"I'm coming too!" Chloe and Sarah stood up simultaneously, their faces showing clear signs of nervousness and hesitation, but they were determined.
Seeing this, the rest of the class began to cheer them on. Tanya's stern gaze quickly silenced the room. "Teams are limited to ten people," she said, her commanding presence quieting everyone. "Chloe and Sarah can join us this time. The rest of you stay in the classroom. Your attributes are too low right now. Once you recover tomorrow or the day after, you can join the fight."
Tanya was the leader of the girls in the class, and when she spoke, the others listened. A few of the boys had also wanted to join, but in the end, they stayed behind. Alex advised them to team up with students from other classes. He could only manage one team, and even that was already a challenge.
The afternoon mission wasn't expected to be too dangerous. This time, the school had assembled a thousand volunteers but split them into just two groups of 500. The goal was to gather two more crystal shards. Based on the morning's monster count of fewer than fifty creatures per monster zone, the teams of 500 would easily overpower them.
Though Alex and the others knew that Chloe and Sarah were still scared and could potentially cause problems, they agreed to let them come. In this world, avoiding combat was no longer an option. If anyone wanted to survive, they had to adapt to the new reality.
When Alex and his team of 11 arrived at the field, however, the situation wasn't as promising as they had hoped. The number of volunteers had dropped again—this time, fewer than half of the original group had shown up. Only about 500 people had gathered, and a significant portion of them were students.
It was hard to tell whether this was due to inexperience or if the adults were simply more protective of their lives.
By 2:30 PM, the headcount was still at just over 500, far short of the thousand needed. Standing at the front of the group, Mr. Whitaker remained calm, but his tone was noticeably more concise than in the morning: "Thank you all for being here again. To secure a safe base, we still need two more crystal shards. We will march together and take down the two nearby monster zones."
This time, there was no plan to split the forces. Mr. Whitaker led the group out of the school, heading toward the reservoir at Yellowfield. About 3 kilometers away from the school, a bike rental shop marked the location of a nearby monster zone.
Alex's team was once again assigned to the vanguard, but the other three squads weren't the same people they had fought alongside that morning.
Walking alongside the others, Peter, now wielding a purple greatsword similar to Alex's, shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe people are still backing out. We're just two shards away from finishing this mission. What's with the hesitation?"
Tanya had also been surprised by the sparse turnout but quickly got over it. Her expression was one of annoyance. "They're scared," she said flatly. "And for some of them, the mission status already says 'complete.'"
Alex realized she was right. His own task screen showed 200% completion. Others who had successfully retrieved crystal shards earlier likely saw their task as complete too. If they were guaranteed rewards once the mission ended, why would they risk further danger?
As for the groups that had failed earlier, particularly the squads that had nearly been wiped out, it was understandable that those survivors wouldn't want to risk it again. Alex could empathize. If he hadn't awakened an R-level Gift, he probably wouldn't have been so eager to keep volunteering either. For most N-level Gifted, every mission carried significant risk.
As they walked and chatted, the group encountered small groups of monsters along the way. These roaming creatures never numbered more than a few at a time, and the 500-strong group easily wiped them out without much effort. The advantage of numbers was obvious, and Alex's squad didn't even need to fight much. Instead, they focused on helping Chloe and Sarah get used to the atmosphere of battle.
By the time they reached the bike rental shop, the group had already taken down close to a hundred creatures.
The monster zone they arrived at was far from empty. After several hours of build-up, the area now held what appeared to be over a hundred monsters.
Seeing the vast number of enemies ahead, the group wisely decided to stick to their earlier strategy: lure out small groups of monsters and eliminate them in stages.
This time, everything went smoothly. Twice in a row, they successfully lured out over twenty creatures, bringing the monster count down to around thirty. After a failed third attempt to lure more creatures, Mr. Whitaker decided it was time to make a full-scale push.
With a powerful charge, the remaining thirty-something blue scythe monsters were wiped out in minutes. One purple scythe monster tried to flee, but it was so terrified by the overwhelming force of the attack that it ran off before they could catch it.
The group quickly shattered the giant gray crystal at the monster zone and claimed their fifth crystal shard. Just one more was needed to complete the mission.
Their next destination was a nearby village, known for its old plum orchards. Though farming had become rare in the area, the reservoir still housed a plum orchard where another monster zone was located.
The successful assault on the first zone left the team in high spirits. They reached the plum orchard quickly, but as they entered the area, Tanya suddenly grew uneasy. Staring at the dense, quiet grove, she muttered, "Something doesn't feel right about this place."
Chloe and Sarah nodded in agreement. They, too, were uncomfortable with the eerie atmosphere.
Chris laughed, puffing out his chest. "You've just never been in a forest, that's all. Don't worry, every forest looks like this. When I went to Umbrella Forest, it was the same."
Alex, though sensing something off as well, brushed aside his unease and followed the others toward their "destination."
But as they looked at the map and their surroundings, they all realized something—nothing was adding up. They were at the location marked as the monster zone, yet there wasn't a single monster in sight.