[Before I begin I would like to shout out to my guy DaoistNox...I know I don't upload consistently but he still supports me. Ehem...the show must go on I guess....DRUM ROLL!]
SQUISH. SQUISH. SQUISH
A puddle of green blood lay around me as I continued to drive my fist into the green meat paste of what had formerly been the First Star Order Praying Mantis. I had long since received the message from the Spirit Record about the kill but my anger didn't dissipate.
I wasn't just angry at the mantis for killing Dulton and Mordecai and almost killing Clara.
I was also angry at myself.
Who was the one that encouraged these three to take a chance and fight?
Who was the one who allowed them to step on this battlefield with everyone else?
Who was supposed to be responsible for them?
The answer was me. I was the one who talked them into fighting beasts and gaining soul essence. I was the one who brought not just them but everyone else to this battlefield-Jordan, Candice, Lydia, Rina, Conrad, Veronica, Vicky, Grem, Nale, Clara, Mordecai and Dulton.
'Mordecai and Dulton died because of me! How could I be so stupid! Would any of this have happened if I made sure that everyone was together?'
Mordecai and Dulton were dead.
I stopped punching down and looked at my hands, by now they were covered in a sickening layer of green fluid but in my eyes I could almost see it as red.
Their blood was on my hands.
My thoughts spun out of control, a venomous dose of regret and self blame seeped through my veins.
'This feeling…'
It wasn't pleasant. I didn't like it.
Before I could even register what was going on my body moved of its own accord. Green blood still dripping from the hands that now lay to my side. I left the green meat paste behind me. My feet dragged me along and I found myself standing right beside Clara.
The mantis' scythe had torn through her clavicle and part of her rib cage and though the blood loss was excessive, her lungs and heart managed to escape damage. It was a miracle truly.
I bent down and carefully scooped her up in my arms.
Clara was one of my people…
I looked down on her pale unconscious face. The feeling of guilt only continued to grow and the agitation of my blood grew ever more present.
…I had failed her and the others.
I took a step forward before my eyes flashed with a dark light and then I shot forward. My speed so fast that it left gusts of dust in its wake. It raced across the battlefield and made my way to the backlines closer to the walls of the Camp. It wasn't long before I arrived at a small area set up behind the walls for emergency medical attention.
The place was set up just behind the gates of the camp that led to the battlefield. There were mats laid out and even tents for the more serious injuries.
When I arrived the wind kicked up causing several people to scream in fear that a beast had managed to get through.
"RINA!" I roared and the blonde beauty came out of a nearby tent almost immediately. There was a sheen of sweat that fell down her brows. She looked towards me and her eyes widened when she saw the figure in my arms.
"Hurry up and get her in here!" she said urgently.
WHOOSH
Like a blur I was already in the tent and setting her down on one of the beds. Rina stepped past me to inspect Clara's injuries.
"Jesus" she sucked in a cold breath. "What happened?"
By the time Rina turned to question me I was already gone.
…
While most parts of the battlefield were calming down thanks to Huey and his friends for taking down the Second Star Order beasts. There were still some parts that had yet to calm down in the slightest.
In one area at the moment. Five evolvers were surrounded by what was at least 10 mutated beasts. They had their backs to each other as they stood in the center in a circle formation. Their breaths were heavy and their bodies were covered in the stench of blood and sweat.
The tips of their swords were smeared in blood but their edges were chipped and their blades were cracked. They wouldn't be lasting any longer and how could they when they were simply Common grade weapons.
Fear settled in their hearts. Was this how it would end?
The beasts surrounding them charged and brandished their claws.
The Evolvers responded in kind and raised their swords. They attacked with the last spurts of the strength they could muster from their tired limbs. The evolvers attacked, desperation evident in their every swing.
They put up quite a fight too. It wasn't until they had managed to kill over seven beasts that the first of the five sustained a heavy injury that rendered his fighting ability useless. A beast sunk its teeth into his leg just above his knee and with a strong pull, the man found himself on the ground.
The beast didn't waste an opportunity and was already going for his throat. The scent of death filled his nostrils and everything seemed to fade from the background. His eyes could only helplessly watch as the beast's teeth reached for his throat.
However just a split second before it could do so it froze.
