Next morning, they had breakfast, brushed their teeth and left the stadium after notifying Tom of their purpose for the day.
They didn't have to, but were just being polite. And of course Tom wouldn't stop them, quite frankly he even wanted to go with them, but thought they hadn't known each other long enough for such a request, not to mention his still broken hand, Hope hadn't gotten around to healing it after all that happened after. And Tom even thanked them for escorting Adam's group and was even more greatful that their killed the Shadow panther that was slowly wiping them out without them being able to do anything. Now they scavenging teams should be a bit more safe, in the area around the stadium that is.
They walked for quite a while in the direction of the city outskirts. They could have made noises to attract beasts, but they didn't want to call them too close to the stadium. As for why they were going heading towards the outskirts instead of deeper in?. Beasts got stronger the deeper in you went while they wanted weaker ones, they could probably easily defend Audrey even if they went deeper in, but the chance of finding unranked beasts would be slim to none by then.
"Hmm, this should be far enough, Jade, scream for us". After walking quite a few kilometres away from the stadium, Muku spoke.
At this point, Audrey had long run out of stamina and was on his back. She had tried to protest to being carried but with the difference in strength in their normal states, not to mention now when she's sick and he's an evolver, she could only powerlessly let him carry her. She did try to push him away at one point but felt like she was pushing a wall and quickly gave up, resigning to her fate, albeit embarrassed.
"What!, why me?....wait, are you indirectly calling me loud!?". Jade was offended and so she shouted.
Muku didn't say anything just looked at her with a smile. She glared back. And in less than a minute since her shout, to her dismay, dog sized spiders could be seen speedily crawling towards them. They numbered around 15 in number. These little but quite big things always seemed to travel in large numbers. And from how they were coming out of a building, they were likely nesting in it. As for whether Muku knew this or not from the start, only he would know.
"Do you still want me to respond to your question?". Muku finally said, it seems he had been waiting for the critters to show up before speaking.
"Ahhhhh!".
Then suddenly a loud scream that could shutter ear drums was heard. Unlucky for Muku the source's head was right beside his ear, though now was trying to bury itself into its back. That's right, it was Audrey's frightened scream. She had just noticed the spiders after they came close enough to them. Her vision had been impacted by her illness so couldn't see as well as before. But when she did see them, a women's worst nightmare, literal large spiders, she couldn't hold herself back. She had seen quite a few other beasts when she ran to the stadium, like large dogs, snakes and lizards killing off the people around her, but hadn't seen the spiders.
And even the beasts she did see seemed to be disgusted by her. Many had a chance to kill her but I'm sniffed in her direction before attacking other people. They likely smelled that she was sick and would rather have the healthier meals around her. Just as a human would rather have a fresh meal than one that's about to go stale if they have a choice. So in a way, being sick, saved her life. Anyway, on top of not seeing large spiders before, unlike the beasts before, these were even charging I'm her direction which was another new experience. So her being so scared only makes sense.
"Hmph!". Jade made her signature sound and turned cat girl before jumping into action, punching the large spiders left and right trying to vent her anger from what Muku said.
Seeing her turn cat, Audrey's fear was suddenly cut in half, or even more than that. As now she was looking at Jade with wide eyes, unable to believe what she was seeing. Well, it's more of, what she was trying to see, as Jade was nothing more than a blur to her in this moment. She could only see a blurry figure punch one spider after the other. In less than a minute, all the spiders were on the ground on their backs, legs kicking around in the air while screeching from the pain.
"Phew, my work here is done". Jade stepped back to the group with a little smile on her face, she had punched away all the anger.
"Good job, you even did better than I thought, didn't even use your claws." Muku praised her, he has basically manipulated her into taking care of spiders all on her on.
Not because of something petty or anything, just that he thought she'd be best for the job. The rest, him included would have created either a bloody scene(Him and Layla) or straight up killed the spiders by mistake (Emily, Chloe and Hope). So Jade was really the best choice for the job. Of course he could have done it more cleanly if he wanted to, and so could Layla but that would require unnecessary extra work which neither of them wanted to do. Luckily Jade didn't like thinking too much so didn't realise she had been used. She just smiled arrogantly after being praised.
"Now Ms Audrey, it's your turn". Muku said as he put her down.
"Sigh, okay". Audrey replied with a sigh, none noticed the glint of disappointment in her eyes when she was out down. She for some reason felt safest and tranquil when she was being carried by him. Now she had to kill these beasts?, her hands couldn't help but shake from nervousness.
"Here mother, use this....it's a bit cold, I hope you don't mind'. Layla walked beside her and in her hand a two metre two and two inches thick spear was formed. Seeing this mystical scene, Audrey was awed again, she and the girls didn't talk about their powers the previous day so everything was knew to her. And seeing her own child creating an ice spear out of nowhere like that was even more mystical than Jade's transformation. Because of which, her nerves calmed down.
This was the reason why it was Layla who provided the weapon and not Muku. If she had seen Muku who she already thought to be beyond common reason do something mystical like this she probably would have been intrigued at best and thought it was to be expected of him. Which wouldn't have helped her nerves calm down. On the other hand, seeing her child do it, now that was something amazing in her eyes. So even if it was a a bit.... really cold to her, she accepted the spear with a smile on her face and walked toward the spiders.
The spider that was moving it's legs all over the place suddenly froze with it's legs spread apart, as if welcoming Audrey to stab it on its soft underbelly. Of course Muku had taken action, he was getting better and better with his telekinesis as time passed.
"Ha!" After a slight hesitation, Audrey made a cute cry and stabbed at the spiders head. She hit the mark, but sadly due to her pitiful strength, the spear only dug a bit into the skin and couldn't kill it. When she was about to pull it out in embarrassment. She felt an irresistible invisible force envelop both her hands and push them down while they still held the spear.
[9 kills left.....]
She received her first prompt, and since she had been told about it, she didn't get startled or surprised by it. Even the numbness running through her whole body didn't faze her. She wanted to ask what that force that assisted her was, but she felt she already knew the answer to that so didn't and just walked toward the next spider. She felt a bit stronger already, whether she was imagining it or it was real, she didn't know but it at least made her more motivated but killing these spiders.
A few minutes later with the help of the force, she managed to kill nine spiders and was standing in front of the last one spear raised. Everyone held their breaths, this was the do it die moment. Although at least she visibly looked a lot better after killing the nine spiders, they still couldn't tell if it was doing what it was supposed to be doing.
Stab!
Again with the help of the force, she killed the beast.
[Kill count met. Evolution Commencing. Initializing Specialisation]
With that now familiar voice, like the ones before her, Audrey's body froze. A tingling feeling going through her body. She didn't know why, but she felt that the cancer cells in her blood were actually being consumed and mutated into something else by the energy rocking her body as it gathered toward a certain point.
[Mana core formation complete. No particularly outstanding quality detected. Generating random class].
Hearing those words, Audrey's heart felt like it was going to skip out of her body. Nobody had told her about the class levels yet. But anyone with even half a brain can figure out that a "random class" wasn't anything good.
[Random Class, Lesser Vampire awakening....]
With that last prompt from the IA, Audrey's consciousness went dark. Her consciousness was cut off from her body.
Outside of her body. Her eyes suddenly sprung open.
Her once beautiful brown eyes had turned blood red and nothing but the thirst for blood visible in them....