Path of Evolution - Chapter 36

Chapter 36






'You don't have to fight it with your sword.' Lily interjected my thoughts.

'What do you mean?' I asked

'Did you forget. You have a gun in your possession.' Her words suddenly broke my chain of thoughts and gave me hope that I had lost before.

'That's right. I have a gun as well.' I thought in elation.

In fact, I have never really used the gun to fight against an abnormal. And the presence of the 3rd tier abnormals scared me so much that I was not able to think with a calm mind. Thus, in my panic, I had completely forgotten about the gun in my possession.

But now, I realized that I had a way to get out of this dilemma without dying.

I took out the gun from the spatial ring and made sure that the safety was off.

After that, I aimed at the 3rd tier abnormal, who had come very close to my position while sniffing the ground.

It sense of smell, and it's perception scared the hell out of it. But I knew that this was my only chance. If I fuck this up, then that would not end well for me.

I knew that I was not a sharpshooter, in fact, I was not sure if I'll be able to hit a target 20 meter away from me.

But the 3rd tier abnormal was not even 5 meters away from me.

And with the high perception stat, I had much more chance of hitting it.

'Pray for me Lily.' I said and aimed at the 3rd tier Abnormal.

Suddenly, it stopped sniffing and raised it's head to look at me in the eyes.

BANG!!!

The forest reverberated with it sound of the gunshot as the bullet pierced the Abnormal's skull and it's head jerked back in an intense fashion.

But before I could celebrate my victory, it's head came back to it's original position.

I could see that the bullet was stuck in it's skull. Dark blood was flowing down from the wound as it's cold eyes that were filled with rage started back at me.

'The hell. Even a bullet is not able to completely pierce through it's skull.' The thought made me feel despair but I gritted my teeth and stared back at it's eyes.

'If one bullet won't do, then what about the whole magazine' I shouted in my mind and fired six more bullets in it's head.

The second bullet struck it's cheek but was stuck in the skull.

The third bullet struck it's chin and took out a fragment of it's cheek bone but didn't cause much damage.

The fourth bullet struck it's forehead beside the first bullet, but wasn't able to penetrate it's skull either.

The fifth bullet struck near the first bullet and was able to break through it's skull.

It's head jerked back from the bullet but before it could recover, it fired the last bullet at the opening in the skull. The bullet went through the forehead and was stuck somewhere in it's head.

I had no idea if it's brain had suffered enough damage from the bullet or not so I got ready to use to Agility Booster skill in case it had not.

The abnormal's cold eyes continued to stare back at me for a few seconds before it finally lost it's balance and fell to the ground.

'I… I killed it Lily.' I said and felt my voice shaking.

The moment the 3rd tier abnormal had looked at me, I felt very helpless.

I was about to use my skill but I was not sure that it would give me enough speed to run away from it.

But thankfully, it had died. But that didn't made me feel any better. In fact, just the possibility of more of such monsters existing out in the world gave me chills.

'Yeah you did a good job.' Lily said.

'What should I do now?' I asked blankly. In fact, I was so scared at the moment that I had forgotten every thing that was going around me.

But then I heard the shrieking and howling of horde coming closer and closer and my face paled in an instant.

'RUN!! RUNNN!!!' Lily shouted but before I could put strength in my legs, I saw a figure jump at me from the distance.

'Damn it!' I cursed and threw myself back on the ground.

The 2nd tier abnormal's claws almost scraped my legs but because of my fast reaction, it missed it's target.

I felt elated that I survived the attack but before I could think anything else, I saw another figure jump at me once again.

I had just dodged an attack so I was not prepared to dodge this one.

BANG!! I brought my hands forward to protect my vitals and it's claws met mine. With a loud bang, I was thrown in the air and flew for a brief moment before I crashed against a Van. The Van flipped from the impact and I could feel my eyes blur for a short moment.

The light concussion went away as soon as it had come but before I could ready myself, I saw three 2nd tier abnormals jump at me together.

'Use the skill.' Lily shouted in my mind.

'Agility Booster Skill. Activate.' I thought in my mind and felt a warm feeling go throughout my whole body. But before I could use my speed, I was attacked by the three of them.

I put my arms forward to protect my vital organs and the 2nd tier Defensive suit protected my body from being torn apart but the impact of their attacks still injured me greatly.

The three recovered before I could and started clawing at me continuously without giving me a chance to react.

I was pushed against the Van and surrounded by the three of them.

Despite evolving, I could feel that their strength was greater than mine. If not for the Defensive suit, I would have died miserably in the first attack.

I glanced behind them for a brief moment and saw more of the 2nd tier abnormals arriving at a fast pace.