No, it wasn't just that one beast that froze but all of them! Not only that but even the evolvers suddenly found it difficult to breath as though a heavy pressure had descended onto them. Without exception everyone looked into a particular direction- the beasts included, only to see a cloud of dust rapidly rising in their direction.
Before anyone could do anything, the beast that had been above the fallen evolver exploded into a rain of blood and gore but it didn't stop there.
BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.
All the beasts that had surround the evolvers all exploded into a rain of blood and gore and then the pressure disappeared and with it the oppressive feeling that had prevented their movements earlier disappeared.
The evolver on the ground looked on in shock. He couldn't believe what he had just seen.
'Did I just see a man take out these beasts with a single punch each?'
…
BANG. BANG.
The group of five evolvers weren't they only ones to experience such bizarre events. They were happening all over the battlefield. The evolvers who had been on the verge of collapsing due to exhaustion could all watch as a dark blur with an oppressive aura swept through the battlefield.
By now the number of Evolvers who had survived these last couple of minutes of battle were less than 40 and if it wasn't for the black blur that seemed to want to sweep the battlefield clean of all the beasts that were attacking the camp, the number would have been even more.
Still though this battle was tragic, it was also just the thing the warriors of Camp White had needed to grow their battle experience after all what better way was there for the army to sharpen their wits than through a life and death battle.
Yes they had gone through such battles before but not on a scale as large as this one.
This battle had pushed them to the very limits of what they were capable of. Whether it be physical or mentally, they had been pushed to the brink. It was to the point that not a few evolvers directly collapsed on the ground not caring about the hardness or the blood covering the field in the slightest bit.
They wanted nothing more than to rest and since they had such an opportunity before them at the moment why wouldn't they?
…
My lungs felt as though they were on the verge of exploding, by now my hands were coated in layers of blood that seemed to give off slight variations of red, purple and green. However at that moment none of this mattered.
I looked around the battlefield. My vision easily sweeping over a 30 meter radius. The immediate battlefield before the gates of Camp White had been cleared completely. Corpses of beasts and humans littered around me but I was happy to find that most of them belonged to the beasts rather than the humans.
I looked at the Spirit Record's screens that seemed to fill up my vision.
…
[You have acquired….
[You have acquired….
[You have acquired….
[You have acquired….
[Earth's Evolution progress: 60%]
…
The messages continued to ring out. I had to have killed over what seemed to be like 40 beasts in my blind rage and even then the beasts had been too low level to amount to any significant level of soul essence necessary to even push me up a level, it wasn't even enough to fill up 50% of what was needed.
If there had been a visible experience bar in my face it would have barely been half way filled up. As a matter of fact I didn't even receive some of the extra stats that I could get from killing them. They were simply too weak at this point while my soul had reached a stage where it required stronger and purer soul essence for me to progress.
And as though that wasn't bad enough I was running low on stamina.
My chest rose and fell rapidly, heavy breaths falling from my lips. Beads of sweat fell from my temples.
'I used up too much strength. I need a few minutes to even regain a small semblance of calm in my body' I thought to myself.
I took in as much air as I could manage trying to calm down my breathing. According to the knowledge from the passive skill [Super soldier] the amount of recovery rate of the body on the battlefield was highly dependent on the breathing methods the person was using. The more air I took in the more oxygen my lungs would collect and the greater the rate of my stamina recovery would be but I was barely a minute into my breathing exercises when I felt the air beside me shift
No it was the air it was the space
'Please don't tell me its who I think it is' I lamented as familiar figures flicked into existence right in front of my eyes.
My eyes widened in surprise however, while I had been expecting one person to appear there were actually seven people.
In the center of the group stood Arina from Camp White. On her left stood Jordan who seemed to be in a much better state that he had been a few moments ago, Lydia who was carrying a familiar dark obsidian blade on her hands, Veronica whose once pristine white fairy-like dress looked as though it had been scotched and torn in places here and there while to her right stood Conrad who seemed to be taking breaths just as heavy as mine- it seemed that he too was trying to catch his breath when Arina snatched him away.
I scanned the group for a second before focusing on Arina however what she said next felt like a bomb had been dropped on my head.
"The Lurker…its here"