His hand held above his eyes, Noah squinted through the heavy rain. Even with their transparent bodies, it’d been easy to see the Spectres when they were packed together as a swarm. But now that the majority of them had been killed, it took a bit more effort to spot the last ones that still hung around.

Following behind the camp leader was a squad of men and women. They were a mix of both Scouts and Mages. With their Classes being focused on long range fighting, they were well suited for picking off targets that flew around in the sky.

But the remaining Spectres did occasionally make their lives easier on them. As one let out an ear-piercing wail, all their gazes snapped toward the direction of the noise. Of the Scouts, Adam was also present. And he was the first one to react by loosing an arrow at the source of the screech.

Adam then glanced off to the side, before looking back at Noah. He gave him a small nod, confirming the kill.

“Alrighty everyone, we should almost be done here. There shouldn’t be many left to go before we’ve cleared the last of them. Just continue to keep your eyes and ears sharp,” Noah stated. With that, their group moved on with their steady patrol around the camp.

But now that things were wrapping up with the undead, Noah could judge that things had gone fairly well for them. As far as he was aware, nobody had died. Considering the losses they’d sustained after the last attack by a large number of undead, this was a welcome contrast. Yet there was still even more good news beyond just a lack of deaths.

Drinking water had been a source of much concern for the camp leader. Though it hadn’t been an immediate emergency up to now, it’d felt like a water shortage was inevitable. There was only so much water that would be found inside containers. While larger sources like the city’s water tower were confirmed to have been completely compromised by the explosion. And then natural sources such as a pond near the city’s edge and small streams outside it also couldn’t be trusted.

Partially due to how such things were almost certainly tainted with particles from the wrecked city. It was now believed that a high Endurance would help defend against things like pathogens. Since there weren’t really any cases of anyone getting sick or infected by their wounds as they increased the Stat. The assumption was that one's Endurance also somehow boosted their natural immune system to achieve this effect.

However, what else the Stat applied to was unknown. They were pretty sure that bits of metal, glass, concrete, and other such urban materials had entered the local streams.

And then there was the consideration of how the Apocalypse in general had changed nature, like with the climate. There were methods of filtering the water out for things like heavy metals. But in general, it had been considered a last resort due to the overall uncertainty around whether it’d be toxic.

However, the sudden heavy downpour of rain now acted as a real game changer. When Noah glanced around, he could see that with the majority of Spectres now culled, people had calmed back down. With that, they were able to return to their focus on the next most important thing. Which was to collect as much rainwater as possible while they still could.

His thoughts were then cut off. As they heard a couple more wails from up above them.

“I’ll take these ones,” Noah said. He raised a hand and began to channel Mana. His eyes darted through the air to try and find the sources of the wailing.

Then upon spotting his targets, he threw out bolts of condensed Mana. These bolts easily tore through the Spectres. Which even through the thick sheet of rain, the System was still there to act as confirmation for the kills.

EXP Earned!

EXP Earned!

Noah had to admit that the sudden appearance of the Spectres had made for quite the hidden boon. Just from dealing with those that had attacked him, he had earned a substantial gain in Experience Points. Something which had now brought him up to Level 28.

Now he was ever closer to the point of being able to gain his Class Evolution. And, of course, the substantial power boost that it brought.

Then he too could at least have a fighting chance against the Chosen Few. It had felt awful to call himself the leader of this camp of survivors, but to fail in being strong enough to protect it himself. And while he’d be eternally grateful for Jaco’s intervention, he had a duty to be the one that could step up to that plate.

After that, his group continued their patrol of the encampment. They spotted a few more Spectres here and there, but it wasn’t much longer until they killed the last one. Or at the very least, what they believed to be the last.

Noah just assumed so after enough time passed without seeing any or hearing their wails that he felt it was safe to call it. If there were any stragglers, they had to be extremely few in number while also maintaining an extra high distance. Where even with their piercing screeches, they had to be far enough to still not be hearable over the rain.

“Alright guys, good work. If you need to take a rest, feel free. But if not, I’m sure there’s more work to be done elsewhere. Just ask around, I’m sure that there are always people that could currently use a helping hand with collecting the rainwater or something else,” Noah stated. Those in the group just nodded, before they all broke off and went their separate ways.

However, it didn’t take long for the leader of the camp to find a task for him to do. Because as he walked to a high point, something quickly caught his attention. Just outside the camp, he saw three people. Evelyn, Jaco, and Sam.

The three of them were standing around, with Sam throwing up her arms in the air. The loud rain drowned out what was actually being said. But just from the body language and way things looked overall, it seemed like a real commotion.

Sighing, Noah already decided to head over there. He just hoped that whatever was going on wasn’t anything too serious. However, from just how it seemed, the camp leader assumed that he was about to deal with a headache.

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—--

Sam ran over to where Evelyn had been dealing with own massive swarm of undead. Just the very fact that it’d been even larger than Jaco’s had made it stand out all the further. Yet it was a ways away from where she had currently been. And along away, Sam had paused to assist in clearing out other Spectres that got a little too close to the camp’s citizens for comfort.

While she believed herself to still be moving quickly, however, someone else moved even faster. Seeing movement at the edge of her vision, Sam turned her gaze upward. There she saw a small, brown figure rapidly flying through the air. It was hard to see, but looked to be a bird zooming toward the same direction as her.

Jaco? Sam asked herself. She thought that he would have still been dealing with his own Spectres. But when she glanced back to where had been, there were no longer any over there.

Sam’s eyes widened with a fair bit of surprise. Weren’t there hundreds of them? And he really managed to already kill them all? Damn. The ones closer to him in Level should have slowed things down, but even they clearly didn’t give him trouble.

