Chapter 294: Journey Through

The ship picked up speed, racing towards the wyverns in the sea. The soldiers hurriedly changed into scuba gear, and there were several machines moving on the deck.

“Get the lasers ready,” someone shouted.

“Copy that,” another replied.

I stood and watched in awe as the soldiers went about their business.

“What are they doing?” I asked.

“Monster corpses can be extremely useful. We have someone with the skill to craft powerful items from them,” Ethan explained, kind of weapons.

“What kind of items?”

“It can be used to create weapons. For example, the bones of these creatures can be used to create guns and bullets that can penetrate other monsters’ skin. We can also create swords, battleaxes, high-powered bows, and even a supersuit that grants superhuman abilities,” Ethan said.

I was still confused as to how this was possible. How do they even have the technologies to craft these? I decided to ask Ethan.

“How are they able to craft these from the corpses? I didn’t think that human technology was capable of this.”

Ethan shook his head.

“That’s because it isn’t human technology. We were fortunate to have a powerful awakener that evolved and awakened a blacksmith class. He is the main reason we are able to fight against the demons in the first place. Now, even non-awakeners have power. As he levels up, his power will grow, and soon he’ll be able to create more powerful artillery.”

The soldiers wearing the scuba suits dove into the sea, which was covered in blood from the dying wyverns. We even realized that some of them weren’t dead, as they instantly began thrashing around the moment the soldiers entered the bloody water.

But it seemed the soldiers had experience, as they easily swam around the creatures and embedded a sharp, jagged metal into their skin. These metals were attached to several ropes, which led back to a giant machine on deck.

From what I saw, it looked like some kind of pulley system to lift the creatures onto the deck. Once they lifted the wyverns up out of the water, the dying creatures would begin thrashing around, spraying blood all over the ship.

Being this close to the wyverns, I could get a closer look at them. They really were like lizards with wings, but their bodies were similar to bats.

These creatures were part of a demon’s legion.

If it was my shadow hounds being treated like this…

After lifting it up out of the water, they lowered the creature onto a platform. Without wasting a second, the soldiers ran towards the wyvern on the platform and used their abilities to finish off the giant creature.

It was a bit gruesome to watch.

“What’s with that look?” Rizor asked, looking in my direction. “Don’t tell me that you actually feel pity for those monsters.”

“Cut him some slack, Rizor; he’s new,” Ethan intervened.

“Yeah, whatever. He won’t live long with the way he thinks. Just remember that,” Rizor said before rushing off to help kill one of the already dying creatures.

“Rizor is right.”

Suddenly, and for the first time since I’ve been here, Liz spoke before following behind Rizor.

I spent the rest of the day watching them kill wyverns and store them on the ship until there wasn’t space for anymore. The entire ship stunk of blood, raw flesh, and death.

For the next few days, on the trip, I tried to find out as much about Therissa as possible an in just a few more days, we were able to see land just beyond the horizon. As we approached land, we were ordered to stand with our different platoons.

The captain explained to us that our goal for now was to get back to the military settlement without incident since their mission was finished for now.

It turns out that the military’s true mission was to investigate a loud explosion that occurred over a month ago. They suspected it might’ve been caused by demon activity.

The explosion they felt was from the supernova from where Purgatory was destroyed.

It also turned out that this explosion led to a 50-foot tsunami that destroyed every settlement on the coastlines, killing thousands of demons and humans. We had to pass through an old city to get to where the settlement was. The city was in wreckage; whatever remained of the buildings was completely destroyed.

Once towering buildings now laid flat on the ground in crumpled pieces.

Another thing that made our situation worse was that the floodwaters still remained in the city. In most areas, the water was all the way up to our necks if we were lucky. If not, then we were forced to swim all while carrying a large container attached to our backs. The containers contained, chunks of the most important pieces from the wyverns.

Every soldier carried one.

It was a dangerous task, but having no choice, we steeled ourselves and went forward. The areas surrounding this city were mostly ruled by demons, and we didn’t have the firepower to face them since this was mostly an investigation team in the first place.

We traveled separately in our different squads. In a city as broken as this one, clumping together would be more dangerous. Some of the buildings didn’t fully collapse, and it would only take one mishap for things to end badly. Hence, we decided to meet up back as we worked our way through the city.

Our squad traveled together to make things easier for us. Ava led the way for our squad, feeling her way through the murky water. Liz was behind her, while I traveled behind with Rizor at the back.

Soon, we arrived at a path that was completely blocked off by fallen structures.

“Fuck! What are we going to do?!” Rizor asked, clearly irritated by the situation.

“We don’t have a choice; we have to swim underneath,” Ava answered.

“You expect us to swim under that thing?”

I understood Rizor’s concern, and for the most part, agreed with his concerns. It looked as if some of the rubble had been caught between two buildings. At any moment, the rubble could give way and fall.

Swimming underneath such a thing was dangerous.

“Turning back would put us behind the others. Do you want to explain to the captain why we’re late?” Ava asked, and for the first time, Rizor didn’t have a snarky response.

“Whatever.”

“I’ll go first so you guys can follow behind me if you’re not comfortable,” Ava said before diving below the water and swimming underneath the rubble.

Soon, Liz followed after her, and I did the same.

From underneath the water, swimming underneath the rubble seemed even more dangerous.

There was only a gap in the rubble we could swim through to get through. But all it would take was for someone to make a single mistake for the whole thing to come crashing down.

Ava went through relatively easily, but when it was Liz’s turn, her hips were a bit too wide for the hole, and as a result of her forcing herself through, a few of the rubble pieces came crashing down.

For a moment, I thought the entire structure was going to tear down, but it didn’t, and luckily, the small gap remained for us to pass through. Even though I could tell the rubble was now closer to collapsing.

After Liz, it was my turn to go through. I moved through the gap a bit more steadily than Liz, and as a result of that, I managed to make it through without incident.

Next, it was Rizor’s turn. He was a lot bigger than us since he was muscular, but in the end, he managed to somehow maneuver himself through without the rubble collapsing.

With everyone through, we then resurfaced, taking deep breaths as our lungs were now filled with air. We then continued for a few miles until we came upon an area where we could stop and rest since it was getting dark.

I used my ability to start a fire since the others were getting cold.

“Thank you,” Ava said, smiling warmly.

I gave her a nod and took a seat around the fire with her and the others.

“How long until we actually leave this hellhole?” Rizor asked as he rubbed his palm together over the fire.

“If we continue at the same rate, then maybe in a day or two,” Ava answered, which caused Rizor to sigh in response.

“The military really has us working to the bone, doesn’t it?” he chuckled and shook his head. “And back then, I thought college football was rough.”

“So you were a college student before all of this started,” I interjected, which caused Rizor to turn in my direction, and a wide grin appeared on his face. It seemed I had touched on a subject he really wanted to talk about.

“Yep, I was the best there is. Interesting fact: Liz and I actually went to the same college. She used to be a cheerleader, even though she doesn’t look like it now, you know, with all the scars and stuff. Back then, she was full of life and made friends with almost anybody. Now, the apocalypse has had her so messed up that you can barely get a word out of her.”

Just as usual, Liz didn’t say a word, even as Rizor made jokes at her expense. Soon, we all decided to get some sleep as we had a whole day of traveling waiting for us tomorrow.

During the night, I caught a scent. A scent that smelled awfully familiar.

Wanting to confirm my theory, I stood up, I raised my nose in the air to catch the scent better.

I was right. I did recognize the scent.

“Demogorgons.”

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