The small altercation between me and HydroLift didn’t go unnoticed by the other Returners in the gym, and all but one of them distinctly avoided eye contact with me, the only exception being a young girl, maybe 11 or 12, with peach-colored hair who kept staring at me anytime I wasn’t looking.
Ignoring the eyes that would continuously lock onto me every time I looked away, I turned my back to the injured. I began pulling items from my inventory to stock up my utility belt, pouches, and other pockets all over my gear with potions, pills, and anything else that could help me on the 100-mile sprint.
It was going to be rough, but considering I had plenty of particle water in stock, I scanned through the shops real quick until I found a decent-sized camel pack. *Backpack with a water bladder and a long tube connected to it so that you can stay hydrated on the move*
Well, I bought 2, one for me and one for my brother, and within half a minute, they were both full of particle water and back in my inventory.
With all my preparations complete, I heard a faint gasp, followed by some yelling, and when I turned around, I found my brother hoisting Piniki and Sonnasitc onto his shoulders and all the injured freaking out.
"You can’t leave us; you are supposed to be heroes!"
"Save me. I have a mother and father waiting."
"I have three kids I need to pick up from daycare. Don’t do this!"
It wasn’t just my brother being ambushed by normies either; basically everyone, with the exception of me, had a crowd around them crying, begging, and pleading, and from that, it was pretty easy to tell the heroes and villains apart.
The heroes looked distraught and kept assuming the normie’s help was coming and to stay strong. Some even began handing out crude weapons from their inventories, and given how frantic and scared people were, not one of them said a word about where they came from.
However, that didn’t stop people from demanding guns instead of swords, but what could the Returners do? It wasn’t like they were used to using modern weapons, hell none of them could do shit against Beta or Higher monsters and would only scratch or slightly wound an Alpha-Rank.
Then there were the villains, who were half a step away from getting into altercations with everyone who grabbed onto them, begging for help.
As if things couldn’t be more chaotic, an explosion rocked the gym again as four armed Cultists came barreling into the area with rifles at the ready. With one annoyed glance at my brother, who had his arms full, I sighed before launching a dozen Geo-Spikes at the newcomers, killing them instantly and sending the crowd into a frenzy of screams.
"WILL YOU ALL SHUT THE FUCK UP PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!" Having had enough of all the noise, I once again augmented my throat and hollered at the group of normies, shutting them up at the drop of a hat.
"In the next hour, things are going to get extremely difficult for everyone here; you will find yourselves in a strange land where the law of the jungle prevails. Some of you will be forced to do what you can to survive; others will perish. That is how it is, and no amount of help from us will save you."
"I will not and cannot go into details, but know this: survival and strength are the only things that matter, and from here on out, you must change your mindset."
"Heros, Villains, none of it matters at the end of the day because we all have a single unified enemy. Remember the name Partaevian and burn it into your heart because all of this is their fault, and remember, those of you who survive this will become far more powerful than you can ever imagine…" glancing around the room, I looked at the other returners, who in many different ways were getting ready to book it out of here any second.
"Hate them and me if you wish; I don’t really care; I have far too many enemies to count as is, what’s a few more, but know that at the end of the day, nothing matters if you don’t survive this trial by fire."
’We are leaving; I won’t stop you from dumping some resources, but bear in mind nothing you do will help them if they don’t want to help themselves,’
Taking a deep breath, I began manipulating my particles into my legs and charging up for a full sprint.
The sourc𝗲 of this content is freēwēbηovel.c૦m.
’Thanks…for the speech. It may not help them right now, but I hope they all survive because of it and the tools those of us heroes are giving them.’
’I didn’t do it for you, Brenden; I did it to maintain my identity as Nexus, false bravado, that’s all it is. Don’t fool yourself into thinking they mean more to me than you or Dad; I would kill them here and now if it meant getting you guys out in one piece.’ Waving my hand, I manifested a Geo-Spike the size of a lance and punched it at the base, sending it through the nearest wall like a wrecking ball, where it continued blasting through everything in its path.
Then…I kicked off the ground and rushed forward, leaving the screaming pack of normies and Returners behind. Even this was a carefully laid trap, as instead of going north as I had said we would, we were heading east.
It took less than 30 seconds to run at full speed until we were already at the edge of the campus and out in the open air; at that point, like a speed skater, I carefully angled my body and shot north, with Brenden hot on my heels.
(Jax, position?)
(On the move, I have two others with me, both former High-Rankers I knew from back in the day; the three of us are about a quarter of the way from the border and moving fast. One of the heroes is buffing us with Aeromancy, giving us Haste, so we are moving faster than anticipated, and we should reach the target location in 25 minutes.)
(Copy that; Marek and I are enroute as well, with two, his friend Sonnasitc and A-Class healer Piniki. Eta…) Glancing at the sun’s position and bringing up the mental image of the road atlas I had memorized, I calculated our speed and the distance.
(Roughly 41 minutes,)