Chapter 176 The Liqua Country
[Author's note: Myla was one of the harem members of Michael who was in the military. She was the former girlfriend of Michael who met him in the Apocalypse right after Michael got out of the Dungeon of Libra. At that point, she was searching for the disturbance regarding the Plant Laboratory.
Liqua Country is the Neighbour Country of Meria Country (Where MC lives)]
….
….
Somewhere in the Liqua Country
…
…
[Myla's POV]
-TRTRTRTRTRTR
-BOOM!!
-BOOM!!
-BOOM!!
"Sergeant, they are getting close!!" shouted Jeff as he drew the jeep faster while I kept shooting at the incoming B-Grade Zombies at us.
"Tch! And it was so peaceful just a few hours ago. You think someone is controlling them?" I asked as I looked at my right-hand man Octavius, while he too shouted back,
"Haha! Looks like I guess our luck ran out, sergeant."
Octavius was a capable man, one of the people that awakened the Gift in our camp. Father put him with me to find out the strange signals we were getting from this area. According to one of the people from the watch team, he sensed some very abnormal frequencies coming from this part of the country.
'Reminds me of Alissa,' I thought, as that was the real reason why I came here. Ever since Michael was gone, she had been really sad as she tried everything she could to bring Michael back. Though, those plants just took her away.
Another reason why I came here was to clear things here fast and check up on George and Walter, who should be in the Meria Country still waiting for Michael.
'Michael… Just where did you go?' I thought before once again concentrating on those zombies coming at us.
"Incoming!!!" Shouted Jeff as he sensed something towards us and I enhanced my senses as well. My eyes observe everything around
"DUCK!!!" a voice from behind commanded, and I ducked immediately and
-Clank!!
-BOOM!!!
"Young girls like you should be more mindful of your situation," spoke the other guy who was traveling with us.
"Thank you, Commander Sergeant Major, Reeve," I said as I saw him blocking the zombie's attack without much difficulty and pushing him back with pure strength only.
"An Elite B-Grade, huh?" Reeve spoke as he observed the zombie, who had blades instead of arms and muscles covering his entire body. Reeve rested his sharpened katana on his back as he spoke to Jeff,
"You can hit the brakes now. I think we found our leader zombie, here." Hearing his voice, Jeff hit the brakes as hard as he could, while Reeve jumped off the jeep, towards that incoming Elite B-Grade Zombie.
-BOOM!!
-Slash!
-Clank!
With a single slash towards that zombie, the Commander almost swiped him but his two bladed hands blocked the attack with some difficulty before another blade spawn out of his chest and tried to pierce the Commander, Reeve.
"Oops!" With a casual remark, Reeve took a step to the left and prepared for another counter before another blade spawned from the zombie's shoulder and attacked at Reeve.
Taking a few steps back, Reeve just observed that zombie for a few seconds before a smile formed on his face,
"You are a tricky one, aren't you?"
"He is going to use it, isn't he?" spoke Ray, another member of our group who took the position of Shawn since he was busy on another mission.
"Looks like it. Man, every time I look at it, it gives me goosebumps," spoke Octavius with a slightly agitated look on his face.
Reeve took a firm step forward and then half closing his eyes, he spoke,"Slashes of the heavy… gravity," and then… the zombie fell on the ground.
-Slash!
-Slash!
-Slash!
-Slash!
.
.
.
About a hundred slashes bombarded that zombie within a second, killing it then and there. All that was left was a poodle of blood where the zombie previously stood. A total silence covered the entire area as we witnessed the scene unfolding in front of us.
'He is strong but… compared to Michael and Alissa… ' I couldn't help but compare him to those two. While Sergeant Major is strong, even back than those two…. their power was something that I couldn't measure.
'Then there was William, too,' I thought as I recalled that he too hadn't shown his true power ever. Pretty sure he must have gotten much stronger than before.
Reeve then slowly moved towards that dead Elite B-Grade Zombie and collected the red-coloured Core from the puddle before keeping it in his pocket.
