Chapter 10: Magician's Light

Howard stared out in horror as thousands of zombies appeared from every direction. They rushed into the fire element island with little regard for their bodies or clothing.

A few zombies had been wearing business casual attire, but because of the Fire Ki in the air they had been set on fire. Most of the zombies couldn't reach the entranceway of the treasure trove either. and turned into piles of flesh and blood because of the flames engulfing their various frames. 

Zombies naturally got attracted to Ki Disturbances just like Harley had mentioned, even if their bodies couldn't handle Fire Elemental Ki. Thus, it didn't take long for a tower of zombies to pile up and obscure Howard's line of sight. He'd been staring at Harley's sparkling visage dripping with sweat and sending out powerful bursts of energy from her golden encrusted bow. But now only saw a pile of the dead's zombies flesh and blood sparking with embers of flame.

'Please! Please survive!' Howard took a deep breath and held Una's hand. 'Damn it! If she came out sooner, we still would've had more than enough rewards to take home!'

'Why does everyone make me feel like such a small child! I'm almost fourteen years old! If she left, we could have already been halfway back to the bus!' 

Howard gulped and took a deep breath. He needed to remain calm just incase Harley or Una needed his assistance. At this moment, he began to feel a strange Ki fluctuation enter in his awareness. For some reason, his muscles bulged when this strange energy entered inside of him. What exactly was it?

'She's taking forever!' Howard nervously watched Harley pull back her arm and shoot her Ki forward as a glowing bolt of light. Harley still remained in the treasure trove, firing dozens of arrows every few minutes as she tried her hardest to sense the high ranking treasure they'd come here for.

Harley was in the peak of the C rank, and had begun to grasp a skill called Ki Location. Her mind tried her hardest to build a map of the hundreds of treasures around her by letting their frequencies enter into her skin. Finally, her eyes shot open!

"Damn it! Almost found it. Come on, Harley try harder! Howard and Una are waiting for you! You got trained by some of the best teachers the academy has to offer! Come on! Come on!" Harley quickly pulled back the bow string before an arrow grew in her hand and transformed into a beam of light. A large giant with two horns in the distance got shot in the head, falling onto the ground and turning into dust.

Its entire body was on fire, causing it to fall apart as Harley reached down and scooped her sweaty palm into the pile of treasure beneath her. Smiling, she looked down at her hand. She couldn't believe it! She'd been standing on the treasure she'd been searching for, so because of that she couldn't sense it's frequency. She put it in her pocket before turning to bolt towards the sandstorm complete with the oscillating silhouettes of her teammates. 

"I got it you sexy humans! Now Let's go you two!" Harley smiled happily before she turned and felt her heart almost fall out of her chest from the large monster that had just entered into her line of sight. She fired seven more arrows at dozens of zombies before a large hand appeared above her. Jumping to the side, a large swelling of treasure fired in various directions. She landed dozens of feet away, wiping the sweat off her head as a terrifying figure appeared behind her.

She gulped and jumped three more times, dodging the massive figure before a wall of flames cut off her escape path.

A large Spawn, dozens of times her height, laughed while slowly walking in her direction.

"That's really bad," Una whispered while holding Howards' hand. "On my mark, run as quick as you can back to the bus! I'm going to help Harley."

"Isn't that a bad plan?" Howard said with suspicion. "I thought you said more monsters would be coming. Why did she wait if she knew that?"

"We need something from here. She couldn't leave without it," Una smiled and kissed Howard on the cheeks. "Anyways, no more questions! Run!"

"Fine!" Howard jumped forward and rushed as fast as he could back towards the bus. Along the way, he noticed thousands of zombies rushing into the firestorm, burning to bits as he got closer and closer to the edge of the storm.

Stopping at the edge of the cloud, he looked back and saw a one horned monster towering above him.

'It's like my dream.' Howard watched the larged horn creature march forward towards Una's position. "How… How can it be here? This shouldn't be possible."

However, watched the hundred feet tall lizard rush passed him while looking at the bus in the distance. Turning around, he suddenly felt a pang in his stomach.

Vicky had spent every day and every night telling him to always follow orders. When he awoke in the morning, he did everything she asked, from night to dawn. If he listened to her, she would reward him every night before she shot him to sleep. Thinking about it now, he couldn't help hear her voice.

"Little Howard. Good boys get good girls." Vicky would smile and kiss him on the forehead. "You follow my orders, and I'll let you go to your dreams."

He remained there, frozen, looking at the large creature marching forward as thousands of lizards began to appear, following it from behind.

Sighing, he walked towards the bus, opening the door as sweat fell down from his head.

"They'll be fine. Just like Vicky said, if you listen to orders, everyone will be fine," Howard smiled and sat with his arms hugging his body, trying to hide his feelings from escaping. "Just be a good child, and everything will work out! Just like Vicky said!"

Howard grunted and waited for five minutes, and then ten minutes.

After a while, he began to cry, staring into the firestorm as more and more zombies rushed inside. Finally, something inside him snapped, and the horns on his head slightly grew, causing the fangs in his mouth to spread out and touch against his lips.

"I'm staying here! I'm not going anywhere," Howard hugged himself tighter, hearing Vicky's voice louder and louder in his head. A second later, something snapped, and Howard jumped out of the bus.

Feeling a strange power swelling inside of him, he rushed into the storm and jumped into the air. In just a moment, he appeared by the treasure trove, noticing the large sliced rock used to mark the special spot.

A few feet in front, he noticed a beautiful girl's body laying pierced against the sand.

"Una! NO!"