Reverend of the blade jogged over to Niklas. Niklas got a good look at the 6-foot-tall man who had a katanna hanging in a scabbard behind him. Reverend's hair was tied into a bun at the back of his head.
The stranger extended his hand to Reverend of the blade, and they both shook hands. As they did, the Reverend said to Niklas and the stranger,
"How are you doing?"
The Reverend said to Niklas, "There is no need to introduce myself; the same applies to you. So, we have to split up to do the job effectively. But your friend can't join; he isn't strong enough.
"Do you have a smartphone?"
Niklas replied, "Yes, I do."
"Good. Do you have good knowledge about the streets in this part of the minicity?"
Niklas said, "No, I don't. I don't live in this settlement."
Reverend moved his lower jaw to the right as he bit on his upper lips; he was disappointed. He said,
"So this is how we will operate. You have to follow my instructions."
He brought out his smartphone from his jeans' back pocket and tapped the 'sleeping' screen, which woke up on stimulus. Instantly, Niklas' phone buzzed.
"That's me. You now have my contact information, and we can communicate," Reverend said.
'How did he do that? His phone was on sleep?' Niklas wondered.
Reverend of the blade continued, "You will take charge of this street. Make sure that every civilian on this street gets into the safe room. Mind you, this street is long. I will go to other streets and make sure that the civilians safely get into the other safe rooms. Did you grab everything I said?"
Niklas nodded.
Reverend said, "Hit me up if something goes wrong on your side."
Vrmm! Vrmm! Vrmm! Outside, at the front of the building, a bike's engine noisily charged up.
Reverend of the blade said, "That's my cue to leave.
He sprinted to the exit as he finally said,
"Don't fail this minicity, Niklas!"
Nikilas heard the bike drive away from the front of the building. He checked the time on his smartphone; it was 2:58 p.m.
He prayed, 'Heavens, please give me the grace to live and return home unscratched.'
The stranger said, "I guess I will take my leave."
Niklas thanked his luck that the stranger was a chatterbox. He had a question that needed an answer. He asked the stranger,
"It seems that beasts raiding this settlement have occurred frequently, true?"
"Yes, it is."
Niklas asked, "Is there a common uncharted beast among the raids?"
The stranger answered, "Yes, there is. The beast is actually the main culprit. It comes in swarms, and the other beasts that accompany the swarm are just as few as a couple."
"What is the name of the uncharted beast?"
The stranger said, "The lion head gator!"
"How much does it sell for?"
Niklas noticed the stranger's subtle surprised reaction at the question; he slightly widened his eyes. Niklas didn't bother himself with what the stranger could be thinking.
"Twenty-five thousand Earth kredits for the whole carcass," the stranger said. "And there is a big demand for them."
"Give me your contact information. I think I'm going to kill one. There will be something for you if I'm successful."
Niklas thought it best to make a friend. At least, money got a higher percentage of honesty from distrustworthy people. He exchanged contact with the stranger and learned that his name was Nnaji Gabriel.
Niklas noticed the mayhem caused by people desperately trying to enter the safe room. He mused, 'I will have to use my powers to control the crowd. The issue is that people will see my face and the cameras too. And it would ruin my chances of staying low-key.
'I feel that since there are amazing hunters like the members of the Knife edge clique, much attention wouldn't be put on me.'
Niklas considered the members of Knife Edge amazing after his close-up chat with Reverend of the blade. This was because of two reasons. First, he perceived Reverend's strength to be two times greater than his own. And the way Reverend talked to him pointed out that Reverend had high perception and had perceived Niklas' strength. A regular person who saw Niklas' lanky build wouldn't trust him with helping to evacuate the civilians.
'I couldn't feel Reverend of the blade's strength from afar. Does that mean he and his friends can hide their aura? Does this mean that they could sense my aura from afar?' Niklas mused as he drew out the Lightning blade from his backpack.
The floor had become too rowdy for anyone to notice when Niklas yelled for everyone to calm down. He was irked, and so he wielded the lightning blade in both arms, tapping into the ubiquitous forces of nature, causing simultaneous and sustained lightning sparks over his body. The sudden illumination from Niklas sent the people close to him into panic. Gabriel just stood aghast, his mouth gaping.
