The Origin Warden

chapter 19 : Smith POV : the three of them

“Damn it! This thing here is much stronger than the previous one.”

Smith turned with wide eyes to look at Zeil, who was hiding beside him.

“H-Have you ever faced a monster like this before!!?”

Zeil shook his head with a frown.

“Yes, but not exactly this thing here. It’s much taller and stronger than what we faced back then.”

“W-What should we do?”

Zeil looked at him as if staring at an idiot.

“We?."

" No, boy, you have no role in this battle...”

“Do you know how to use a firearm?”

“I...”

“Forget it, that was a stupid question!”

Suddenly, Zeil raised his hand and stared at the strange glowing symbol on his palm.

With a faint white light, a small paper materialized in his hand.

“What’s that?” Smith asked, momentarily fascinated by the magical display.

Zeil ignored him and read the contents on the paper before pressing it into his palm.

Then he carefully stood up and said,

“Come on, boy.”

Smith did not ask about the destination and simply looked around cautiously.

His gaze remained fixed on the terrifying battle between the skeleton and the horrifying monster that was literally like a sieve, filled with holes, yet those injuries seemed to have no effect on it.

He swallowed hard, imagining how just a little while ago he had nearly fallen victim to that terrifying thing.

He stood up and started running after Zeil, who killed a zombie with ease.

Zeil suddenly turned around and raised both hands, his right holding a pistol while his left held a blood stained knife.

“Boy, if you want to stay alive, make sure to stay beside me.”

He said seriously, abandoning his previous carefree attitude.

Smith nodded intensely, then noticed Zeil taking a deep breath before exhaling strange white smoke from his mouth as though he had smoked a hundred cigarettes.

The fog spread quickly, surrounding both of them.

As if sensing his curiosity, Zeil explained patiently,

“This is my latent power. This fog has a camouflage property, so just stay beside me and nothing will notice us.”

“Even that terrifying monster over there?” Smith could not help but ask while pointing at the tall monster.

Somehow, despite the smoke surrounding them, he could still see clearly.

Zeil did not answer the question and instead quickened his steps, confidently passing through a small horde of zombies.

But what stood behind them was what terrified Smith.

A dog the size of a large motorcycle with red fur as though it were made of burning flames.

He froze in place when those four completely black eyes occupying a huge portion of the dog’s face stared at him.

Zeil stopped and motioned for him to come with an intense frown.

Despite his trembling legs, Smith walked toward him while keeping his head lowered, staring only at the lower parts of the zombies and the monster.

“Don’t do that again. If you leave the range of my ability, they’ll notice you immediately.”

Zeil scolded him seriously in a low voice while pointing the knife in his hand toward the surrounding zombies and monster.

“B-But... but are you sure this is safe?. I swear that monster looked directly at my face. I felt like it could see me...”

Zeil placed a finger in front of his mouth.

“Shhh. Keep your voice down. They can’t see us, but they can still hear us.”

He put away the knife, grabbed Smith’s fat hand, and started pulling him along, something the latter did not resist.

The two of them failed to notice that the strange dog had stopped in place with a puzzled expression.

Its pointed ears stood upright and twitched slightly like antennae.

Then it lowered its giant head toward the ground and seemed to sniff something.

It raised its head and opened its mouth, revealing rows of sharp fangs covered in remnants of unknown flesh.

It turned its head to stare at the path the duo had taken before shifting its gaze toward the terrifying battle between the skeleton and the other monster emitting horrifying screams.

“My concealment won’t last long against the monster...”

“What...”

“Oh, Zeil, you’re finally here.”

Smith entered a small clothing store.

Inside were Julian, Mandy, and three other people discussing something.

When they entered, Mandy noticed them.

Somehow, she looked exhausted.

Zeil released Smith’s hand and joined the group, discussing a way to kill the monster.

Listening to their insane plans, Smith could not help but ask,

“Why don’t we just run away from it?”

The group ignored the question, irritating him.

He shrugged and moved closer to them.

Even if they left him out of their planning circle, simply being near them gave him a false sense of safety.

“Mandy, bring the items...” said Julian, who also appeared tired.

His face was pale as though he suffered from anemia.

She nodded before kneeling on one knee and placing both hands on the floor.

Under Smith’s stunned gaze, a kind of blue ink emerged from beneath her palms and quickly spread in a large circle before forming the same symbol he had seen earlier on Zeil’s palm.

The symbol glowed with a bright white light that illuminated the dark store.

Smith shut his eyes from the intense brightness.

It only lasted for a second before fading.

When Smith opened his eyes again, they widened in shock when he saw that a large wooden crate had appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the circle.

He could only stare in awe at the source of this strange black magic.

Mandy looked extremely exhausted.

Apparently, summoning a large wooden crate from nothing was not easy for her.

“So... this is her superpower...”

he muttered, connecting all the dots in his mind regarding what he had seen so far.

It was obvious that Mandy had the ability to summon objects, but then he remembered the paper that had appeared earlier in Zeil’s hand.

That meant her ability was greater than merely summoning things.

Before the mystery behind her power fully formed in his mind, a loud sound interrupted him.

A huge explosion echoed from the battle site.

The explosion was so powerful that he felt the ground shaking beneath his feet.

Many clothes fell from the shelves.

“What was that just now?”

he asked fearfully while staring at the group whose faces had turned grim, though they did not seem ignorant about the source of the explosion.

“Well then, you three start carrying out the plan...” Julian said in a deep voice, pulling everyone from their thoughts.

He was pointing at three men who immediately moved and carried the wooden crate away.

He pulled out a pen and paper from his pocket, then motioned for Zeil to come over.

Placing the paper on his back, he wrote a few things on it before folding it and approaching Mandy.

He handed her the paper and said,

“Send this message to Eric...”

She took the paper with a tired expression.

“Fine, but this is the last thing I can do. I’m almost out of energy.”

Julian nodded and patted her shoulder.

“We are all the same!”