CH 49

Billy and Matthew had just realized how much of a pain the two of them were being to Zel a while ago. No wonder he had Phil explain to them, this was getting too much of a headache for them to want to help.

"You guys go, I'll check for them. Go, go." Zel shooed the two away, scarcely using his pair of hands to perform a shooing motion. This caused the rather tense atmosphere between the survivors and the Angel team to vanish. One of the survivors was about to talk again when he suffered a smack on his back that forced him to fall on the ground.

"I don't mind saving you, but I'm not your fucking caretaker. You tell me what to do one more time, and I'm handing you over to that bitch myself. Do you understand?" Matthew had arrived at that man's side to convey to these idiots that just because they were willing to help them, it wasn't their job to take care of them.

The survivors seemed to have perceived this as well but even so, they can't resist but compare the two distinctive kinds of heroes they just met today. One was an honourable man who would come back to check on their friends and families while another was not taking their shit. This made the survivors look at Zel who just shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't control the guy. It's not like he's my subordinate or something."

Billy heard a little laugh coming from the interface. It seems that the whole of Pantheon is still witnessing the situation. But Zel has been hearing from Daisy all this while, and what he just heard coincided with assisting these people out so he merely added it to the list.

"I'm leaving!" Zel strolled away towards one of the directions the people had pointed at. It was true that he just wanted them to leave, but he did feel the need to check out something coming from this direction. Though he wasn't sure there were still survivors, it didn't hurt to check.

The rest of the survivors followed his back as they prayed for his success. It was only when they suddenly heard quick footsteps getting further away that one of them looked towards the direction of their saviors. Matthew and Billy who had already started walking away.

"Wait for us."

When the survivors overheard a voice from among them, they turned to see that Billy and Matthew had already started running towards the main district. Though they were not exactly walking too fast so the survivors could keep up. They've half walked, half jogged a few hundred meters when Billy saw a bus in the distance. It was abandoned as a few cars had obstructed the way, he went inside the bus and tried to see if it would start. Twisting the key that was left behind on the ignition.

The bus started and just as he was about to walk out to inform them, a banging sound rang out from in front. Matthew had kicked away the few cars that blocked their way as the survivors had ridden the bus at his command. When Matthew came up to enter the bus, he gave Billy a thumbs up and sat on the most removed seat at the back.

He looked at the window towards the direction Zel went to, but he couldn't perceive him.

'It seems he can control his mana that well.'

An excited smile appeared on Matthew's face, one that only shows when he's having fun. It's been a while since he obtained a goal to achieve, and this man was someone who seems to be able to fill that void.

...

'Two minutes.'

The abdicate will be either be free in two minutes or it will do something worse in a few hours. Whichever it was, that means he merely has a minute to search and another minute to get the fuck out. The thing he felt was only a few meters away now, so he can see who the people there were. A group of five people that got stuck under a pile of rubble.

Zel used his Basic Mana Control to produce threads of mana so dense they can physically manifest. Too bad he hasn't got enough Reputation points yet to level up to 5, he needs 1000 Exp points and at least 10 Reputation points to do so. He already has enough Exp, but he was short of 1 Reputation point.

'Hopefully those people will start spreading my good deeds.'

Those survivors would likely have a phone with them that they'll use to spread the incident that happen today. There's on top of that, the people outside of this district that would have seen the giant thing from a distance. When they see Matthew and Billy, their Reputation points will rise too.

The threads wrapped around a broad sheet of metal that hid a car. The sheet itself was covered in soil and a few concrete debris but Zel had taken care of those already. Inside the white car numbered five people, one adult woman, one adult man and three boys at the back seats.

"Pl-please, help the- Cough. …kids."

The woman was bleeding from a wound right on her left shoulder, impaled by a stray reinforcement bar. Probably a debris from when the abdicate gave out a strong slam attack that caused the surroundings to be this way.

He used the threads to take off the roof of the car. Taking measures to ensure that the threads keep the roof afloat, so it won't aggravate the situation. He saw that while the three kids were in a worse for wear condition, they weren't in any grave situation. The adults however, needed to be mediated as soon as possible.

"Just keep your eyes closed, I'll get you all out of here."

Zel's current mana would only enable him to create 100 threads that can be used for defense, offense and other functions like these. All in all, they can carry the five for a short while, but he needed to use mana to get away from here as well. It's not a proper time to keep holding back, but he couldn't help but feel pain when he thinks about how he can't experiment with stats in his dreams anymore.

