"Demon Attack!"
A young guard roared. "It's a tentacle demon,"
An older man analyzed gravely, adjusting his night vision goggles. "Prepare for battle,"
They raised their spears.
The younger guard shone his flashlight at a hospital window, then readied for battle.
Cold sweat formed on the old guard's forehead.
The spear in the young guard's hands shook; he couldn't keep it straight.
They knew what approached.
An unbeatable demon.
Certain death.
"I-I can't…"
Tears welled in the young man's eyes.
"Don't drop your spear," The older guard's teeth creaked.
His feet led him back, but the glass door blocked him.
In this new world, it didn't matter how long you had experienced life. No one has experienced death.
No one was immune to the fear it brought.
"If you drop your spear now, you'll be branded a traitor! A deserter!"
The older man continued; the younger stayed silent.
"We have neither extraordinary ability nor mind. We'll be left alone outside. No group will accept traitors!"
The grip around his spear tightened.
"Persevere,"
He crouched forward, his back tightening.
He was ready to thrust.
He might've intended to motivate the young man, but those words sounded like a self-plea at most.
He was convincing himself.
Suddenly, the glass door of the hospital opened.
The guards' hearts fluttered.
They thought reinforcement arrived. But it sank when they saw who walked out.
Livia.
A metal object resembling headphones covered her ears, hiding her previous injury.
"Lady Livia, what are you doing?" The older guard questioned hastily, panicked. Almost attacking her. "It's dangerous out here. We can't lose you!"
"Sighh…" Livia shook her head. "
Fear blinds you,"
She pointed forward.
"Take a closer look,"
The guard hesitated for a moment, but he had to obey.
After all, Livia was one of the most important people in the group, while he was just an ordinary guard.
He looked into the distance, adjusting his night vision goggles.
"That is…"
His lips crept up into a smile. Joy flashed on his face.
"It's Sir Vincent!"
The younger guard exclaimed, feeling huge relief.
"Mmh…"
Livia nodded.
"Return to your post."
It didn't take long; Vincent arrived, riding the horrendous tentacle demon hound.
The sword wounds oozed with green blood.
He arrived a few hours before dawn.
"Vincent,"
A deep frown formed on Livia's face.
Swoosh!
Vincent jumped from the demon hound.
'Scout the surroundings, kill demons, avoid zombies and humans,'
He willed in his mind.
"What happe…"
"Livia, call for a meeting."
He didn't even allow her to get a word out.
The frown on her face deepened, but she only followed him and entered the hospital.
Since he called for a meeting, she knew it was something important, but not threatening
...
Half an hour later, people gathered in a room.
Five in total.
They stood, surrounding an ordinary table.
And on the table was a massive rolled-up piece of paper, resembling a scroll.
"Vincent, what's this sudden meeting? Couldn't it wait till morning?"
A bulky, tatted-up bald man spoke. His left eye was blinded, and he missed a finger.
A mark of this new world.
"Stop complaining, Mason…"
A breathless, distant voice rang in the room.
But it was not at all distant.
An old man spoke.
A black mask covered his face.
His tired, wrinkled face, visible through the two circular glass eyepieces. The front filter canisters protruded, giving him a bug-like look.
He wore a gas mask.
"Tch…"
Mason clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Hahaha…" Laughter echoed, young, cheerful. "Mason, you got scolded…"
A young boy pointed a half-licked blue lollipop at Mason.
A boy no older than ten.
Mason's eyes trembled. "Y-Yes…"
He didn't dare look.
A grown man, thrice the kid's size, dared not look at him.
"Kai," Livia patted the kid's head. "Don't cause trouble,"
Bleegh!
Kai stuck out his blue-painted tongue.
Livia smiled warmly, but her eyes did not change.
Mason secretly stole glances.
Not just him, everyone.
Even Livia.
Her eyes wandered to Kai's back.
Eight daggers floated in a circle around his back.
On his waist, he had two leather bags.
One to the left, the other to the right.
Sharp needles protruded from the bags. Dozens in each.
They feared the power he carried.
And even more, the unpredictability of his young age.
"Let's start this meeting,"
Vincent jumped in.
