Extraction

The roar of the vehicle echoed through the neighborhood like a deafening crescendo.

I could not help but feel somewhat sentimental once I heard the nostalgic sound of burning fuel and rolling rubber. In the old world, before the apocalypse, the noise and sound that polluted the city was something I took for granted. Back then, it was a backdrop to my everyday life, one that went largely unnoticed, and even often times despised. Now, the silence was an almost permanent fixture of life. It was like an invisible rope that slowly tightened around my neck, only broken by the occasional roar of the monsters that wandered the area.

I peered over at the distance and took note that the car was almost exactly as how the others described it to me yesterday. Cher, who had no knowledge of cars what so ever, described it as a mix between her dad’s old pickup truck and the run down Jeep her uncle drove.

As the vehicle approached, I could see that in reality, it was a pale green humvee with an open cargo area on the back. Seeing an actual car still intact and useable was kind off an odd feeling, especially after experiencing the manticore’s “graveyard” from before. The President explained to me that he found the car inside the garage of one of the houses in the adjacent neighborhood.

I don’t know a lot about cars, but I could immediately tell that this one was rather expensive. It was a shame that it was currently being driven rather sloppily. It looked similar to what I imagine a military vehicle would look like, but with a few modifications. For one, this one was obviously designed for commercial use.

As the humvee pulled up infront of me, I noticed that the dust and dirt all over the metallic surface of the vehicle. Judging by how much was caked all over it, and how much still remained even after the drive over here, I figured that this thing was left untouched months before the apocalypse even started. It was already amazing that it still worked at all.

“How is it?” The President rolled down the window of the driver’s seat and asked. His face was unnaturally pale, and his forehead was smeared in sweat. I found it funny that he looked more scared driving a car than he did fighting a monster.

Just as I was about to answer, the rear passenger side door suddenly opened. A pale faced Cher staggered out of the car while clutching her stomach. She moaned out loud before collapsing onto the pavement below. Not far behind, Hina also came out of the car. Her eyes were swirling, and the blood was completely drained from her face.

“He crashed the car four times on our way here.” Hina groaned out as she tilted her head back and faced the sky. Her expression looked as if she had recalled something awful. “I told him to switch with someone else after the second time, but he stubbornly refused...”

I glanced over at the car, and noticed a few dents and scratches that I previously hadn’t seen before. In response, the President’s face flushed red, but he could not retort or argue with anything Hina stated. In the end, he lamely gave an excuse, stating he had never driven before in his entire life.

I scratched my head, and frowned. Although we did manage to find a car, it was true that the only ones here were high schoolers. None of the teachers had survived, and all of us have no experience with driving a car. Rather, in the first place, there weren’t a lot of cars on the island. Most of the transportation was through bus, or with an underground subway system that spanned the urban areas of the Setoha island.

Well, driving shouldn’t be that difficult, right? I mean, the concept is fairly simple, and I imagine isn’t all that hard to learn. I pushed the issue to the side for now, and ordered the others to begin loading all the supplies we previously gathered.

Things like water, food, sleeping bags, clothing, oil, matches, even alcohol, anything that might seem remotely useful was piled and stuffed into several backpacks and duffel bags. Right now, we had enough food to last at least a week, and without relying on Hina’s water magic, we had enough clean water to last at least four days. What we were in need of were medical supplies. So far, we only managed to find a few first aid kits and some over-the-counter drugs like tylenol and advil.

As the non combatants loaded the supplies onto the cargo area of the humvee, and as Cielle and Cher (who had recovered by this point) helped out, I asked the others whether they saw any monsters on their way here.

Hina, who was still recovering from the drive, confirmed and explained that a few were already wandering the neighborhood by the time they left the apartment building. “There were more today than yesterday, at least twice as much. I didn’t see any Elites though, but I figure it’ll only take a few hours before they start pouring in.”

Hina’s brow scrunched up, obvious worry written all over her expression. In the past, they group already assumed that the number of monsters would increase as the days passed, but what they had grossly underestimated was how rapidly the monsters were streaming in. Frankly, I was also a bit surprised. The speed of the invasion was almost too frightening to imagine.

Did something happen back in the city? Was there something luring all these monsters here or was there something pushing them out? While my head was filled with questions, and speculations, Hina suddenly looked up, and lightly smiled. The previous worry on her face, while not completely gone, decreased a little.

“I just remembered, on our way here, I saw the monsters fighting amongst themselves. That should slow them down for a while.”

I nodded in agreement. If the various groups of invading monsters continued to be this chaotic, then it would definitely delay their invasion. I changed the topic and asked how much gas the car had.

Hearing this question, Hina once again frowned. “Honestly, there isn’t a lot. Originally, the car’s fuel tank was only a fifth of the way full, and there weren’t a lot of cars near the neighborhood, so we couldn’t siphon any gas.

I don’t know how far we’ll be able to go but, if we are heading towards the harbor, then I think it won’t really be an issue. If I remember correctly, there’s a gas station along the highway.”

