While I was putting those crossbows inside my backpack, I told Martin what happened after his death. Despite everything, he only showed interest in one thing.

“You found Claire?” Martin asked; his eyes were wide open. “What a small world…”

Despite the bad news about his parents and relatives, Martin didn’t give in to despair, it would take a while, but he would be able to bring them back.

“Here, you will need this. Right now, you are probably the weakest human alive. We can talk later.”

I gave him a rapid-fire crossbow, my backpack (B), and a few potions; it would be better than to provide him the cartridges full of bolts. Those were heavy, after all. I stopped my report at the part where Claire and the others made a council; right now, we had to kill some harpies.

“Dude, you look so different…” Martin frowned. “I can’t believe a person can change so much after only five months. You were so naïve and hotheaded… but right now, you look colder and serious.”

“You will change, too, or you will die again. Our problems are bigger than you can imagine.”

It seemed Martin didn’t expect to hear that soon after reviving, but I couldn’t hide the facts from him. Earth wasn’t a safe place anymore; he will need to adapt to his new environment. I teleported us back to where I left Stella, and the women and Martin looked pretty surprised with both Stella and the women.

“Wow, did you teleport us?” Martin's mouth was wide open. “Fuck! A monster!”

“Don’t attack; she is an ally. While those are… well, only time will tell what those people will become.”

I gave each one of the women a copy of my crossbow and said to them, create bolts while they could.

“Sir, what limits shall we break?” The black-haired women asked.

“… My name is Ethan. I’m not your boss and break whatever you want. I will help you guys as long as you pay me.”

“My name is Angela,” She frowned. “But if we prove that we are serious, aren’t you going to take us to your survival camp?”

“I will consider the idea, depending on your progress… how did you know about that? I didn’t say anything, and my copy also didn’t reveal.”

“Well, you are strong and can survive alone,” Angela explained. “So it didn’t make sense when you decided to stay with us for a few days. Besides, we knew that you were observing us to determine if we could be trusted or not.”

I had to change my actions. I wasn’t a good actor, after all. Instead of approaching and helping, I had to observe the next survivors and keep myself hidden. Or perhaps Angela, despite everything, was smart.

“You should discuss with your friends a formation, those crossbows can carry a lot of bolts, but they also require some time to reload. You guys can’t just stay in front of the dungeon in a single line, create a formation with that in mind. Let’s see if you guys learned your lesson.”

Angela nodded and then joined the other women. I would probably have to use her to give orders to others. But that was fine by me, dealing with a single person was much easier than forty. Besides, I would never remember their names.

“Dude… you will have to explain to me in detail what happened in those five months.” Martin massaged his forehead. “So much information is popping out that I’m getting dizzy.”

“Eventually, you will know everything about what happened, but for now, you should focus on getting stronger as quickly as possible. Don’t you want to see Claire?”

“Yeah, you are right. Thanks, man.” Martin smiled. “But, I’m getting jealous of you having so many pretty women following your orders.”

“Well, they have to follow if they want to survive. They lost five months because of their stupid way of thinking… don’t ask; I will explain everything later.”

Martin nodded and readied himself, Angela and the other women discussed for a few minutes, and they decided to form to lines. The first line would attack and then retreat to reload, and then it would be the chance of the second line to attack. Simple but effective. If twenty of them shot toward the dungeon entrance, they would hit many harpies even if they don’t have a superb accuracy.

After two hours, I heard the sound of wings flapping, which was coming from the dungeon. Fortunately, I didn’t have to do anything. The women were already in formation since they already knew what time the harpies would leave the dungeon. Stella was right behind them to use her thunderstorm; Martin was on her back since he was the weakest and could die in a single attack of the harpies. I was on the right side of the formation, ready to use my magic arrows. However, I wouldn’t do it until the very last moment; those women needed to show that hey truly had changed, and I only would be sure of that by seeing them fight even after being wounded.

At one hundred meters away from the dungeon’s entrance, we would have a few seconds to attack. We could move a little backward, but by doing so, their accuracy would drop significantly. Anyway, the first group of harpies appeared, and dozens of metal bolts and thunderbolts flew toward them. But less than half of it hit the targets. Only one harpy died, and nine were approaching us. Just that had been enough to scare the hell out of five women; they dropped the crossbows and ran away in the other direction.

“Wait!” Angela shouted.

“Don’t bother, just keep shooting.”

“But…” Angela insisted, showing a pained expression.

Angela and the other kept shooting until their first cartridge of bolts was empty; after that, the second line stepped forward and began to attack. Five of the first group of harpies had died, but the other five were already twenty meters away from us, and the second group of harpies was already leaving the dungeon.

“I’m going to bring them back,” Angela said, reloading her crossbow.

“As I said, don’t bother. They just didn’t just run away from the battle; they also abandoned you all. They ignored the fact that their desertion would put your lives on the line. Do you think that they really are your friends?”

Angela showed a pained expression, she knew that my argument was logical, but she was tired of seeing people dying and running away. In any case, I observed the battle with my arms crossed. Thankfully those who ran away left my crossbows. Otherwise, I would have to make them pay for stealing what was mine.

For some reason, even though the harpies were creatures that were stronger at long-ranged attacks, they insisted on attacking the women up close.

