Chapter 18 - Are We Still Humans?

Everyone was now ready as they stood in front of Marcos with various monster parts on them. Some held the carapace of the beetle monsters and the legs while others held the chain of the bee. They looked like fearsome barbarians as an aura of death surrounded their bodies

Niko didn't really get anything because right now he didn't want to waste energy carrying something, as he was already hungry. His physical body was already the weakest as he never moved much back on earth, therefore, as everyone was gathering parts, Niko sat alone trying to understand a few things. The first was his [Celestial Probe I] Skill. He used it on the dead mantis and a little info was seen from it. He walked back slowly and used his skill over and over to get a grasp of how far this skill could be used. Luckily it didn't require mana power, however, he still felt fatigued. There was a distance limit and that was around three to five meters which would be very useful to know in the future.

Niko was also surprised to find out that although his bee spirit was invisible, he was somehow able to tell its location. It was as if there was an invisible link between the two as if the spirit was a part of his mind. ¨Is it possible to see what it sees? Am I able to launch a sneak attack using these guys?¨ Niko thought in his mind as there were many things he wanted to test out. Not only with his skills but, monsters in the world, the black watch as well as the world itself. This was a brand new world for him, he felt like an ignorant baby when he was summoned into this world. He had seen how easily people could die, therefore, by learning more he could avoid many roadblocks in the future. Learning more would also aid in the search of his sister, which was his number one goal.

As Marcos stood in front of the many people, he began to speak, ¨Everyone listen up! It will take almost a whole day to get there and the reason for this is because we are taking a detour through unranked layers. If we were to walk straight there we would take about seven hours to get there, but we would go through several ranked layers and you guys would not be able to survive. Although the layer that the settlement is located in is rankless, it doesn't mean there aren't ranked layers around it. The settlement sits right in between the unranked and ranked layers as it divides them. If you walked towards the west of the settlement you would encounter ranked layers while if you walked towards the east outside of the settlement there are unranked layers. I've talked too much now, let's get going. The trip should not be dangerous, however, still, be cautious and never let your guard down¨

Everyone nodded as they began to walk behind Marcos.

…

Hours have gone by and they had been walking most of the time while stopping only to eat and drink. Marcos was able to store some food and water inside of his watch. The atmosphere of the group traveling was lifeless as their adrenaline has gone down and they were now able to think clearly. Everyone had their head down as they were afraid of the future. While traveling Marcos told them a little more about the world and a few stories of his earlier days in this world. Marcos´ Intention was to raise their hopes, however, hearing about the death of a lot of his friends didn't really raise their hopes up.

The rankless layer they were walking on was lifeless. They were still in grassland just like before, however, the only difference this time was that the grass became a darker shade of green and pink flowers were here and there. It was extremely peaceful as there were no monsters, although loud noises from monsters could be heard from afar. Marcos had told them to still be careful as there are wandering monsters. Monsters aren't like in games where they have set places they roam about, in this world the monsters possessed free will and went wherever they wanted. Of course, many monsters decided to stay where they were familiar, however, roaming away wasn't something too abnormal.

Everyone was tired as they wanted to sleep and rest and hopefully wake up from this nightmare. The fact that they might never see their loved ones or experience earth once more was hard to accept. They just wanted to go back and live life normally, many regretted taking life for granted before. Although there were many demotivated people here, there were also people like Niko who either didn't have any other family member on earth, or their family members, were already summoned. These people decided to look towards this with positivity which was slightly difficult.

Niko walked next to the people he was most familiar with as they talked to one another whenever Marcos wasn't speaking. When Marcos spoke, everyone decided to listen, as everything he said could be valuable information on the world. Marcos spoke about their destination a bit more and they learned more about it. The human settlement was not small, capable of housing a few hundred people but the population of the settlement right now was half of that, however, as there were many deaths. The settlement was at the foot of a huge mountain which gave them a few advantages. There were two other mountains near the mountain in which the settlement was located, however, Marcos didn't speak much about them.

The settlement was governed by strong people who entered this world at the very beginning. These people made sure that the settlement was protected, as they were also the power behind the settlement. The laws were the same as the laws on Earth with just a few alterations here and there as this world was much more different.

The sky was getting darker as the sun was setting, Niko was interested in finding out how all of this worked as Marcos had claimed that this world was a flat plane.

Feeling his legs ache Niko wished he could've killed one of the beetle monsters and used it as a mount. Walking was tiring especially for him. Even Though his body was healthy again, he was still the delicate young man he once was, and having a mount would save a lot of work. Niko dreamed as he also thought about a flying mount and an army of spirits behind him like the Spirit King, as well as finding his sister.