“... Alright.” I nodded back, but the frown on my face only deepened. We didn’t know a lot about cars, so I was primarily concerned about any future problems we might run into on our way to the harbor. If something were to happen to the humvee, then that was it. We would lose our only vehicle just like that. In the worst case scenario, we’d be forced to abandon the car along with the rest of our supplies and move on with only the items we could carry with us.

After all the supplies were loaded onto the back, we immediately left for the school. The vehicle was a four seater, but the rear passenger seats could hold up to three people. Since Hina was the only one aside from Cielle who was capable of long distance attack, she sat outside along with Narise, who wanted to stay with her pet (I did not want it inside the car). I decided to drive, and while it was a bit harder than I expected, I wasn’t as exaggeratedly bad as the President was.

Once we got to the school, I led the others through the wreckage and towards the basement of the old school building. At this point, the building was practically non existent. The manticore’s rampage reduced everything to a pile of broken concrete and splintered wood.

I stood on the first floor of the building and looked down into the basement. In the center of the battlefield was the manticore’s giant corpse. Its body took up almost half of the space below.

“Woah,” From behind me, I could hear Cher’s surprise. Turning around, I saw the stupefied expression she sported. “You really killed it…”

“Yeah. That’s what I said yesterday. Didn’t you believe me?” I stated.

“Ah, no, I did but hearing about it and actually seeing it are two completely different things.” Cher looked at me with a complicated expression. “I can’t even imagine how you managed to do that.”

“Well, a lot of things happened.” Remembering the actual fight, even I couldn’t believe I actually pulled it off. It was a matter of situation and circumstance that led to my victory. If the manticore hadn’t been so obsessed with the egg, or if I hadn’t acquired the items from before, then the fight would have ended completely differently. In fact, even if the whole situation was replicated, I doubt I’d be able to kill it for a second time.

As I was lamenting, Cielle walked up to the edge and peered past the giant hole in the floor and into the basement. She stared at the corpse for a few seconds before turning towards me and asking, “... Hide, are you sure you needed our help with the Dungeon Boss?”

“Cielle, that’s stretching it a bit…” I awkwardly coughed, scratching my head as I began to make my way to the basement. Everyone else quickly followed.

“Alright, like I explained earlier, I want to get a few materials from the corpse before we leave,” I stated as I approached the corpse and placed my hand onto the surface of its skin.

...It’s still warm, but it's colder than what it was before…

Past the layer of fur, and below the scales that covered its body, I could feel the slight warmth that the manticore still emitted. Seeing my actions, a few people from the group imitated me, and placed their hands onto the corpse.

A wave of surprised shouts passed through the room.

“It should have died a week ago, but the corpse is still warm… that’s incredible…” The President exclaimed as he pushed up the frame of his glasses and stared seriously at the giant corpse in front of him.

“Considering how strong it was while it was alive, I can probably make a few useful items after I recover.” I ignored everyone’s surprise and continued to talk. Meanwhile, I pulled out [Fynch] from behind me. I swung the sword around a couple of times, testing my current level of strength. The amount of power I could exhibit was still below what I would have liked, and currently, I doubt I had what it took to break through the manticore’s skin and cut out a chunk of its hide.

“Right now, my body is still recovering, so I don’t have enough strength to break through its skin. That’s why I need help.” I reiterated. “I need its skin, scales, fur, and some of its muscle.”

The only ones capable of penetrating through its skin were the President and Cher, who both had physical oriented builds. Hina was also capable of using wind to pierce through the skin, but that took up too much mana to the point where its was basically ineffective. The brunt of the operation was left to the President and Cher.

I don’t expect the both of them to collect everything, mostly because the corpse was just that big and there was a limited amount of space on the humvee. I just needed enough hide to make armor. The manticore’s scales, if they were similar to the Gila scales from the dungeon, could be melted down and used to create shields and weapons. The fur was also another part of its body that I could use to make armor, and the muscle was something I wanted to recover because I wanted to see whether or not it could be consumed.

With that same vein of thought, it might be a good idea to collect some of the manticore’s blood. Who knows, maybe it could be used to make potions or something similar.

While Cher and the President carved out the manticore, the rest of the group left the basement to monitor the outside and watch for any dangers that may approach. I stayed in the basement in order to oversee the operation. Because Cielle was interested in the corpse, she chose to stay inside too. Right now, she was circling the corpse, fixedly examining it with a discerning eye.

As time passed, I thought about all the skill books we still had. From the manticore, I acquired [Intermediate Draconic Boost]. From the “junk yard”, I picked up three [Lesser Draconic Boost] skill books, three [Basic Fireball] skill books, [Ferocity], and [Savage Blow]. During the Dungeon Boss, fight, I acquired four skill books; [Nether Flare], [Nether Drain], [Heated Body], and [Detonation].

