"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"..."

Am I enjoying it too much?

Who knows.

Heheh.

But Hadwin is the one at fault here. Who asked him to pick Mindblender Missy over me?

He sighs.

"Can you even use it? It's not as easy as it looks."

"Yes, yes, no problem."

Just give it to me already; it's not like you have a choice.

His brain is almost smoking as he tries to come up with a way around it. He doesn't like it at all, not even a little bit. But in the end, he sighs and slowly pulls out the weapon, offering it to me.

I shamelessly grab it. It's the first time I'm holding a handgun, and it's heavier than I thought it would be. It has a nice density to it and feels cold to the touch.

"So we have a deal?"

"Yes, we do," I nod in agreement.

Then I use [Oscillation] and cut the handgun apart. I make two swipes, and my mana cuts through the iron from the earth as if it's no denser than butter. After ensuring it's destroyed, I throw it into the forest as far as I can while strengthening myself with mana.

Hadwin's face is the funniest mix of shock and anger. He opens and closes his mouth as if he's a goldfish, and I swear I can see a vein popping up on his forehead.

Damn. He might attack me.

Wait.

He might attack me?

Please do so!

You want to hit me, right? Just do it.

If he does, I can mess him up, and later he would have to come back to me again, asking for forgiveness and for me to join him again.

Please, do it!

Just one swing.

Unfortunately, he doesn't do it in the end.

"Why..." he barely manages to say.

"So, in one hour, yes? I will be taking Tess and Kevin; you can pick the others."

I leave without even answering, feeling much better than before our conversation. It´s finally gone!

Gun control on Floor 1 is truly excellent.

I feel as if a sword threatening to cut off my head has disappeared. The gun was the weapon I was most worried about. Other than that, I am sure no weapon any passenger has threatens me, and I am sure no one can beat me in a fight, not even if a few of them group up.

Now I just have to deal with Sophie, and the only danger will be monsters.

I can't even count how many times I shuddered when I heard Hadwin shooting his weapon. Every time, it could be a bullet going to the back of my head, and I wouldn't even be able to do anything about it, not at my current level.

I don´t trust the man. He is too suspicious.

As for the gun's usefulness... who cares? My safety is the most important, and I am sure I can survive or run away even without the gun, even if I have to sacrifice a few people to do so.

Cinderbear doesn't count, fuck that guy.

"Tess, one more hour. Then we will go with Hadwin and a few others to bring back some water."

She just looks at me.

Leveling up her skill isn't going well, I guess.

"One hour," I repeat quietly.

Instantly, a small stone flies straight at my head, and I dodge it by tilting my head.

Pfff, try hard...

My [Mana Perception] senses a pulse of mana from Tess and then a smaller one behind me. I dodge to the side just in time to avoid the returning stone that lands back in Tess's hand.

At least pick a stone shaped like a boomerang if you want to do stuff like this.

I show her my thumbs up and leave before she has a chance to react.

While walking away, I have a feeling that she's showing her middle finger right at my back. She wouldn't do that, right?

There's no way.

Yet, I do not turn around to check and walk until I get back to Kevin, who is smoking some deer meat. There are three of his friends around him, and it's almost funny seeing them all trying to put together enough brain cells to deal with such a difficult chore.

"Hey, Nathaniel." Lily gives me a shy smile. Next to her is a Korean boy with big glasses, and he just greets me by waving his hand.

"This is Jason," she introduces the blonde boy.

"Sup," he greets me.

"Jason, help me out. Don't slack." Kevin complains and totally ignores me, so the boy just shrugs his shoulders helplessly and goes back to helping Kevin smoke the deer meat.

"Hey Kevin," he slowly turns to me, and I can see that his face is slightly blackened from his attempts to smoke the deer.

Hehe, here we go.

"Oh deer, what a disaster! What happened here?" I say slowly and as emotionlessly as I can.

Shocked silence.

"Total Grilltastrophe!" I try to add some emotions.

"Hey, do not…"

"Such stag-gering incompetence!"

He stands up, "Listen here…"

I don't let him finish and hold my hand up. He pauses and looks at me while frowning.

"In one hour, we will go for some water. Me, Tess, Hadwin, and a few others. So be ready if you want to go."

I leave again. The third time escaping and leaving my opponents utterly defeated behind me.

Oh, and it's not like I spent an hour thinking of puns to say to Kevin.

Not at all.

Reflect that, you little twat.

One hour passes fairly quickly, and we group up. On one side, it's me, Tess, and Kevin; on the other, there's still slightly mad Hadwin, Sophie, a fit-looking dark-skinned woman, and tall man with ginger hair.

The woman is called Maya, and she is quick to tell us that she's a certified personal trainer.

The man is Leon, and he is built like a strongman. His accent is really strong, but I can't determine where he's from.

Hadwin has a bow, a huge knife, and an axe. Leon has a mace similar to mine, and Maya has a spear similar to Tess's.

Sophie is holding a small shield and a short sword.

"Tess will go first, and I will go right behind her."

She glances at me; I can see that she's somewhat nervous, but she agrees in the end.

Hadwin doesn't complain at all, only lifts one of his eyebrows and nods. Kevin ends up to my left, while Leon is to my right. The rest follow closely behind.

We get to the water. We collect the water.

The forest is quiet.

We are on our way back when the forest grows even quieter, and I realize that the wind has stopped.

My breathing becomes ragged, and my body feels tense.

A minute passes.

We walk in total silence.

Two minutes pass.

Our steps and breathing sound so terribly loud.

A few more minutes.

My hand hurts from squeezing my mace's handle so hard.

A few more minutes.

I feel like vomiting.

More time passes.

The air feels so dry. All of us are breathing in loudly. It feels as if there isn't enough oxygen in the air.

Two minutes away from the clearing near the bus, one of the suns disappears.

All of us start running as if we planned it.

A minute or so later, another sun disappears.

Total darkness.

Not even a speck of light.

Someone starts screaming, and then scratching sounds come from all around us.

I recognize goblins growling, and plenty of wolves start howling.

I hear a lot of trolls and some noises I don't even want to know what makes them.

Someone begs for it to stop, and I can hear sobbing.

The cries of animals and monsters become louder and louder.

I hit something and fall down.

Mana is flowing through my veins, but I don't see anything as if someone gouged out my eyes.

I just feel the mana all around me. From the ground, the sky.

I throw up. Such a monstrous amount of mana.

Then there is light.

The black sky is suddenly pierced by a bright light, which unfolds into multicolored bands reminiscent of polar lights. The greens, pinks, and blues move rhythmically, casting a dim glow that transforms the darkness into a scene resembling a muted morning.

Then we hear a bus horn and the screams of goblins and people from the clearing.