As Niko daydreamed, a loud noise came from above, which made everyone snap out of their thoughts and lookup.

¨Kyaahh!!¨

A huge bird with a wingspan of two cars flew down at massive speeds. The bird looked almost like a pigeon, however, its body was the color of dirt, and its beak as well as its claws looked like rusted metal.

¨Crouch!¨ Marcos screamed, however, everyone was too late to react as the bird was much faster, and in the blink of an eye the bird gripped the man named Mamadi with its claws and flew back towards the sky. The speed at which it was flying now was much slower as Mamadi struggling didn't help.

¨Ahh!! Help me!! Someone, please!!¨ Mamadi continued to struggle as the bird was gaining height and speed.

¨Those with long-range attacks! Attack it now!!¨ Marcos ordered, however, the bird was just too far and too height right now. Niko could try sending his weak spirit after it, however, it wouldn't catch up. Everyone looked at the bird and Mamadi in awe and shock. Just like that, someone would die. This was too shocking and scary!

Suddenly as it seemed like the bird was going to make an escape with Mamadi a miracle occurred. From the side, a spear that was made out of Ice flew towards the bird at an extreme speed. The spear looked like a comet as it was about to strike the bird. As the bird had Mamadi in its claws it was unable to dodge it in time.

¨Bang!¨

The spear penetrated the bird right on the neck as it began to fall from the sky as if it was a rock. Everyone looked in the direction of where the spear came from in shock as a female voice was heard, ¨Marcos! These are all beginners!?¨

A woman who wore armor similar to Marcos was seen farther away behind a lone big tree. The woman was a brunette as her hair was tied back in a ponytail. Her face was slightly long and her nose arched slightly upwards. The woman was followed by two men and one of them Niko was quite familiar with. The bull-like bronze man from the preparation world was behind her, next to him was an older man who looked to be in his fifties.

The woman pointed at the fallen bird as she rushed towards it along with the two men. Marcos then moved towards the birds as well and the people behind him naturally knew to follow.

As they approached the bird Marcos spoke, ¨Lana! Only two survived?¨

Lana looked at him as if she had heard a bad joke, ¨Only? Not everyone is as lucky as the people you had brought. The people who spawned where I was stationed were complete cowards and couldn't even take care of a few spiders! Humph! We were resting under that tree and we noticed your group.¨

They turned back their gaze towards the dead bird and Mamadi. There was a huge hole in the pigeon-looking bird's neck as it lay lifelessly. The spear seemed to have melted and Mamadi looked completely trashed. His legs were a meaty bone mess as it was gushing crimson blood out of them.

¨His injuries are too severe… He will not make it…¨ Marcos spoke, however, there was no sadness in his voice, only indifference. He had witnessed too much of these in his time in this world, this was no different from any other deaths.

Chills ran down the spines of everyone as they looked at Mamadi. The bones in his legs were completely crushed and his shoulders were bleeding nonstop from the claws of the bird. What shocked everyone was the fact that someone died so randomly. This grassland seemed so peaceful and out of nowhere, a monster appeared.

Simon walked up and said, ¨Maybe I can help!¨

A huge candle appeared beside them and a magical blue aura surrounded them. The shoulders of Mamadi healed slightly, however, his messed up legs didn't seem like it healed at all.

¨It's worthless… He won't make it.¨ The woman called Lana spoke and then looked at Simon, ¨Little one, that skill of yours is extremely rare… You've got yourself extremely lucky, we could use people like you.¨

Simon nodded and didn't say much, there was a weird feeling in his heart as he stared at the dead Mamadi.

¨The parts of this bird are extremely useless, Marcos let's go, this fellow is already dead.¨Lana spoke and Marcos agreed.

By now everyone understood that Lana was someone like Marcos, who took care of newly summoned people.

Everyone walked around the two corpses and went along with their journey. The new people were shocked at the fact they just left the body of a dead man behind, however, this was the rule of the world and they could do nothing about it.

Niko was disappointed as the bird called, Big Mud Pigeon was a weak monster similar to the beetles. If he were to use his skill on it, it would just be a weak spirit. He followed the group deep in thought as he was processing everything going on. He felt a strange sensation in his heart as he was walking farther and farther away from Mamadi's corpse. ¨Am I a monster?¨ He asked himself as he didn't feel much sadness towards the dead human they had left behind. He was getting too used to this world already and if that was a good or bad thing, only time could tell.