"Hhm?" Muku jumped up from his bed suddenly and looked toward the North. He faintly heard a howl from that direction, which, despite not sounding too intimidating, caused goosebumps to cover his whole body. He felt like if they headed North at that ti, they would all die before they even knew what killed them.
Surprisingly, unlike Muku, Jade wasn't intimidated by the howl...well, she was, but even more than that, she felt anger. For so reason, she felt like she was being challenged by the howl. If she didn't have enough self-control, she might have run toward the howl at that very mont. Luckily, she did, and not to ntion, she, along with almost everyone in their group, could sense bullshitly strong auras all over the place. They basically felt like ants in front of anteaters.
So let alone speeding into the distance, Jade didn't dare even release her aura, though none of the strong auras were particularly close by or would care about weaklings like them. What was close to them in the mont was actually uncountable beasts that were all at least Rank one and many of them were even Half-step Rank Twos. Luckily not all the beasts seed to be moving toward the city(ruins). Most were actually going toward the forest. It seems like normal animals; beasts prefer places covered by vegetation, trees and the like.
"Surviving just got a lot harder hasn't it"? Chloe asked a rhetorical question with a wry smile on her face. Just when they basically just reached the top of the food chain. They were tossed back down before they could even properly relax. The others also shared her sentints as they silently agreed.
"Don't be disheartened by this turn of events. We managed to climb up before, and I'm certain we can do it again. Just that this ti it will be a bit harder." Muku's voice rang out in the room as he walked in. Hearing him and his words, the girls all felt a bit better. As he said, unlike the first ti, they weren't completely new to the experience of climbing up the food chain so it should be a lot easier than before. Well, at least deciding what to do will be easier.
"I'm sorry for not waking up; I guess I was a lot more spent than I thought; I'll make it up to all of you later. As for now, I think we need to survey our surroundings while trying to get to Rank Two as soon as we can." Without waiting for the girls to say anything, or rember last night's incident, he continued speaking.
As he finished speaking, Hope walked into the room, still looking a bit groggy. Everyone turned her way when she greeted them.
"How are you feeling dear?" Audrey asked her a question instead of replying. After all, Hope took way too long to wake up and they were all very worried.
"I'm feeling great, actually, see", Hope replied while flexing her nonexistent biceps. Seeing her like that, everyone smiled; they could tell that she really was fine now.
"Thanks for the assistance last night, Hope. Without you, I wouldn't have been able to succeed". Muku thanked her for what she did. Although he couldn't sense his surroundings at the ti, he could still sense when a foreign energy invaded his body. He easily realised that it was Hope's mana, so he didn't try to eject it from his body and let her do what she wanted. Which left him pleasantly surprised when it got rid of his ntal exhaustion, allowing him to hang on until the end. When he opened his eyes and saw her lying on the couch unconscious, it was easy for him to figure out what happened.
"No problem big brother, I love helping you out whenever I can!" Hope exclaid with a big happy smile on her face, her previous sleepiness nowhere to be found.
"I have the best little sister ever, anyway do you want to join us?.... Normally, we'd start by bathing, but we no longer have electricity. Sigh, even author-san can't help us this ti." Muku spoke already missing the old days.
"Sure, let's go; we can always think of so way to get water after we return". Hope replied, smiling even more; she didn't really care about anything he said after saying that she was the best little sister ever; it was the first ti he called her "little sister", after all.
With that, the group walked out of the house. By this ti, the four girls had rembered the hug incident, and although they hadn't run away like before, they still hadn't actively spoken to Muku.
"What tha!". Jade exclaid as soon as they walked out through the gate. Everywhere she looked, all she saw was a destroyed world, no buildings around them managed to survive the earthquake. Everything was broken down. It all painted a clear picture, a picture that conveyed one aning...."The age of humanity's rule had co to an end"
....
Just like the area around Muku's group, everywhere all over the world was like that. Of course, there were a few buildings outside of the safe zones that miraculously managed to survive. But they took so much damage that they'd eventually fall on their own even if another earthquake didn't happen.
As always, when a group of humans are advised to do sothing, there will be so hardheaded fellows who won't do it. In this case, those fellows all lost their lives or would lose it soon enough. After all, they didn't exit from their buildings even after being cautioned to. Due to this, they were all crushed when the buildings crumbled down. Many, if not all, regretted their decision, but it was too late, and they died in regret. Maybe, fortunately, it wasn't just humans that were killed by crumbling buildings. Countless unranked and many LR1 beasts who were indoors were also killed.
Of course, so wanted to exit from their buildings but couldn't. Either because others stopped them while holding knives and with crazy looks in their eyes, or there were beasts in the building or just outside of it. No matter the reason, they were crushed, too; the world was never fair...
Those who were outside at the ti witnessed a marvel they will never forget until they die. Also, there was a rather high chance they got separated from the people who were standing right next to them. Then killed off by beasts before they could et up again. The few who were too close to portals were also killed off by the beasts that ca out of them before they could even think of running. Such was the difference in strength between them and the beasts.
Then, so lived close to the sea, and even if they managed to exit their residences on ti, they were still swept away by floods. And quickly consud by the recently returned galodons or so other huge monster of the deep.
The people who died in less than a day of the evolution were at least half of the people who died since the beginning of the apocalypse. In a nutshell, only the people in safe zones had it easy.
....
"Umm, are we still sure about not joining either the university or the stadium?" Muku couldn't help but ask after they properly scouted their surroundings. To say that they were basically living in a sea of beasts at this point was no exaggeration.
"Definitely!". The girls all replied at once. It seems he had underestimated the desire to have their own place that the girls had.
"Okay, if you say so....but I'm sure we could easily be the leaders of either of those places if we wanted to." Muku tried one more ti.
"We aren't going!" Jade snapped at him in annoyance.
"Do you want to be a leader to thousands of people?" Layla asked him calmly.
"Hell no! And Jade, shout at again, and we'll have a round two right here, right now". Muku replied to Layla and Jade in one sentence. Jade quickly shut up and walked a bit further away from him.
"And neither do we; on top of it,, we also don't want to be under anyone's rule. Do you think the leaders of the safe zones would appreciate having strong people they can't command around?" Layla expressed her thoughts, completely ignoring the whole Jade incident.
"I know all that, but the situation here is a lot different from before. I'm not sure if I can still keep everyone safe like before". Muku replied; he'd already considered everything Layla said but still felt it was better than exposing the girls to so much danger.
"Good that you can't, you never had to from the beginning. We're a team, and so we're supposed to keep each other safe. Not just let you do everything." Emily chid in before Layla could speak, while the other girls nodded in agreent. Though inside they were happy that he cared so much for them that he was willing to put himself in such an uncomfortable position.
Of course, they also knew the risk they were taking by not joining a safe zone. But they felt that with each other's help, they could definitely survive without a safe zone. And with their talent, it won't take them long to climb back up the food chain again. Not to ntion the words that Adam said about the safe zones only lasting until the third level of evolution. So, getting a head start on how to survive in a situation without a safe zone isn't a bad thing. They will be a lot more prepared when the ti cos and the situation will definitely be a lot more perilous.
"Fine, if that's what you all want. For now let's go bother so Half-step Rank Two beasts and see if we can realise the rest of our potential and evolve to Rank Two.". Muku finally relented. Though he wasn't too broken up about it, he also liked their current situation after all. Just that he felt that he had to consider what the girls wanted.
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