CHAPTER 47 - Turning point V (last part)
*creak*
*crack*
*crack*
*THUD*
“Huh!???” I wake up the moment a nearby tree falls next to me.
‘Not again… Why do I always end up the same way.’ It doesn't take a genius to see that I am only alive thanks to Bruma, who just diverted a huge tree from falling onto me, awakening me in the process.
The whole place is a disaster, the entirety of the park is aflame, but most trees are still holding on, telling me that I probably haven't been out for too long. Well, the fact that we are still in the middle of the night does help to be fair.
‘I will need to come up with something to avoid this again.’ I will definitely do that. There are limitations to what one can do before running out of qi, but I will take precautions next time.
I slowly get up, limping on both sides due to the burned soles of my feet. The stone wall and the barriers blocked most of the explosion, but it couldn’t block the passing of the heat through the floor and the propagation of the flames after.
Both of my feet hurt, a LOT. The moment I get up I can feel them stick to the ground.
So I pull.
“Arghhh!” The pain comes so sudden and strong that I can’t help but scream.
‘Such a waste.’ I think so as I have no other choice but to cover my feet at least with qi, either that or I leave this scorched place with a few layers less on my feet than when I entered.
I take Bruma in my arms to free her from the floor's heat and look around.
Everything is… so smooth…
The bodies I have been piling up till now are nowhere to be seen, no living ones either, though I can still spot a couple of moles lying dead, only lightly charred, probably struck by lightning.
I take a quick peek at the small white fox in my arms.
“Thank you.” I mutter as I pet her head a couple of times.
The explosion cleared all obstacles in its way, definitely exceeding my expectations, such a pity it nearly killed me too. I will need to be more careful when dealing with any idea I come up with that involves mixing the two energies.
I take a good look all over the place to look for any strays or hints of any secondary effect from my attack, but I don't see any.
‘That’s it I guess, nothing left to prove.’ I wasn’t really in my right mind when I chose to dive headfirst into a den of innumerable moles the size of a person, but it worked out, somehow…
Feeling my reserves hitting an all-time low, I limp my way out before I run out of qi again, not very fond of the experiences with that so far.
Inching my way forward, I escape from the now-barren terrain and start making my way to my destination one step at a time. Still, I keep a slow pace to fill up with qi from the ground I tread as I march.
I then look at Bruma once more..
“We wouldn’t want to scare our soon-to-be allies, right?”
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Back at Maria’s and Sera’s group
A couple of hours have passed since Leo left the base.
The strategic meeting was called off not that long before. The leaders had been planning ahead, with the goal of thinking about the repercussions and implications that Leo’s response would have in their plans.
Some were against him joining their group, but they all knew they needed as much help as they could get. Their enemy wasn’t an easy one, and they had just lost what two of their leaders referred to as their trump card over them.
Some of them just acknowledged the fact they lost their possibly best asset and moved on, while others started to lose hope in their goal of setting free their comrades, seeing how each day that passed by, the situation became more grim.
The meeting finally came to a close after an hour and a half in which they discussed every single path to reach success without Leo’s help, with no clear solution in sight.
All of their plans were carefully planned. They lacked a lot of things, but time wasn't one of them. The people who weren’t deemed capable enough to go out in search of supplies, stayed in their base planning instead.
Each outing their scavengers did, they would be coming up with a better plan or an improvement of the latest one, every single one of them fueled by their desire to seek revenge.
There were all kinds of plans: planting bombs in strategic spots inside the pillars of the soon-to-be castle of the vampires, mixtures and connotations with every toxic thing possible to poison their enemies, creating strife between themselves, and much more.
There was a problem though, for every single one of their plans, they needed someone able to stealthily infiltrate the enemy’s base at will. The plan with the most likelihood of succeeding without Leo’s help was the only one that implied a kamikaze squad, and even so, they were pretty sure they would be able to go through their first guard, too slow to react to their enemy's guard movements.
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Their guards may have been humans once, from another planet or realm, sure, but humans nonetheless, with every disadvantage related to their body whatsoever.
However, that was long ago, they have been long since turned into some kind of monsters, a mix between humans and vampires, allowing them to escape their old limitations and reach new heights.
Obviously, everything comes at a cost. In their case, being slaves to the vampires who created them for who knows how many years and decades to come.
Each entrance to the place was guarded by lots of guards and layer upon layer of protection, making sure that not even a bug could get to infect one of their precious blood supplies(humans), let alone their leaders.
Once everyone left the meeting room, Sera stayed behind with Maria.
No words were needed between them, they both had been together long enough to know pretty well what they were thinking. They weren’t going to stay idle. They were going to try their best to save their fellow humans, but they were on their last legs. No amount of effort or goodwill would help them at this point.
