Taking a glance at the crowd gathering around the group of soldiers who came back, as they walked toward where the military stayed in the residential area innermost part, most if not all of the soldiers had their faces hanging down their bodies filled with deep wounds with dried blood covering their messy uniform which now looked more like ragged clothes, not caring or too tired to talk to anyone they made their way in silence, the Vice-Captain Henry who a few days prior was only a young officer couldn't handle the harsh reality of what had happened as he walked among the group of soldiers with him two of the ten subordinates who used heavy shield came back alive.
he had once faced evolved beasts, which was when repelling the beast's horde who came from the small forest not far away from Shazer rural area, they had been lucky that most of the strong beasts only passed through their casern and only the low-level ones stayed behind, and they only had to take out one by one the remaining evolved beasts with the help of sturdy building and proper defense beforehand they were able to win almost easily.
But now facing the true terror of the evolved beasts unstoppable wave head-on, and with the appearance of those strange human-shaped beast-men who kept either killing his subordinates or taking them away in front of them, while their cries of despair reached their ears, his mind was already doing his best to hold on as he was on the verge of breakdown remembering the event that happened not long ago, headaches from time to time came and went, not to mention the others, soldiers, they had been strengthening gaining power beyond human understanding but their willpower couldn't follow, which was one of the reasons they weren't able to hold a steady ground for more than a few minutes even with the barrage of bullet from their rifles that played a small role.
.............
" Anyway I never said I was the leader of this group if you want this post then go headed, but don't think I will listen to your orders "
Shifting his gaze from the group of soldiers, he looked at Edward and said, he didn't even know why in the first place he was assigned this pseudo post of leader without him knowing it.
Sure he gave them some of his thought and then the others accepted it, but none of them never add voiced any complaint with his ideas.
His mind right now was in turmoil the past week has been so intense that he was doing his best to not scream out loud escaping death so many times he wasn't sure how he felt he felt but he knew deep inside him that he was thrilled like if he was finally alive.
He felt like a huge weight was on his shoulder, from his bloodline which oddly felt as if it was in him since his birth and was just sleeping to the overall change of his life from an average student in college, to the role he was given as a leader, to someone who discovered how exciting it was to fight, not that he didn't like this new version of him who started to take life, he wasn't the kind who liked to talk in the first place.
Shrugging his shoulders not understanding why he bothered to even respond to this guy, he had too much in his mind right now, if it was before the apocalypse he would just take a glance at Edward's provocation and then keep walking his path toward his daily life, but now that he was forced to stay around this guy for the time being he could only vent his anger this way.
hearing Chris answers Edward didn't try to talk to this guy, making his way inside the hotel hall heading upstairs passing Sarah who was healing Lisa and Eillen glancing at them not sure what was going through his mind, he started to talk with the system.
Now was not the time for this and he just wanted to vent his frustration on someone for getting in trouble uselessly, and nothing like annoying this asshole could make him better, he felt frustrated and powerless having to rely on individuals that he didn't know that much, led by a guy he met a week ago in the bus he always take to go to work, who looked like a stickman he could handle without much worry, but now the guy almost reached his height, with defined slowly sculpting his entire physique muscle the same he had spent time at the gum to get.
With eyes filled with jealousy and anger he entered the doorway, he, since his eighteen has been working part-time jobs at his twenty-seven currently leaving a bitter taste in his mouth that he couldn't grasp his hand on.
He couldn't stand the fact to rely on others when it come to simple things of normal life or asking for help, let alone his own life in the hand of others!.
" System show me the different products on the shop and ... "
As he was asking something to the System and was about to continue with his inquiries he was straight stopped from his wandering thought, of what he could gain with the currency he had gained for surviving the last horde of evolved beasts.
[ level insufficient, please gain more level to be able to purchase an item from the shop]
the others too followed suit his movement, the awkward silence and the slight suffocating pressure from Chris making them uneasy each of them started to try to understand as many features of the system they could, they wanted to get stronger but only got blocked with the same notifications Edward who was making his way upstairs making him almost fall face-first on the stairs feeling like today was not his day he decided to just go rest a little, as he wanted nothing more but to shout in anger
' Do you think it's so easy to level up!!, ...and how many levels do we need ' it was what crossed his mind, if not all the others when faced with this response, Edward being the unlucky one almost tripping down in the stairs, if it wasn't for two High levels evolved beasts on their sides and the people like Edward, Chris, Lisa, Claire and on...
they would have long ago died or lost a significant number of people.
they tried to see if they could ask more questions about it or just how to work the system, but they only got silence for an answer.
after close inspection from them as frustration after losing hope that maybe they could get something that could help them survive in case they were in the same state as Eillen, they concluded that apart from their status panel showing their growths, skills, and sometimes path for some of them, they only had the system shop option.
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making them finally understand that they had only one path: to go out and kill evolved beasts or wait to be killed.
..................
The mood in the hotel with each group diving in their own thought and worries, almost forgetting what was happening outside,like if didn't have anything to do with them, compared to the outside, survivors were packing their bags, ready to run at the slightest surge of chaos but came upon realization that they wasn't any place safe anymore in thhe city, despite having come here and survived so far, thank to the help of the soldiers, most of them were now only thinking of how to leave, they didn't want to be eaten alive!!
Shaking endlessly and they tried to tighten the weapons they got from the system, most of the civilians had only reached level 2 or three, thank to the last general quest given by the system, after surviving the beast horde passage, such a huge group of people harmed walking in the street the military who were looking a few meters away from their camp, started to fear the worse.
.................
" Chris, what level have you reached?...."
