Baladan had spent the rest of his night finally maxing out his Aura. That was until the clock finally hit 12 making another notification pop into his view.
Aura: 50 (50) —> 100 (100)
[Congratulations! Your Aura has passively increased your stats! +10 to all physical stats]
[Status]
Strength: 31/36 (+5 Jacket)
Agility: 29
Health: 31/46 (46) (+15 hood)
Stamina: 30/35 (35) (+5 Jacket)
(Just a reminder, 10 = normal human so at 20 you would be twice as strong as a normal man. We will say a normal human can run 15 mph meaning at 30 agility they can run at 45 mph for Aura users who maxed out their Aura it would be 195 mph before First Circle)
Bal: 'Before we head out I should teach the gang members we can trust about aura along with Harry, Chris, and Rick'
After gathering his people from their different rooms he had first stopped near the back of the warehouse. He stepped onto a board making it lift on one side before he leaned down grabbing it just to pull the whole thing out.
He did this with a couple boards before he reached in and pulled case after case out of the hole. Once he got everything out he began to open them before setting them in a way where everyone can see.
Bal: "Here we have many different weapons, most of them are small caliber but we do have a few shotguns and AR's. I don't know what gun you all would like to use but I suggest you take one and stick to it. Getting used to one gun will be better for you then switching around to multiple"
As he was saying this he pulled a special case towards himself. In the case sat a 1911 gold body with a black handle pistol. This pistol had the logo of a Grim Reaper holding his scythe on the grip.
It had come with 12 magazines with the gun being able to hold 8 rounds each. He knew there were better guns out there, however this gun was a present from boss on his 16th birthday.
This made the gun special to him so he tried to always keep it with him. Unfortunately with the storms having run rampant through the world for 2 whole years he never really got to try the gun out even though he had been taught how to shoot long before getting ahold of this beauty.
When he looked at everyone grabbing the guns he was a little surprised to see Rosa also looking in the 1911 category. That was until she picked up a Colt 1911 Defender, it was a little worrying to see how naturally she gathered the magazines and even loaded the gun!
Bal: 'Why am I worrying… is it because of what Ryder said? Well fuck that! She wouldn't try to hurt us, granted I don't know why she's willing to do anything for me… I'll have to ask her later'
Rosa: 'I'm so happy! My prince also uses the 1911! It's meant to be~! I love you! I love you! I love you! I wish you would just sweep me off my feet and make me yours completely already!'
If someone was to look at Rosa at this point, they could see her eyes basically turning into hearts as if Baladan was the only thing she could see.
———
It had been an hour after they gathered their weapons. Baladan now had his gun strapped to his leg and a heavy crowbar made of solid steel wrapped in a tight leather grip. This was something he had used many times during his past jobs for the gang.
Baladan had left behind Amber, Kaylee, and Mary. 1 wasn't much of a fighter, another was a doctor, and the last could use their Mana to cast light and holy spells to heal. This made Amber intrigued which caused her to basically pull Mary around like her assistant.
Mary on the other hand didn't care about being pulled around. Actually she was all for learning how to heal people without her powers while also helping more people with them!
Boss: "With each group having been established we will now start heading out! Remember the main goal is to save people and escape with the buses! If you come across a fight you can't win then prioritize your life!
Harry, Baladan, and Aria, you three will lead your own group to different schools. Baladan I will be coming with you while Tony, Gary, Chris, and Rick will go with Harry and Aria! Sorry about this little lady, from what I've seen so far you have your head on your shoulders and won't crack under pressure.
Right now I'll be testing you, don't let your team die. You will be sent to the closest school to the work district along with a few in our gang with rifles. They have been tasked with assisting you if things go wrong and people are about to die"
At first Aria was completely nervous, she had never shot a gun before but now she had to get used to shooting while heading out into a zombie infested school with a team of students/gang members. After hearing that he is testing her and even giving her a few extra men with experience her nervousness went down, in the end she just nodded her head as she bit her lip.
Aria: 'I will try my best to make good decisions for the group… it's the least I could do after being saved and taken in by Baladan and his gang'
Bal: "Boss! I would like to have a word with the team leaders before we step out. I have very important information I would like to impart onto our trusted leaders!"
Boss: "Very well, everyone sit tight and make sure you have prepared everything. Team leaders follow me"
With that it took about an hour to explain the power of Aura to the group. Surprisingly 1 of them also had the Aura Warrior ability, to Baladan's surprise Randy had already hit his max with the ability.
It's just Randy wasn't the smartest person, he had done the tutorial and created Aura but he didn't even think for a second that he could maybe teach others. Once he heard what Baladan was going to teach them he could only smack himself for his stupidity.
Bal: 'So… doesn't this mean that there could be others who gained this power as well… if that's the case then I should level up quickly just to hit the cap and start finishing my requirements'
Boss: "All right! Everyone too your cars! Team leaders gather your people and prepare to hit the road! There are 5 schools in the Learning District alone, so all teams will head to these schools either individually or with another group.