It was at that point that someone came rushing to their room and opened the door a little too strong.
There at the door, Troy, our little friend enters cheering.
“He came back Sera, Leo is back!”
Maria looks at Sera, with an indiscerptible face, knowing that Troy and her sister have been hanging around lately.
Sera in turn answers.
“He is not one to lie.”
And they both rush to the entrance.
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Leo
I am not in my best shape, I know that.
I am limping my way inside the gym where they are staying. My shoes are nowhere to be seen, burned out of existence, leaving my bleeding feet exposed.
The rest of my clothes are not much better off, being closer to rags if anything after the close calls I had with the mole's claws and the times I bumped into walls or the floor while evading attacks.
One can easily see burned marks all across my back from laying down on the ground unconscious, and my messy hair and dirty body just add to it, portraying a miserable image of myself as I march inside the place.
All the survivors eye me while I tumble ahead, I can see their confused yet scared expressions as they look my way.
‘Maybe all their talk about all having a common goal wasn’t something fake and they indeed have informed their people about what happened.’ I wonder if I should ask for their leaders to come and meet me, but I can see some of them here.
“Call Sera.” I request, my voice sounding quite annoyed after everything I just went through.
It probably sounded even worse from the survivor's perspective though, as they all retreated a couple of steps and the ones armed raised their guns. Probably thinking I came back to get my revenge on her.
Fortunately for both sides, I spot her and Maria leaving the same room where we discussed their plans earlier.
“Leo.” She says sheepishly, pausing a couple of meters from me.
“Are you h-”
“Where do I sign?” I say.
Even amidst the pain, my annoyed face shows a small devilish grin as I see just how lost they are.
Sera, still doubting me, checks again.
“You… Are you… in?”
“Yes.”
Minutes later I find myself in a private room, a room I asked for.
Once they saw that I was serious, they trusted me enough to hand me some painkillers and a bucket full of water with a towel to treat my wounds. They even offered to help me with it, but I denied it, I am in no mood to be talking to anyone.
So I walk inside the bathroom, determined to treat my wounds.
I am sure that my burns are closer to the degree where they should be replaced with new skin from another place in my body rather than heal on their own, but I am sure it will work somehow.
I had previously intentionally held back from cycling my qi all around my body. I used my time coming here to replenish some part of my reserves, just in case I had to fight again. Now, however, my condition has stabilized itself from the previous lack of it, so it should be fine.
I focus my efforts on the places where the wounds are worse, such as my back and feet. Meanwhile, I grab the towel, and after drenching it in water, I squeeze it on top of my head after putting Bruma on the floor, letting the water flow downward.
The water is cool, but it might as well be boiling hot as it flows down my back, sending me into my own hell of pain. The blisters on my back feel like an erupting volcano as the water passes over them.
I have not even fend off the first wave of pain when a second one assaults me again once the water gets to my feet.
“Motherf-” The pain forces me to grind my teeth as I wait for it to vanish.
A couple of seconds after, I am finally able to breathe again, but I can't help but eye the still nearly full bucked with dread.
‘Damn, if I wasn’t forced to create the barriers so hastily I would cover the ground too.’ I curse my past self for it, but I know that I couldn’t divert my attention to other things at the moment though.
‘What’s done is done, I just need to keep it in mind for next ti-’
‘Fuck me, I should just avoid getting caught in that kind of situation, not preparing to purposely fall into them.’
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Meeting room - Half an hour after
I enter their meeting room again. This time walking a lot better than before, but still barefoot with my feet coated in qi. I do not wear a shirt either, not wanting it to adhere to my back.
“Uhg” I sit on a chair they prepared for me, not wanting to stay on my feet more than necessary.
“They look at me, but they keep talking about what they were talking about before.
“... Look, it’s the best course of action, not only does it have a high chance of getting at least a couple of vampires buried under tons of rock, but a lot of their strong soldiers would die too.” One of the leaders says.
“No, I digress. You are telling us to wait for them to complete the castle, only to enrage them more with its destruction and no assurances that it will kill any of them.” An older man answers the first one regarding their plans.
And he continues. “ We could have it prepared and ready, but the moment we decide to act, we will need them to take a big hit, or else they will just wipe us up and rebuild again. We should prepare the explosives for a plan B after we hit them with the main one. We still need to get our hands in the expletives too.”
…
I let them talk about the possible plans to see what they are up to and see if they have some plan that’s good enough to execute, but minutes go by, and plan after plan I start to see why they were desperate about my support.
“Stop, hear me out.” I say to get their attention.
“I have a plan that I am sure you will love.” And I explain to them what I have in mind with a devilish smile.