"Hey boss, you did something, right?"Jun came back to his senses when he heard Edward calling for him. He turned around and went to the nearby fence and looked down at Edward on the second resting area.
"Yeah, you got something good, right?"
"Yeah, I did!"
Sheila felt that those two"s voices would attract unnecessary trouble and called for them to tone it down. Afterwards, she happily sat beside Adrian as they appreciate the scenery above the hill.
Edward was lurking around the flower garden, looking for anything that he could take. He tried pulling a yellow colored flower, but got electrecuted instead.
Nik and his squad tested themselves on the stairs that leads to the second resting area. Most of the masked men didn"t try going up earlier since they knew that they didn"t improve much. The first batch and second batch weren"t known for being friendly with each other. They both have disatisfactions and things to nitpick with each other.
The last batch argued that strength shouldn"t be the reason why someone would rank higher. Then, they proposed that since there"s a fair opportunity to test themselves, the one who reaches further up should have the higher ranks. Both sides agreed on the subject matter.
The second batch of masked men were the first to go and the highest only reached at 139th step. The group felt triumphant since they knew that Nik, who was ranked the strongest among them, only reached up to 137th step when he tried climbing last time. Toby stood at the 137th step with admiring gazes from his subordinates below.
At the same time, Nik"s batch finally made their move.
The single digit rankers, easily breezed through the first thirty steps while behind them, some were already using energy reinforcement to force themselves to take one more step forward.
Most of the people gathered between the 110th and 130th step. Besides the top rankers who were agressive at the frontlines and those who trained with their utmost efforts, anyone who skimped with their training could be found there.
"h.e.l.lo." said Nik as he casually pa.s.sed by Toby.
As if mocking him, everyone else that followed after Nik, also greeted Toby.
If one could die from shame and anger, Toby would have already collapsed on his spot. As he watched everyone below him gaze at him, he felt like they were mocking him, spceially those first batch "tards.
Upon seeing that everyone was enjoying their time at the Calvary Hill, Jun decided that an hour wouldn"t hurt that much. Besides, n.o.body"s idling and everyone"s trying to do something.
He then went back to the monolith and tried reading the weird scriptures written on it.
***
"Hey, do you think they"ll come here?"
"Of course they would!"
"Haven"t you heard what they were once called? The busy-buddies."
"But... do we really need to do this?"
"Aish. To be honest? I have no idea. The man looks cool to me, but sometimes he just doesn"t care. And besides, people like us don"t decide things like these. People in power always like to be on power. Let"s stay out of their way, okay?"
***
A white van parked just before it crossed the northern bridge. Behind it was a jeepney with fiery flame paints and some various artistic designs. Edward came out of the jeepney"d driver"s seat and caressed its door after he closed it.
"This is mine, alright?" he said while looking around. "Go find your own hot rides."
"You"re really weird." said Sheila, "...you"re probably the only one who finds that jeepney cool."
"Come on, let"s go." Adrian commented as he pa.s.sed by.
"Those two!"
The group crossed the bridge on foot since they haven"t scouted the northern part of the town. They haven"t really paid attention to this area since there"s only one district here, with three barangays and mostly forested area. There were some spa.r.s.e illegal settlers here who claimed wild lands for their own and live the hermit"s life away from the societal world.
They were caught in a few skirmish with the carriers as they traveled the streets. Compared to the populated areas of the town, it was much easier and relaxing to move around here since there"s only a few carriers in one group. The largest they have met with was a seven-man group and was easily dealt by Jun and his main attack group.
And unlike the modernized part of the town, the northern area still had some dirt roads. There"s only a few cars and the most commonly seen transport vehicle was the tricycle or sometimes called as "trike". It is a three-wheeled public utility vehicle consisting of a motorcycle and an attached pa.s.senger"s side car that could carry five to six pa.s.sengers at a time.
As they cleared up most of the carriers in the surrounding area, survivors started showing up one by one. Some were crying joyously while others were mourning their beloved ones who died.