"Everyone calm down!" Niklas voice reverberated with domineering force as he slammed the edge of his sword on the floor, sending sparks of lightning in a circumference of small radius.
The rowdiness vanished as everyone was struck with fright by Niklas accidentally exuding his angry aura to the fullest, filling the spaces on the ground floor. His body was still sparking with electricity, and now his sword was too. He calmly paced towards the exit, dragging the tip of the lighting blade behind him on the floor. Each of his eyes was replaced by a union of slithering electric sparks. Niklas looked godlike and frightening. The sound from the dragged sword's tip pulled everyone's attention to him.
Niklas spoke confidently at the top of his voice, "I want everyone to be on ten lines. One of the lines should be for handicapped people, and another should be for pregnant women. Anyone who disobeys will talk to my fist."
He lied: "I have been given authority to disburse justice however I see fit."
Niklas voice could be heard outside the building. People outside doubted and wanted to protest, but soon they behaved themselves after word about Niklas' power circulated.
The crowd obeyed, forming ten lines and giving two lines to pregnant women and handicapped people. Niklas stood outside, near the entrance. He used his striking presence to maintain order.
He thought of a way to make the people move faster. He mused, 'Even if I make them move faster, I can't leave this place to go and search the other buildings for civilians.'
The white-haired lady in company of ten jacked[1] masked people in black uniforms approached Niklas. The men were armed with black rifles. Niklas guessed that the masked men were male orcs.
The white-haired lady said to Niklas, "They will take it from here."
Niklas looked at the masked men, who nodded to him. The badge on the right side of their chest signified that they were members of the central hunting guild's private armed force. He thought, 'At least their appearance will scare the people into keeping calm.'
Niklas raced away into the opposite building. The building was also a skyscraper, but three times shorter than the central hunting guild building, which stood 300 metres tall. He didn't use the elevator because he felt that it was slow. He got to the first floor. The doors of the offices were all open. He did a thorough search of each office and certified that it was devoid of anyone. He soon searched the whole building and found no one.
As Niklas left the building, he thought, 'I hope this ends soon. I don't want Mom and Zack to get worried about me.'
He reminded himself to buy dinner in this settlement before he returned to the village. He proceeded to search two more buildings in twenty minutes. He felt exhausted as he stepped out of the third building he searched. He looked at the long line extended eastward from the central guild building, and it was not encouraging.
"Hunters, we need more hands to contain the threat in the southwest area!" Niklas heard a familiar voice speak over his phone's speaker.
He recognised the voice as that of the Tiger of Blue Box minicity, and he wondered how it was possible for his phone to receive the information. He stopped thinking about the latter when he remembered that Reverend effortlessly took his contact by just tapping the sleeping screen of his [Reverend's] phone.
Niklas was tense as his sense of urgency intensified. He felt the need to help contain the uncharted beasts' raid. But he couldn't help out because he still had a task at hand. An idea formed in his mind: 'If I could expand my aura on the floor, surely I could expand my aura to penetrate building walls.'
He focused his perception on the next building. He had been moving east of the street after he left the central guild building. He sensed two people in the building.
'It worked!' He ran into the building to the floor where the two people were.
"What in heaven are you stupid people doing?!"
Niklas barged in on the two people he came to save having sexual intercourse. The man pulled up his pants, and the lady pushed down her gown, hiding her face in embarrassment.
"Hey, can't you knock?" The man said to Niklas angrily.
"Shut up!" Niklas barked, intimidating the duo into silence with his angry aura. "Leave the building and join the line to the safe room."
He didn't have the time to school the two over their stupidity. So, he just ordered them to leave.
After seeing that man and lady join the line, Niklas proceeded to search the rest of the buildings on the street with his heightened perception. He found no one else. He returned to the entrance of the Central Hunting Guild building. The white-haired lady was nowhere to be seen. Two orcs were standing outside near the entrance.
[1] Jacked—build of a bodybuilder, say prime Arnold Schwarzenegger.