True Friend

Ignoring Martin, Grant turned and walked toward Ethan.

Ethan had yet to so much as make a sound since he stopped Grant from killing Martin which was somewhat concerning for Grant.

Even though Ethan was struggling with what was going on in the camp and what it would take to deal with the people in leadership positions, Grant didn't want Ethan to feel responsible for anything that was going to happen. If push came to shove, he would be more than willing to handle everything on his own.

Especially since he had originally planned to set out by himself and handle the takeover of the camp using his own methods.

Seeing Grant walking towards him, Ethan raised his head and looked Grant directly in the eyes.

Surprisingly enough, their was a determination blazing in Ethan's eyes.

"It looks like you've once again come to a decision on where you stand morally on issues such as the one we're facing."

Ethan nodded his head up and down before responding, "Thank you Grant. I know you played that little charade to make me experience first hand what these people will do to keep their power.

I don't blame you for that either, but no matter what these people have done, I do not believe that it is within my power or authority to judge them as you do."

Grant didn't say anything and just calmly looked at Ethan waiting for him to continue.

"What these people have done, at least based on what you have said, is horrendous and inhumane, but I believe that it is God's right to judge them and not mine. I will not kill them merely for raising there hand towards me. I am sorry."

After he was finished speaking, Ethan hung his head because he felt in some way, he was letting Grant down and he couldn't help but feel bad.

Seeing Ethan metaphorically beating himself up over the issue, Grant took a few more steps forward and rested his hand on Ethan's shoulder.

"Listen here Ethan, your moral and religious beliefs in no way effect the faith that I have in you.

You are a honest and trustworthy person with strong morals and that is why I respect you so highly. Frankly, if you had killed the guards without any remorse, then I would have actually been worried about you.

Knowing that even in the darkest of situations, you are still willing to adhere to your beliefs, makes you the worthiest of partners and friends."

After enduring a few forceful pats on the shoulder, Ethan finally raised his head. With a renewed look of determination and conviction, he made a solemn vow.

"Thank you Grant.

I was worried that you may see me as more of a burden than an asset.

I promise you, I will never do anything to endanger you or the people we are fighting for, but I will also not kill indiscriminately or without absolute reason."

Grant, turning around 180 degrees to stand next to Ethan, reached out and gave him a strong smack on the back between the shoulder blades.

"Good good!

You will always have my faith and trust Ethan so worry not! I will trust my back to you whenever the needs arises! I consider you one of my few remaining true friends. Now that we have that settled, lets never speak of it again.

Back to the problem at hand though, I can sense a large group of individuals fast approaching and we need to get a move on!

Before that though, Leonard, why don't you come out of hiding?"

After a short moment, a short young man walked out from the darkness of one of the buildings and appeared in the middle of the street.

Ethan and Martin both had shocked and confused looks on their faces when they saw the young man appear. Neither of them had sensed him even in the slightest even after Grant had called out to him.

The fact that both of them were considerably higher level than Leonard and had much higher stats, he had still managed to evade their senses.

After standing in the middle of the street for a few dozen seconds, Leonard asked the question that everyone had on their mind at that moment.

"How long have you known I was there?"

Grant just laughed heartily as if Leonard was asking something absolutely ridiculous.

"How long? Since before you even started hiding there of course. You may be able to fool most people, but you're far too wet behind the ears to fool me son."

Leonard looked a little depressed after hearing what Grant had to say, but he quickly cheered up hearing the rest of what Grant had to say.

"If it makes you feel better though, out of the dozen people here, I was the only one who noticed you; and considering you are level 1 that is a phenomenal achievement."

"I've been lurking in the shadows of this camp since the very beginning when I realized that this was not the safest of places for people without the strength to defend themselves."

"It shows young man, I applaud your skills.

Now, we have no more time for idle chitchat.

Ethan, I want you to go with this young man here and meet with the leadership of whatever little resistance, or whatever you want to call it, that this camp has within the ranks of the normal folks. I find it extremely hard to believe that they have not started to formulate a plan to fight for their freedom considering the way that this camp is run.

That being said, I do not want you to gather them to fight, I want you to gather them to get everyone prepared to leave. We will be leaving here as soon as I handle the rest of the guards and anyone who wants to stop us from saving these people.

Now hand me my pack and get a move on. Keep the armor though, I will be fine without it."

Since Grant left no room for discussion, Ethan readily agreed and quickly ran up to Ethan before they both disappeared back into the shadows and off into the rest of the camp.

"Now that we are finally alone, I believe you said your name was Martin? Sorry, I don't really pay attention to people who won't live long enough to leave an impression."

At this point, Martin was beginning to understand how people felt when they saw him in the streets because he was absolutely terrified of the young man standing before him.

He knew that without the other young man here to stop him, it would only take a simple wave of his hand for Grant to kill him, so he was more than willing to talk.

"That's right, my name is Martin. I am second in command of this camp, the leaders name is Andrew, I do not know his last name.

He was in the psyche ward of the hospital when The Path emerged, and he used his fearless yet reckless personality to fight monsters and zombies alike to level up.

Earlier I sent Zach to fetch Andrew to this location in case I was unable to kill you. The people you mentioned approaching are without a doubt Andrew and Zach with the rest of the guards.

Andrew is an Enlightened Tier person who has begun to walk his Path. He has never told anyone what his Path is and we have never seen him use it either so I am not sure what skills he has obtained since then. None of the other guards..."

Grant, confused by how chatty the old man had become, just let him continue talking until a group of men rounded the corner and appeared in the clearing.

In the lead of the group was a man not much different from Grant himself. He appeared to be a young man in his early 20's. He had sharp features, black hair that was tied up in a pony tail on the back of his head. Even though he had just presumably run the entire way to the clearing, he was not breathing deeply even in the slightest, which confirmed that he was at least a high level individual.

Whether he had actually reached Enlightened Tier or not, was another question, but it was most likely true because unless the people of the camp had fought and killed an Enlightened Tier monster, the only way they would know the term is if one of themselves had achieved the rank.

At the sight of the reinforcements, Martin seemed to regain a bit of his previous demeanor because he immediately stopped talking and tried to scramble to his feet.

"Boss! This guy is strong! He is probably an Enlightened Tier fighter just like you! Please, save m..."

Before Martin could continue speaking however, Grant had withdrawn his Sword of the One True King from his pack and used the flat edge of the blade to pulverize Martin's head into oblivion.

He refused to give the man a clean death with the sharp edge of his blade after knowing a small fraction of the atrocities he was responsible for.

Seeing Martin's head explode into smithereens, who Grant assumed to be Andrew exploded outward with a wave of anger and rage.

"Who the fuck are you to kill my second in command?! I will fucking murder you, you piece of shit!"

Grant just raised his sword up on his shoulder and rested it there while raising his other hand which was balled into a fist, up towards Andrew and gestured at him with his middle finger now pointing to the sky.

"Bring it on psycho!"