> For some reasons, this chapter was resposted. If you've already read it, just ignore. XD!

Within one of the most powerful factions, Sova.

''Was anyone able to track where the base of the Covering Sun Faction is? If this is possible... We will be able to catch not only the sub-leader but also the leader himself!'' A man with brown-colored hair and black-colored eyes said while standing up in front of his subordinates.

Ethan was one of the traitors, and he was one of the most talented subordinates that Haize had. The black-haired man of course knew that this person wasn't loyal at all, but simply didn't care. What Haize didn't expect was that the man actually wanted to capture him and Ziam alive, the two people who saved him from death.

After the apocalypse started, Ethan quickly adapted and gained a foothold. His ability was named Hawk Spirit, and he could manifest the physical and spiritual abilities of a Hawk. This made him innately stronger than others, with a more powerful physique and spirit.

He essentially became a demi-human, retaining ordinary human's appearance. And this made Ethan dream higher, there was a future for him in this world, one that wouldn't be of a measly unawakened human's subordinate. The awakened people were now called Mana Users, a definition is given by those so-called otherworldly humans that appeared.

At the same time, Ethan's faction was one of the strong faction that didn't need the protection of the otherworldly humans. Looking over his subordinates, Ethan's face was indifferent, ''One thing is sure, once one of them is found... The rest will be found as well, at that time... We will catch all fish in a single net.''

''Yeah! As expected of something you thought of, boss, so smart!'' A subordinate quickly said with a smile, and it seemed that his flattering worked. Ethan looked at him with satisfaction, before saying briefly, ''You'll be the commander of this small operation.''

The subordinate smiled gratefully, feeling this was a heavy responsibility. Ethan was indeed very satisfied, as someone who was a mere subordinate in the past, every flattering word carried a heavier weight in his heart. His low-confidence made these things even more possible, affecting his judgment.

Meanwhile, Haize slowly stepped out of the Safe Zone before noticing it wasn't affected by him leaving. He had announced he would go out to explore and hunt around their current area. Despite the trio complaining that they should go along, they knew that it was possible they could become a burden, so Haize went out alone.

'How come the situation outside is too different from a few hours ago...?' Haize frowned slightly after looking around. Even though many buildings were destroyed and burned, Ottawa wasn't in such a state as right now. It was as if a huge earthquake happened.

Even trees that weren't here before appeared all over Ottawa, making it a somewhat forest-like city. Haize's eyes became as sharp as a blade, and his face turned indifferent to the extreme as if he had no emotions. On his right hand, a long Katana was held, neither too tight, neither too loose.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Starting from him as the epicenter, a wave of Mana slowly covered the surroundings in a soundwave-like manner. Noticing that in a radius of 25 meters, no creatures were near, Haize cautiously walked through dark spots. He didn't know why, but Haize felt as if a natural hunter was preying on him.

He didn't like this feeling, but the natural hunter obviously wouldn't care. A dark shadow passed by a few trees surrounding him, making it impossible for Haize to discover where it was hiding. The black-haired man felt bad, 'There are monsters or even humans that can be invisible within the Mana Sense... I should've expected this.'

Looking all around in a cautious manner, Haize's mind slowly calmed down. His instincts were telling him that this dark shadow was increasingly dangerous, and the closer he was to danger, the calmer his mind became. After a few seconds passed, Haize was calmer than gentle water.

There is all kind of monsters after the world changed, and obviously, many of them have unique abilities. Some can manipulate light to their favor, while others can manipulate darkness to their favor. Haize realized that in this world, he should be extra cautious about everything.

Suddenly, a low growl was heard as a dark shadow pounced on him from behind. Without hesitation, Haize slashed with his Katana, but it only cut the air as the dark shadow suddenly changed direction. A paw suddenly stretched towards his body, and his instincts alerted him.

He only had time to raise his left arm before his body was sent flying due to the huge impact, a scratch was left on his arm. Haize's body hit a few trees, that fell down nearly instantly after such an impact before he stabilized himself. A fluctuation of Mana slowly left the dark shadow's body, and Haize identified it as a 1-Star being.

But its speed was even faster than the Horned Lizard, despite its ability being darkness-related. Haize didn't really care, given that everything is possible in this world, also coupled by the fact that light is just the lack of darkness, and darkness is just the lack of light. Suddenly, his instincts alerted him once again.

With high speed, Haize jumped to the side while throwing an Abyssal Wind Blade towards the dark shadow, that he now identified as a Black Panther. He wondered why one was here before his eyes widened after seeing it simply disappearing. Soon, Haize realized that it wasn't teleporting, but something else.

After carefully observing his surroundings through mana sense, Haize discovered that there were faint fluctuations of Mana on the shadows around him, including his own shadow. A sudden realization came, 'So its power is to travel between shadows, no wonder it is so fast... It's basically a short-term teleport, luckily... Its power is lacking when compared to the Horned Lizard or White-furred Bear.'

Then, Haize did the same thing he did to the Horned Lizard, letting it attack him, trading an attack for an attack. While the Black Panther's speed was extremely high due to its shadow traveling, both attack and defense were lacking very much. This meant that after Haize grasped its body, which was far inferior to the Horned Lizard or White-furred Bear, it was dead.

1-Star Shadow Traveller was killed

Haize nodded lightly before checking his own injuries, that was mostly light. Due to the high-speed attack, his body was sent flying and it collided with many trees, so aside from a few small scratches that made him bleed a bit, it wasn't serious. After a few minutes of healing, they disappeared completely.

However, this made the black-haired man understand the situation better than before. Even a random monster that appeared had the strength of 1-Star, so Haize couldn't underestimate them. He secretly thought that maybe it would take around a month or even less for him to get strong enough to turn the city into a stronghold.

Without him, it would take several months for the Covering Sun Faction and other strong factions to make a city stronghold. Of course, Haize didn't expect that there were otherworldly humans, as he had just left the Lightwood Townhouse.

He also understood deeply that this was not just about pure strength, because with a unique ability and strategies, even an ordinary 1-Star being could pose him a big threat. If Haize wasn't cautious about everything by nature, that Shadow Traveller would've been able to kill him.

With that in mind, Haize slowly left the tree-covered area in front of him while making a mental map of the places he passed. Everything was too unfamiliar, too different.

The city he knew had changed.