Jun split the group into two, so they could quickly clear the rest of the barangay. Since the goal this trip was to rescue trapped people at the mountains, he decided that helping people along the way wouldn"t be bad. Well, to be honest, he just wants to get more experience as he ma.s.sacred all those regular carriers that charges on him. With their large group moving as one, it was unavoidable to attract the overlords of the area. The evolved ones finally came rus.h.i.+ng to the fray.
Although the battlefield was becoming harsher and harder as the went by, it eased the pressure on the other places and barangays.
Even though the two barangay"s survivors didn"t know that there"s a rescue squad on the barangay ahead of them, they were able to notice the weird reactions of the evolved carriers.
People who survived for more than fifteen days with no outside help would become smart and proactive at this times. They have to. Since every second and every decision they make has to count or they will die.
With the evolved ones attracted to Jun"s group, the hiding survivors finally decided to came out of their holes. They could hear the roars and the earth shaking from far away and their instincts told them that this was it. Their only chance for survival. If those weird giants come back again, they would run out of food and starve.
With all kinds of tools; farming, plumbing, woodworking. etc. The survivors united as they marched on the road. They helped each other and kept a tight formation.
Timid survivors who only hid on the comfort of their homes, watched the blood-boiling scene as they were tempted to come out themselves. Some finally chose to risk their lives with a larger group since they were running low on supplies while others remained undecided. Those risk takers filled several bags with all the food they have and ran after the group.
At the intersection between the barangays, two survivor groups met and joined together, easily raising their numbers around fifty. People who knew each other laughed loudly as they hugged each other. The group couldn"t help but notice the large horde of carriers adjacent to them. They also saw numerous people fighting at the front while others stood support behind them.
Jun fought at the vanguard while the injured threw bonespears as support behind him. They"re killing any regular carriers that tried getting near him.
He was currently duking it out with a three meter tall hulk of a t.i.tan, a D2 as he dodged a couple of sneaky attempts of an H2 to pounce on him. Nik and Adrian was trying their best to catch up to it, but its agility and nimbleness proved to hard to follow for the two.
The H2 would twist on unexpected ways and would sometimes make sudden movements which further hindered the two from hitting it. Jun could follow its movements with his eyes and could barely dodged it while defending from the D2.
The remaining death slaves who could still fight were busy defending against ranked one evolved carriers. The number of regular carriers here was few, but that somehow made the evolved ones number higher.
At that moment, he heard clas.h.i.+ng of iron and some carriers made despairing wails. he noticed new faces coming from behind the enemy lines.
Jun swapped roles with Nik and Adrian. He became the one chased the H2 while Nik and Adrian dodged the D2 and kept it busy.
With his sole focus on it, Jun was able to use Time Perse and predict where the H2 would be and adjusted his aim. He resumed the flow of time and the bonehammer swung towards the H2. The H2 rolled on the ground and barely dodged his swing. It then lowered its body on the ground and quickly pounced on him.
He grabbed its neck to keep its sharp tooth away while using the bonehammer to protect his upper body. His attempt to defend was futile as several strikes still went through and scratched him. It created claw marks on his right chest and shoulder since he could only defend his left side with the bonehammer.
Just then, the H2"s face came closer to him and a sharp object came protruding out from its nose. Jun quickly reacted and pulled back his head.
A bonespear struck the back of the H2"s nape and went through the nose in front. It stopped a few inches from Jun"s throat. If he hadn"t moved his head, it would have struck his forehead.
Dark blood was dripping out from the bonespear and the H2"s mouth spat out blood like a fountain.
Jun tossed the body to the side and looked around.
A masked man came to him and picked him up.
"You almost died!" Toby said, then left to help others.
Adrian and Nik who were about to help Jun hastily dodged the D2"s strike.
"Yeah, I think so too." Jun muttered as he looked to the side, at the bonespear that almost reached him.