Phillipe's shaking body came in chris view making him is slightly sour mood to lighten a little, phillipe who was slightly overweight before with a slight beer belly when they first met had now more muscle like everyone who put their point in strengh, and was at the same height as him about 1m75 to 80, his back slightly arched as if he had done something wrong and was worried to be slapped if he came too close.
Chris eyes were filled with different sort of emotions looking at phillipe as a figure of a small kid about 10 or so year acting the same way reminded him of something he though he had long forgotten which make his heart beat faster as he tightened his right fist looking at the small kid with a slight disgust reminding of the past him at the orphanage, anger and hatred flashing in his eyes as he furrowed his eyebrows, stopping his wandering though, when Phillipe was at arm reach from him.
Phillipe was thinking how to ask this favor to Chris and didn't noticce chris change otherwise he would havve turned his back from the look Chris was giving him, with the opening of the system shop relying on levels he was surely among those that would reach the requirement the lastest if things kept going on at their pace, but his wife didn't seem to have that much time left, it was already a miracle that she hadn't died so far.
After being transported by him with her heavy wounds while running.
" Humm...what's for"
turning his head at Phillipe although he could guess what it was for after hearing the complaint of the others as they went upstairs.
" Ahhh..hmm it's like this...."
a few minutes of rambling trying to calm down as he explained his thought and what he wanted to ask.
Chris wasn't sure what to say was Phillipe being hasty or just stupid, for thinking he wouldn't use his system shop to purchase a healing potion for his wife if he reach the required level, or that his view of Chris of a selfish bastard who didn't care about others.
Not that he wasn't wrong but taking so long just to ask for help for borrowing a service he wasn't sure how should feel about it.
" Yeah why not "
I couldn't understand why he didn't ask others about it if he was so uneasy to ask him, what Chris didn't know was that Phillipe after thinking about felt that asking for it to the others who are risking their lives was much harder than for Chris who seemed to like to risk his life at every fight they are against the evolved beasts.
Ironic that it was this kind of thought that led Phillipe to ask him for help.
looking one last time at what was ongoing outside, I stoop from the entrance stairs of the hotel and went to Sarah, seeing that she had finished her last healing, I took Lisa thanking Sarah, with an awkward smile not sure how to thank her.
Despite that I don't like her character, she was indeed very helpful this past week.
" Go rest a little we will need you and your fiery temperament completely rested for what might come at us "
Hearing her and the slight smile on her lips made my uneasiness calm down it seemed that at least she wasn't short-sighted, Sarah stayed behind deciding to talk with the others about some other matters for those who were still in the hotel hall.
Lester and Adrien, with the three others left survivors from their previous group, looking at what was happening they looked at each other feeling like they were becoming more and more apart from the others, most of the time when fighting they counted on Chris and the three others small group of three people.
And then there was them who tried to figure out how to stay alive and why this group of people seemed so experienced in fighting, especially the main group.
" don't think about it, I...We... won't leave! your relatives might be already dead and if not god knows where they are normally with the group of soldiers dispatching help all around the city until coming here if they didn't seize this opportunity to follow them, then it is too late "
Adrien said trying to calm down those three stupid people, as he looked at Lester next to him for support.
The latter only shrugged his shoulder, he just wanted to sit and rest, he wasn't like those monsters in their group, who could run as fast as some low-level evolved beasts.
He regretted his choice of allocating half of his status points mostly in VITALITY and STRENGH laving only a twenty or so status point left.
The five of them weren't the only ones worried, Clement and George Group upstairs started to discuss among them, they felt like they were suffocating after all that had happened today and the past week, all of them were on the nerves.
..............
While survivors were trying to understand what was happening, and the military preparing their defenses for whatever might or might not happen the gloomy atmosphere in the west district only intensified, the unknown being their worst enemy at this time.
Deep in the eastern district with half-destroyed houses and some buildings who were still standing as if it was a bombarded area, with debris all around the streets and toppled cars all around the place.
Another battle was about to happen in this desolated area, but this time it was among a group of Invaders, composed of a group of rat-men their figure akin to human in shape, if not for their black and grey fur, covering their arms, neck and legs and slightly long tails like a thick whip danging from left to right behind them with few of peoples at the forefront of each group wearing tribal clothes for males covering only their lower body and females their chest and lower body , facing them was a group of dog-men with approximatively the same features with a fluffy tail as a difference with sharp pointy fury ears which twiyched from time to time, and their faces having more human traits and features compared to the rat-men who kept the same trait from the rat on earth who didn't undergone enough evolution to take an humanoid form.
The two groups of beast-men were facing a group of cleaymors, about two hundred of them, their yellow slit pupils looking at the two group who seemed to have decided to exterminate their tribe men, the two group had together only about half the number but it didn't seem to impact them that badly.
" You two filthy barbarian didn't wait to betray us at the first opportunity, we had already agreed to complety wipe those monsters of the last generation of this baby planet before they got to grow up it's our opportunity you dumb idiots..... "
Suddenly from the group of cleaymors, a cleaymors came out of the cleaymors group, his yellow irises giving off faint ominous light, his two protubing deadly black horn seeming like to asborb the light around it, the height of normal human hand with two big fleshy bat wings, as it looked at the two other leaders in front of him, shouting at those two idiots in a strange archaic language, a last attempt to make them understand how dumb their decision was not being able to put aside past hatred , but they seemed akin to not change their decision, making the rat-men and dog-men facing the cleaymors, to let out painful screams as their ears started to vibrated painfully.
And without even bothering to respond to this monstrousity in front of them, the two others leaders, two huge male beast-man of almost two meter in height with a body reminiscent of grec athletes let out their bloodthirsty aura, not even thinking to backdown with how far they alredy went.