Marcus and his group approached the safe zone while crouching. The closer they got, the more barghests they came across. There were so many of them that the walk that had taken them less than twenty minutes before had now gone on for nearly two hours.
They had been lucky to not get noticed up until now, but if the amount of barghests they had encountered was any indication, the safe zone would be swarmed.
“What are we supposed to do?” David asked in a low voice, urgency clear in his tone. “Look at how many there are. What. Are. We. Supposed. To. Do?”
Marcus furrowed his brow as David repeated his original question, more in amusement than anything else. “We’re almost there,” he said, pointing toward the now visible building. “Now we just have to get into the safe zone.”
They crouched forward until the whole group could see the building in its entirety. They noticed that all the barghests were ignoring the south side of the safe zone and were swarming toward the northern area. However, there were so many of them, that some had no other choice but to start encroaching on the south side.
“On the count of three, we run. Drop the tools if you have to. We don’t know how long that will remain clear,” Marcus said, pointing at an opening. “One, two, three—”
They all dashed toward the safe zone, some threw what they were carrying as far forward as they could, some got it in the zone, and others didn’t. Marcus never let go of the toolbox he was carrying. He had waited a bit, allowing everyone to run before him, so he could see them all clearly.
The first to enter the safe zone was David. He grasped a metal pipe he had gotten from the generator room and did his best to keep the barghests from blocking the only area free from them. Almost everyone managed to enter with only a few scratches; only Marcus and another remained.
Marcus saw how the only remaining member of his group tripped on a bag and how the barghests jumped at him. Without hesitating, he picked up the pace and swung the toolbox at the nearest one; he kept swinging until the fallen member got up and continued running.
When Marcus finally entered the safe zone, the toolbox fell on the ground, as the hand that was holding it could no longer muster any strength to hold it. Marcus stumbled but did not fall as the others grabbed him and took him into the building.
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Stella had been practicing her skill nonstop by the time the others woke up. They had no energy due to the lack of food, but they had recognized the importance of getting stronger, so with whatever energy they had, they began to kill the monsters that approached.
Time passed slowly. Alex came and talked to Stella for a while before he shifted his attention toward the ones who were killing the monsters. He helped some of the people who were struggling. Sometimes he would drag a barghest into the zone and have them kill it inside.
Everyone was starting to get into a rhythm, but it didn’t last long. The amount of barghests that were arriving was far too high for them to handle. Even Alex couldn’t risk fighting in close quarters with those numbers.
Not much later, they heard a commotion from behind the building. Stella and Alex were already running when they saw Marcus being carried into the lobby.
Marcus’s clothes were completely torn. The skin on his arms was similarly torn, some parts even exposing some muscle. People surrounded him, curious to see what had happened.
“Everybody back away!” Stella shouted as she got on her knees and examined Marcus closely. She then whipped her head at David. “What happened?!”
“We, ah… we, it wa—” David wanted to answer, but he couldn’t. It was like he was being pressed down by an invisible weight.
“Answer me!”
“Cool it!” Alex exclaimed, making sure that everyone heard him. “You,” he pointed at some of the onlookers, “take him upstairs, and you two,” this time pointing at Stella and David, “come with me.” Alex grabbed Stella by the arm when she refused to move and dragged her upstairs, with David following closely behind.
They walked toward the room at the end of the hallway. They waited for them to bring Marcus upstairs. When they did, Alex gestured to them to keep an eye on him and entered the room. “Now explain.”
David explained all that had happened and how Marcus had gotten hurt. By the time he was done, Stella had calmed down, and Alex looked more relaxed. They then left the room. David went downstairs along with the ones who had been watching over Marcus, and Stella and Alex took their place.
“Do you think he’ll be alright?” Alex asked as he looked through the room for a shirt.
“Yes. Look, it’s already healing,” Stella said, pointing at the exposed muscle.
Time passed, and Marcus woke up. Instead of fussing over his wounds, which were mostly gone, he got back to his tinkering. Stella knew this would happen and continued with her own training. Alex had returned to helping people kill the monsters even before Marcus woke up and continued doing it until the sun was almost at its peak.
In little less than a day, all three of Eric’s friends had cemented themselves as the leaders of the survivors. They would listen to any request Marcus made, they would seek Stella for instructions, and Alex for guidance.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
For Stella, this was normal. She was used to leadership roles ever since she was young. At first, she actively pursued excelling in everything she could, but by the time she was in high school, leadership roles were just handed to her. She couldn’t join a club without becoming its leader.
Excelling and leading had become her default state. It’s why she enjoyed being around her friends as much as she did. With them she could relax and not worry about how they perceived her. To them, she was just Stella, a friend.
She could blame her parents for the way she was, but she didn’t hate it. It was also thanks to them that she was prepared for emergency situations, even extraordinary ones, like this one.
Alex was also used to people coming to him for help. Whether it was about tutoring or clearing up misunderstandings, he was the one to go to.
Marcus, on the other hand, didn’t really think about what was going on. People were willing to help, and he wouldn’t refuse it.
It had been a couple of hours since Marcus woke up. Stella walked into his work area and said simply, “We’re going after Eric. Get ready.” Marcus didn’t ask a single question and started packing weird-looking devices into a backpack.
