Chapter 36: Calm Before the Storm
Solemnly glancing at the three people currently unconscious in front of us, I thought for a moment. While aimlessly swinging the newly acquired sword around, I thought about our next course of actions.
After a moment, a single voice broke my growing train of thought.
“What should we do?”
Like a small child looking up at their parent for guidance, Hina directed that question my way, a look of mild anxiety masking her normally pensive face.
Ignoring her for a second, I wordlessly used [identify] on the black sword in an attempt to straighten my thoughts out.
Ding!
Instantly, the familiar layout of blue once again appeared in front of me.
Metallic Ore Long Sword
A beginner sword often used by beginners. Contrary to its appearance, it isn’t all that remarkable.
Damage: 24 - 30
+5 strength
+5 Agility
[Equip] Skill Bonus
+15 Agility
Level Requirement: 8
The bonuses and stats on the object were decent enough. Rather, as the only other weapon that I’ve run into besides Efhermet with a level requirement, these types of stats were barely adequate. In actuality, [Equip]’s skill bonus gave better increases than the actual weapon itself, which left an even worse impression for me.
Although if I had to say something, I’m feeling a bit of pity. Not pity for myself, but rather, pity for that brown haired kid who I stole this sword from. Just imagining that guy’s excitement upon reaching the level requirement for this thing… and then to ultimately have it taken away… I lamented over that guy’s misfortune, but in the end, I still had no intention of giving this black sword back.
While it may not be as good as Efhermet, fighting with a sword is undeniably much safer. If you factor in the range aspect, a sword has the definite advantage.
After thinking things over like this, Hina’s voice once again brought me back to reality. As I turned to glance at her, her expression had a look of mild irritation added to her earlier anxiety.
“Well… considering the fact that I messed up earlier and let the slanty eyed kid escape, we’ll have to change locations before we can start asking questions…” Eventually I gave my delayed answer.
Upon my suggestion, Hina seemed to agree whole heartedly, all the while adding, “Yeah… I think that’s the safest option… for all we know, the other boy might have already ran back to their Boss…”
I subconsciously nodded.
The possibility that Slanty eyes went back and reported me to his boss… it wasn’t impossible, rather, it was definite.
Factoring in the fact that we knew next to nothing about the fighting potential the boss and the rest of his supposed underlings have, sticking around any longer would just be detrimental.
Jeez… all this trouble just because I got a bit too cocky…
I inwardly sighed.
“Hide, how strong do you think the Boss is?” Hina asked with a worried expression on her face.
I silently looked over her for a minute before I redirected my expression to the ceiling. Mulling over my words, I stayed silent for a while before responding with, “I’m not too sure… I can’t give out a definite answer, but considering how these guys were so scared of him, I’d say he’s at least at a higher level than the people I fought… but…”
I hesitated for a bit, trying to decide the proper words. “... what’s important right now isn’t level, but…”
Before I could finish, Hina interjected. Her voice was hurried, and showed no signs of trying to mask her anxiety. “Skills right? They were talking about that earlier, how the Boss had a sort of… something… They could only be talking about skills, right? I mean what else is there?”
I nodded at her words. “Yeah, more than likely, this Boss guy has a skill or two. There’s also the other group, the ones in the cafeteria. It seems like they’ve got a guy with a skill as well…”
Hina nodded twice. Her anxiety ridden face was quickly replaced by a more serious expression as she knitted her eyebrows in concentration. “We don’t really know alot about them, but from what I’ve gathered earlier…
There are two groups.
Each group has at least one person with a skill.
The first group has a base within the cafeteria and has at least 50 people. As to whether they are friendly or not…
The second group has an unspecified base somewhere with an unspecified number of people. All we do know is their being ruled by a guy they call Boss and they are definitely not friendly…”
As Hina lapsed into silence, I took this chance to add, “... the two groups are in conflict. The reason is food, which doesn’t really surprise me. Even when it was just the three of us in the old school building, food was still a struggle to find. If we expand our circumstance to 50 + people…”
My words trailed off as Hina nodded in agreement.
I continued on, “... but, levels, skills, circumstance, that’s not really important. Everyone’s starving, and between the three of us, we’ve all got skills and we’re all generally high level. What matters most right now is mentality…”
Looking a bit confused Hina shot a look at me. “What are you saying? Skills and levels are obviously-”
“He’s killed people.”