[Detonation], which dropped from Kido’s dead body was something I was afraid to learn or let anybody else learn, mostly because it was a [Cursed] item. I don’t know what effects the curse actually has, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Since I still couldn’t control [Lesser Draconic Boost ++], it goes without saying that I did not learn the intermediate version just yet. From the rest, I learned [Ferocity] and [Heated Body] combined with [Hard Scale] to form [Searing Armor].

I gave [Nether Drain] for Cher to learn, and [Nether Flare] for the President learn. He also used the [Lesser Draconic Boost] that I gave him when I separated from the group. Out of the skill books remaining, [Savage Blow] was given to Kido’s childhood friend, and all three [Basic Fireball] skills were still unused.

From what I heard, when the President learned [Nether Flare], he showed it off in front of Hina, and because of her skill, [Full Element], it only took under three hours for her to completely learn the new skill. As a result, she improved the skill level of both [Full Element] and [Pyrokinesis].

Because Hina learned the skill without the actual skill book, she wanted to test out whether or not she could teach people some of the skills currently knew. Instead of using the [Basic Fireball] skills books, since she already knew the skill before hand, she wanted to see whether or not it would work. During her off time, she’s been trying to teach the noncombatants the skill.

So far, she’s had no success, but she hasn’t given up just yet. Lately, Hina’s been wondering if increasing their intelligence or wisdom stats will have an effect on their comprehension. On the same vein, if she taught the skill to someone who already had previous investment in either of those stats, she might be met with some success.

She didn’t get the opportunity before, but she’s planning on teaching Cielle and the others, and seeing if it will work.

Since it might increase our understanding about skills, magic, or over this whole system in the first place, I motivated her to continue what she was previously trying to do, but also warned her not to overdo it, especially during dangerous situations. If she ran short on mana during a battle because she was trying to teach someone some magic, then that would benefit no one but the monsters who are trying to kill her.

In the future though, if Hina can teach magic skills to others, that might also hold true for a few of the physical skills out there. There’s obviously going to be a difference depending on the rank of the given skill, for example I was certain that unique skills were unlearnable, but being able to teach basic and maybe even rare skills was already an amazing thing to think about.

“Hide!”

Just as I was pondering over this new possibility, a voice called me over from the distance. The voice was soft, but carrier surprisingly well within the walled interior. I turned towards the source of the voice, and saw Cielle motioning me over from near the head of the manticore.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her as I approached, curious about her sudden call. Glancing over at her, I suddenly took a step back and gaped in astonishment. Cielle’s body was almost all drenched in blood. Chunks of pink clung to her skin and body, while her shirt and hair were matted completely in red. Looking over at her, I could not help but frown. While the overall scene was a bit unnerving for most people, I could not help but notice the way her sweater clung closely to her body. Cielle had a surprising amount of curves hidden under her usual baggy clothing.

Coughing awkwardly, I averted my eyes, and asked, “Why are you covered in so much… stuff?”

“I was inside the skull, digging around in its head, when I-”

“Wait, wait.” I interrupted. “All that stuff clinging onto you is brain matter? The blood covering your body isn’t blood, but rather brain juices? Why were you in its head in the first place?”

Cielle shrugged nonchalantly in its response. “You dig through monster brains all the time, and poke bodies full of holes whenever you get a chance to. I wanted to see what it's like, plus I was curious.” She stated as if that explained everything. I wanted to retort and complain that what I did was completely different from taking a bath inside a giant creature’s skull and swimming in its brain juices, but before I could, Cielle continued, cutting me off before I could even start.

“Enough about that, what’s important is that I found something.” She raised her arm out in front of her. Within her hand was a fist sized orb. The orb was a shade of dark scarlet so dark that it was almost black. Occasionally, it glowed a faint red light, and when I took the orb from Cielle, I could feel a soft, faint, but undeniably oppressive force coming from the tiny orb.

“What is this?” I asked out loud, mainly to myself as I marveled over the object. The force it constantly emitted was familiar. It felt like raw power and it took me a moment to realize that the energy it emitted was similar to the oppressive aura that the manticore emitted while it was still alive.

As I stared at the object in my hand, I wondered whether all boss class monsters had this orb in their bodies. I didn’t check the dungeon boss’s skull when it died, and unfortunately, I had used [devour] on it, so I had no way of knowing whether it had an orb or not, but it was a good thought to keep in mind in case I run into any more boss class monsters.

The more I looked at the thing, the more and more questions came to mind. If I brought the orb to the manticore egg, will it have some kind of effect? Was the energy the orb emitted mana? Did this thing have some part in what kept the monsters outside at bay?

Just as my mind was beginning to wander, I heard the sound of hurried foot steps from the outside. After a few seconds, I saw one of Kido’s girls, the small one running to the basement. She was out of breath, and sweat covered her entire body. She was holding a pair of binoculars.

Her chest heaved heavily, as she spoke with labored breath, “Th-they’re coming… the monsters are coming.”