Team leaders should think over what Baladan had told us during the times you are free. Other then that I have nothing to say! Get out of here!"
He yelled out as Boss began to head for the trucks Baladan and his group came in with. Now with only Rosa and Grim left Boss had brought 3 other gang members to sit in the bed of the truck as Baladan drove. He wanted to give Boss enough time to create his Aura before arriving at the school.
———
Bal: 'Man… I just left this place, now I'm back to take even more stuff. Now I feel like a bandit even though the supplies are originally mine'
He had pulled into the familiar bloody parking lot, unfortunately it had been no where close to a Sunny day. With the clouds dark and grey rain began to trickle down, it was only a matter of time before the rain got harder.
Bal: "Boss we are here, the gym is right over there. Ryder should be inside tormenting those weak minded people"
Boss: "Then let's get going, I want to see what kind of man could be such a piece of trash"
He let out a little laugh before the sound of a scream could be heard coming from the back of the truck.
"What is th-"
With a gunshot going off and the loud thump of something hitting the ground a laugh could be heard coming from behind the truck.
Demon: "Ahhh! The beast I have been looking for came back! How wonderful~ you even brought a couple snacks, you treat me so well pup!"
Baladan instantly jumped out of the car, when he saw the creature his face went pale. What he saw was one of the gang members he had brought with him limp with the demons arm plunged through his chest.
Boss: "How dare you kill my family! You think just because you are ugly I won't hit you!"
The older man stepped out of the car, his gun still holstered as he raised his hand before yelling out.
Boss: "[Blast Away!]"
(Think of his ability like cursed speech from Jujitsu Kaisen. Except it uses Mana and doesn't hurt the user)
Immediately the demon was knocked back, however the distance he went back was no where near as much as Boss expected. Instead the creature was only forced back 30 feet.
Demon: "Oh! What a unique ability, not many people have that as there start you know! It's a pity you met me today! Now your Mana will fuel me to kill that Command user!"
The demon was just about to lunge at Boss when a set of white chains came lashing out around his body.
Bal: "Don't get to cocky! Just because you sneak attacked us doesn't mean we are easy prey!"
The moment the demon was forced to stop the other two gang members began to rain hell onto its body. They unleashed a full auto barrage of bullets against it.
Unfortunately the bullets had only been able to do flesh wounds. With the demon suddenly erupting in a glowing red Aura it's strength spiked as well as it's defenses. With the new power it could withstand the bullets while even taking steps forward!
Demon: "Two Mana focused ability users huh? Looks like it really is my lucky day! I get 2 boosts to my Mana and overall strength once I eat that be-"
Rosa: "Spirits of fire I call upon you, rain hell upon my enemy and burn them to ash! [Storm Of Flame!]"
With the demon having been 30 feet away Rosa had timed it to cause a massive storm of raging flames swept up into a couple tornado's summoned on top of his body.
The demon looked shocked as the flames scorched its skin. Unfortunately with its defenses it only charred him a little, even then seconds later it was very noticeable that the wounds had started to slowly heal.
(When health reaches a certain point the bodies natural regeneration gets boosted to the point a minor wound could be healed instantly or major ones can take a couple minutes to heal)
Demon: "My turn!"
Not taking a second more it immediately jumped at Boss. With his ability [Authority] it made him a very big threat. Even if the mans Mana hadn't been strong enough to affect him too much it was still a risk.
When he was about to lash out with a fist aimed at the old man's skull another white chain suddenly wrapped around the demons body before a shield surrounded Boss. These spells had bought him some time if only a little bit, this made Boss try to jump back only to see a black blur dash by before hitting the demon with its paw!
Grim had sent the demon flying into the wall of the school building. With the demon being restrained it couldn't move fast enough to block the dog before getting swatted away by its claws.
Demon: "Damnit boy! You are really getting on my nervous with that bind spell! If you wanted to die first you should have just said so!"
Launching out of the hole in the wall he changed targets. Instead of going for Boss he switched to the problematic one who was barely able to keep up with him using his bind spell.
To his surprise Baladan immediately covered himself in a White Aura! Due to the mixture of 2 Aura's it had increased his strength from a normal 100 points to 200 points! This had put his physical strength on par with a mid stage First Circle being!
When Baladan swung his fist and hit against the demon it realized who the real threat here was. From the claw he had a cut mark across his chest but it wasn't as deep as Grim would have liked it to be. Now that the demons strength was being just barely matched by not even a First Circle being it decided to focus completely on Baladan.
Demon: "You should have stayed away boy! Now that I have seen your powers I have deemed you as a threat!"
Instantly his power spiked, the large body grew slightly taller as a restriction seemed to have been released on the demons body. This made a pair of black bat wings sprout out of his back forcing his physique to hit the peak of First Circle instantly.
Demon: "Be honored you get to die by my hands in this fo-"
Boss: "Cut Open!"
Immediately the wound that had slowly been healing was reopened and increased in size.
Boss: "Now why would you forget about us? We might not be at the same level but we aren't push overs!"