the door to the second floor, his head banging against it loudly. He was not even aware of how his fingers were bloodied and his nails broken as he kept pounding at the door.

The only thing he could sense was the humans on the other side and the urge to sink his teeth into them.

Infected Julian was not even paying attention to Xavier as he stepped up the creaking wooden staircase. Julian did not even turn around as Xavier’s dagger pierced through the back of his head. Julian never paid attention to Xavier.

Somehow, Xavier felt bad. He looked at Julian and recalled him from the tennis court. Their village had a small tennis club and Xavier sometimes helped out making sure that the open tennis court would be maintained.

In exchange, he’d been given some lessons in the past. It had been a while since Xavier was there but he recalled Julian.

Killing people you know is really shit. They’re dead already, but their faces are still the same…mostly… What a shitty world we live in.

Julian’s body crashed to the ground. It fell down the stairs where it remained unmoving. Xavier was just about to open the door to the second floor when he stopped in his tracks.

He walked down the staircase, moved the corpse to the side, and covered it with a blanket before he opened the door to the second floor with a kick.

The wooden door was ripped out of its frame and burst into several pieces. Squeals and screams echoed through the house but Xavier didn’t have the time and patience to pay much attention to that.

“Hurry up and come out. We’re gathering the survivors. Pack your stuff in a minute and get out of here,” Xavier ordered, his tone demanding obedience.

He didn’t even look at the survivors – somewhat fearing how they would react to his appearance and the fact that he killed Julian – and added, “I will leave if you don’t come. I have other survivors with me.”

The only reason he left elderly couple and the girl was Glut. The Ember Sparrow could distract a small group of Goblins.

In fact, given Glut’s Foundation, Xavier was pretty sure that the Ember Sparrow could kill a group of up to 10 Goblins while protecting the elderly couple and the girl.

“O-okay…we’re coming. P-please wait for us!” A quiet voice reached his ears. Xavier nodded and decided to wait outside.

A minute later screams filled the house once again. Xavier heard them from outside and sighed heavily. He figured that they found Julian’s body.

Another minute passed before four pale women walked out of the house, their expressions deadly pale. One of the women was Julian’s long-term girlfriend, Xavier recalled. As for the rest, Xavier was not sure who they were.

“You guys are not from here, right? Were you partying, or coming over for Julian’s match?” Xavier asked out of curiosity, realizing way too late that his nosy personality made him ask inappropriate questions. Julian just died. Why would he ask what the women were doing here? How did that even matter?

“Forget about that. Let’s get moving,” Xavier commanded. He returned to the cobbled path with the new followers and reunited with Glut, whose loud chirping attracted the pale women’s attention.

Distract all of them. That’s good. Less work for me.

Xavier felt that his mind and attitude were a little bit cold toward the women and the elderly couple, but he was not confident in protecting everyone if a group of hundred or more Goblins were to attack.

He could protect himself well enough to survive but the moment they got sandwiched in between two Goblin groups, it would be difficult to protect everyone.

Therefore, they had to get moving – fast.

Xavier didn’t use the intersection near the roundabout to return home. Instead, he made a big detour in the other direction where a small, slippery staircase made of stones led up to the hill they lived on.

Xavier didn’t use that path before because it was a detour and because he didn’t know if mutated animals from the forest would attack them.

However, he figured that a bunch of mutated monsters were easier to deal with than potentially attracting the attention of the entire Goblin Community. The latter was something Xavier wanted to avoid by all means given that he had scared survivors with him.

They were fortunate enough to avoid attracting the attention of mutated monsters. Xavier saw a few avian monsters and a deer with two heads but no mutated animal attacked them. That was great – if not for a large blazing boar entering his sight as he reached the end of the staircase.

It charged at something – someone…a group of people, survivors…