Chapter 102: Blazing Flame Shelter!

[Emerald City, Gold View Park]

Hiding behind a jagged boulder, Aria covered her mouth with trembling hands, desperately trying to control her ragged breathing.

Just a few yards away, nineteen mana-mutated zombies wandered through the park foliage, their hollow, glowing eyes searching for any sign of life.

If she so much as twitched, she would be swarmed and torn apart in seconds, without even a fraction of a second to resist.

Her situation seemed entirely hopeless.

Yet, whenever her fingers brushed against the dented tin of canned tuna clutched in her hand and she pictured her little sister’s waiting face, a fierce spark of defiance reignited in her chest.

No matter what, she was going to make it back today.

’Maybe if I launch a diversionary attack to the side, I can use the commotion to slip away...’

’Considering I’m at the park, it’s not too far from the shelter now. As long as I can reach the perimeter, the guards should be able to handle them.’

Whispering frantically to herself, Aria made a resolute decision.

She was going to gamble everything on her final, desperate blast of wind energy.

Steadying her breath, she concentrated the last dregs of her meager mana into her palms, muscles tensing to bolt the moment the distraction hit.

Despite the searing pain shooting up her bleeding leg, despite the dark, swirling static clouding her vision, she was willing to risk it all for her little sister.

"Hey there, little girl. I wouldn’t do that if I were you."

Just as she was about to spring forward, a calm, weathered voice suddenly dropped from directly above her.

Startled out of her skin, Aria snapped her head up.

Hovering effortlessly mid-air in front of her were two strangers clad in all-black clothing and smooth, faceless masks.

Judging by their physiques, one was a heavily built older man, while the other carried the lithe, steady posture of a young adult.

"H-Hey! Who are you guys, and what are you doing?!" Aria hissed, forgetting for a moment that they were defying the laws of gravity.

"Get down and hide! Do you know there are zombies right out there?!"

The older man in front of her merely chuckled and shrugged.

"You mean those things? Don’t worry about them. Our partner over there is going to handle it."

Following the casual sweep of his finger, Aria looked over, and what she saw next made her jaw drop so hard she nearly forgot to breathe.

Also wearing a pitch-black suit and a faceless mask, a shorter, unassuming figure named Maya stood floating unsteadily in the mid-air current.

Around her, dozens of sharp daggers hovered like a swarm of metallic tentacles.

"Now then, you ugly creatures... I hope this old lady doesn’t intrude while she collects your crystals," Maya muttered.

Without waiting for the zombies to react, she flicked her wrist.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The moment her voice fell, the cloud of daggers shot forward with terrifying precision.

Each blade moved like a streak of lightning, accurately driving straight through the skulls and chests of the mana zombies, instantly shattering the internal monster cores hidden within them.

For mana zombies that had only evolved over the past month, even with their enhanced physiques and nascent cores, they were utterly defenseless against a seasoned 2nd-Circle Mage.

Within mere seconds, the entire pack terrorizing Aria had been systematically wiped out.

"Amazing... Who are you guys? Why are you so strong...?"

Aria stared at the piles of fallen carcasses, her eyes wide with sheer disbelief and awe.

At that moment, Ethan, who had remained silently observing until now, stepped forward and answered.

"We are Mages."

"Now, tell me: who are you? And where are you from?"

Stretching out a hand toward the injured girl, Ethan quietly cast a low-level healing spell he had learned from one of the auxiliary mages back at the shelter.

As a cool, soothing wave of emerald light washed over her torn jeans and bleeding leg, closing the flesh and wiping away the pain in an instant, Aria could only manage a single, breathy whisper.

"A... Mage...?"

Though this was her first time laying eyes on such mysterious individuals, the terrifying display of power and supernatural grace had instantly captivated her imagination.

A short distance away, Ethan, Viktor, and Maya gathered to discuss their next move.

Seeing the girl staring at them with a mixture of trembling nervousness and starstruck awe, the veterans couldn’t help but twitch the corners of their lips beneath their masks.

Why is she looking at us like we’re some kind of endangered mythical beasts? Viktor thought, scratching his head.

Ethan, however, didn’t dwell on her expression. Instead, he steered the conversation back to practical matters.

"Hey, I already answered your question; now can you answer mine?" Ethan called out, turning his gaze back to Aria.

"Judging by how you were about to use an ability against those zombies, I’m guessing you’re an Awakener."

"What base are you from? What’s your name? And where did those zombies come from? The whole city seems completely abandoned; I couldn’t find any people or large groups of monsters no matter how far my Mana Sense reached."

Seeing Aria remain frozen in stunned silence, wondering whether her head injury had scrambled her wits or if she was simply suffering from delayed shock, Ethan paused.

"Patriarch, I think she’s still recovering from the adrenaline crash," Maya suggested quietly, stepping up beside him. "

Why don’t we leave her here for a moment and do a quick perimeter scan of the park? We rushed over here without properly scouting the wider blocks."

Hearing that, Ethan nodded. The immediate threat was neutralized, and since the girl clearly didn’t possess an Air Walk technique, she wasn’t going anywhere.

"Alright, let’s do that. Besides..." Ethan turned back to Aria with a dry tone.

"Girl, when you snap back to reality, remember that I’m the one who patched up your leg, so don’t try any funny business. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee you won’t end up looking like those zombies over there."

Nodding toward the headless corpses left behind by Maya’s daggers, Ethan stepped back onto the sky, vanishing rapidly into the distance with Viktor right behind him.

However, once the two men departed, Maya remained behind on the ground, slowly turning her attention back toward the seated girl.

Only after waiting a couple of minutes to ensure Ethan and Viktor were completely out of earshot did Maya speak up, her voice dropping its professional distance.

"Now then, little girl. There’s no need to keep pretending you’re too shocked to speak; both of the boys are gone now."

"So, would you mind actually answering our questions?"

"We promised not to hurt you, and you have my word as a veteran of the Smith Shelter."

Hearing this, Aria blinked.

A hesitant expression crossed her face, but glancing down at her fully healed leg and the dented can of tuna still gripped tightly in her hand, she finally let out a long, shaky breath and dropped her guard.

"I’m sorry... I didn’t mean to deceive you guys, even though you just saved my life," Aria confessed softly, looking down at the dirt.

"I just wasn’t sure what strangers with that kind of power wanted from me."

"As for your questions... my name is Aria Bennett, and I come from the nearby Blazing Flame Shelter."

"What about you guys? Where are you from? What kind of shelter is the ’Smith Shelter’? And... what on earth is a Mage?"

Staring in the direction where the two men had literally run across the empty air, Aria’s curiosity burned so brightly she could no longer hold it back