[Intelligence - 3(+17) -> Intelligence - 10(+17)]

[Endurance - 4(+7) -> Endurance - 7(+7)]

The general rule is, Intelligence should be twice that of Endurance. If it were any more than that, there was a tendency to induce a mana overload that would heavily damage the body. The usual victims of having too little Endurance with a high Intelligence stat didn't know about this rule since there wasn't virtually anyone who had to use every mana in their arsenal yet. Most didn't even possess skills that can achieve that.

"Try not to move. I'll get you out now."

Zel's newly improved mana pool and more durable body had displayed the prowess of what a skillful ranker can do. The threads had split three times, effectively multiplying the total threads by eight. From one hundred to eight hundred. One hundred for each person while three hundred were employed to make a simple mana armor, used to enhance Zel's physical prowess.

"Hang on!" He ran towards the direction of the main district while five people were floating above him. Since the threads were connected to him, they would follow his body. The five only felt a refreshing breeze as they dashed through the wasteland that used to be a residential district.

"Please! Help me!" When Zel was passing through a more direct path towards the main district, a youthful voice can be overheard from a few meters away from him.

If he had used his maximum speed, he would have missed the extremely pathetic voice. He saw a tiny arm connected to the ground. Its owner seemed to be a little girl who had only raised one arm and the left side of their face were the only things above ground. Her teary eye looked straight at Zel's direction as she saw the injured people floating in the air.

"Sob. Please…"

The tiny arm that raised itself a while ago had lowered when the girl's vision displayed no more signs of activity. The floating bodies were gone and so did her final hope. She couldn't feel anything below her waist, her solitary eye downcast and the arm felt numb. She was alone. Abandoned.

But then the surroundings became warm, she felt her body heat up while the darkness was replaced by a mellow light. Hugging her body as it continued to feel better. Like she was lying on her bed while mama was hugging her to sleep.

'Is this what heaven feels like?'

The girl didn't feel numb anymore, instead, the body that had turned unfamiliar before had turned pleasurable. The only problem was an itchy sensation coming from her left leg, and she felt the urge to scratch it. She needs to scratch it. She extended her hand towards her left leg, surprised by how it promptly responded. But something held it back and placed it beside her by force, though it was very gentle.

"Careful now, take a rest first. Is there something bothering you? Maybe you're itchy?"

A warm hand scratched the itch away on her leg as she tried opening her eyes. She saw a white light from above, and the light blinded her for a moment until she felt a cloth cover her eyes. She gradually conditioned her eyes to adopt to the light enough to not make her squint her eyes. She removed the cloth and saw it was a small towel, one with a pink unicorn on it. There was a girl sitting beside her, bent forward on the bed while an arm supported her head.

"Hey, you awake?"

"What happ-"

It was only then that Evelyn remembered what happened. Flashes of the incident occurred repeatedly in her head as she held it between her legs and screamed. The pain of having her whole body buried alive. How her right eye wouldn't open or how her throat felt like it was burning. The feeling of despair that threatened to take away her sanity. But then she remembered, what about them?

"Nooo! Mom! Dad! Stevie!"

The little girl recalled how the family was having backyard barbeque. Her father manned the grill while mother prepared the plates and utensils. There were only four of them there, her parents, her brother and her. She was playing in the pool with her brother when the earthquake happened.

"Evelyn, Steve, get out of the water!"

"Bang. Ahhhh!"

"Martha!"

All she heard were screams. Nothing made sense. Now she was in heaven, she had to look for her family. She looked at the angel beside her and pleaded with her eyes.

"My, my parents, are they here too?"

"..." Kylie didn't know what to reply. She had taken this little girl from Zel who just told her to take care of her, but she hadn't considered it as something hard due to her newfound ability. But this, this wasn't what she expected when she took this responsibility. It was when she felt a familiar weight on her head that she turned to see her father smiling towards the girl.

"Your family is safe, we found them already. They were asking for our boss to pick you up before, good thing you're a tough girl! He said you found him yourself."

"Really?! Mama and papa, and Stevie?"

"Yeah, they were concerned for you, but I convinced them to wait for you to wake up first. Do you want to see them now?" Billy pointed towards the door, they were currently in the 5th floor so there's no harm in letting the girl wander around. It's her family anyway.

"Yes, please, um. Thank you, sir! Heaven is great."

"Heaven?"

Billy and Kylie looked at the girl inquisitively, was there something they didn't know about?

"Umm, isn't this heaven?" Evelyn looked around, seeing a few more people on beds. They wore the same white robe she was wearing, so she thought this was what new angels would wear.

"Haha, you're not in heaven yet little girl."

Kylie watched as her father did something more than what she could do for the girl. Though she healed her body, she didn't heal her heart. It was the start of the growth of the young healer. But Billy was thinking about something else entirely. He looked at the silently standing Zel whose face has not let up ever since they came back.

'But it seems that hell just came knocking on our door.'