Chapter 31: Partnership
Chapter 31
Heat swelled up in Arthur, drenching his clothes in sweat. ’There isn’t direct sunlight and I am this hot.’ he wondered about those like Caelith and few others who were full armoured.
They must have been baked already, yet Caelith showed little signs of discomfort. In fact most of them weren’t affected much by the heat. It was as if they had already been adapting years ago.
Half collapsed buildings surrounded them on all sides, providing a bit of shade and protection from threats. Their eyes always had to stay on the ground as the paths had a wavy terrain made of compressed earth.
Walking in the open asphalt driveways, which was smoother, would cause the group to be vulnerable to a cloud clearing.
Matching Caelith’s pace, Arthur maintained his cold expression as that of hers was plainly stoic. Minutes were spent in near silence, navigating the deserted ruins of their former civilization.
Their footsteps echoed through the still, apart from that only Tamsin’s rummaging was heard. From time to time Arthur saw her hoarding lots of stuff, entering houses and coming out with the most random items.
"Quit that stupidity Tamsin, you’re falling behind." Caleb warned noticing Arthur’s stares. "Ohh, I thought he was staring at me." A girl from Caelith’s cohort said hugging her sheathed blade with a blush on her face.
The blush disappeared when she got slapped on the back by her friend. "No!" Noah said in awe. "Don’t tell me she has a crush on The Force Tyrant, blue eyes already has him snared."
"You guys nicknamed your leader too." A hooded boy said. "Oh, not us." Noah said looking at the backs of Caelith and Arthur far ahead. "The entire hall did, do you guys live under a rock."
"Well we call ours spirit commander or sapphire princess." The girl who slapped her friend earlier said. "It’s only a group thing." A burly boy in Caelith’s cohort added.
Noah chuckled lightly. "Sapphire princess, why not..." His leg sank into the ground creating a little hole. "Argggghhhh." Noah shrieked as he jumped some paces back.
Following him closely a metallic tail flew out of the hole piercing millimeters away from Noah’s leg. The blushing girl unsheathed half her sword and the tail was severed instantly.
She unsheathed the entire sword and the leaping mole which exited the hole after its tail was severed, fell in halves. ’She didn’t swing her sword, was that an ability, skill or weapon enchantment.’
The ground shook collapsing several standing walls which had provided cover. Manifesting his equipment, Arthur drew the starlight bow, watching as an ethereal purplish azure energy formed an entire arrow.
As the arrow formed he felt an infinitesimal amount of mana leave his body.
Arthur took aim and released his first ever shot, missing entirely one of the seven moles which had just leaped out their holes. Caelith placed her hand on her blade and made a weird symbol.
A greenish wisp escaped her chest and formed a tangible spirit warrior. The armoured warrior helped the others while she engaged one all by herself.
Drawing his bow again, Arthur let out a shot. But this time augmented, he controlled its movements and managed to land a hit on the mole’s flank.
Ronan added a powerful strike to the same area Arthur’s arrow landed and the mole exploded into flesh, bone and liquid. ’That attack carries more power than it should.’
Focusing on Lauryn, Arthur found her evading stray attacks with her eyes closed. ’A utility type, not a combatant.’ Arthur was grateful of this battle because now he could study the capabilities of those around him.
Observing Caelith’s spirit warrior dominate the moles while the summoner watched was wholesome to Arthur. Her cohort impressed him more.
Watching them fight in coordination and effectiveness was a bit mind boggling. ’How do you achieve that level of unity in just three weeks. Who trains them.’
It was like Caelith selected the strongest and most disciplined in forming her cohort. Well technically this was their battle cohort so they had to be strong.
’God knows what they’ve fought in the past weeks, if we already have awakened zombies going around.’ Without having to fire anymore than three shots, a total of eleven moles were dead.
Arthur’s squad dropped to the ground from exhaustion while Caelith’s remained standing, all eight of them. "Rest time is three minutes, I would look ahead." Arthur said as the group walked further the path into a shady alley.
"I think we should keep going." The messenger said staring at a few incoming zombies. However Arthur just drew his bow, "Rest I will handle that."
He climbed upon a higher platform and walked out of sight. At a distance he counted fourteen zombies which had been attracted by their battle. Coming from all three sides surrounding them.
The other side across the driveway and both directions on the driveway. Two were sprinting towards him from the left, with insane speeds so he made them his first targets.
Drawing his bowstring he took aim, trying to hit a quickly approaching creature several hundred meters away. The first arrow flew and fell meters short.
The second flew further past the zombie runner without even hitting it. While he had never practiced archery before, he was slowly becoming frustrated by not being able to hit a single target.
Only thing holding him back, ’No weapon augmentation.’
By the twenty-eighth shot his annoyance was starting to show on his face. The zombies were now closer and he still couldn’t get a shot in. "You’re not doing it correctly." Caelith’s voice resonated in his ear.
Without turning to her, he drew his twenty-ninth arrow. "And I suppose you know something about archery." He said missing again. "It depends on if you’re willing to learn." She said walking to his side.
He didn’t know much about Caelith but something in her made him dangerously carefree around her. Attempting to take another shot she adjusted his hands.
"Archery is all about aim, calculation, precision, patience and a bit of luck. Anything can set an arrow off track, velocity, air pressure, even humidity.
But first we work on your stance." Caelith explained weakening his stiff shoulders by pressing. "What skill, enchantment or ability taught you this." Arthur asked as she repositioned his entire stance.
