After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 73

Chapter 73: Fireworks (Part 1)
Several kilometers from the territory, a bloody scuffle was ongoing and reaching its peak.

“Don’t go there, damnit!” A pudgy and dirty man yelled at his companion, who in his panic ended up running to the mouth of a monster instead of running away from it.

The man blinked and turned his head, and it was the last time he’d be able to do so.

Splack!

It was night and only the two moons partially covered by the dense foliage and a dimming flashlight were their only sources of illumination.

They couldn’t see what happened, but the gruesome sound of biting and chewing made everyone shake in fear.

Baron and the others were pale, but didn’t have the time to mourn the loss of yet another companion.

“Distract it!” He ordered his cousin, a buff woman named Bianca, as he looked at the monster they have been handling together.

They needed to end this one urgently because there was another monster was without an enemy, and it meant someone would deal with two.

Bianca nodded and she ran in another direction hitting the monster as she moved.

The monster—a 1-meter tall monster with three ugly eyes, saber tooth, and three legs—changed its target and faced her.

Baron quickly took his remaining iron stick and with all his strength stabbed the monster on its few vulnerabilities—the skin right under its 5th rib, something that they had discovered after the same monster killed their 6th companion.

[Killed! Tripiel (Lv2). +50 experience, +50 copper coins!]

They worked together beyond their capacity to deal with the remaining monsters. Some kicked, some hit, and some even used their own bodies to bump into it in desperation.

Sometimes it worked, most of the times it didn’t, because it was as dark and they were weak and these damned monsters had very thick skins!

After a few more losses, they were finally left with one, but in exchange everyone was nearly emptied and incredibly weak.

With a wave of its strong arms, the remaining monster hit two of their surviving companions, throwing them high in the air—BANG!—and making them hit a tree and a rock, respectively.

These companions lost consciousness the moment they touched the surfaces, leaving the two cousins behind to deal with it.

Fortunately, it was already sufficiently weakened and although they lost a few pints of blood, they still managed to hit its weak spots constantly, bleeding it to death.

This time, he let Bianca have the final shot.

[Killed! Tripiel (Lv2). +50 experience, +50 copper coins!]

When they saw it fall down, dead, their legs lost strength and they both fell down to the ground, unable to move anymore. Baron tried to raise his flabby arms but it was too heavy.

With a huff, he looked at the corpses of monsters and humans around them. He saw that Bianca was sobbing, and the other surviving companions that had their consciousness were lifelessly just staring at the trees.

Baron knew one thing: If more monsters were to be attracted by all this blood…, then it would be their end.

As if sensing his fears, they soon heard rustles of leaves and they were getting closer. It was followed by low growls that they could only associate with death.

Baron paled, as if he lost all the remaining blood he had on him.

Were they going to die here? How hard they fought for their lives back in Terran! In the end, would their lives end in this damned foreign land?!

NO.

They fought so hard, wasn’t it just to survive?!

“Wake up! STAND UP! DAMNIT” He yelled. He recalled when his company was having a year-end party and he had to make a speech with a broken mic. His vocal chords had never been so abused as it was now.

Only a few companions managed to stand up, the rest either losing hope and giving up, while some simply couldn’t wake up in time. But thankfully, most of his cousins and friends were among the ones who stood up—with the other ones lost very early on.

While sad for the others who got transferred with them, he was already satisfied with this.

They took out their weapons to deal with the new monsters. They were only as small as their knees, but there were a few, and their sharp teeth were definitely no joke.

The damned things ran to their other surviving companions that couldn’t stand anymore, and they tore apart their skins without effort.

The constant sound of skin tearing off like paper torn off a book echoed in their ears, and they could only defend themselves to the best of their means.

They were almost at the end of the line, losing hope, when a loud noise came above them.

It wasn’t only noise, but also a bright flash of light, sending hope to their souls.

They couldn’t believe what they were seeing. “Is that a firework?”

The noise was enough to keep the monster’s attention away from the meat at hand, even for a second, but his quick thinking partner, Jules, quickly dragged everyone to run away, pushing them to go towards the fireworks.

They ran, even when they felt their legs were so painful it felt like they were falling off their torsos… they ran.

“My spirit… it’s less than 50!”

“Ah! My flashlight!” That was their last one!

“Hurry up!”

Baron was a bit blessed in the horizontal direction and was a bit slower. A monster opened its huge mouth to glomp on him and he missed it by a hair’s breath.

He felt his soul leave his body right then and there.

The added adrenaline went to his legs and allowed him to zoom forward, successfully adding distance between him and the man-eating rat behind.

He even manifested some silver and gold, throwing it at the damned things, but it was either ignored or didn’t do any sort of damage at all.

“Damnit, what use are all these gold when I’m gonna die anyway!” He screamed, darting forward to the best of his limited ability.

“I should’ve hoarded bazookas!”