Another panel came across my face and blocked my view. When I opened the message, Vulcan’s name was written on the sender. That old man knew what I was up to. [Don’t worry about the fifty remaining survivors, kid. They are waiting for you near the exit. But you need to be quick on your toes, Aoi. Those monsters - rather, Pests - are coming after them as well. The more time you spend here, the less people you could save.] That was the trick that I had anticipated. Vulcan deliberately placed the fifty survivors beside our only exit filled with Pests surrounding the area. And even though the rest of the survivors were only fifty, they were still people I had to save. This was a simulation. But these occurrences could also happen in real time, so I had to make my decision count. The things the survivors and I had prepared were already on the ground. Our necessities contained some packed food reserved for the next few days, including berries, cooked and preserved meats, spices, salts, a
I computed inside my head the overall distance of the place and the amount of time we would need to reach the other side, including other casualties we might face once we reached the latter area. We still didn’t know if the horizon would lead us to the stairs, so I just had to multiply the distance and time twice after gathering the results. As it turned out, the road measured around five kilometres. By adding another five kilometres for good measure, we would have ten kilometres in total. Our group could walk for around ninety minutes or run continuously for seventy seventy minutes to reach the goal. However, there was one problem. Given our circumstances and the age related to our group, most survivors couldn’t run fast enough compared to me. And our party wouldn’t run consistently, given the aforementioned problems. So I deduced that eleven of us would arrive at the end of this line around eighty to ninety minutes, as long as nothing obstructed our way. But I doubted that would ha
The two scouts returned to the main party and joined themselves with the rest of us. Everyone who had their weapons prepared them in their hands and glanced in every direction. I also heightened my senses and attempted to locate any anomalies approaching our way. It won’t be long until that monster appears from those sea of trees, so I had to be wary about them. We had the chance to escape and let the old man die a noble and lonely death. However, everyone refused. When I raised that question to the survivors, each of them said the same thing “We will fight together and escape together. Nobody should be left behind!” It was a poetic line, yet risky line. However, it was better than nothing, as everyone presented their defensive stance and remained in formation while waiting for the intruder to come in. But we didn’t let mothers and their children fight for our stead even though we lacked the manpower to fight a horde. These people were the ones we had to protect. So we didn’t let the
“What do we need to do, Aoi,” one survivor asked.The mother and her child braced themselves for impact as the monsters kept creeping closer in our direction. There were creatures in front of us and monsters at our flank. There was no way for us to escape. And the only thing left for us to do was to fight our way onward, together with the people and my sniper. This would be a mesys battle, but it was the only option left for our group. Even though my sniper and my magical bullets could deal tons of damage, the beasts ambushing us were far too many. I could save myself and kill them while dodging their attacks, but I wasn’t alone. These people behind me needed my protection, and if I let my guard down the survivors might die. “Everyone, move if I move. Stop when I stop. Let’s proceed one little step at a time.”If Neil Armstrong took baby steps on the moon and finally achieved his goal, we could do that too. We couldn’t risk it and charge straight onward without a plan. If we do just
Two people died in front of me. It was not even the old man. These two powerless individuals protected everyone from the Pests and ended up giving their lives. Vulcan was behind this. But could I actually blame him for this?No. This was reality. Once everyone had a taste of those portals, they knew what was coming for them. Everyday, people die from those dimensions. And it was the adventurer’s job to stop those madness from spreading further. However, it was a difficult job, let alone to one adventurer surrounded by a horde of monsters.Even though I only needed to protect ten people, two had already died. We were now down to eight people fighting for our lives, nine including me. As soon as those individuals died, I clicked my tongue and vowed to make their sacrifices worth it.I aimed my sniper at the monsters who killed my comrades and killed them with four bullets. When the shells from my rifle penetrated the creature’s bodies, those Pests fell on the ground and became corpses t
I had a hunch that something was off. There was something odd about the abyss below this floating land. But no matter how hard I pinpointed it with my finger, the cat had already caught my tongue. With that in mind, I returned to the base, which was already prepared by the survivors. Even though we survived the deadly chase, our hearts were filled with sorrow and despair.I wanted to cheer everyone up. However, I knew that effort was pointless. There was no reason for us to carve a smile on our faces after losing someone close to us. Those two individuals were two men that fought an already losing battle. They died with honour, and a heroic one to top it off.The only sound that reverberated through the campfire was the twigs burning from the fire. And the only company we had was ourselves huddled around the crisping logs the survivors placed. As we gazed upon the sky, the moon basked us with its moonlight. It was a picturesque sight. But I knew that the night was still young and dark
“But you’ll die trying to fight them. Why fight even after that?” I asked.Another representative from the group of survivors stepped up and answered, “It’s because we don’t want you to do everything, Aoi. You’re the adventurer who has superpowers. Even though we don’t have any abilities, we still want to help each other out. This is still for us, no matter how far we look at it.”The survivor was right. And when that person voiced his concerns, everyone who listened nodded in agreement. What Vulcan told me earlier came back at me and amplified the lesson. I wasn’t alone. If I was the only one who fended off those monsters while the rest saved themselves, maybe I would’ve seen myself wounded and on the floor - maybe at the brink of death. And maybe, those people I wished to protect had already died or severely injured as soon as we escaped. If the worst had come to the worst, maybe we wouldn’t even reach the forest’s end line. “Thank you, everyone. I… we wouldn’t have done this witho
“Wait…” I said, and gestured my hand for the entire group to see. “Whatever you do, do not make a sound and do not move a muscle.I knew that idling around for the figure to show up was a risky move. But either way, when that monster decides which way it would go, we would be screwed. Maybe it was best for us to come up with a decent plan before that could happen. For now, I sensed the place and tried marking the unknown entity swimming below our feet. I had thought that this was the optimal way to face our problem. However, something happened. After a few minutes of waiting around, the old man on the back groaned in pain. Everyone present on the viaduct tried covering his mouth. But as soon as the survivors reached out their hands, the bridge quivered and slightly disrupted our balance.There was only one word that my mind had thought of. And that was,,“RUN!” I shouted, and led the charge.We sprinted as fast as our legs could on the moving viaduct. Most survivors handled the bridg