Interrupting her, that simple, three word sentence was enough to clamp Hina’s mouth shut. Her expression went rigid, and despite the summer heat, her body shivered.
“You heard what they said right? The Boss doesn’t hesitate to kill people… That sort of mentality… that sort of mentality might be best for this type of situation….”
As the words escaped my throat, I couldn’t help but hang my head down. I was honestly a bit ashamed of my own words, yet undeniably, I was certain to their validity.
Killing without hesitation, being able to domineer someone in adverse situations, take control through fear… those were the type of things I was capable of when my opponents were mere monsters. In that regard, the Boss and I were similar, except Boss’s monsters were people…
While my eyes stayed fixated on the floor, I didn’t need to look up to tell that my words had an impact on Hina. Thanks to my sensory enhancing skill, I could tell her breath was ragged, that her heart was beating much more rapidly. I could hear the shock as she tried to stutter out a response… yet no words came out.
“Anyways, for now, let’s switch locations and as for these three…” Trying to change the rather dark mood that had formed, I quickly changed the subject as I sent a glance towards the trio. “we’ll bring at least one of them with us… for interrogation purposes…”
After reaching that sort of conclusion, I brushed past the still silent Hina as I immediately moved towards the group with the intention of carrying one towards our new location. I bent down and reached for one of our “captives”; the psychotic female who was frantically waving a pair of scissors just minutes ago
I managed to grab her limp arm, but before I could successfully sling her over my shoulder, a tugging on my left sleeve stopped me.
Towards my side was Cielle.
Her arm firmly grasping onto my shirt, while her head had a somewhat dissatisfied look on her face. At least, that’s the type of feeling I got from her. I couldn’t really tell. While she did look like she was pouting, the cascade of jet black hair that hid her eyes and most of her face made it a bit difficult to tell, even from this close of a range.
While her obliviousness towards the dark conversation Hina and I had somewhat relaxed me, causing me to breath out a sigh of relief, her current attitude and actions did somewhat left my mind reeling.
I reflexively tilted my head to the side in confusion.
Cielle who interpreted my confusion properly, hesitated for a bit, before, with great difficulty, managed to muster out the words, “W-what… do you think you're doing?”
Through the curtain of hair, I could make out a rather dark glint in her eyes.
Did I not properly explain the situation?
Thinking that the usually quiet Cielle may have been a bit confused with my earlier explanation, I went on to clarify.
“After all this trouble, it would be advantageous to leave with at least one of these guys, you know.. for interrogation purposes. If things continue as they are now, we might be entering in what could be most comparable to a “turf war”. If something like that does happen… it’s best to be at least somewhat informed about our enemies….”
Looking over at Cielle after I finished my explanation, my face somewhat cramped after seeing her unchanging expression.
“..But, w-why are you… grabbing the girl?” she asked… a hint of malice(?) in her voice.
Seeing her out of character expression, I subconsciously took a step back. I tensely gulped and proceeded to explain with a bit of haste. “W-well, because we can’t possibly carry all three of them, right?.”
“....”
“T-the bald guy’s a bit too big. Although with my strength stat, it’s not impossible for me to carry him, moving while lugging someone like that around would be very difficult. As for the brown haired kid.... he’s kind of got vomit on his face and shirt so….
A-anyways, the girl is the lightest one out of the three, so she’ll be easier to carry.”
After stating this, Cielle continued to fixedly stare at me, but otherwise remained silent. After what felt like a good amount of time under her scrutinizing glare, she eventually, albeit with reluctance, released my sleeve. Although her face was still expressing major disagreeability, she obediently moved over.
A bit confused but assured that the situation was resolved, I inwardly sighed before I reached for the unconscious girl once more. As my arm reached around her waist, I could hear an anxious gulp from behind me, but as to why such a noise was produced, I don’t know.
I then quickly hoisted her over my shoulder without much delicacy. Although my treatment may have been a bit harsh, I couldn’t really be bothered by such things. This was the easiest method for me, despite how poor the treatment may be.
Afterwards, I turned back around to look at the sisters.
