“I give up,” said Max as he simply lied there on the bench, breathing loudly. He was injured. It wasn’t anything Sean’s Heart Factor wouldn’t solve, but the thing was… Max didn’t have it. He was the only one that had gotten a visible and dangerous injury among the group. He groaned every now and then and didn’t even bother to get up.
The reason soon made itself apparent. There was another injury near his ribs, far more severe. The vampire’s claws had torn right past his shirt and cloak to make yet another nasty scratch wound there. It was deep enough for his bones to be slightly visible and enough flesh had been torn off.
“Go on without me. I’m just going to be a bother,” he said, his forearm placed on his forehead. Then he chuckled slightly and winced, “Damn, I always wanted to say that. One thing off my bucket list.”
Sean looked away from him, his mouth and hands bloody. There were eight salvageable spleens and he’d gotten all the mana he could out of them. The others had been blown into smithereens. It counteracted the expenditure from Mana Sight and he’d recovered some of his Mana Points. He hadn’t gained any extra Intelligence or Wisdom from the title.
He’d recovered a little over a hundred and fifty Mana Points. He didn’t know how expensive using Mana Sight was due to there not being a counter for it but it’d cost a slight bit. He now had around four hundred fifty Mana Points.
He felt less scared now.
Sean had glimpsed at Max slightly with his Mana Sight on and had seen the Mana in his body dim. Deep inside, he knew it, but he didn’t want to accept that.
Maybe the others also knew that even without Mana Sight.
“How much do you have left?” asked Rex as he knelt next to him, clutching his hands as tightly as possible, leaning on the wall next to him. They’d talked about this enough times before they started hunting mosquitos. They knew the risks the moment they started trying to level up.
Max gave him a smirk.
“Tell me,” he said, “You’ll be fine, don’t worry. Marie… can you freeze his wounds?”
She extended her hand and tried to wave it across his injuries like she’d done for the door but it was pushed aside by Max himself. He shook his head and spoke, “Don’t. It won’t help.”
“You won’t be bleeding then,” growled Rex, “You’ll live.”
“I know that it won’t,” said Max, straining his voice. He groaned and lied back down, clearly hurt from it, “I’m a damned Biology Major. I know what I’m talking about. By the time it stops the blood loss, it’ll have messed me up big time. Just freezing the nerves won’t work.”
He looked at Liz and Chris. They were far too quiet, simply standing aside —they wanted to go. Sean grit his teeth. If only… if only he had stood his ground and had told them they were staying, then it mightn’t have happened.
“I can make it quick,” said Marie slowly.
“Someone’s speaking logic here,” said Max. He breathed in slowly and closed his eyes, “I’m waiting.”
“We can bring you the potion again,” said Rex quickly, eyes-wide-open, “You know, the one that cured your eye. It can save you.”
“And how? By killing the people… outside?” asked Max, “If they could be saved, I’d feel bad. Either way… I won’t last long enough. I don’t even want to. Life sucks now.”
“But-” started Rex but an icicle almost the size of Max’s head landed right at the middle of his forehead, making a large enough hole for a fist to fit through. The glacier itself was almost a foot long and it got gradually wider.
“I know how to help,” said Sean, interrupting Rex. If he got the Messy Eater title which combined with his Big Eater title, then that meant… others could also get it, wasn’t that right? Then, if Max ate something, he could also recover his Health Points. That way, he could survive.
“Great, another hunter Deus Ex Machina,” said Max with a grin and tilted his head to look at Sean, “I’m not complaining, though.”
“A vital organ. You need to eat it, like me,” said Sean. He was thinking of suggesting it later, but someone was dying right in front of his eyes. He couldn’t let that happen. Not on his watch. Sean pointed at the corpses, “There should be some left intact. I’m sure of it.”
He’d eaten most of them but not all. Who knew that would save Max?
“I’ll find one,” said Sean and he was once again blinded. The dagger was still in his hand and he had to find one. While the Mana within the organs and the vampire seeped out fast, there were still a lot of them. They were brighter than a human’s.
In his hurry, Sean stumbled on one of the corpses but picked himself up quickly enough. He had to hurry. After tumbling through the graveyard of recently deceased vampires, he found one. It was the liver. At least that’s what he assumed it was from the location. Carefully, Sean plunged the dagger into the corpse and cut apart the area around the organ —you could make out the outline of the organs, like an X-Ray sight.
After he finally made big enough a hole to pull the liver out from, Sean turned off his Mana Sight and saw the mess he’d made. His hands were covered with blood and he could smell the iron now. But he pushed the sensations back and brought it to Max.
“Will that… really help me?” asked Max as he stared at the raw liver, “Well, at least it’s the liver. Heard that it’s the tastiest part.”
“If you get the title,” said Sean. He didn’t know if it would be successful, but if it was, it’d save him, “Your Monster Hunter title will upgrade and you’ll get one called Messy Eater.”
“Ha, fine,” said Max as Sean brought it closer to his mouth, assuming he’d have to feed it to him. But Max turned his head away, “If I’m being fed something, I’d prefer it to be a chick feeding me.”
“Gimme that,” hissed Marie and pulled the liver off Sean’s hand. She then pulled Max’s head back with the hair and pushed the liver into his mouth. There was no resistance and he simply bit into it. Slowly, he swallowed.
The air was practically filled with tension.
After eating it, Max stared up at the air.
Was it… successful?
“Yep, I’m not going to heaven just yet,” said Max with a chuckle, “That’s two things off my bucket list. Cannibalism and being fed by a chick.”
“Next time, just eat it before throwing your witty remarks. Anyways, this is disgusting,” said Marie and wiped the blood off her hand in Max’s shirt.
Were they… dating?
Well, he wouldn’t even be surprised.