"Sleep would be the least of our worries,"
He unrolled the paper, covering the entire table.
It was a map.
A map of the city.
The river cut through the upper part of the city, separating a small portion of it.
At the center of the city was a tower.
The demon tower.
The surrounding area was marked with black.
They dared not approach beyond that point.
Then, near the lower-left corner of the city, at the border between the outskirts and the city, a hospital was marked.
Their base.
Not far right from them, a mountain of rubble was drawn and marked.
And then, a bit outside of the city, a military base was marked.
Military base 3.
Tap!
Vincent slammed his finger on a part of the river.
"There is a new group,"
The expression of everyone turned grave.
"Ohhh…"Kai looked around, observing their expression.
Then, he got all serious and leaned forward, pretending to be serious with the adults.
Pretending as if he understood what was going on.
A discussion opened.
Vincent explained the mission's details.
What exactly happened, and the man he met, controlling and riding the wave.
As he spoke, the expressions of those present grew darker.
"An unknown group with the ability to control water,"
Mason muttered gravely.
"It means…" The older man with the mask spoke, gasping for breath. "One more group to share resources with,"
"Not only that," Vincent leaned on the table. "We have no information on them. Most importantly, where their base is. Whether they'll be open for trade. But by no means are they weak. We can't directly confront them."
They nodded in approval of Vincent's words.
"We have already formed a trade alliance with the Military Base Number 3 and the Iron Hive,"
Livia spoke.
"We can inform them and discuss how to deal with them together."
"That's good," Vincent approved. "Livia, contact the Military Base's commander, Marek, and contact Ferron, the leader of the Iron Hive."
"This might be a good opportunity to weaken the Iron Hive," Mason proposed. "Their leaders are hot-headed. We can set them up against this new group. Borrow a knife to slaughter. We can't lose out,"
"Mason…" The elderly man spoke once again. "Don't dwell that much on it…We don't know the strength of this new group. We are not losing anything, but we aren't winning either…"
He paused.
"Ferron is trading metal weapons with us…If somehow our scheme is revealed, it'll worsen our relationship."
Livia nodded.
"Breaking up with the Iron Hive is not beneficial," She added. "We have over a thousand people in our group. We should focus on internal management…"
"But…"
"Booooooring!"
Kai couldn't hold it in anymore.
"This meeting is so boring,"
He rolled his eyes.
"I'm out of lollipops," he said, showing the stick of the lollipop. "I'm going to search for more outside."
He turned and left.
No one stopped him.
No one stopped a young child from venturing into the dangerous outside world.
"Sighh…" Vincent let out a tired sigh. "That's it for today's meeting. Go back. We'll discuss it some other day."
Mason stormed out of the room immediately.
Hiiiiisss!
The gas mask hissed as the elderly man breathed deeply, walking out of the room with shaky steps.
Livia walked to the door.
"Livia, you stay." Vincent called.
"What is it?"
She returned.
Vincent looked around and walked closer.
"I need blood. I want to test something with the zombies,"
Livia's eyes widened for a second, acting surprised.
'He's lying,'
"No problem. Follow me,"
She turned and walked out.
The corner of her lips curled up into a smile.
But Vincent foolishly followed her.
They went down, where the generators were.
"Wait here,"
She entered the room.
Livia still didn't allow anyone to enter.
But quickly, she came out with three packs of blood.
"O positiv, A negativ, B negativ," She added as she handed him the blood packs.
"Thank you,"
Vincent walked away.
…
He returned to his room, sitting in the darkness with the blood packs before his eyes.
The countdown ticked before his eyes.
[Race: Progenitor (Conditional)] - [8 days 6:23.17]
'It's come to this,'
He reached for a blood pack.
Tears welled in his eyes.
'How did it come to this?'
With a small knife, he cut the upper corner of the pack.
The metallic sweet smell filled the air.
A silent tear rolled down his cheeks.
But determination flashed in his eyes.
He had long prepared himself for this.
Better this than to kill and eat humans.
Swoosh!
He put the cut corner in his mouth.
Vincent closed his eyes and pinched his nose.
Then…
GULP!
Cold blood flowed down his throat.
Swoosh!
His eyes snapped open.
Blood Red.