Eric pushed away the tree branches that were blocking his view, annoyed by how frequently he had to do so.
The trees were growing so fast that new ones were constantly sprouting. Because of this rapid growth, the “older” trees had bigger and heavier branches that at times hung low, while the new trees grew so fast that their tallest branches reached Eric’s face.
According to Alex, the smallest trees around were around the fourth generation of trees, while the ones that bothered Eric were the first and third generations. He also mentioned how each new generation got tougher and tougher. He had been keeping special track of the trees because he used them to train and considered them to be very effective.
“Gotta get Stella to teach me how to do her fireball,” Eric grunted to himself as he cut down some tree branches.
Eric was currently on his way to building D, the same building where he had been when the System first arrived. This time, he didn’t have to escape. They actually planned that he would go on his own while Alex and Anna went to building B.
Both buildings were similar in that all their doors led to the outside. This was important because, thanks to Marcus and his journey to the generator room, they now knew that either single rooms or rooms that led outside. didn’t spawn monsters. And thanks to Stella, they had found out that there were more people on the citizens list than there were in the settlement. So, they now had to find the missing people.
Eric, having crossed the dense part of the forest, once more picked up the pace and began to run. He didn’t run as fast as he could, because even though he was sure that he would arrive with plenty of energy to spare, he didn’t know what he would arrive to. He needed to be cautious, lest he encounter another enemy that he wasn’t capable of hurting like the giant crab. Even at his current conservative pace, he quickly arrived at his destination.
Eric looked at the building thoroughly. It was almost intact, almost. The building was only as thick as the classrooms. On the second floor and to the left, there was a walkway that would connect with other buildings, and even a set of stairs that would lead you to the back entrance of the cafeteria.
On the right side was a building extension that was comprised of special rooms used by different majors. Some specifically for psychology, like a therapy room with a one-way mirror, and others like a mock courtroom for law students. Looking further to the right, he confirmed that the second-floor walkway on that side was also destroyed.
Eric tightened his grasp on the sword hilt and walked toward the leftmost room. He opened the door cautiously and found that the room was completely undisturbed.
“Must’ve been free at the time,” he muttered to himself, turning to the door beside it.
Upon opening the door, he quickly realized that something had occurred. But it didn’t take him long to realize that it wasn’t anything that grave.
Some seats and benches were thrown, but it was clear that it was due to whoever was inside running away in a panic. Already being inside the classroom, he walked to the teacher’s desk and searched it, finding nothing. Makes sense, he thought. Desk didn’t really belong to anyone, it was used by whoever was assigned to the room.
He continued to look through every classroom, finding similar situations to the first two. Either rooms that looked to be untouched or rooms from which people clearly ran out of. He then arrived at the classroom he had been in.
As he opened the door, he felt a bit weird, nothing specific, just weird. It struck him how much things had changed in just a few days. He had been in this classroom barely paying attention to Medellin, and now he returned, missing an eye and wielding a sword. He let out a light chuckle and entered the classroom.
The classroom was also disorganized in the same fashion that others had been, with one difference: a broken window. He walked toward the broken window and saw a trace of blood leading to the teacher’s desk.
Underneath the desk was a single barghest corpse that seemed to have bled out from an injury it suffered by breaking the window. He got up, saw that just like the other rooms, there was no indication of where the people went and continued searching the remaining classrooms.
Having finished checking the final classroom on the ground floor, he stopped as a familiar scent attacked him, not remembering where it was from, he turned the corner with the intention to climb the set of stairs that were there, only to stop and get an answer to the scent.
Human corpses filled the stairs with various chunks bitten out, and some of those chunks of flesh were also on the stairs. Eric pushed the corpses to the side with his foot and climbed the stairs, finding more corpses as he climbed. It was clear that they were all attacked by barghest, and that as the first started to fall, those that followed were easier targets.
Upon reaching the second-floor hallway, he saw more corpses. When he reached the first classroom, he noticed that the door wasn’t closed and pushed it open. Again, more corpses. This time, he saw one or two barghest corpses as well.
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Noticing that some windows were open and others were broken, he walked toward the windows on the other side of the classroom. He looked down through the window and saw more dead. He turned his head to the left and saw a couple more. He noticed that one of those who had fallen through the window managed to crawl a bit, leaving a noticeable blood trail.
“Jumped or fell?” he asked himself in a low voice.
Eric was starting to get uncomfortable, not because of the corpses, but because of his lack of response to them. He was about to take a deep breath, but remembered the smell and left the room instead.
Eric finished searching most of the second floor, with only one room remaining. As he walked through the hallway, Eric found fewer and fewer dead bodies, and the last room he checked had only one person who seemed to have bled out.
When he tried to push the door of the last room, he realized it was closed. He knocked on the door a couple of times and received no answer. He put his sword down and reached for the handle. He didn’t want to murder a person accidentally, if he could help it.