Hina had a somewhat tired expression on her face while she sported a wry smile, while Cielle, still somewhat filled with malice, had puffed up her chest while a smug expression plastered her face. She seemed a bit happy and occasionally sneered at the girl next to me.
I’m not too sure, but maybe Cielle had a grudge towards this girl prior to the apocalypse?
Anyways, pushing aside needless thoughts, I quickly moved back into the hallway, this time with an unconscious girl over my shoulders and Cielle and Hina close on my trail.
*****
(Perspective Change)
Run.
Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run.
That single word defiantly repeated in Kenta’s still reeling mind. They overpowered anything else that might have crossed through his mind, like the guilt from leaving behind the other three, or the calm rationality he usually had. These worthless thoughts were easily overpowered as a more primal urge pushed him; the urge to survive.
Run.
Or more specifically, the fear of death.
Kenta had seen what the mysterious black haired youth had done to his friends.
He had just stood there, as the pale youth donned on an indifferent mask and completely dominated the other three. The boy had easily dispatched of Bentley, who, despite his flaky attitude, was undeniably the strongest out of the four of them. The boy had met Cher’s psychotic ravings and desperate rushes with a cold rationale. That same boy had sent fear shivering down both his and Ryuuji’s spine as they watched him take bone breaking blows one after another without so much as flinching.
“F-fuck!” Kenta exhaled as he ran with all his might, ignoring the aching in his legs and the water that trickled down. “W-what the fuck!? Why did the bat break instead?! What the fuck?! What the fuck was that shit?! Damn it!”
He expelled his frustrations through inward cursings. In Kenta’s mind, the boy was an anomaly. Someone on par with the monsters that roamed the school buildings and often kept the slanty eyed kid up all night. Someone who was undoubtedly a product of that count down from a week ago.
An absurdly strong person who sent shivers down his spine and caused him to piss his pants. Replaying it over and over again in his mind, what stuck to him most was the cold eyes in which he glared with. Those eyes.... cold, almost lifeless… completely different from the crazed and fear driven eyes that he often saw within Cher… different from his own fox like eyes which saw nothing but himself…. they were definitely worlds apart from the BOSS’s own… different from those anger driven eyes filled with pure malice.
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As he repeatedly cursed, and cursed, his legs carried him further and further down a more familiar path.
Before he realized, Kenta had already ran back towards his old Hideout, where the imposing BOSS resided. He already forgot about his original anxiety over losing the BOSS’s last scrap of food from the secret stash that their group had collected earlier.
Overcome with a newer more vibrant fear of the unknown, the fear towards his imposing leader had lessened… although that’s not to say, it had completely gone away…
It didn’t take him long.
After turning two lefts, crossing a completely red hallway and finally entering one of the newly built classrooms, Kenta finally arrived. His legs didn’t stop though as they ran right past the door and unexpectedly tumbled. He tripped and rolled a few meters or two until he found himself dead center within the now quiet room.
He three quick, furtive glances around him.
A group of more than 20 people, who had been talking so casually prior to his sudden appearance now all clamped their mouths shut as they shot curious glares his direction. The rough, grizzled expressions on their faces didn’t even register in Kenta’s mind.
Over the course of the week, he had grown used to it. Grown used to the scowls, and the glaring. In fact, he often made those same scowls and glares. To him, those expressions were as familiar as his mom’s home cooked meals.
If it was the normal Kenta though, he would have found the current silence, which didn’t match the crowd’s delinquent expressions, to be unnatural-unnerving. But right now, all that he could hear was the rough panting of his own breath and the constant ringing in his ears.
The hushed mutterings from around him were completely irrelevant.
“Oi, Kenta.”
A single voice, one seemingly both deep and soft, the voice from someone in the gripes of puberty. A single voice that cut through everything and made their way to Kenta’s rattled mind.
With both fear and shock mixed in his face, Kenta swiveled his head towards the direction of the voice while keeping his head down. His restless eyes landed on a pair of bloodstained shoes. His eyes moved up , seemingly naturally, as they scanned the figure whom those blood stained shoes belonged to.
A boy. A boy with almost stick like legs, and an equally as stick like body. In his right hand was a game console that was currently emitting the familiar theme of an old M*nster Hunter game. Leaning on his left side was a sword. A silver sword with a brown hilt that resembled the Black Sword from earlier, except this one was much longer, and considerably thinner in comparison.