That aside, it was intriguing how fast the world changed. Rather, how fast people changed. Sean supposed at least more than four of them would have pissed their pants at the thought of fighting monsters and giant bugs not even a month ago.
Now?
Now, they were killing them and eating their organs like it was just another day.
Then again, it was just another day.
Maybe, just maybe, this wasn’t too bad?
“I… might want to eat another one before I can start moving around,” said Max as he tried to pull himself up but failed to, “My HP hasn’t even increased much.”
Sean turned around to fetch yet another organ but was stopped by Chris.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Chris whispered into his ears, “What if there are side-effects?”
“It’s fine. Probably,” answered Sean quietly, but far louder than a whisper, “I’ve done this before.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s safe,” he said.
“I mean… mom ate werewolf hearts before. Aunt Charlie probably has. Liz drunk fairy blood to recover. At this point, I don’t think we can complain or get creeped out,” said Sean. Then he added, “Especially when we’re talking about life and death. They’ll come in anytime now and we don’t want Max to be hurt then.”
This Chris felt different —he was serious. The Chris that Sean wanted to talk to wasn’t there. He wasn’t a nerd… Then again, Sean hadn’t met him ever since he came back from the military. Too busy with classes and pondering about his future.
That future was gone, though.
He liked this lifestyle a bit. Not thinking about the next year and just living in the moment. That was the best thing about this new world. He could just learn how to fight and he was set. No need to get a degree or an internship or anything. Just surviving was enough.
Then they heard glass break.
“We gotta go,” said Chris instantly. He grabbed the crossbow he’d put aside from the ground and the dagger Sean was holding —both of his weapons. As if on cue, Rex grabbed Max in what looked like a princess carry and dashed toward the corridor. He made it look easy as if Max was weightless.
Maybe, Sean could also carry Max like that?
He didn’t know. He had nothing to compare his Strength to so he’d have to ask about how much Strength Rex had afterward.
“Sean, do what you did outside but on the corridor,” shouted out Rex as he ran to it. Everyone followed and Sean was left at the back. He wasn’t fast, but he wasn’t slow either. It was intentional —he had to block the exit.
After being left at the very back and after everyone had entered, Sean blocked the exit with an Expanded Mana Ball that covered the entirety of it and they ran to the other side. It wasn’t too hurried but neither was it tardy.
It was dark but the other option was to stay in there. That was an option no one wanted to pick.
Sean had only entered the school building once and that was from the front. He mostly visited Madison when she was in the dorm and met her outside so he mostly knew what was outside, not inside. Entering the girls’ dormitory wasn’t allowed if you were male, after all.
The corridor itself was dark but at the end of the tunnel, you could see light. They were running toward that and after they made their way there, they could see the front gate. Sean knew that part.
There was a stairway at the end of the corridor to the right when you entered the building, and for them, that was to the left because they came from the back. Chris knew that as well and he didn’t even hesitate to keep running up, now leading it with Rex following close behind.
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Just like at the back, there were no monsters nor people at the front.
It was concerning. If they weren’t here, then that meant they were taken somewhere or had been killed.
Sean furrowed his brows.
Where did they take the people?
Reaching the stairs was easy and so was scaling it. After the System came, most of them had gained more Vitality than before it started and naturally, they’d have run enough to survive. Now, they had enough time for a breather —to clear their minds and to think properly.
Then they heard something —it was speech.
People were talking!
Chris raised a hand as if to gesture for them to be quiet. But that was apparent to everyone. None of them dared to make a noise and quietly prowled to the source of the conversation. The bottom of their boots were wet and it squelched, but they tried to minimize it as much as possible.
It was coming from the auditorium. It was a large room with a stage at one end that resembled a theater more than anything. It wasn’t as large, though, slightly smaller but not by much. The conversation was unnaturally loud. There was a platform up above as well, which could be accessed by the upper floor.
“Damn private schools,” whispered Mark as they got closer to the entrance. They didn’t peek in all at the same time. In fact, only Chris did, but they could all see the light coming from within. It was yellowish as if the interior was lit up by the fire.
Liz and Chris were at the front, with Liz almost leaning on him and Sean was right in the middle, with Rex at the far back and Marie at his front. Max was placed upright on the ground, sitting while leaning on the wall. It was over ten or so meters from the stairs, giving them ample room to fit in.
Then, without warning, Chris was dragged into the room. He wasn’t pulled from the head that had been poking in, but rather, it looked as if he fell into the room. Liz stumbled forward but Sean managed to pull her back in time for her to notbe seen through the door.
Sean gulped.
If whatever was inside was using Telekinesis, it had to be a… Noble, right?
He turned to look behind him and saw Rex and Marie pale. They slightly trembled and Sean felt a cold hand grab his forearm from behind —it was Marie. She slowly shook her head. Rex looked away and Sean could see him mumbling underneath his breath.
That was a prayer.
It felt like they were in a horror movie. Except… they weren’t. This was their life now and they’d have to rein it in. There were some good things about this new world but the bad things far outnumbered them.
Sean tried his very best to inhale constantly, as he was taught by his father. It wasn’t easy and it certainly wasn’t something he could keep up for more than a minute.
So he let his breath out and prepared.
He couldn’t be late again.
If he made a mistake by rushing, so be it, but he wouldn’t be late. Not anymore. Chris was right across the corner and he wouldn’t let him be torn apart or turn into a ball of flesh if he could help it.
So Sean walked forward.
He was afraid but the regret was stronger. Regret that he’d taken too long.
Sean, for the first time, consciously activated Presence.
It was like pressing a button on a remote. As was the case with every other Skill he’d gotten from the System, it was natural. Like it was meant to be. He felt his worries ease as the world faded to grayscale and the very air seemed to tremble.
Skill ‘Presence’ has been activated!
Status Effect ‘Awe’ has been inflicted upon targets.