When she then looked back at Evelyn, he had already dropped onto the ground near her in his human form. The Druid then began to defend the redhead and fight off the Spectres attacking her. With Jaco now on the scene, there was less urgency to help out. So Sam slowed down from a run to a still hurried walk.

But as she continued to move forward, there was a sudden change. Jaco stopped his attack on the Spectres and quickly moved back to Evelyn. He reached down to grab her, but then just stood in place. The sudden start and stop of motion made Sam pause in her approach. Yet before she could resume, Evelyn’s voice then yelled out.

“Did you hear me?! I’ve killed people, Jaco! Innocent people! And when my team did the same thing, I was just as complacent by convincing myself otherwise! So just let the Spectres kill me, it’s the least I deserve after everything!” she cried.

Sam took a half-step backward, her eyes fully widened. But shock just as quickly turned into anger as she tightened her grip around her wand.

The suspicions had been there. All the signs had indicated toward Evelyn being a member of the Chosen Few. Enough so that Sam had called her in for a private talk in an attempt to subtly prod at the redhead for more information about it. But other than that, Sam hadn’t taken any action or made any real attempt to directly address that fact.

Because she had hoped that Evelyn was different. That perhaps she was just a recent member who had just as quickly left the Chosen. Someone who would only be guilty by association, but hadn’t actually done anything that could be considered reprehensible.

A large reason for that hope had been due to the redhead’s behavior. Since their first meeting, Evelyn had always appeared to be rather withdrawn and quiet. Rarely speaking out on her own, and choosing to be off the side and out of the main focus. None of these were something that matched the personalities of the Chosen Few.

As far as Sam knew, they were all murderous psychopaths and were proud of it. They were narcissists that flocked under the idea of being “Chosen”. People who had no respect for human life and saw others as nothing more than fuel to be sacrificed for their own growth. When even children weren’t spared in their cruelty, it all the more showed that they were just monsters in human kin.

So when Evelyn’s personality was darn near the opposite in how she presented herself, it’d assuaged Sam’s inherent suspicions. Then add to the fact that Jaco had been the one to first find the redhead and then had brought her here. Sam knew from a previous discussion about his Abilities that as a Druid, he had supernatural instincts. To the point where he could rely on those instincts as a first line of defense against potential dangers or to help him notice when something was off.

And yet what had just been yelled out couldn’t be denied. In her own words, Evelyn had just admitted to being someone that's taken innocent lives. But then, just how many people had she killed? Just how many more had her “team” killed, that she apparently turned a blind eye to? Did they also include children and those were utterly helpless and unable to even defend themselves?

Sam’s jaw tightened with frustration. Though the feeling was largely aimed at herself. In the early days of the Apocalypse, she had failed to see her brother’s unusual behaviors until it was too late. And for that, she’d blamed herself.

Then as a reactionary response, she had mistrusted Jaco. Sam had gone out of her way to be suspicious of him. For no fault of his own than just being unusually strong while she was still reeling from the earlier betrayal. Then when he left, she blamed herself again.

And now as a way to correct for that, she had wanted to trust Evelyn. To put down the suspicious whisper in the back of her mind. Perhaps it was simply naivety, or maybe it was just a desire to believe that not every powerful stranger was a monster in disguise. That there could still be good in people, like Jaco who killed monsters and used that strength to protect others.

As her emotions were a whirlwind, Sam was still standing there. So caught up in her thoughts, she hadn’t initially noticed Jaco carrying Evelyn out of the camp. As he then soon came to a stop and began to wipe out the Spectres that had followed, Sam’s body was tense.

She took a deep and shaky breath. Sam refused to once again be forced to just blame herself. To regret her actions or otherwise inaction for what happened. As the Spectres drawn to Evelyn were very quickly being decimated, Sam steeled herself. At the same time as the final undead were being killed, she moved over to where they currently were.

When she got over the wall, it didn’t take long for her to spot Jaco and Evelyn. And upon seeing the redhead, the flames of Sam’s anger surged. Stomping toward them, she didn’t even care anymore and pointed her wand straight at Evelyn.

“Sam?” Jaco asked as he turned toward her. Meeting his eyes, Sam gritted her teeth. It took everything she had to not just attack Evelyn right there and then.

“Jaco,” Sam said with a scowl “Tell me that I misheard. That Evelyn didn’t just now admit to murdering people just like all the other Chosen.”

The Druid sighed. “No, you didn’t mishear. I still don’t know the details, though. Which is what I want to find out before we do anything else. So for the time being, could you put down your wand?”

During their back and forth, Evelyn was visibly shaky on her feet. Her face was caked with both dirt and blood running down with the rain. But she just stared down at the muddy ground and didn’t seem keen to say anything.

Hearing footsteps stomping through the mud, Sam glanced back. She saw Noah marching toward them. And it wasn’t just him. Coming from a different direction, there was Alex and a few others coming over as well.

Sam’s wand was still raised in the air and pointed at Evelyn. Seeing this confrontation, Noah wore a deep frown as he approached the three of them. And as the others came closer as well, Sam looked between them and the redhead.

“Just what exactly is going on here?” Noah asked.

“Good question,” Sam replied as she focused her gaze on the former Chosen. “Maybe Evelyn would want to be the one to share the truth for all of us to hear.”

Evelyn’s fists tightened into balls. But then she slowly looked up and met the gazes of the small crowd.

“I… I was a member of the Chosen Few. And I’m just as guilty as them for killing people,” she once more admitted. But now, it was for everyone close by to clearly hear.

Alex’s hand had already slowly reached back down for his sword. As Noah just shook his head, the other camp members present looked between each other with widened eyes. Of the small number of people present, a few hadn’t even been there to hear what Levi said to Evelyn. So this was the first time they heard of her association with the Chosen.

The redhead then continued after taking a shaky breath. “I’m just another murderer that deserves death for what I did.”