As Kenta’s eyes continued to travel upward, they finally came to land on the man’s face. A skinny, pale face that was almost completely covered by a mass of night black hair that came all the way to the boy’s shoulders. If you looked closely enough, you could tell that the boy was wearing a pair of rectangular glasses, a pair that caught the glare of light so perfectly, that it further hid the boy’s almost crimson eyes from sight.
To Kenta, this face was someone he was most familiar with. It was of course, the BOSS.
“Oi Kenta…” The boy repeated, this time, his thin lips turning into a frown as a tone of irritation seeped through his voice.
“Hii!” Reflexively, a sudden noise escaped Kenta’s throat as his body moved automatically and he crawled a few paces away from the boy.
Seemingly annoyed by such a reception, with a look of irritation plastered on his face, the boy didn’t hesitate to kick Kenta’s exposed face.
With considerable amount of force, the kick sent Kenta’s thin body flying as he crashed into an abandoned pile of desks that had once been neatly arranged in a small spot in the corner.
The boy walked slowly over to Kenta’s sprawled out body as he once again repeated, this time with a sneer on his face, “Oi, Kenta….”
To everyone’s ears, the words that escaped the boy’s throat were rather soft, almost indistinguishable, but to Kenta, those words were like nails on a chalkboard, sending uncontrollable shivers down his spine.
Kenta’s normally slit shaped eyes widened in fear, as his body started to uncontrollably shake.
In contrast, the boy’s indifferent attitude further unnerved Kenta. Eventually, the boy’s gaze fell onto the yellow stain on Kenta’s pants, and as a result, he couldn’t help but chuckle to himself.
It was a soft laugh, and just like his voice, almost indistinguishable.
Eventually, as if he got bored with the joke, the boy sighed dejectedly, as he aimlessly sent another kick towards Kenta’s body. Kenta grunted on impact, but otherwise remained silent.
“Kenta, where’s the other three?” The boy asked.
The boy wasn’t stupid. He completely realized the fact that Kenta’s current attitude was definitely not normal. Without a doubt something had happened.
“A-ah, Boss!” Kenta spoke with a cough, a heavy hint of desperation in his tone. “The truth is- actually…”
Kenta went on to explain about his encounter with the black haired youth with the backpack. Of course, Kenta’s tale wasn’t exactly truthful, as he left out the part about them losing the food to the people from the cafeteria. Instead he pinned the blame on his encounter with the youth, telling the boy about how the youth had stolen their food after beating the other three up.
“... I-I barely managed to get out alive! The guy was crazy strong!”
“...I see…”
The boy narrowed his eyes as he looked pensively at Kenta’s kneeling figure. He remained silent for a while, and exuded an atmosphere as if he was thinking deeply about the current circumstance.
The boy’s silence not only unnerved Kenta, but also everyone else in the room. They knew full well about the boy’s habits. The boy wasn’t one to stay quiet for long. Always making noise, always yelling, talking, whispering. If they didn’t fear the boy so much, they would have all outright admitted that the boy was someone quite annoying.
Silence, for everyone in the room, wasn’t good. It was always after the silence that the boy…
“Aah~ That’s no good…” The boy suddenly groaned, breaking the silence and with it, the unnerving atmosphere that was beginning to develop.
“Damn~ So you did lose all the food…” The boy went on, oblivious to Kenta’s ever changing facial expressions. “I really was hungry, man…”
The boy paces around the room, all the while gripping his empty stomach in silent complaint. Eventually, the boy found himself back where he originally started, before Kenta had ceremoniously barged into the room earlier.
He stood there, and prattled on as he repeatedly thudded down on the floor with the edge of his long sword.
“Damn, damn, damn it, Kenta… you know that was the last of the food we had left…”
The boy sent a short, one second scowl towards the still shivering Kenta.
“B-but, BOSS, th-that guy-”
“Ah-ah-ah. I don’t want to hear your excuses.” The boy interrupted. “It’s always the same thing with you people. ‘There was this’ or ‘something happened’, ‘It’s not my fault!’”
The boy imitated, whilst swinging the bladed weapon around without a care in the world.