"This is what I like about unexplored territories. A lot of free loot to collect," he spoke as he smiled, thinking of the Core he gained. Though his expression changed right after he said that as he looked up at the building at a distance from us.
Focusing where he was looking, I saw a child standing there at the top, though the next words that left Reeve's mouth made my heart skip a beat here,
"A-Grade Zombie."
His words were serious as he observed that girl zombie before she vanished from there.
An eerie silence shrouded the entire area before Reeve got back up in the jeep and spoke,"we should leave. I might be able to win against it, but I don't want to risk my life in the middle of nowhere," and we all nodded at him before immediately leaving, towards the location where the strange energy signatures were emanating from.
Traveling for another 2-3 hours, we didn't find as many zombies in the area as they were before. Heck, we only found about 13 zombies in total, that too C-Grades only. And this lack of zombies, rather than making us feel safe, actually scared us.
After traveling this much, we were about 200 kilometers away from our destination, though before we could relax even a little, Jeff stopped the jeep, hurriedly stepping on the brakes as hard as he could.
The jeep stopped, making us wonder what was going on, and as I was about to question Jeff, I saw Reeve signaling me to stop. He then pointed in front of the car, and looking there, I saw something that terrified me to the core.
At a distance of 200 meters from us, a child of about 5-6 years was standing wearing a beautiful black gown as she held a teddy bear in her arms. She looked pretty normal, but I knew she wasn't. If at all, she was anything but normal in this condition.
'She is the same girl, isn't she?' I thought as I looked at her. Last time I couldn't get a clear look at her, but it was the same gown, and the teddy looked the same as well. Her white hair also matched the previous A-Grade Zombie that we saw.
"What do we… do, Commander?" asked Jeff in a very low voice, and looking at him Reeve spoke,"Advance slowly. Then take a left and go around the place."
Jeff nodded as he did the exact same thing, slowly and slowly, moving the jeep towards her, but before we reached half the distance, we turned to the left and started moving in that direction.
After we moved a little ahead from there, while our eyes were kept glued behind us, we sighed in relief as Ray spoke out,"what the heck was that?"
Our heartbeat was at the max, while Reeve was still silent as ever. A few moments after we silently drove, Reeve spoke,"Take a right from the upcoming turn. But slowly." Jeff gulped but still nodded as he almost made a turn but stopped. Before going forward without taking the turn. The reason for that? The same girl was standing approximately 100 meters away from us with the same teddy in her hand.
"Gulp!" Jeff gulped really hard as he drove away from there while Reeve spoke,"stop the car," in a slow voice.
We all looked at Reeve, wondering what was going on in his mind and not keeping us in the dark, Reeve answered,"she is guarding something. There is something behind her she is protecting." Our eyes lit up a little, as it kind of made perfect sense for that. But what would someone as strong as an A-Grade be protecting, even?
Jeff stopped the car slowly while Reeve continued,
"It could be either a treasure or a stronger zombie who is ascending. Both ways, we cannot let it slide. Getting the treasure is fine, but if it is a stronger zombie, I must kill it before it gets too strong."
Hearing his conclusion, our eyes also got serious. Even though we were afraid, letting an abomination be created right in front of us and not even doing anything sounds much scarier to us than that A-Grade Zombie.
"We will watch the perimeter," I spoke and Reeve nodded before looking at Octavius,"I will be needing your help, kid. Come with me." Octavius was really scared right now, but still he nodded as he walked with slightly broken steps as we got out of the jeep.
Taking the turn where the little girl was, we looked around, only to find her missing. Though not even a few moments later, she appeared right in front of us as we kept moving forward.
Reaching closer to her, we saw that she looked more like a human than a zombie. If not for those red crimson eyes and that pale white skin of hers, it wouldn't be that hard to mistake her for a human.
Though before anything can begin, that child zombie spoke in a high-pitched voice,
"If you take a step closer. You die."