Nikeila regretted opening her mouth. She shouldn’t interfere with their choices. She had just met them. They meant little to her. And as soon as they lost their usefulness or became a liability, she’d leave without hesitation.

“But if I don’t have the power now, I can learn.” Navie had a brilliant idea. “Why don’t you become my teacher?” She turned to Nikeila. “Master, please teach me how to help those people!”

{What?}

“This could be my first test to see if I’m qualified to be your disciple.”

{That sounds only good to you, but troublesome to me.}

“I’m sure there is something I can do,” she persisted. “If those ten, no, then— How are they called?”

“Thenebre.”

“Right. If those thenebre have levels and stages like us, they must be 0 now. They’re at their weakest. If we play smart, I’m sure we have a reasonable chance of succeeding. And if we have to face them in the future, now is a good time to learn how to deal with them.”

“You sound almost convincing. But it’s still too reckless to try to save others when we can’t ensure our own safety.”

They were at an impasse.

“Should we vote?” Shandra offered. “I'm against.”

Vanchi raised her hand. “Me too.”

Navie lowered her head. After a long moment, her tight fists relaxed. “I’m sorry. I’m still going…”

“You!” Her friends got angry. “You’re being unreasonable. Don’t our words mean anything to you?”

Navie was resolute. “I’m sorry.”

{Alright. I’ll come with you.}

The girls were surprised.

{Didn’t you call me Master? How can I let my disciple go alone?}

“Master!” The girl’s eyes teared up.

{Take the backpack. Put some medicine, bandages, and a bottle of water inside. We’ll fill it out when we get in the apartment. Let’s take these kitchen timers too.}

They were very lucky to see these and buy them. Nikeila had to insist on taking them. The reason was simple. No matter what kind of threat they were facing, the loud sound could serve as a distraction or warning for allies.

A stage 0 thenebre was unable to see or hear well. Their body was still in transition, their defenses raging against the infection. They were hard to kill, but the wounds inflicted wouldn't heal as fast as the higher-level ones. They were ferocious, but it was true that they were at their weakest now. They’d only grow stronger as they survived and upgraded.

{You can choose between the knife or the meat hammer.}

“H-hammer?” Stabbing seemed way more difficult than hammering.

{That’s a smart choice.}

Nikeila nodded. She turned to the other girls.

{We should part ways here. Fewer people will attract less attention. You should try to contact your families again soon. We don’t know how long the phones will work. If possible, get more supplies and weapons. More is always better. And pay attention to safety.}

She paused.

{Thenebres aren’t the only threats we’ll face.}

In times of chaos, the desperate neighbor is the greatest menace.

She saw that Shandra understood her meaning.

Vanchi started crying and Navie hugged her.

“It’s just a temporary goodbye.”

“I’m sorry, Navie.”

“Don’t be.” She hugged Shandra too. “You don’t have to try so hard to be responsible.”

She squeezed the girl. “Be careful.”

Nikeila and Navie got out of the car trying to make the least noise possible. They sneaked around, avoiding everyone on their way. She took a flask out of her inventory.

{Hold this. I’ll need you to open it for me later.}

“What is this?”

{Mana recovery potion.}

“You have those? This is more and more like a game.”

Nikeila activated Pon and sent it to scout. He returned and showed them the area layout and everyone's locations. She studied the map while drinking the mana potion. There were more hostiles than she expected.

“Are the red ones enemies?”

{Yes. Blue are the neutral non-threatening ones, yellow are the neutral potentially dangerous ones, and green are the allies.}

“There are only red and yellow ones here.”

{It’s only the ground floor. The rest must be on the upper floors.}

“Alright.” She nodded reassuredly. “Master, I almost forgot to say this.” She bowed. “Please take care of me from now on!” The whisper was exuberant.

{Let’s work well together.}

“Yes!”

They cautiously sneaked in. Navie was familiar with the place and Nikeila had memorized the way.

Navie gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. Nikeila looked around.

