"C-Captain, who are we gonna lure the hordes to then?" Derek's nervous voice jolts them back to their current predicament.
The lady who was running at the front heard this but didn't say anything, if someone looked closely at her lips they would have noticed it twitching albeit a little.
The captain looked at their Morningstar who were increasing the gap between them and for some unknown reason, she suddenly felt angry.
_What was wrong with those kids? Don't they have any shred of humanity left in them to abandon them in such situations when they clearly have the power to end this?_ she thought, _Hmph, you think you can run? Just watch._
"Brace yourselves!" the captain yelled, and she began to chant in an ancient and foreign language.
While others got either ability runes or weapons, she got a mana rune as her first kill and after some hours she got an ancient scroll to drop from killing a tortoise. Thanks to her overly calm personality and high IQ she was able to quickly learn.
Maybe, she also has a high talent for being a fantasy-type magician.
As she did, the wind around them began to swirl and gather, creating a pressure that lifted their bodies and increased their speed threefold.
The group felt weightless as they dashed through the air with the wind carrying them forward at a surprising speed.
The mutants chasing the group were not about to give up, and some of them entered a berserk state, their speed increasing as they pursued. They were like a pack of wolves, single-minded in their pursuit.
It was clear that they would not stop until they caught their prey.
What sort of things did the soldiers do while forcing their way through that would make most of this beast go wild?
Meanwhile, the soldier's speed could be considered to be on par with Morningstar and Kofi's own and thanks to the magic they were able to quickly catch up.
"What the hell did we ever do to you?!" Kofi yelled, his voice tinged with anger and a hint of killing intent. "We've never even met you, and we didn't do anything to you! Why the f**k are you dragging us into this fight?!"
He had always respected the soldiers, but at this moment, he couldn't help but feel annoyed by their actions. They had been dragged into something that had nothing to do with them, and he couldn't understand why.
One minute he and Morningstar were having a normal conversation, and the next, they were running for their lives.
The situation felt surreal, like a dream that was quickly spiralling out of control.
It was almost like the way a woman's mood could change in an instant, going from happy and cheerful to angry and irritable in the blink of an eye. Kofi couldn't help but find the situation amusing, despite the danger they were in.
"I'm sorry, but I had to do what I did," the captain explained, her expression one of sorrow. "My squad couldn't handle all those monsters alone, and we needed help. I'm really sorry if I scared you, but I was desperate."
It was all a facade, of course. She knew that most teenagers would jump to help a damsel in distress, especially when she used such a sad expression. But she had met the wrong duo this time.
Kofi had always been a bit of a geek, and he was far more interested in video games, novels, and technology than he was in love. So the captain's act of damsel in distress fell on deaf ears with him.
Morningstar, on the other hand...
"What the hell does that have to do with us? Do we look like some heroes?! You damn @$$#0|€ wants to just kill us! We are only teenagers and you think we are strong?!" Morningstar was literally spewing fire from his mouth out of anger.
Who the hell sees teenagers in the middle of nowhere and assumes they are strong?
"Hey, you kids!" Anderson yelled, his voice gruff and impatient. "You're either going to fight, or you're going to die! There's no other option, besides, I'm sure you have strength or a hidden artifact to be able to kill such a zombie."
He was the impatient type and had no time to take it gently with them like his captain, plus another group of monsters was approaching them from the front, the left, and the right.
The two groups were closing in on the group from all sides, trapping them in the middle. And the fact that a large number of the monsters were still behind them meant that retreat was not an option.
In a fit of frustration, Kofi flicked his finger and his sword transformed into a bow. He pulled back the string and materialized an arrow. He released the arrow, which flew straight at the approaching beasts. With a shout of "detonate!"
The arrow detonated amidst the beasts, creating a large explosion that sent the beasts flying. Kofi's eyes narrowed as he didn't hesitate to keep pulling, since he was already in such a situation there was no need to throw a tantrum like a kid instead he should face reality.
Just like most of those antiheroes right?
Bang!
With a crunching sound, Morningstar's spiky gauntlets connected with the head of a lizard-like beast, splitting it open like a melon. As the beast's blood splattered onto his face, he didn't even flinch. Instead, he simply ducked under the swiping stinger of a palm-sized bee.