‘I guess they can feel the difference in power… or perhaps it is just their nature, and they wanted to kill women with their claws.’

The crossbows were working, but since the women didn’t have much experience, they missed a lot. In the end, two of the first group of harpies managed to attack them. I killed those two before they could injure too much the women. But even though their injuries were relatively small, another ten dropped their weapons and ran away.

“Ethan!” Martin shouted. “The hell are you doing? Kill the harpies!”

I ignored Martin’s complaints and kept observing the battle. Surprisingly, Angela organized the others very fast, and so the other two lines of attacks were ready. With a few exceptions, most of them were trembling while shooting. The wounds weren’t enough to make them faint or stop their movements, but a lot were crying and fighting at the same time. At least they recognized their mistakes and weren’t trying to run away again.

Since their numbers had decreased, I decided to help a little more. Using potions, they would recover faster, but there was no sense in traumatizing them with pain.

You have obtained 150 Evolution Orbs.

You have obtained 150 Evolution Coins.

You have obtained 150 Evolution Orbs.

You have obtained 150 Evolution Coins.

…

They were stronger than the trolls, so they obviously gave me more orbs and coins. Thanks to it, the women were breaking the limits really fast. Despite that, they were having a hard time enduring the pain after choosing a limit. The cave was big, but the harpies were two meters tall and wide, so only ten harpies could leave at the same time. I hit the jackpot by killing Tinemouth since a single ice arrow was enough to kill a harpy if I hit it in the head.

After a few minutes, hundreds of bodies were in front of us; the smell of blood was enough to make the women almost puke. All of them were pale, even Martin. The other harpies got upset and finally decided to use their magic; a single swing of their wings was enough to create those wind blades. I tried to block those attacks using my ice arrows, but even though I diminished the power behind that magic, the remaining power was enough to hit all of us and open big wounds.

“Tsk. I guess it can’t be helped.”

I told them that I would keep them alive, so I had no choice but to be more active in that battle. Those wind blades could behead their heads and limbs easily, after all. Every time I saw a harpy stopping to prepare an attack, I shot an ice arrow to its head.

You have obtained 150 Evolution Orbs.

You have obtained 150 Evolution Coins.

You have obtained 150 Evolution Orbs.

You have obtained 150 Evolution Coins.

…

‘… It is too easy using ice arrows. Tomorrow I will use my mechanic arms and train the universal absorption. Those harpies have a lot of mana and stamina, after all.’

It would be best to help them by using magic arrows for the rest of the day. They needed experience and confidence, I promised that they would live, and I fulfilled my promise. So, they would be able to fight more freely from tomorrow onwards.

‘Let’s hope they don’t hit me with their bolts… but I don’t think that will be a problem. I will attract half of the harpies, and the other half will attack Martin and the women.’

Half an hour passed, and we killed five hundred harpies. The battle finally ended, and everyone fell on the ground tired, their bodies were also trembling thanks to the tension. Even though we killed five hundred harpies, I only saw thirty potions, and only three of those were medium-quality potions; the others were low-quality ones. And I picked those three to myself while Angela shared the others with her friends.

Angela – HP: 211/400 MP: 22/400 STA: 119/400

Physical Limit Lv 15, Mental Limit Lv 15, Sensorial Limit Lv 01

Skills: Stone Arrow Lv 02, Increase Movement Speed Lv 02, Iron Skin Lv 01

Evolution Orbs: 101/3200

Evolution Coins: 4563

Martin – HP: 222/320 MP: 05/320 STA: 201/320

Physical Limit Lv 13, Mental Limit Lv 13, Sensorial Limit Lv 01

Skills: Critical Hit Lv 02, Smoke Screen Lv 01, Flying Dragon Kick Lv 01.

Evolution Orbs: 999/1800

Evolution Coins: 3831

For a single day of progress, they broke their limits a lot, and all of them would be able to pay for my services. Anyway, Martin’s last skill picked my interest, and I want to see it in action, but even though he also looked excited thanks to that skill, he looked like he wanted to complain first.

“The hell are you doing, Ethan?” Martin frowned. “Why didn’t you help them more?”

“I’m not doing charity work; I’m testing their change of heart. They lost five months because they decided to rely on others, I’m not going to help cowards or traitors.”

“You have a point, but I don’t think you have to be so selective.” Martin insisted. “We lost already too many lives, don’t you think after seeing the bodies of those men?”

“Didn’t I tell you? I killed those men, they tried to screw me, but I made them pay.”

I didn’t notice Martin had seen their bodies; we just stayed there for a few minutes. In any case, Martin seemed surprised. But it couldn’t be helped; he was a man who died but only saw the shit of the end of the world for four days.

“Look, if you want to play the hero, fine by me. But I won’t do it, for all that I care, all cowards and traitors can die.”

Martin was feeling conflicted, he was thankful that I revived him, but he also was perplexed and scared because I was too cold. But I was just getting started, he didn’t look weak-minded, but there was a chance that he would end up running away after hearing about what I did and how many I killed in the last few months. It wasn’t something I was proud of, but it wasn’t something that I was ashamed of either. I only killed those who tried to mess with me, and I would continue doing so.