{What is it?}

“T-that,” the girl stuttered while pointing at a mutilated corpse on the ground, “is James. He l-lives above us.” He held his phone, his limbs bent at wrong angles. She looked up. His girlfriend was on the balcony. She was infected. Did he fall from there trying to escape?

{Let’s hurry.}

Nikeila didn’t let the girl think too long about what she saw. She’d have to work on all this trauma later.

They set up the alarms carefully. The closest ones would ring earlier and attract the zombie and the others would later draw them farther. They quickly moved away from the timers and waited.

The alarms rang loudly, shattering the silence.

The plan worked. The parking lot soon emptied. They hurried and quietly advanced. Nikeila suddenly bit Navie’s clothes and stopped her. Fortunately, the girl didn’t make a sound and quickly froze in place. They spied around the corner. There were still zombies around. And they had no more alarms.

It was unrealistic to expect the two to face them head-on. Nikeila had Pon. But it wasn’t fully upgraded and lacked power. Also, the mana potions were limited. The chances of succeeding without losses were very low.

Navie took her phone, searched her contacts, and dialed a number. Shortly after, a call ring sounded on the other side. The thenebres clocking their way clumsily followed the noise.

Nikeila raised her eyebrows.

“It’s James’s phone,” Navie explained.

{Good job!}

The girl blushed with joy.

They climbed the stairs not letting their guard down. Their goal was to reach Navie’s apartment. She lived on the fourth floor. They opted to go up the stairs. The elevator might alert their arrival. They partially opened the stairway door.

Nikeila, who was on Navie’s shoulder, looked through the gap and saw no one inside, only silence. Just as she jumped down and entered, she was rudely grabbed and squeezed. A big hand covered her vision. She’d have been dragged to the attacker’s mouth if Navie wasn’t quick-thinking and stepped on his head.

Her health bar was plummeting. She was too frail! She panicked. She didn’t have much time. Which was going to run out first? Her speck of health or her driblet of mana?

She twisted her body to get free and sent Pon out. Her perspective changed. Pon moved away to get a better view. And she saw Navie covering her mouth to not scream, trying her best to keep the zombie’s head in place. There were no visible bite marks. The zombie probably transformed because of the fog. His legs were bent unnaturally and he was relatively clean. So he wasn’t running away, but chasing someone when he fell down the stairs, broke his legs, and got stuck here.

Why would a human-brain-loving-human-flesh-eating creature be interested in an alien animal? This seemed like a personal attack. She completely forgot that efulgens were very appetizing to thenebre.

Pon hit the zombie’s skull at the same point with all the strength it could gather. Once. Twice. The zombie stopped moving, his hands loosened and she wiggled free. Angry, she let Pon hit it a third time. This time a layer of energy enveloped the black sphere and a small burst cracked the thenebre’s skull. Pon penetrated his cranium.

Nikeila collapsed on the floor. No more mana, and only a scrap of health remained. Navie was fast to respond and gave her the potion.

That was too close.

There were grunts outside in the lounge. Navie quickly closed the door.

Half of Nikeila’s vision was immersed in oozy red, still inside the brain of the just-killed grabby zombie. Pon was awkwardly dragging itself out of the skull when she saw a little-finger-nail-sized shiny thing.

A crystal!

How useful would a crystal be to them now? Humans were connected to Swavira. How would they upgrade? Through cultivation like efulgens or crystal consumption like thenebres? Anyway, it was better to get them so they wouldn’t be eaten by other thenebres.

Nikeila’s sense of satisfaction was short-lived. Only two-thirds of her mana was filled and she had only one-sixth of her health! It was practically empty. What would happen to her if it bottomed out? She was rank 0, with no backup lives.

She took a health potion and another mana potion out. Navie opened the flask and helped her drink it. She recovered fast.

“Master, are you okay?”

{Yeah…}

Her low spirits were evident.

“Don’t be sad. We killed him.”

Navie’s hands weren’t trembling anymore. She thought she’d be incapable of fighting those monsters. But when she saw Nikeila being grabbed and Pon bursting the thenebre’s head open, she only felt relief and a sense of victory. If it was to protect themselves, she could fight bloody too.