"What makes you think it is one of that?" She asked moving his waist slightly to the left. "Analytical Logic." He replied with his usual still face. "And through that same logic, I think you are checking me out."
She smiled her fingers deliberately pressing down his abdominal muscles. "Well to answer your earlier question, I have a mastery skill and I am not checking you out. If I wanted to check you out I would have done it while you were in coma."
’She’s a strong girl.’ Commended by her psychological strength, he stopped trying to tease her. After rearranging his upper body, she kicked one of his legs causing him to stand perpendicular to the incoming zombie.
"Now you can fire at will, don’t miss or you would hurt my ego." She said directly in Arthur’s ear and he let an arrow fly. The arrow flew at light speed and struck the closer zombie runner in the thigh.
An entire leg was blown off as the undead toppled to the ground. "You just missed a clear shot, I don’t even need Blessed’s bullet time to see that you just grazed it."
"Well your repositioning helped." Arthur said aiming for the next runner. His first attempt to take it down failed by a margin, but the second and third struck it down to paste.
[ You Have Slain A Level 4 Runner. ]
[ 10 Exp and 1 Stat Point received. ]
Understanding the sheer power of starlight arrows, Arthur understood he needed to change the way he held the bow.
Loosening his tight grip, he exerted pressure with the base of his thumb. With his fingers relaxed Arthur felt his shots getting more accurate, but still trashy to professionals.
"Well at least you’re better than when I arrived here. Keep this stance and learn from your mistakes till you become a pro archer." Caelith said as he took down most of the zombies who were now incredibly close.
A bit disappointed Arthur dismissed the bow and sat on the ground looking at the dead zombies. Well not all were dead, one was still crawling forward.
Caelith lowered herself beside him and they both watched the zombie desperately try to close the distance. "Why did you let it leave, don’t you know it would reattach its leg." She asked.
Seeing through her question Arthur replied. "I know."
"Then why did you let it live."
"I want it to live, I want it to get stronger and I want it to get revenge." He said, "At this point I am already too powerful." Holding out his palm. "Almost three weeks into the apocalypse, I can spam attacks that could destroy entire areas.
It doesn’t matter cooldowns, restrictions etc. I am already overpowered and still I aspire for more power... still I aspire to reach the very pinnacle this apocalypse can take me to. I aspire to evolve past human weakness and limitations.
And do you know why I aspire for this." He asked, Caelith shook her head, her eyes showing her attentiveness. "I have always been bored of reality and existence. Truth be told no one is more overjoyed about this apocalypse than me.
Now I have gotten the excitement I need, if I reach the top..." "You will fall back into your boredom." Caelith completed his statement.
Arthur smiled slightly without turning to her, but she saw the smile. "You may see me as crazy, deranged or psychopathic but all my actions now are made for a predestined future."
Rising from the ground, "All that’s left now is to find partners who would follow me to the zenith." With those words he left Caelith in a contemplative state.
Arthur rejoined the group moments later. "We leave." He instructed. "What of Cally, did you get into a disagreement with her. No was the battle set to baby mode." Noah said covering his mouth with both hands afterwards.
Giving him a dark glare, Arthur replied. "She lives." Noah burst out laughing saying something about how his joke worked. Few members of Caelith’s cohort had tense looks on their faces, which disappeared once she emerged.
"You all fell for it." Noah said laughing and pointing at Caelith’s cohort. While he laughed the group left him behind as they sought shelter. Arthur activated his map skill which had always been draining two points of mana from him ever since he got it.
A holographic screen of the areas he had been in drawn basically to a 1cm to 10km scale. But he could extend it to a 1cm to 100 mile scale, he hadn’t walked that far so all unexplored areas were shaded in dark grey.
He was impressed by the map as it connected with his brain and named specific places. The hall was named TH which meant Temporal Haven, the Middle school, PH meaning Potential Haven.
’We have walked twelve kilometers away on an erratic path, the distance to the city might be thirty more kilometers. Two more days to get there if we encounter threats.’
While the group was assigned to look around for a suitable place to spend the night. Arthur had secretly flown to the top of one of the last standing skyscrapers in their current area, and looked into the metropolitan area.
He tried predicting where Marcus might be trapped and waiting for backup. Squinting his eyes to see more due to his partial shortsightedness he saw a mall and instantly had a hunch.
"I found something guys." Someone yelled and Arthur dropped himself from the sixty-one story building. He activated flight and stopped before his toe would touch the ground.
Walking out from behind the building he met the group walking into a modest hotel. Gazing at the approaching dusk he sighed and followed them into the hotel.
Sometime passed and the silver moon hung above the desolate city. Stars twinkled and the distant twin moon shimmered its eerie blue light a constant reminder of the current reality.
In a still surviving building sat sixteen teen survivors around a camp fire for warmth. The night was freezing cold yet the group enjoyed steaming hot instant noodles, which had been scavenged from the building.
Amidst the constant screeches and noises of the threats around them, very few felt fear. Their meal was finished unceremoniously and instructions to be followed on the coming day were stated by the female leader.
"Every useful item would be packed in a spot and kept for our return to the hall after this mission. This would happen before the sun is up and we would also leave here before the sun rises."
Noah groaned, "We rarely see the sun, why threaten my beauty sleep. God I hate this fuckin mission." Ignoring him Caelith continued. "Tomorrow’s task would be entering targeted area at all costs."
The messenger shifted slightly. "That’s all for the night, you may fall asleep against tomorrow." She turned directly at Arthur who was across her, sitting amidst his squad. "Remember when you said you were looking for partners..., I would watch you."
