Chapter 57 Escape
BOOM!!
The arrow and sword collided and exploded into a loud explosion.
Powerful shockwaves, no weaker than the ones generated from Alice's fireball explosion, spiralled outwards, sending those who were closer to the explosion's epicentre tumbling back. Many of them got minor injuries despite doing their best to defend.
As dust and smoke that had hampered everyone's vision cleared out, the dark-skinned man's and the main camp leader's expression turned ugly because… Luke and others had vanished.
Furthermore, three of their people who were relatively closer to them were lying on the ground, their heads smashed in.
"CHASE THEM!" the dark-skinned man shouted in anger and was about to rush toward the broken wall but,
"Forget about them." Ramsey shook his head, stopping them.
"But, leader, that bastard killed four of us, not counting the ones he killed in the factory. And as you said, that burst of power is because of his spell and he most definitely won't be able to keep up. We can
—"
The dark-skinned man quipped. He was beyond angry because two of the four that had just died were his people and one of them was even his woman.
"Shut up!" Ramsey glared at him, which immediately shut him up.
He then continued in grim tone when he saw many of them were dissatisfied by his decision, "I also want nothing more than to tear that bastard into pieces, however… if we chase them into the forest, many of us will die because don't forget, it's not only us and the zombies that are evolving."
Everyone's expression turned serious when they heard it. Then one of them asked, "Leader, we are fully capable of fighting the zombies. We even killed that monstrous zombie earlier today. So, can't we handle those beasts?"
"Hehe…" Ramsey mockingly laughed, "Before everything went down, I was clearly told that beasts are way more dangerous than the zombies, especially in the early days. If we chase them and are unfortunate to encounter a second order beast or even a stronger first order one, except me and him who have some chances of surviving, almost all of you will die. Now, tell me, do you still want to chase them?"
No one responded. A few moments later, the dark-skinned man asked in resignation, "So, are we supposed to forget about this humiliation?"
To this, Ramsey revealed a sadistic smile.
"I never said that. When we convene with others from the rulers' faction, we'll declare them wanted and make them everyone's enemy. When that happens, they are sure to die once they are spotted."
Just then, one of them spoke up, "Um, leader. One of us seems to be missing."
When Ramsey heard this, his expression darkened. 'Did he escape willingly or was taken away?'
…
Half a mile away from the city wall, Luke, professor Nina, Lori and Julia were hiding under the cover of thick bushes.
Ben was lying on the ground beside them. Fortunately, he wasn't dead, but his condition was very bad and blood was still flowing out of the large wound on his chest, which Lori was trying to stop.
Apart from them, another person lying a few meters away, his mouth stuffed with a rag and his hands and legs were bound by a rope that connected to a tree behind him.
Huff! Ha! Ha!
Luke was sprawled on the ground, panting furiously. His clothes were already drenched in sweat, his face was pale and his eyes were becoming unfocused.
"Luke… are you alright?" Professor Nina worriedly asked, placing his head in her lap and wiped the sweat from his face with her handkerchief. Julia looked at both Luke and Ben in worry, her face was pale.
"Ha! I'm… fine. Just feeling a little lightheaded, nothing to worry about. You guys take care of Ben." Luke answered after taking a deep breath.
Currently, he was focused on sensing the change in the rune of the [Berserk] skill. But strangely, he couldn't sense it all unlike before, which made him frown.
Lori's brows were scrunched up as she tied some make shift bandages around Ben's chest to stop the bleeding. She then looked at Luke, and asked, "You've exhausted your mana, haven't you?"
Luke couldn't see her properly, but he nodded, causing her to sigh.
She then glanced at Julia and said, "Julia, help me open some of these treasure boxes. If we can find some mana gems, it would help him a lot."
"Yes, mom." Julia nodded and the mother and daughter pair started opening treasure boxes one after another. Lori hadn't recovered much mana after casting her healing skill a while ago, so she couldn't open any box. Julia, on the other hand, opened over 10. Professor Nina opened another 10.
Unfortunately, they only got 3 mana gems, but fortunately, there were over stamina gems too, which they fed him besides the 3 mana gems, hoping that a higher level of stamina would help recover mana more quickly.
Lori then looked at the man bound to the tree, walked over to him and,
Slap!
Slapped him hard across his face.
She then gave him a death glare, took out the rag from his mouth and asked, "Tell me how much mana do you have left?"
"Heh!" A mocking expression appeared on his face as he sneered, "You want me to open those boxes? Dream on bitch!"
He then added, "Also, you shouldn't have taken out the rag."
As soon as he said this, he opened his mouth wide and was about to shout.
Lori, however, was prepared and hurriedly stuffed the rag back into his mouth and shook her head. "No, I didn't."
She then went back, picked up her sword, returned and smiled darkly. "You seem unafraid of death, shall we see if that's really the case?"
The man's eyes constricted, but he didn't say anything and just stared at her defiantly.
Lori hesitated and her hand trembled a little, but as she looked at almost unconscious Luke, Ben, Julia and Professor Nina, she gritted her teeth and stabbed her sword in his right thigh.
"Mmmfff!"
The man's eyes widened, and he let out a muffled, pained scream.
Lori took out the sword, causing him to scream once more. She then looked at him and this time, she could see fear in his eyes. Thus, she asked, "So, are you going to do as I ordered, or should I continue?"
The man looked at her, then sword in her hand and gritted his teeth in hatred and anger before slowly nodding.
"Good." Lori nodded and touched his forehead with a treasure box, "Do it." She ordered.
The man looked surprised at this. He had thought she would open his hands so he could open the boxes.
As if Lori knew what he was thinking, she sneered, "Do you take me for a fool? Now, hurry up and inject your mana into it."
The man nodded and closed his eyes, and then,
Swoosh!
A white light flashed and the treasure box vanished, leaving behind a glowing gem—a Mana gem.
Lori's eyes shone. She then brought more treasure boxes one by one and until the man's face hadn't turned pale and his body was swaying, she continued to force him to open them.
When she stopped, another 12 boxes were opened, and it seemed the man was quite lucky because she got five mana gems, a level 5 sword, and a few useless items.
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