Morningstar's strength had increased so much that he was able to stomp his foot into the ground, propelling himself up and smashing the bee out of the air. He landed with a thud, and just then a chicken-like beast which was close to him attacked. Instead of attacking it, Morningstar grabbed its neck and used it as a makeshift baseball bat, smashing it into the approaching horde.
The beast's body was a surprisingly effective weapon, and its beak and talons did some real damage to the other creatures. But soon it was reduced to nothing more than a mess of feathers and gore.
"Tsk, useless," Morningstar muttered with a monotone voice as he flung the pulverized chicken at one of the approaching beasts. The creature nimbly dodged the grisly projectile, only to be met with a spiked gauntlet to the head.
It fell to the ground, its eyes still filled with confusion.
The soldiers watched in awe as the two teenagers fought. Kofi was a whirling dervish of destruction, reducing the beasts to nothing with each arrow. While Morningstar was a blur of movement, picking off the stragglers with devastating precision.
They subconsciously complement each other's strengths and weaknesses as Kofi handles the ones from the air while Morningstar handles the ones on the ground.
The captain's eyes narrowed as she watched the fight unfold. The beasts were getting torn apart, their bodies mangled and destroyed by the two teenagers. Even with that scene, her expression was unreadable and it felt like her emotions were carefully hidden behind a stony facade.
She continued to send out wind blades, each one slicing through the air with deadly precision. The beasts that were unlucky enough to be caught in their path were sliced in two, their entrails spilling onto the ground. It was a gruesome sight, but the captain didn't flinch.
Anderson on the other hand was a force to be reckoned with, his fists punching through the beasts' bodies like they were made of paper. With each blow, he sent the creatures flying backwards or cracked their skulls open like tofu. His clothes were drenched in blood and he was covered in gore, especially his fist.
But even Anderson had to stop for a moment and stare in wow at the sight of Morningstar and Kofi fighting. He couldn't help but feel a surge of respect for the young warriors.
In the military, strength and skill were the only things that mattered. You could be low in rank, but if you had the ability to fight, you earned the respect of your peers. That was why Derek had always struggled in the camp, he was a coward who lacked the courage to fight even now, since most of the military was protecting him who was holding their bags.
The battle seemed to last for an eternity, but finally, the last of the beasts and zombies were vanquished. The soldiers and two young teenage warriors stood in the midst of a sea of carnage, their eyes scanning the area to make sure that no more threats remained.
Morningstar subconsciously took in a deep breath of the stench of blood and decay which hung heavy in the air while looking at the ground which was slick with gore and muttered, "What a nice scent, I feel addicted to it."
Suddenly, Morningstar snapped out of his daze and looked around. He noticed the countless runes that were scattered across the battlefield, and he met Kofi's gaze. They both seemed to have the same thoughts at the same time.
The runes. They could be used to increase their power.
_Should we kill them?_ It was like that was the message Kofi was asking through his eyes.
_Can we overpower them?_ Morningstar thought.
The captain had been watching their silent exchange and she scoffed. "You two can take care of those at the front since you were the ones that killed them," she said, her tone brooking no argument. "And don't worry, I'll make sure you're compensated for getting dragged into this mess."
With that, she took some runes and gave them. Morningstar and Kofi felt happy and then went their ways to absorb the runes from the floor, as for the weapons, they didn't pick it up since they already had a lot of them in their body and didn't want to carry other heavy stuff.
_It's not like those weapons are even top-tier to begin with._
Finally, after all the loot had been shared and everyone was done absorbing it, the captain looked at the sky and discovered it was getting late, when they fought there was no sun since the sky was covered in gloomy clouds.
"Do you guys have a hideout?" the captain asked, breaking the silence. "We can go there for the night. And I have some news to share with you all. The world has changed and new countries, organizations or empires have risen during these two days."
Her words hit Kofi and Morningstar like a bolt of lightning. They had no idea that so much had happened while they were gone. It was a lot to take in and they were overwhelmed by the news.
(≧▽≦)