After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Growth
Althea turned to continue her way, with Fufi following with his naturally bouncy gait. Whether or not Sheila would gather herself and follow her would no longer be of her concern.

Watching her tall back, Sheila’s eyes widened with tears in her eyes. However, the feeling of disappointment was soon pushed away by reason.

Although she never thought of Althea protecting her… subconsciously, wasn’t it what she really thought? Otherwise, why would she be disappointed?

Shame.

Shame enveloped her whole being and she felt like crying. It overflowed in her veins to the point of covering up the fear and terror that occupied her emotions a moment prior.

Sheila couldn’t help but remember the heart-stopping moment where she was sure she was dead. How helpless she was.

“T…Thank you for the reminder.” She said, sincerely. “And thank you for saving my life, again.”

Althea nodded, relieved, before turning to continue walking to the opposite direction the monsters were from.

On the other hand, Sheila took out the ax in space with a huff. It was her weapon and they stole it from the hospital emergency supplies—the type used to break glass during emergencies.

Although it was heavy, with Althea’s help, she had at least reached level 1 before they settled down in the hotel. She could now wave this ax as a weapon, something which she couldn’t have been able to lift at all before.

They dragged themselves through the lush forests. The smallest trees were several meters high, the taller ones they couldn’t even see the top of.

The roots were protruding making it difficult to walk, fortunately their balance had also improved along with their physiques.

The leaves free falling, covering the ground with a blanket of leaves and humus, so each of their steps made some noise, and they were in constant fear that something would pop out without warning, so quickly that even their enhanced hearing wouldn’t be able to adapt.

Because her eyes were sharp and she kept looking for any anomaly around, it was only at this time that Althea realized the difference of the forest they landed in.

She looked around her carefully and her eyes brightened.

As someone who dealt with plants, she could say that very, very, few of these plants were similar to Terran.

Of course in terms of survival this wasn’t very good, but as someone who hadn’t seen a new species for years, this was akin to heaven.

However, it was obviously not the time to explore.

They continued on their trek until they finally reached a small clearing. However, they had not even reached the area yet when a group of ugly green deer-like creatures with sharp horns appeared on their left.

It looked smaller and less dangerous, but she dared not underestimate any creatures from this place.

She knew they were technically the invaders and her humanity didn’t allow her to attack because of defensive threats.

However, the monsters soon showed signs of aggression, greed, and hunger. The moment they gestured to attack, she immediately took out the gun, which signaled the beginning of a fight.

[Successfully killed a Level 2 Hellion Moose]

[+50 copper, + 50 experience]

[Successfully killed a Level 2 Hellion Moose]

[+50 copper, + 50 experience]

However, her hits weren’t so accurate and there were plenty of misses.

They lost a few equipments along the way. For instance, the helmet she gave to Sheila literally saved her life from what would’ve been a devastating grip from the monster.

They watched as it chewed the helment to pieces and Sheila had the vision of it being her head.

Cringe.

The split second was enough for Althea to fire a shot and finish it off, pulling Sheila back to the present when its blood splattered all over her.

[Successfully killed a Level 2 Hellion Moose]

[+50 copper, + 50 experience]

Sheila shakily stood back up and slapped herself. Althea nodded, focusing on her own fight.

From this point though, they had found their tempo, and managed to deal with the rest of the monsters with relative ease.

[Successfully killed a Level 1 Hellion Moose]

[+30 copper, + 30 experience]

She was relieved to know that the guns worked well with these monsters, causing high damage even if she missed its approximate weak spots.

Fortunately, they didn’t encounter any more level 3s, or else things would’ve been extremely troublesome. It seemed like they were just very, very, unlucky earlier.

She watched as Fufi take down a level one, and was currently fighting with a Level 2. Because Fufi was injured he struggled very much. Althea decided to assist him by blowing his opponent’s leg.

[Congratulations to Fufi for leveling up to Level 2!]

After the level up, his wound and spirit made visible improvement. Althea smiled in relief before turning her head to the other one.

She watched the remaining fight between Sheila and the level 1 moose. Sheila kept looking at her and her eyes brightened when she realized she had already finished her fight.

“I won’t help you.” She said which made the other girl flinch, and she narrowly escaped an attack. Seeing the girl panicking, Althea didn’t falter.

“You know now that you can’t depend on me forever. Only with personal strength will you gain confidence to live in this place.”

Althea shot a leg again to assist but didn’t do anything else.

However, this was enough for Shiela to adjust her mentality. She seemed to be once again reminded that Althea was a pregnant woman younger than she was. “Yes.”

Her hold of the ax relaxed and her whole body found newfound strength. Lifting the ax, Sheila began swinging harder and with more precision.

Unfortunately, even with the broken leg, it was not as easy a skirmish as the fight of Althea who had a gun, or Fufi who had the physical advantage of a beast.

Many times, Sheila had almost been bitten. It was only because Fufi had distracted the monster occasionally that she managed to escape.

After several minutes, she finally saw improvement and she began to cause damage to the monster, making it bleed.

“Focus on its weak spot. We don’t had unlimited time or energy.”

“Y-Yes.”

And she did. As a nurse, she naturally had an idea where possible weak spots were. Dozens of slashes later and the monster was finally weak enough for her to gain confidence.

She wiped the weapon decisively along its neck, finally taking its life.

Looking at the corpse of her first kill, the tension seemed to have left her body and she fell on her knees.

“I… I did it.”

Althea walked closer and patted her head. “You did it.” She said with a smile. “The next battle will be easier.”

Sheila’s smile brightened like never before.

…

Because of all the blood that soaked the ground, the trio didn’t dare to stay in the clearing either. They continued their way until they found a cave made from natural outcropping.

Confirming this wasn’t some base of some other creature, Althea decided to let this be their temporary camp.

She looked at the plants nearby and, without exception, she didn’t seem to know any of them!

She admired the plethora of new plants—no, the plethora of worlds—waiting to be studied and had an inkling she would discover many, many, interesting things.