Escape?
........
[Ace POV],
[Time left: 9 hours, 53 minutes, 38 seconds],
[Time left: 9 hours, 53 minutes, 37 seconds],
[Time left: 9 hours, 53 minutes, 36 seconds],
Looking up at the dark sky and seeing the golden letters and the timer still counting, I wondered what the timer was all about and what the 'time left' there meant.
'Strange, this is also the first time I've seen this,' I thought as raindrops fell on my face.
"Ace," it was only when Anna called my name that I looked away from the rainy skies and toward Anna, especially her blue eyes, which seemed to be filled with determination, and a lot of it.
She looked at me with a guilty expression on her face as she placed a section of her long black hair beside her ear and said;
"I apologize for my crow behavior," she continued.
"I don't know why, but when the zombie died that time and a few seconds after that, I felt a sudden want from the weak connection I had with the crow and all of a sudden, like a drug addict who just found a new addictive dose, it suddenly dived down to the zombie's body and you know what happened after that," she confessed, her face filled with guilt.
"Oh," I said with a slight realization in my voice as I remembered the blood-red crystal in the zombie's chest.
Looking at her face, which was tinged with guilt, I told her:
"Don't worry about it," I said as I went on;
"In fact, I should thank your summoned crow because there is no way in this world that I would have dug my hand into a zombie's chest or even looked for anything in the zombie body in the first place, so we could say that your summoned's actions are the reason we at least know now that there is something of value in a zombie's body. It may not be valuable to us, but it may be to your summoned crow ", I said, to which she gradually gave a relieved expression.
As we tried to remain unnoticed to avoid any monsters, Anna and I made our way to the back of a truck, where we bent on its body, and I used the opportunity to refill my quiver with arrows as Anna asked me a question.
"That reminds me," she said as she went on.
"Why didn't you check the zombie's body for orbs?" she inquired.
After a moment of thought as I slowly prepared myself to move forward, I said;
"I did that for them for two reasons," I explained as I went on.
"First, I did it so that they might find an orb that could help them resolve their crisis, and second, I didn't think an orb would come out in the first place because orbs are apparently rare regardless of color or grade," I explained.
"Oh," she said after I explained my actions.
"I also have something to tell you," she said as she trailed behind me and continued speaking;
"The blood red crystal from before, I don't know what it did or what it is, but after my summoned crow swallowed it, I somehow acquired enough primordial records for a level up," she said, surprised.
Hearing this, I paused for a moment before continuing on my way with Anna.
Looking at the crow that was still scouting in the air, I reasoned that if zombies were to become commonplace in this new world, we might need to begin actively hunting them down for the crow.
Even though I'm not sure if the blood-red crystal will be wasted as I still don't know anything; the crow's scouting prowess is all that matters.
Looking at Anna, who was trying her hardest to follow me, I said;
"Looks like we'll have to actively start hunting zombies if we see them, but you'll have to work hard for that because I'm not going to risk my life for something useless," I said, to which she responded with a deep nod.
When I saw that she understood what I meant, I quickened my pace while remaining vigilant.
It hadn't been long since our last conversation when Anna grabbed my arm and dragged me to the cover of a car by the roadside.
I didn't try to resist as I looked at her, curious as to why she would suddenly drag my arm and was about to speak when she suddenly put her hand on my mouth and pointed her other hand up.
Though I don't know Anna's ways, I believe she understands when to play and when not to, and I believe she knows this is not the time to play, so I didn't resist and followed her lead, which was fortunate because the next second I saw a gigantic figure flying over my head.
Raising my head to see what it was, my eyes narrowed as my body subconsciously tried to avoid being noticed.
I finally understood why Anna suddenly dragged my hand in a hurry as I focused my gaze on the creature flying above me.
[Mutated eagle level ??],
When I saw this, my already narrowed eyes narrowed even more, and a frown appeared on my face.
Why am I unable to see its level?
Is it because I'm too weak?
Thinking about this, I looked up at the massive eagle in the sky that was more than 5 meters long and didn't doubt for a second that if the monster noticed me, I'd turn into lunch.
All Anna and I could do was try our hardest to go unnoticed and hope to pass this challenge, but it appeared that life had other plans.