Worry

"Well, Now what?"

The question left them all drowning in their thoughts. What do they do?

One of their members was presumed dead, and the other received a concussion and was unfit for combat at the current time.

"We are against the clock," Hugo stated, tapping his wrist to imitate an imaginary watch.

"We shall continue our planned route until we get to the area Salvador scouted. We'll augment the area by another kilometer in case he wandered outside of it then we close into the center of that space. If we don't find him..." He didn't continue as the others were aware of what that symbolized.

Taking a swig out of his water bottle, William stood up and started trekking by himself. Not long after, the others followed suit.

Per usual, it was silent. No one spoke or made sounds. Sebastian slagged at the back, eyes aimed at the ground as visible eyebags grew dimmer and bigger with each day and night that passed.

**

It was late at night, and the party was asleep in their tents. It was only a few hours after they set up for the night. A day of constant travel even put a toll on people that succeeded human limits.

But two people at the party couldn't sleep.

A fire crackled outside pops resounded in the face of a forlorn man as he reasonlessly stared at the vibrant fire.

In the corner of his eye, a young adult's figure protruded out of a tent, their long jet-black hair flowing in the wind.

Sebastian slowly turned his head, fixating his eyes on the young boy before looking back at the fire. "I'm sorry, Sebastian,

I know it might seem rudimentary for me to apologize despite me barely knowing Christian myself, but from the short time I spent with him he was different from other teenagers I knew."

Jason thought back to the times in middle and high school. He never truly had a friend. Most were short-term and attempted to stab him in the back or wanted to use him for their own greed.

Yet, Christian's words and kindness were genuine. It could be stemmed from the fact both were similar, although under different circumstances.

Both were relatively unknown and lonely in school, never really experiencing friendship, only to be blessed by the system, and grew apathetic to the monsters living in human skin.

Both didn't hesitate to kill. Jason and Christian knew if they were to form friendships with the same people they had always done it with, it wouldn't differentiate too much from before the apocalypse.

Although it would instead result in their death.

"He was genuine and kind. Something not all teenagers possesses. Hell, even most humans."

"You think I wouldn't have realized that?" Sebastian scoffed, shaking his head. "Humans are just Satan's incarnations under the skin. Maybe in some rare cases, you'd meet a kind-hearted one, but even that is rare. I can't even assure you everyone at the party is good."

This hit Jason hard. He instantly thought about Jax.

Was all those fights, emotions, and tough shit an act? He would assume with how strong he was his attitude would surely be more cocky and arrogant.

As time passed, Jason's perspective on Jax gradually changed. He seemed more ordinary. He wasn't rude or anything like what he was at school. So what changed?

'I'll have to talk to him soon. It is kinda awkward between us considering our history.'

"I know that," Jason walked over to the log opposite of Sebastian, taking a seat before resuming his talk. "But Christian was different. I can't say I share the mutual experience of losing a son, but I have experienced the loss of someone dear to me. I know what it does to a person, and I can already see it in you."

Sebastian's empty eyes looked at Jason's bleak eyes, void and nothingness.

"Don't dwell on it too long. Once we arrive back at Altidor, take a break. Go drink some beers, fuck around and enjoy yourself. It'll help you compared to the lone mourning you do at night."

Jason chuckled as he walked over to his blue tent, "And get some sleep. Your eye bags are very noticeable."

Sebastian touched his eyes and smiled, 'What a nice young one. I never really got to talk to him.' He looked over to Jason, "Thank you."

Jason smiled in return, zipping his tent up and falling fast to sleep.

Sebastian reached out his finger, summoning water mana to sprinkle onto the fire until it was eventually washed out.

Entering his tent, he pulled out a small photo that contained him, Christian, and another golden-haired woman.

"Alexandra... Why'd I have to lose you both." The man wept himself to sleep later that night, a long-deserved sleep.

***

"How long until we get there? This is hell." Erin whined, taking another drink out of her water bottle which was close to diminishing.

"A day's travel at most. Another few days to complete the search of the area."

The group took a rough turn onto a desert road leading out into an open field in the forest.

"From here, it's straight. No more turns or detours. Let's get going."

As the group walked, Jason noticed some oddities.

'Bushes randomly placed, partial footprints... Seems like someone tried to cover up their tracks. But why?'

Hugo took notice of this too as an expression of worry was covering his face.

"Nysa are common near these areas, correct?"

Erin nodded, "One of their bases is only a few dozen miles from here. Not straight but to the east." She said, tracing her finger all the way to the presumed spot.

"So it's possible to meet some of them here."

Making a mental note, he cautioned the others to be wary of their surroundings for any other footprints or anything that could indicate an ambush.

After a few more minutes, the group came across a bloodied field, with multiple dismembered limbs and corpses scattered across it.

"A fight took place, a considerably sized one too."

Jason stood there, taking in the site of the aftermath.

"It's not the number of bodies that scares me, it's the fact it's all Nysa members that died."

The others looked closer, and as Jason said, only Nysa's corpses were on the field.

"You're saying a group managed to kill all these Nysa members without losing one of their own? That's impossible!" Sebastian exclaimed, "There's a few dozen of them! Not even one of us could take on these many."

Jax stepped forward, showing his guild ID. Similar to Jason's, it had an A right in the middle. "You're right, not us. S-Tier's could though." Jason was confused before it hit him.

"You're saying Salvador did this?" Jason had to let it sink in for a second before speaking.

Jax was only an A-Tier despite being the strongest here. Not only were his physical stats in the top 3, but he also possessed by far the strongest magic here.

If an S-Tier was stronger and not a player, just how strong could they be with it?

Such a thought even caused Jason to worry, inwardly trembling at the thought.

"The blood isn't old, it's only half a day old. But why the hell was he so far out of his scouting area..." Multiple questions arose in Jason's head. They were nearly a day from where Salvador was supposed to be, so why was it a day away from his spot?

Jason couldn't understand, he could only hope to ask Salvador himself.

"Search the area for anything. Armor, weapons, clues, just fucking anything."

The other's looked around for anything. Extra weapons, armor, anything.

Yet nothing was salvageable.

Armor was slashed in half, blades snapped and helmets caved in from an undeniably strong force.

"Guys!" Shereen called out, signaling for the others to come.

Hugo reached first, looking at the footprints Shereen was pointing to.

"It's the Altidor foot stamp that is on some of the shoes Altidor issues," She rose her finger all the way to the east before she spoke, "I think he traveled to the Nysa base."

"So... He plans to kill them by himself? I know damn well he's strong, but he's just courting death." Jax stated.

He experienced and saw Salvador's strength first-hand. He knew his limits.

So even though he could not deny his strength, Jax knew such a feat was impossible.

"Then hurry, we got to make it there now before he kills himself."