As Eric opened the door, three people lunged at him with makeshift weapons. But there was a reason Eric was alone; it was because he was the strongest, and it wasn’t even a contest.
While his level was 10, his stats were those of someone in the low twenties. Everyone else was struggling to reach level 11 due to the sudden increase in experience needed and the current lack of monsters.
Because of this strength, Eric easily grabbed two of the attackers who were thrusting piercing weapons at him and yanked them toward the third, easily subduing them.
When Eric yanked two of the attackers, he felt little to no resistance. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t even feel any force behind their attacks. He looked at the three people on the floor and then he lifted his head to see the classroom. It was full.
Inside the classroom were students, teachers, and some maintenance workers. Some of them had injuries, even missing a limb or two, while the others simply looked malnourished. He then shifted his attention to a specific teacher at the front.
“Medellin? You ok?” Eric asked.
“Who—Eric?” Medellin asked, confusion written all over his face. “What happened to you?”
“We can stay here and talk, or we can go and get you all food,” Eric said, pausing for a second and allowing his words to sink into the crowd. Seeing their eyes come to life, he continued, “Let’s go, then.”
Eric grabbed his sword, helped the ones who had attacked him get up, and guided them back to the settlement.
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Lydia had already made an extensive map of the sewers, especially considering that it was only two days’ worth of map making. She marked each of the regions in which she had encountered monsters or seen signs of them, avoiding them with ease, and guiding her immediate group through without trouble. It was also easier considering that it only consisted of her and one other.
“How are you doing?” she asked mentally, turning a corner.
“Better. The old man caught up again,” Connor answered mentally, using his skill.
“Good, we’re almost there.”
They had divided themselves into three groups. The first, which consisted of Lydia and another rescuer, was the one in charge of finding a path that would lead them outside.
The second group consisted of Connor and another rescuer, and their job was to be a communication tool using Connor’s telepathy skill. This allowed the first group to explore more freely, finding the best route and for the third group to not go through as much danger, considering their size.
The third group consisted of the entirety of the survivors, and they were being led by the older man that Lydia reported to.
The third group had been struggling to keep up, not only because of their sheer size, but also because of their lack of energy. Risking everything, the old man distributed all the supplies they had, as equally and fairly as he could, but it still wasn’t enough.
There was also the mental exhaustion aspect of it all. Many of the survivors had seen friends and family die, if not by the initial monster wave, then by the trolls, or even humans.
They had taken various pauses to ensure that as many people as possible kept up with the group, but the older man knew that some were being left behind regardless of his efforts.
Through Lydia’s skillful guidance, they made it to the outside, only having encountered a few stragglers here and there. Though it had taken them a considerable amount of time to exit the sewers, their advance was hindered not only by the size of the group, but also by their desire to avoid engaging enemies and having to maneuver around them.
Once outside, their eyes adjusted to the sun, and after getting over the shock of the forest that now surrounded the city, they ventured into it to rest and regroup.
“We’re out of the city, now what?” the older man asked, as he collapsed to the ground, his body aching all over.
“I don’t know,” Lydia said in a voice heavy with fatigue. “Why don’t you give us an idea?”
“Follow the sun?” he suggested mockingly.
Lydia glared at him but quickly stopped, realizing she didn’t even have the energy for that. She let out a small sigh. “Let me… let me just think for a second,” she said, ignoring the growing pain in her stomach. “It might not—” she stopped speaking as she heard a familiar roar, followed by screaming. She whipped her head in the direction of the noise, and she saw it clearly—a single troll was attacking the survivors.
She didn’t know how or when, but one of the trolls had caught on to them. Did we make too much noise? Was it our scent? Was it just bad luck? She asked herself, her mind spiraling.
Connor, not having turned off his skill, heard everything that was going through Lydia’s mind. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. “Get it together!” he said in a loud voice, so that the screaming wouldn’t drown it out.
Lydia, having come to her senses, quickly glanced around, taking in the current situation.
“All of you, make sure that everyone runs in the same direction. It’ll get worse if we get scattered,” she said mentally to all the rescuers. “You,” she said, pointing at the older man, “pick a direction and guide them.” Lydia then got up and ran toward the rampaging troll.
The other rescuers did as they were told and guided all the survivors toward the older man. When they considered they had done enough and the rest could just follow the others, they shifted their attention and ran to join Lydia.
Feeling a growing pit in his stomach that he hoped was due to hunger, the older man began running in a random direction. He didn’t know if he was going south, east, west or north, he just knew he was running deeper into the forest.
He tried to look back, to see how the rescuers were doing, but he couldn’t see anything. The crowd behind him was too big, and the trees were abundant. He kept running without a direction until, suddenly, far in the distance, a pillar of light emerged.