Chapter 160 - 159 - Teamwork Exam(Part 3)

"Man, I'm beat!" Exclaimed Mitchell wearily, as he flopped down onto a sleeping bag with a tired sigh. 

It was now around 8 PM, and we were calling it a day...after we ran into that group of Q-Ranked reptile-type Mutants, things were pretty uneventful after that. We ran into a few stragglers here and there, but we didn't encounter any more large groups of them. 

At most, we had to deal with, like, groups of four or five Mutants. And they were all Q-Ranked or below, so it was ridiculously easy, so much so that the whole thing had gotten kinda boring for the last couple of hours. 

We'd just finished dispatching a group of four Doggos, and after slicing them up and spreading their corpses around a wide area, we set up camp for the night within that area. When Mutants are killed, the radiation that their corpses emit last for about a day, with Q-Ranked Mutants, anyway. 

Of course, it isn't foolproof, so we still have to stay on guard. The radiation doesn't guarantee that it'll keep other Mutants away, it just deters them from getting closer...like for example, if you wanted to try a new restaurant, but when you got close you could smell an unbearably foul odor coming from it...you'd probably leave instead of getting closer. 

This radiation is highly effective, but it's not impossible for a Mutant to get past it. After all, when fighting a group of Mutants, it's not like they run away after some of them are killed or anything, they still stick around despite being well within the range of the radiation. 

The warding radiation that the Sanctuary and the bases use is a radiation signature identical to the radiation emanated by Mutant corpses, but it's much, much stronger, to the point where Mutants refuse to even get near it. 

It was tested on some of the captive Mutants in the Sanctuary, they went into states of hysteric agitation and were struggling violently to try and break out of their cages, and some of them straight up killed themselves in response. 

Well, anyway, I'm getting off-track, my point is that while we've lowered the possibility of being attacked at night, we haven't completely eliminated that risk, so we can't let our guards down. 

"Alright, everyone, let's have some food and then go to sleep...we'll have to take turns keeping watch, let's say...in two hour shifts? We'll rest for eight hours, and Mitchell, since you used up a lot more stamina that the rest of us, you don't have to keep watch. Assuming we're done eating by 8:30 PM, we'll rest till 4:30 AM, and then begin heading back by around 5 AM at the latest...any objections?" I inquired, as I finished explaining. 

"Nope, you had me at 'you don't have to keep watch'," Responded Mitchell with an exhausted smile, his eyelids starting to flutter. 

"Hey, make sure to eat before you go to sleep, you'll recover more stamina that way," I instructed, as I made a copy of one of the food wrappers we'd brought and tossed it towards him. 

"Yeah, alright...," He replied with a yawn, tearing open the wrapper and digging in. 

The X-Warrior Zone sells these nutrition bars to X-Warriors for when they go on Missions...they come in various different flavors and taste pretty good, with high nutritional value and they're really filling too. Plus they have this satisfying crunchy texture that works with pretty much any flavor. 

I'd gotten two flavors; chocolate and a flavor called cheese 'n spice, which was, as the name suggests, a cheesy and spicy bar. I'd tossed Mitchell one of those, he's apparently not a fan of the chocolate flavor, which is bizarre to me...how can you not like chocolate, regardless of form? 

I mean, sure, some chocolates are of better quality than others, but I haven't really encountered a chocolate that I've straight up disliked before... 

"Which flavor do you all want?" I asked the girls, holding up the two options. 

"I'll go with the chocolate," Replied Suri, as she fluttered the collar of her shirt to cool down, sweat pouring down her face. 

This is easily the longest assignment we've ever had, it's natural that they're all tired...Mitchell looked like he was already starting to drift off, only having eaten half his bar. 

"I'll take the cheese one," Chimed in Seila. 

"Same," Added Katie. 

I made copies of the two bars I had and gave them each what they'd asked for, before making a copy of the chocolate one for myself. As it turned out, we all finished eating in no time at all, everyone just wanted to go to sleep already. 

I had the most stamina left as far as I could tell, so I volunteered to keep watch first, and the girls played rock-paper-scissors to decide the order in which they'd keep watch. It was Seila after me, then Suri, and finally, Katie. 

Once that was decided they wasted no time heading into their tent and going to sleep...and within a couple of minutes, I could tell that they were all fast asleep, based on their breathing. The tent was a little small for three people, but that didn't seem to bother them, considering how tired they must be...as for the other tent, Mitchell currently had it all to himself, and he was snoring pretty loudly. 

The moon's out tonight and the sky is pretty clear, so if something does show up, it'll be relatively easy to spot. I sat down at the center of the campsite, surveying my surroundings...there aren't many large rocks or plants nearby, so sneaking towards us won't be easy. As I kept an eye out, Altan approached me, having begun eating... 

"You know, I gotta say, your ability to make copies of stuff is awesome, kid, you could solve world hunger!" Grinned Altan, as he chewed on his food...he'd brought along a handful of the nutrition bars too, though they were all weird flavors like ketchup 'n pickles, buttered durian and fish jam, whatever that is...yeah, he's got a pretty weird and strange sense of taste. 

"Not really, the copies I make don't last forever, so I'd have to be constantly working to solve w-...wait, this conversation makes no sense in the present, world hunger isn't a problem now. Well, unless there are other surviving humans besides us and the Wights," I responded with a shrug. 