“What are those?” Stella asked.
“Not entirely sure yet,” Marcus answered.
Stella nodded, accepting his answer, and the two walked downstairs, exiting the building with the sun at its peak. Some people were surprised by Marcus’s condition, but didn’t ask questions. They approached Alex, and Stella told him the same thing she had told Marcus.
“What made you change your mind?” Alex asked. “I thought you had confidence in him returning.”
“I did, then he returned all injured,” Stella said, pointing at Marcus. “Knowing Eric, he’ll also get hurt,” she added as she fixed her hair.
“Well, let me get ready,” Alex said as he looked at his hands, closed them into fists, and gave her a thumbs up.
Before they left, Stella and Alex went together to speak to David, who was currently in the gym. They needed someone to take charge while they were gone, and Alex had recommended David once more.
Having taken care of everything they needed. They started walking toward the dungeon, but as they approached the edge of the safe zone, they saw something happening near the edge of the new forest.
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The first thing Eric checked once they were out of the dungeon were the bags they were carrying. He nodded, having confirmed that they still had them, and the food was still inside.
He turned to the other man, who hadn’t spoken a word yet, and asked him to taste something from one of the bags. Eric wanted to make sure that the food was still edible.
“They taste the same,” the man answered. “Both the juice and chips are ok.”
Eric nodded, adjusted the bag he was carrying, and touched the dungeon door. The same message that had appeared the first time appeared once again.
Would you like to enter the dungeon Building C: Yes/No
He selected no and started walking toward the gym. The others waited a few seconds. Seeing that Eric wasn’t going to say anything else, they walked quickly to catch up to him and followed him closely.
A few minutes later, Eric stopped because a few system windows appeared before him.
Mental Focus has reached level 4.
Mana Sense has reached level 2.
If Eric was in a different area, like the dungeon or the gym, he would have taken his time to analyze the results of the analysis that the skill had done. However, he wasn’t in an ideal environment, and as he stood still looking at the windows, he noticed movement from the corner of his eye. He closed the windows and crouched, gesturing to the others to do the same.
Eric could clearly see the barghest coming from multiple directions and heading toward the gym building. There were far too many of them for him to take them on, especially with the three people with him. He considered ditching them for a moment, but quickly let go of that idea. They have most of the food, he thought.
He had to think quickly. They were still a few meters away from where they were walking, but one wrong turn or noise and they would be swarmed. He wanted to use his skill to analyze the situation and arrive at the best outcome, but he had far too little mana for it to give any useful answers.
That’s when the vague sense that the skill gave him returned. It was telling him that he needed Mana Manipulation to solve his current situation. Without stopping to think about how it would help him, he selected the skill and spent his only skill point.
You have acquired the skill: Mana Manipulation level 1.
As soon as Eric got the skill, he activated Mental Focus and put it to work on finding a way through his current situation. However, the skill refused to do so and instead gave him the results on its research into mana regeneration.
It basically said that while all the air had mana, not all the mana was in the air, some of it was too dense to be carried by the air, or the air could no longer move any more of it.
The solution it gave him was simple, it was to shove more mana into his body. But before he could think of a way to do so, they were spotted.
A barghest was walking a fair distance beside the group, but a small breeze carried a scent with it. It was a scent that stung its nose, followed by another that was sweet. AS it followed the scent back to its origin, it soon saw something moving behind a tree. It approached carefully so as not to alert its prey, and when it was about to jump, a knife pierced its throat.
Eric had noticed the approaching beast, so he separated himself from the group and struck while its attention was elsewhere. Sadly, his mana had run out, and he couldn’t think of a way to push mana into his body, at least not as fast as he needed to. Eric shifted his focus toward getting to the gym.
They advanced even slower than Marcus’s group had. Marcus’s entire group was composed of young men who had leveled up a bit. Eric’s consisted of only level ones, and they didn’t know how to fight.
Eric would also stop every so often and tell the others to wait as he went forward and killed some lone barghests that were in their way. The others in his group had been remarkably silent throughout their journey, not wanting to be any more of a burden to Eric.
A couple of hours later, they approached the edge of the small forest and hid in some bushes. There was still some distance between the new forest and the gym building, and most of it was occupied by barghests.
His mana was full at this point, and not wanting to spend much time near so many monsters, he tasked it with finding a way through. A couple seconds later, the skill gave him one answer, and one answer only: fight.
The skill considered that Eric no longer had the time to or need to learn how to regenerate mana. It also told him that there were quicker and better paths that he could no longer take.
If he had regenerated mana when the skill told him, the skill would have inferred a more exact direction of where the barghest were coming from and possibly helped them arrive before there were as many as there were now.
Eric took a deep breath and used the skill to determine the best weapon for what he was about to do. The skill refused to work, and Eric took it as the skill saying that it didn’t matter.
Eric turned to the group. “When it looks clear, you run. Got it?” he said in a low voice.
He handed what he was carrying to the others and started walking along the edge of the tree line, leaving the others confused.
When he was at a distance he considered adequate, he grasped the knife firmly, got up, and walked forward, swiftly killing the closest barghest. He was about to move toward another one, but he was seen by multiple barghests.