CHAPTER 33: WASTELAND

Collapsed buildings, Ash all throughout the land before us, and just barely a path is visible ahead. I can definitely see some skeletons in the distance so nobody really survived out here before huh?

"So it’s time to check it out right!?!" Lilly asks with excitement.

I don’t understand the excitement personally but at least it’ll make her happy. We are going out there to find this humanoid like monster that was seen.

"This place looks awful, why are you so excited?" Ghost asks with a bit of confusion.

"The chances of encountering fights is so high in a place like this!" Lilly shouts in response to her.

"No reason to waste time then." I chime in while walking past the two of them.

I could see my shoes leaving behind a track with each step that I took which was a bit worrisome but we’ll be fine. People won’t follow anyone out here, at least that’s the assumption.

The sun was still up with a couple of hours left before it went down again but the air itself felt thick here. There also wasn’t many places for anyone to go if they needed to hide somewhere here.

Even with the collapsed buildings you could probably be found pretty easily in this place since I don’t see any living creatures at the moment. I’m sure it’ll be way worse at night since this place is said to have way more monsters.

"How strong do you think this monster is going to be Rokuro?" Ghost asks while catching up to me.

"Honestly I have no idea. My experience with hunting is very little." I respond honestly while looking ahead.

Not a single thing was in sight out here, how could monsters even live out here if there’s no signs of life? We continue our walk for about an hour before reaching an abandoned outpost.

I honestly forgot that the military tried setting up different outposts to hold off the monsters back then. It never really did any good against them so I assumed that they eventually left the posts behind.

They really did try their best to help everyone when this all happened but it was pointless to use modern weapons against them. At least that’s how it felt at the time.

I never saw how it went myself but I heard it was a bloodbath against the military at the time. It makes me wonder what kind of military is in the background, ever since the awakening happened.

Cyborgs weren’t the only forms of defense, people did try the enhancements for themselves but no one knows where they went. Lots of people disappeared or went into hiding after the talents started popping up.

"This place is old and boringggg." Lilly says while looking at everything.

"It’s not a bad spot to rest, maybe we should see if anything happens while we wait here." I suggest before sitting down on one of the old ammo boxes.

The outpost was filled with lots of old weaponry from the beginning but it wasn’t really useful against anything but humans. I’d say talentless humans are the only thing it could be used against.

Unless... I wonder if magic users could do something to the bullets or infuse some of the tech to make it better. Magic, powers, talents, all that can be used to make talentless people stronger.

Not that it would ever happen because that would mean a complete shift in rankings again. They’d have to look at the system and make changes all over again if that was the case.

"Rokuro you know there are other types of people out here right?" Lilly mentions while sitting down across from me.

"How would you know?" I question.

"While you were passed out I heard people talking about some group of ruthless hunters that strip people for everything they got, including cybernetics." Lilly answers with a small grin towards Ghost.

I figured that groups like that existed but I never heard anything about them personally so I have no knowledge whatsoever. Nobody is going to lay a hand on Ghost though, I can promise that.

"Ghost you’ll be fine, I’m here and so is Lilly." I assure her.

Would they even be out here in a place like this when there’s such an abundance of monsters lurking out here? If they are hunters I guess it would make sense how they survive out here.

Not everyone who awakened wanted to use it for good reasons, some probably helped with bringing about the chaos even more so. That’s kind of why Junkers slowly started to become a reality.

If you had no talent then you needed to prove yourself worthy somehow, otherwise you were just wasting resources. I lucked out by working in the junkyard since I didn’t encounter too many people.

Other junkers not so much.

"Yeah, yeah. We’ll keep her safe but it doesn’t hurt to mess around once in awhile you know." Lilly says with a bit of an irritated tone.

"You’re right. Being serious all the time just makes for a stressful time I guess." I respond before leaning my head back against the wall.

I’m just not the best with lightening the mood, I don’t know. I’ve never really had the chance to joke around since I was always fighting for my life.

Everyone got comfy for a little while as we waited to see if anything happens. This was a chance to make sure no monster was following us or even some hostile hunters. The last thing we need is a stab in the back from something we least expected.

"I think I see something walking in the distance, look." Lilly points towards the western side of the outpost.

She is definitely right that something is walking in the distance but I can’t really see what it is. A hunter, a monster, or an unfortunate soul who got lost out here.

"Just be ready for a fight, we don’t know what they are." I say while standing up slowly.