Chapter 103: Found it
Fifteen desperate souls were wandering in this desolate land, their faces etched with exhaustion and desperation. They had been traveling for almost two hours straight with only a single goal in their mind.
One of the members looked up at the sky in the hope that the sun could hide behind any of those gray clouds so he wouldn’t have to suffer its wraith.
Their footsteps were muffled by the layer of dust and ash that covered the ground. Crumbling buildings loomed on either side of them as they passed them. Finally, one of the group members couldn’t tolerate his hunger any longer and said,
"Your majesty, should I prepare the bear meat," he suggested with a smile on his face.
Hearing the question Dhruv stooped in his tracks and looked at the man who had just asked for his permission and said,
"Phew! Let’s eat before and then we can start our expedition once again."
Listening to Dhruv’s words, Alaric pulled something from his shadow. The thing was covered in a layer of shadow after looking at it he lifted the layer of shadow from it. The moment the veil was lifted a dead bear emerged from within.
Selena glanced at the bear meat and chose Alieos to help her. Then they rinse the meat and start cooking it on the fire. As the group prepared their meal, a thought crossed Dhruv’s mind,
’Where are the intact supermarkets, man? We found two, but they were already ransacked, and there wasn’t anything worth grabbing in them. Should we forget about it and just focus on finding water? No, that wouldn’t be a good idea,’ he thought.
Due to the smells which was flowing in the air Dhruv gazed at the cooking meat. The moment he saw it an idea struck him, ’Why don’t we hunt down more bears and transport their meat? But then again, the meat wouldn’t last us three days.’
Dhruv let out a sigh and settled in to wait for the meat to finish cooking. When it was finally done, he created plates with magic for all of them, and they began to eat in silence. Everyone else in the group was busy enjoying their meal while the trio were on guard. They were guarding at this moment because they had already had their fill when they consumed an entire bear raw just after the hunt.
After they finished their meal, the group resumed their search. Minutes turned into hours as they tirelessly scoured the area. Occasionally, they stumbled upon a store with some cans of food and water bottles, but that was about it and it looked like their luck was running out.
As the group reached a crossroads, Dhruv called for everyone to stop in their tracks. He blinked twice and activated his mana vision to the maximum, hoping to spot any signs of other humans nearby.
However, this time the results were the same, and he couldn’t find anything. Disappointed, he was about to randomly pick a road to follow when he spotted a partially destroyed billboard.
The billboard had a blue background, and from what Dhruv could decipher from the remains of it, it seemed to be an advertisement for a new Valmart store that had opened just 300 meters to the south of their current location.
"Let’s head in this direction," without wasting any time Dhruv confidently directed everyone. No one quite understood why Dhruv suddenly seemed so sure about this choice of direction, but they decided to follow him nonetheless.
As the advertisement had indicated, Dhruv discovered a Valmart store at the precise 300-meter spot. He wasted no time and hurried into the shop, determined to locate the food section.
Dhruv carefully made his way through the store and soon came upon the food section. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that it was still stocked with food cans.
"Hahahaha!" Dhruv couldn’t contain his joy and laughed as he gazed at the abundance of food cans. The rest of the group did not understand the significance of the cans, but when they saw the happiness on Dhruv’s face, they knew that they had finally found the thing they were looking for.
He swiftly moved past the household and cleaning supplies and started searching for suitable bags to fill with the cans. He would fill those bags with food cans and then he would deposit all the baga into Alaric’s shadow. Dhruv soon located bags capable of holding at least 100 cans at once.
He instructed everyone on which cans to pick and which ones to leave behind, and then everyone got to work. Each member of the group diligently filled the bags, and slowly but surely, the number of bags started to increase. It all seemed to be going so smoothly and looked like they could make the return trip to the island the same day.
While in the midst of handling the items, Dhruv’s ears—which had been enhanced after the evolution—caught the sound of something else.
Listening to the approaching footsteps, Dhruv was about to order his crew to take cover, but their opponent was one step ahead.
"Stop right where you are, or I can’t guarantee that your head will stay on your shoulders!" a threatening voice echoed through the store.
The moment these words were directed at Dhruv, the temperature within the Valmart started to rise at an alarming rate.
[Calm down, Vexar,] Dhruv quickly communicated telepathically when he noticed this sudden change.
Vexar, despite his initial reluctance, managed to regain his composure and followed Dhruv’s order. Everyone else in the group followed suit and raised their hands in a gesture of surrender.
If he had wanted Dhruv had the capability to easily kill at least ten of such men at one moment, but he restrained himself. The only reason the opponent was still alive was because Dhruv was curious about why an ordinary human was here and armed on top of that.
He turned slowly to face the man who had issued the threat. Upon closer inspection, Dhruv estimated the man to be in his mid-thirties, bearing numerous recent-looking injury marks on his face.
Opening his mana sense, Dhruv discovered that the person in front of him was just at tier 2. Looking at his tier Dhruv was almost about to laugh but controlled himself.
’I knew I had the talent to become an actor,’ Dhruv muttered to himself.
With his mana sense still active, Dhruv detected the approach of another twenty men to the area. Only one of them possessed the mana level of a tier 3.
Upon noticing the incoming group, the man who had previously threatened them let out a sinister laugh and shouted, "See, boss, we’ve caught another group to add to our farm."