“All your damn excuses-! There.So. Damn. Irritating!” He suddenly looked at the ceiling and yelled, his voice mixed with every bit of anger and frustration he was feeling. “Every single one of you, even that damn Takeda was like that!”
Upon the mention of the classmate who had met a terrible fate just a few days ago, Kenta reflexively gulped down. For some inexplicable reason, cold sweat began trickling down his face as a terrible premonition took hold of him.
“Damn, damn, damn it!”
As the boy repeatedly cursed, his footsteps drew nearer towards Kenta’s now shivering figure. The tip of his blade rattled along the floor every so often, each strike sending shivers down Kenta’s spine.
Knowing what was to come next, the surrounding audience looked away. Some wanted to avoid seeing another ‘tragedy’ from occurring, others sent apologetic looks towards Kenta, seemingly saying something along the lines of “Sorry about this dude, but you know how it is”.
Eventually, the boy stopped in front of Kenta, his torso leaning over while his face stared directly at Kenta’s own. The blade in his hands was now held in two hands and used as a prop in order to keep the boy’s body from tipping over.
With a mocking face, and cold, almost dead eyes, the boy’s eery voice escaped from his half parted lips, “You disappoint me, Kenta.”
With those words as a trigger, Kenta’s body propelled itself forward, making a beeline towards the opened door.
Like previously, his mind repeated the single phrase, “Run, run, run, run, run” but-
“Ah..”
As if delirious, Kenta’s body suddenly gave out, and in the next instant, he found himself once more on the floor. He looked confusedly around him. What had happened? Why had he fallen? He wondered such thoughts until eventually, his gaze landed on his left foot.
They were a meter away, and were definitely not attached to his ankle.
“A-a-aaahh!!”
A shrill voice escaped Kenta’s throat as his slit eyes once again widened in shock and pain. He glared past the tears that had formed and focused in on his leg, the leg that had been severed.
The amputation wasn’t clean, nor was it overly messy. In fact, it looked as if the stump had been melted off, rather than cut. The point of separation was covered excessively with a clear, almost purplish liquid.
Kenta continued to scream. He continued to scream as from the corner of his eye, he could see the boy coming closer, leisurely tapping the tip of his sword on the floor, seemingly without a care in the world.
Kenta’s body once again moved, his arms gripped for traction on the smooth surface of the floor as he attempted to crawl towards the only entrance in the room. Such actions warranted a look of disgust from the boy, as he once again brought the sword down and-
Swish
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
Another limp flew off. This time his right arm. Similar to the left leg, the stump created from this new wound was likewise covered in a clear, almost purplish liquid. The liquid itself was neither thin like water, nor thick like syrup. It was a somewhat nice consistency.
By this point Kenta had stopped yelling, merely able to produce a small whimpering sound as he crawled along the floor, like a worm, still attempting to escape. Still trying to avoid the inevitable death to come.
Having grown bored of this farce, the boy wielding the sword, momentarily looked away from Kenta as his eyes drifted towards the game console in his right hand. He was in the middle of an important quest, and having to take some of his precious gaming time in order to clean up the trash really irritated the boy.
With one final slash, the boy ended the existence known as Kenta Katsu. Moments later, a fish eyed head rolled casually along the tiled floor, its expression locked in utter agony.
For a minute, the room was silent. It was always like this. After the boy PK’d, the room would always grow silent.
Well, although it may be silent, that’s not to say the room was completely devoid of noise. For one, the familiar theme of M*nster Hunter and the otherworld bubbling of a certain liquid filled the room.
Like the chirping of cicadas, to the people in this room, that familiar theme and that familiar bubbling were just another part of their summer which they had grown accustomed to.
After a while though, these familiar sounds were overpowered by the quiet, almost imperceptible voice of a certain boy with a silver sword.
“Well…” He muttered. “Why don’t we all take a trip outside? It’s nice to have a change of scenery every now and then. Plus, who knows… we might find someone… unexpected along the way…”
With his words, the room once again fell silent.
****
Author's Note: I didn't really get a chance to do a preliminary read through, nor did I properly do a PR before I posted this so mind the grammar errors... Also, if I can, I will try to get back on to regular updates like I used to. I will make an effort, but I hold no promises.