Both parties retreated at the same time upon discovering each other.

The zombies went in different directions while the two hybrids fled rapidly to return to the meeting point.

If a fight had broken out, the zombies would definitely win. They are superior in number after all.

Alas, they thought that the area had already gotten quite dangerous. Aside from the other level two zombies, they would also need to stay alert towards the hybrids if they stayed, hence they decided to escape.

The zombies are not united, after all, it's only natural for them to escape. They were only summoned by that strange call, it doesn't mean they are already one with each other.

Unlike the level one zombies, the level two zombies had a much higher intelligence. They could choose to attack or flee at their own will. However, due to some reasons, they would often decide to attack even if they knew that they didn't stand a chance against their enemy.

___

"That was close!"

Nile wiped the sweats that had formed on his forehead. That's not a sweat that came from moving around or something, it's a sweat that came due to the stress that he felt.

Imagine being surrounded by zombies and hybrids, all of them are level two at that.

"Even if I did wish for them to appear, a dozen of them is too much for me." He said.

"Arggh, I haven't even slept yesterday, and it looks like I can't sleep peacefully now either. What a tragic life that I have."

Fortunately, the System alerted him earlier. He had set the alarm as 1 hour, but the System turned it off before 1-hour had passed due to the zombies and the hybrids that appeared all of a sudden.

He was already prepared to have an intense fight between them if ever they saw him escaping, fortunately, that situation didn't arise.

He made use of the System Map and avoided the group of zombies and hybrids at the same time. When the hybrids separated themselves, into a pair, he was already prepared to get discovered and fight.

Fortunately, he managed to slip under their nose.

The problem that he met during the escape was that Maximo's body is so huge that it could be spotted from afar.

"Let's search for another shelter. The outskirts of the town should do it." He stated. He then lightly kicked Maximo's belly, as a signal to continue galloping towards the town's perimeter area.

While they were moving, he took a glance at the much slimmer Croco crawling beside Maximo, matching the carabao's galloping pace.

After a couple of minutes, he finally spotted a suitable shelter for them to dwell in for the night. The place he had chosen was a cave that had formed from the root of the humongous tree on his front. He didn't recognize the name of the tree, but it should be one of those trees that have mutated, considering its massive size.

Before he went in, he first threw a stone towards the 'cave' to see if there's any movement inside. After a few minutes after the stone hit the end of the cave, there was still no noticeable movement inside.

Nile tilted his head and went towards the cave, however, he was stopped by Croco midway.

Croco passes his intention using the earrings of loyalty, and even before Nile could agree, he instantly went inside to check.

Croco's movement was light and fast, Nile could even barely hear it from a close distance.

'An assassin is also a scout, huh!' Nile thought as he stared at Croco.

A while later, Croco used the earrings of loyalty's function and reported to his master what he saw inside.

'Nothing!' That's the only content of the crocodile's report.

'So it's empty? It should be safe then.'

Nile nodded his head and finally went inside the cave, Maximo followed behind him closely.

The cave's opening was not that big, but fortunately, Maximo still managed to fit himself in.

As they got inside the cave, Nile was surprised as it actually had big space in it. Maximo's wouldn't have a problem moving around here.

As all of them had already went beyond the normal humans standard, they have no problem with seeing around the dark cave.

It was spacious and the walls are all made of the humongous tree roots. Aside from the small rocks lying around, the cave was basically empty. He guessed that he was the first one to discover this place.

It was pretty dark inside as the roots perfectly covered all the surrounding area except for the entrance that they've used earlier.

'It looks like this tree had only mutated not too long ago.' He said as he touched the mutated soft wall roots.

Maximo went towards a corner and heavily dropped to the ground. He had been like that ever since they had escaped the encirclement, he didn't know why but it seems that his carabao was not in a good mood.

"I have fed you earlier already though, what's still your problem then?" He scrutinized his brow in confusion.

"Wait, shouldn't I be the one that should feel sulky, right now? I fed you more food, but you still haven't evolved yet." He realized that he just got scammed.

"Tsk... Tsk! What a scam!" Nile grumbled after seeing the sulky Maximo. The carabao didn't even take a glance at him and instead, covered its eyes with its two hoofs.

'Hmmmp!'

He heard Maximo harrumphing under that hoof cover that he made. The carabao really was not in the mood.

"Wait, are you jealous of Croc? Ohohoho! Speaking of Croc…"

"Why can't you be more like Croc? After only eating for a few rounds, he already evolved and became a peak stage animal. Right Croc?" He cheekily clasped his hands as he turned around to take a look at his pet crocodile.

However, what he saw made him think if fate was messing with him.

_________

Thanks for reading guys…