The Female Awakened Archer

"Tough son of a...," muttered Kael in frustration.

Then he slammed the brake pedal as hard as he could.

The sudden stop threw the monster forward. It smashed onto the cab roof, then tumbled back onto the truck bed with a loud crash.

Kael grabbed his katana, opened the door, and stepped out of the truck.

He stared at the monster from the side of the vehicle and said, "Alright, you walking nightmare. Let's end this."

The monster roared and lunged at him. Kael dodged swiftly and drove his sword into the center of its chest.

He quickly pulled the blade out and stepped to the side, letting the monster collapse to the ground.

The creature writhed for a moment before finally going still.

Kael stood over it and kicked its body.

"Stay down, freak."

After confirming that the monster wasn't moving anymore, he grabbed the light blue mana shard it had left behind and climbed back into the driver's seat, slamming the door shut.

He rested his head on the steering wheel for a moment before starting the engine again.

What was supposed to be a three-hour trip stretched into five. Kael had to stop several times to navigate around collapsed buildings, cliffs on the edges of highways, and even broken-down streetlights.

But by pushing the truck to its limit, he managed to avoid encountering any more monsters.

***

As he entered his hometown, he slowed down. The scenery was a mix of ruined buildings and charred remains.

Finally, he stopped in front of what used to be his family home. Now, it was nothing more than a heap of rubble.

Kael stepped out of the truck, his sneakers crunching against the debris scattered around.

The silence here was oppressive, broken only by the occasional distant roar.

He looked at the ruins of his house and spotted bits of his family's belongings among the rubble. A piece of his dad's jacket, his mom's scarf, and a broken toy that had belonged to his little sister.

His chest tightened. This was his second time witnessing this horrific aftermath. The same destruction. The same emptiness.

Kael already knew what had happened here. It wasn't different from the other places he'd been.

The massive quake when the tentacles emerged, and then the monsters came, devouring his family, whether they were alive or not.

In his past life, he had cried endlessly over their loss. But now, the only thing filling his heart was anger.

"I'll make this count. I'll make sure none of this is wasted."

He turned back to his truck, climbed inside, and drove away from what was once his home. Or rather, its ruins.

He didn't look back. There was nothing left for him there except memories and regrets.

Only one name echoed in his mind now: Thalia Hawthorn. She wasn't just an ordinary girl.

She was a national archery champion. She would definitely be a perfect fit to help him take down the second-type monsters.

But more importantly, she had been his sister's best friend. If anyone besides him had the skills to survive among these monsters, it was her.

Kael drove through streets that had once been familiar, now turned into piles of rubble and burnt-out shells of houses.

Overturned cars littered the roads, some completely crushed, others melted and disfigured.

Finally, at the edge of the area, near what used to be a bustling shopping district, Kael spotted her.

She was crouched behind the remains of a concrete wall. Even though she was hiding, Kael recognized her instantly.

He slowed the truck to a stop and stepped out.

Thalia, who had been keeping a low profile, immediately recognized him, too.

"Kael?" she whispered to herself. Even though it had been years since she last saw him, there was no mistaking her best friend's brother.

Kael stood by his pickup, waiting for her to approach.

Relieved and overjoyed to see someone alive, and especially someone she considered like a brother, Thalia stepped out of her hiding spot and hurried toward him.

"Kael?" she asked when she was finally in front of him, her voice a mix of disbelief and relief.

"Yeah. It's me," he replied, looking her over.

She didn't have a single scar on her, which meant she had already consumed the Ambrosia. Still, Kael wanted to confirm it first.

"I want to ask you something before anything else. Have you, in the past few days, drunk something from an aluminum bottle?"

Without any small talk, he asked her directly. Thalia stared at him for a moment, her expression puzzled.

"Yeah. I did drink it," she replied.

"Good. Get in," Kael said as he climbed back into the truck.

Thalia frowned, confused by his behavior. He didn't greet her or ask how she was doing, but instead, he questioned her about drinking something from an aluminum bottle?

She smirked to herself, adjusting the strap of her bow on her back as she climbed into the passenger seat of the pickup, its roof half-ruined from the earlier encounter.

"Still not one for small talk, huh?" she muttered with a hint of irritation.

Kael stayed silent, offering no response.

They drove in silence for a while, but Thalia couldn't take it anymore. She broke the quiet with a question. "How did you survive all this?"

She knew Kael wasn't the athletic type. He was more of a stay-at-home kind of guy, always glued to his laptop or PC, playing with numbers she didn't understand.

Kael answered her question with another one as he steered the truck. "What did you feel after drinking from the aluminum bottle?"

Thalia turned to look at him, confused. "I felt refreshed after drinking it, I guess. I thought it was just a regular drink..."

She suddenly stopped talking as memories surfaced. She recalled what happened after she had consumed the liquid.

"Now that I think about it... Yesterday, the wounds on my body suddenly vanished."

She turned to Kael abruptly and asked, "Was that drink some kind of medicine?"

"I'm not entirely sure myself. But after drinking it, I feel so much stronger," Kael said with a flat tone.

"Hmm," Thalia muttered thoughtfully while gripping the door tightly as Kael navigated the truck through debris obstructing the road.