'Shit! I need to get out this place fast. If I stay here any longer, then I'll definitely be surrounded and beaten into a pulp by these monsters.'

I gritted my teeth and stopped protecting my body. Instantly, their attacks landed on my chest and abdomen and I could blood rising in my throat.

'I won't die so easily you bastards.' I cursed in my mind and used my sword and cut through one of the Abnormals.

'That's my chance.' I pushed aside the corpse and ran out of their encirclement.

I suffered a few attacks on my back as I did so, but I gritted my teeth and started running away as fast as I could.

I saw a large number of 2nd tiers from my peripheral vision and almost tripped at their numbers.

'Damn! There must be at least a hundred of these bastards. How the hell did this happen.' But even as I cursed in my mind, my speed didn't drop as I pushed myself even harder to get away from their encirclement.

With the help of the high agility, I was able to get out of the place and I continued to run in the forest for a good ten minutes before I finally stopped.

I went down on my keens and panted heavily as I felt the pain in my body.

I felt the blood rise in my throat and coughed out a mouthful of blood before I could finally feel a little better.

'Damn! I almost died there.' I thought and clutched my stomach. The coughs had made my injuries even worse.

'Oi Lily. Do you think I'm safe here.' I asked weakly.

'I don't know.' Lily said 'Even if those 2nd tier abnormals stopped chasing after you, you can't say that you won't meet any mutant beasts in the forest. This is not a safe place. It would be better if you climb a tree before tending to your injuries.' She said.

'You're right.' I said and looked at the trees in the vicinity. One of them had a large branch attached to it which seemed perfect for resting. I quickly climbed up and sat down on that branch.

'Sigh! That was scary.' I thought and took deep breaths.

'Yes. I had not really expected a 3rd tier abnormal to be in the horde.' She said 'It seems you used up all of your luck in getting such a capable elder brother and now all that's left in your account is bad luck.'

'You can't put it that way you know.' I said 'I'm very lucky that Neha is alright. I'm very lucky because my family is perfectly fine. I'm lucky because I have you. And I'm lucky because I just survived an encounter with a 3rd tier abnormal.'

'Yeah. If you put it that way, I guess you're not as I unlucky as I said.' She said with a smile.

Suddenly I felt like smiling as well. The smile turned to a chuckle and soon enough I was laughing loudly in the forest.

'Why are you laughing all of a sudden? Have you finally gone crazy or what?' Lily asked with dissatisfaction.

'No… I'm just glad to be alive.' I said with a smile.

I took off the helmet and opened up the Defensive suit to check on my injuries.

Sure enough, the places where I had been hit had turned dark purple in color.

'Oi Lily. Aren't those guys just 2nd tier. Why the hell are they so strong?' I asked as I looked at my injuries with a frown.

'Those abnormals must be very close to becoming a 3rd tier abnormal.' Lily explained. 'A 2nd tier might have strength that lies between 4.0 to 8.0 after which they evolve into a 3rd tier abnormal. You understand what I mean?'

'Yes. I guess I do.' I answered with a frown. 'Does that mean that I would not be able to defeat a 2nd tier that's close to being a 3rd tier abnormal.'

'Something like that.' She answered.

I frowned at information for a bit before I finally sighed and relaxed my body.

'Well… Looks like I'm not as strong as I thought.'

'You were never as strong as you thought.'

'Lily.'

'Yes.'

'You can shut up now.'

'Okay.'

I laid down on the branch and looked at the stars twinkling up in the sky.

The scene was beautiful and helped me forget the pain for a short moment.

'The only good thing that came from the Black Fog was this.' I thought and pointed at the bright stars in the sky.

'You're talking about the air pollution?' she asked.

'Yes. I don't think I could have ever seen so many stars in the sky before the apocalypse.'

We both stayed silent for a long time before I finally sat on the branch and opened up the hologram in the Black watch.

'Lily. Suggest me a medicine that'll help me heal within one hour.'

'Here.' The interface changed to show a small white tablet which was named 'Recovering tablet.' It's price was 20 white coins which was well within my budget.

After I bought the healing tablet, I ate it without any wait and then laid back down on the branch to rest properly.

'Why are you in such a hurry? You could have bought the healing spray and wait for a few hours to recuperate properly.' Lily said.

'Well… I paid a huge price to lure away the horde. In fact, I almost lost my life back there. If I don't benefit from this, then all that I've done so far would go to waste. Thus I need to heal as soon as I can and then go back to hunt the abnormals that have been left behind by the horde, before they can merge back into the horde.'

Lily didn't reply back this time, which meant that she understood my reason.

I looked up at the sky in silence and slowly my mind regained it's calmness and the forest became peaceful once again.