"Oh, that's right, it's easy to forget that the Wights are just humans that evolved more than we did, since they weren't nearly as protected from the radiation as we were." 

"Yeah, they might not look like us, but they're still human too...for all the Sanctuary's claims of avoiding repeating the mistakes that led to WWIII, here we are, doing the same thing. Sure, the circumstances are a lot different, but it doesn't change the fact that we're opting for violence instead of trying to come to a peaceful resolution...that ship has long since sailed already," I sighed wistfully. 

"Well...I guess we'll just have to win this war and then ensure that things stay peaceful after that," He replied uncertainly. 

"On paper, that does seem to be the most logical way to do it, but...just look at history, there were wars in every era. Regardless of how many thousands died, there would always be another war...sure, sometimes the peace lasted longer, but it was always just a matter of time. And in the end, humanity almost wiped itself out, along with every other living thing on the planet...after all that, you'd think we'd have learnt our lesson, but it's safe to say that we're making the same mistakes that those in the past did."

"Wow, when you put it that way...it's kinda depressing to think about the way things are right now, huh?" He responded wistfully. 

"I suppose so, but...with each passing day, you get more and more used to it," I replied with a grimace, before adding, "And if you ask me...that's the scariest part." 

...

...

"Alright, everyone, time to head back," I declared, standing up. 

It was around 4:45 AM the next day, we'd all woken up a while ago, had some breakfast, and were now preparing to return. 

"Do we have to right away?" Sighed Mitchell, grimacing as he rotated his shoulder, "I'm sore as hell. Also weirdly hungry."

"Yes, right away. And FYI, that soreness isn't going to wear off anytime soon," I pointed out in response, "As for being hungry, just load up on food once we're back, we've eaten enough to keep us going."

Still, though, I'm feeling hungrier than I should be too, weird. 

"This is what you get when you neglect your endurance training," Chimed in Suri, looking amused. 

"Go ahead, laugh at my pain, I don't care...I'm so tired," He groaned in reply. 

"Quit your whining already, we're leaving," I declared, the others nodding and standing up in response. 

"...I hate you guys," Grumbled Mitchell, before letting out a sigh of defeat, "Fine, let's go."

"I still don't understand how your stamina was depleted, it's not like you were moving your body all that much, only your manifested wings," Pointed out Seila. 

"Yeah, well, it's not like I'm just hanging up there limply or something, you know. Keeping my body firm and stable, yet loose and flexible, is necessary, otherwise I'll lose control of my flying. I can assure you that it takes a lot of stamina to maintain," He responded with a grumble. 

He complained for a while, but we left soon enough, as he grudgingly flew up into the air and kept an eye out. We're unlikely to face too many Mutants on the way back, since we left so many corpses scattered about yesterday. 

There were plenty of gaps between each encounter though, so it's far from impossible that we will come across something. Until we're back in the Sanctuary, I can't and won't let my guard down, that could be a potentially fatal mistake... 

... 

Well, so far, so good. About six hours had passed, and except for a few J-Ranked Mutants, we didn't have any notable encounters at all. At this rate, we should be back at the base we left from in about...and hour and half to two hours at most, I'd say. 

Mitchell's complaints were growing more and more frequent, and I had to admit, I was starting to feel a bit sore too, particularly in my legs. I've worked on building up high levels of stamina for a while, but this is a lot, even for me. 

The other three were looking a bit worn out too, though they seemed to be keeping their guards up well enough for now, so I'll leave it be. But more than the tiredness, hunger was the bigger issue. It wasn't just Mitchell, the other three were starting to complain about how hungry they were too...and I was also feeling it.

And just now, I'd finally figured it out. And I feel stupid, talk about a huge oversight. In fact, it's such a big oversight that I don't think I'll bring it up till after we're done with this assignment. Basically, I'd kinda forgotten that my copies only last ten minutes, which means that after we've eaten the bars I copied, they disappear in our stomachs. 

Yeah, definitely my bad, but it doesn't look like anyone's too starved, we should just about have enough steam in the tank to make it back. Hm, on another note, by the time we get back, there'll probably only about a day and a half or so left before the combat exam...my best option will be to rest as much as possible in that time-...

"Hey, uh...we've got a problem up ahead, guys," Suddenly warned Mitchell in a grave tone, "It's a Werewolf." 

What? That's not good...it's another K-Rank. 

"If it's too much for you kids to handle, I'm happy to come to the rescue!" Remarked Altan, a little too enthusiastically...wow, guess he's been really bored this whole time, huh? 

Hm, but a Werewolf isn't the type of Mutant we can take on with our current level of teamwork, even if have trouble against it without freezing time. It's a rare type of Mutant with a normal name, Werewolves are wolf-like Mutants that stand on the hind legs and have long arms, they can grow upto three meters tall and a highly vicious and violent. Should we concede and let Altan handle it? Or should I go all out and use Pause combined with Cut-... 

"If it's okay...," Suddenly spoke up Katie, "Could you all leave this to me and back me up? There's something I want to try..."

Something she wants to try? Could it be...?

"Oh, yeah? Sounds intriguing...alright, then, let's see what you've got in mind," I responded with a sense of rising anticipation... 

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