Chapter 102: Wandering
’What happened here? This is so much worse than I had ever imagined,’ Dhruv thought to himself as he surveyed the destroyed surroundings. Almost everything in the vicinity had been reduced to ruins, and while there weren’t many corpses left on the ground, there were numerous bloodstains that told the story of what had happened in this city.
"Let’s stick together," Dhruv commanded his crew. While he had initially contemplated having them scatter to cover more ground quickly, upon assessing the situation, he decided it wasn’t worth the risk.
The group moved forward cautiously, maintaining a high level of vigilance. They started by venturing deeper into the city, where the likelihood of finding a supermarket would be higher than on the edge of it.
After walking for a while, they arrived in an area with multiple alleyways branching off from the main street. The shops around them were empty, and the only sound they could hear was the echo of their own footsteps in this desolate city.
"...unch!"
Suddenly, amid the echoing footsteps, they heard another sound. Dhruv carefully listened and quickly pinpointed the location where the sound was coming from. The source of the noise was one of the alleyways which was beside a fancy saloon.
Raising his hand, Dhruv signaled the group to stop, and he himself began to move slowly and cautiously toward the alleyway. After taking about 50 small steps, he finally reached the corner of the alleyway where the sound was coming from.
"CRUNCH"
"CRUNCH"
The sound got louder and being this close he finally understood what was the cause of this sound. It was the sound that had originated due to something getting crushed between stones or perhaps between teeth.
Dhruv stepped into the alleyway, but he couldn’t make out anything as there wasn’t any light source in the alleyway. He swiftly activated his sorcerer’s gaze by blinking twice. The moment he activated his vision the darkness ahead was replaced by a blue outline and he could finally see the figure of the creature.
He discovered that the outline was shaped like a bear, and there were four of them. He couldn’t see exactly what they were doing, but judging by their posture, he figured they were chowing down on some prey.
Suddenly, one of the bears glanced in his direction and did something that seemed like it was sniffing the air. After performing this action, the bear paused for a moment, contemplating whether it should abandon its meal or confront the intruder after having its fill.
As he pondered, the other three bear companions also caught a whiff of Dhruv, but they didn’t hesitate. Without a second thought, they charged straight toward his direction.
Dhruv instinctively realized that the time it would take for those bears to reach him was more than enough for him to conjure an enhanced metal spear. Swiftly, he gathered mana at the tip of his hand and started preparing the attack. The bears had covered half the distance, and Dhruv had finished casting the spell, but instead of firing it, he paused to do prepare something else.
When the monsters had closed in to three-fourths of the way, he finally unleashed the spell.
"Swooooosh."
"Swooooosh."
Two enhanced metal spears were launched at an incredibly high speed and lodged themselves into the bears’ stomachs, creating fist-sized entry wounds and football-sized exit wounds. Dhruv had aimed for their cores, but due to one spell multiplied into two, his accuracy had faltered.
Two bears fell lifeless on the spot, but the third one continued its charge, leaving Dhruv with no time to cast another spell. He made the decision to engage in melee combat.
"Metal infusion," Dhruv whispered when he looked at the bear who had almost reached him.
The bear aimed its clawed paws at his head, but Dhruv managed to block the attack with his arm, which was now fully covered in metal.
"Dub."
The sheer force shattered the concrete right beneath his feet. Due to his own momentum, the bear couldn’t do anything for a second. Seizing the perfect moment, Dhruv transformed his nails into metal claws and targeted the bear’s throat.
Grasping the monster’s windpipe, he yanked it out with his own sheer force. As he pulled the windpipe from the bear, the monster began gasping for air. Finding this the perfect time to finish him, he shaped his finger like a gun and pointed it at the bear’s head. While pointing his gun, he opened his mouth and whispered...
"Enhanced Metal bullet."
As the bullet was fired, the bear’s head was obliterated into oblivion and a notification sounded in his mind.
[You have killed a Crazy Adult Wraitpaws]
[You have...]
[...]
Everything that had happened so far occurred in the veil of darkness. Responding to the sounds, the rest of the crew began sprinting toward Dhruv. Upon reaching the dark alley, both Vexar and Pamu cast fire torches to illuminate the scene clearly.
Apart from the trio, the rest of the crew gasped at the sight of the three monstrous bears bleeding profusely.
Dhruv didn’t pay attention to them; instead, he focused on the fourth and final bear. Throughout the entire ordeal, this bear remained in a daze, as if it couldn’t comprehend what had just happened so quickly.
Finally, with the light cast in the alleyway, Dhruv could see what the bears were up to, and his guess was right, they were feasting. Their chosen meal turned out to be none other than humans.
Dhruv looked at the mangled corpse whose one eye was lost, his intestines were coming out of his stomach, and his genitals were gone. As he gazed at the lifeless bodies, a thought crossed his mind,
"So, there are still humans left in this city."
Dhruv turned his attention to the frightened bear and instructed Vexar to finish it off. After giving the order, he began to exit the alleyway. Upon reaching a clear area, he blinked his eyes twice and activated his mana sense to the maximum.
The range of his mana sense was still limited, but he couldn’t detect any more humans nearby. However, he did pick up on a small group of bears.
’Why is he here all alone? No, he isn’t alone by choice and perhaps, his companions used him as bait and fled. Wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case,’ Dhruv couldn’t help but chuckle when this thought crossed his mind.