'What a great way to pass time.'

—————

'Not as many as you expected.' Lily said.

'I know. But this is good as well.' I said as I looked at the hundred something abnormals that were scattered and left behind when the horde chased after me.

When the horde moves, it's like a stampede, and the faster and stronger abnormals usually crush the slower and weaker ones to move forward and reach their destination.

This leaves behind a lot of injured abnormals who are not able to keep up with the horde.

The scattered group in front of me was a result of such a stampede.

'What are you going to do now?' Lily asked.

'It's pretty simple actually. First of all, I'll kill all the abnormals who are in between this small group and the horde. After that, I'll lead this small group further away from the horde. At that point, I'll be free to kill them as I like without fearing the consequence from the horde.'

Saying that, I quickly started my plan and stealthily killed all of the abnormals who were connecting the two groups.

Just by killing those few abnormals, I had already gained 27 crystals.

Now the main dish.

After I isolated the small group, I realized that the horde had gone further into the forest to search for me and thus, I really had no need to lure away this small group as their shrieks will never reach so far into the forest.

After that, I used one of the larger stones and threw it on a car so that it would catch their attention.

Once they were distracted, I took up my sword and went on a slaughter.

Actually, even though I called it a slaughter, I was taking each and every step very carefully.

1st tier abnormals don't have good eyesight. Especially at night when they are only able to see for about 3 meters in front of them.

I made sure that whenever I killed an abnormal, it was at least 3 meters away from it's comrades.

The stealth killing went on for a whole one and a half hour as I was being very careful with my steps.

By the end of it, I had killed every last one of the abnormals in the scattered group.

I flopped down on the ground as I looked at the hundreds of corpses in front of me.

I was exhausted, but the thing that I had to do next will be even more exhausting.

'What's going to be exhausting.' Lily asked 'Haven't you already killed all of the abnormals.'

'I did. But if I leave these corpses just like this, then sooner or later, those 2nd tier abnormals will catch it's scent. When that happens, they're come running here to eat the corpses. And that will result in them getting more powerful. Some of them might even become a 3rd tier abnormal. I can't let that happen.'

'So you're going to destroy these bodies?'

'Yes. I'll burn them all.' Saying that, I kept the sword back in the spatial ring and took a deep breath.

I was exhausted, but I knew that I have to do this.

I stood up and went to deal with the corpses.

I picked them up one by one and collected them at one place where it will be easier for me to burn them.

By the end of it, I could see a large pile of corpses which intimidated me a bit and I wondered if I really killed all of them myself or not.

But useless thoughts aside, I took out some petrol from one of the cars and sprinkled it on top of them. After that, I put them on fire and ran out of that place as fast as I could.

I had no idea if the abnormals in the forest would be able to see this fire. But if they did, and the large number of 2nd tier abnormals came chasing after this fire, then I didn't really wanted to be here to face them.

'Are you going to kill more of them?' Lily asked 'There's still three hours left before dawn arrives.'

I looked at the fire from a distance and shook my head. 'No. Luring out abnormals from the horde is a very tiring and strenuous task. And I'm too tired already. Right now, I just want to go back home and rest on a comfortable bed.'

'Well, at least you won't go empty handed.' Lily said.

'Yes. That's true' I said and patted the ring in my finger which had 156 1st tier crystals inside of it. 'If I sell that many crystals, then I would get 1248 white coins.'

'With that many white coins, I'll be able to upgrade my defensive suit, helmet and sword. After upgrading them to 3rd tier, they'll offer even better protection. But…'

'But what?'

'But… Sigh. These are all 1st tier crystals. I was not able to gain even a single 2nd tier crystal tonight. That means I'll not be able to increase any of my stats. I feel a bit down because of it.'

'You don't need to think that way you know. Just because these crystals can't increase your stats doesn't mean that they won't help increase your fighting power.' Lily said. 'Upgrading your defensive suit and sword will also increase your fighting prowess. Plus…'

'You can also buy a skill book which will help you in a more direct way.'

The mention of Skill book made my mood even better and I couldn't wait to get back home and ask Rahul to suggest me a good Skill book.

Plus, now that I had a lot of white coins, I would be able to buy almost any of the skill book in the store. Even the most expensive ones.

I wondered what kind of skill book Rahul would suggest me to use. Would it be something that would increase my strength exponentially. Maybe it'll allow me to become invisible or something.

There were just so many skills and so many things I could use them on that, I was sure I would be able to waste a whole day just thinking about these skills alone.

'But if you really want a 2nd tier crystal that badly, then I think I might be able to find some for you.' Lily voice broke put a stop to all of my thoughts in an abrupt manner.