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

Helios woke up just before dawn the next day. The crisp air greeted him, and he could hear the soft rustle of the wind as well as the movements around him.

He stretched his arms to shake away the lethargy and saw that everyone else was already clearing up. The fire was gone, and their items were all in the space.

Raz seemed to have just woken up though, having already been replaced by Puto as the nightwatch.

Because he was the employer, Helios didn’t have to do this. It felt comfortable and refreshing, and he definitely was maximizing all those gold coins that he would have to pay for eventually.

Speaking of that… that was hundreds of golds… he’d have to work a lot to pay that back quickly enough. Although Jonathan didn’t give him a deadline, it wouldn’t do to extend it for more than a year!

Hopefully, Sahara was really in Bleuelle. He wouldn’t have the face to declare that ’he’d take care of her’ if he fell deeper into debt!

Anyway, the group cleaned up and prepared for another journey. As always, Helios took some relatively unfamiliar plants back to his space to sell to the Village Center or to Miss Althea. His plant knowledge was limited though, so he literally just shoved the plants to the corner of his space, hoping they’d survive somehow.

Before heading forward, however, Enok finalized some strict instructions that everyone had to follow.

”First off, my words and instructions are law,” he said. ”If you died because you didn’t follow, that’s no longer on us.”

He said this while looking at Helios. His team was trained to follow him but, by experience, the employers tended to want to do their own thing.

If they were also from the City, then they’d even be arrogant. To those people, Mercenaries were mere guards who’d serve as meatshields if a mob was troublesome.

Of course, he knew Helios was different but it was a force of habit.

”If we encounter a mob after this point, we will run away,” he said. ”It doesn’t matter if it’s predominantly level 15 or 20. We will not engage in a fight with them.”

While there would still be manageable mobs here and there, the chances of encountering troublesome beasts were too high. If they were delayed by a mob—even a weak one—and were injured by them, what would they do when they had to go up against a stronger one?

”A pity though, Boss, weren’t you looking for a good fight to make progress?”

Enok gave him a look. ”Not during a mission like this…” he said, looking at Helios. ”With a low-leveled employer.”

”...”

After level 35, even in cities, it was difficult for people to level up. This was because they would only receive experience from monsters until 5 levels below theirs. How often could they find Level 30 monsters?

It was in these cases that powerful employers definitely would tend to do their own things. They would like to fight and hunt monsters around their level, and the mercenaries were there to weaken the target.

However, in this mission, they could only avoid any fights moving forward. They could not risk the life of their (really) weak employer and the precious Mercenary Points they had been collecting.

Helios felt a bit awkward about this and couldn’t say anything that wouldn’t make him look stupid.

To be honest, he had never been so underestimated (and rightfully so) since he was a kid. He swore to train even harder. The next time he went to a City, he wouldn’t be looked at so oddly!

In any case, the group moved on and traveled for hours. They traversed kilometers of forests, and ran away from whatever mob they encountered along the way.

They had to occasionally slice, kick, and dice to defend themselves, but they wouldn’t stay in one place at all. They always focused on their goal: Bleuelle City.

However, at some point, Enok stopped moving, and he raised his hand to tell them to keep quiet. He immediately looked around to find them a hiding spot, and he led them to a rock outcrop not far away and settled there.

Helios could feel the vibration underneath his feet and so could the others. It was growing more intense, and they knew that another mob—a rather big one—was coming.

The mercenaries showered themselves with Beast Repelling Potion, hoping that they would go unnoticed. For now, they could only stay in place due to the terrain. If they were found, Enok did have a path to run in, but it’d still be very dangerous. They could lose someone.

For the next moments, they tensely waited for the mob to pass. They were about 20 to 30 meters away from them, and didn’t seem to be heading closer. As long as the wind was in their favor, they could indeed remain unnoticed.

Their hearts were beating loudly and their palms on their weapons were sweaty as heck. Their eyes were fixed on the monsters, and they were prepared to fight and run as soon as they had to.

At first, they saw that it was a relatively standard mob, albeit a bit larger, comprised of level 15s and level 20 monsters. In this way, even if a portion of the mob noticed them, they should be fine.

However—

THUD, THUD, THUD…

Their breaths stopped when they saw a large monster walking amongst the mobs. It was a few times larger than most of them, and… it was standing upright.

THUD, THUD, THUD…

It was about 5 meters tall—no, six meters tall. It had matte dark skin that seemed to absorb all light surrounding it. It had seemingly glowing eyes that was eerily lifeless and had sharp horns on its head, and even sharper claws on its hands.

It was all extremely creepy, and Helios found himself turning cold.

The world… was still so big…

”A level 40 monster…” Puto gasped, and Senson immediately covered his mouth.

”Hush!” He was pale and shaking—obviously afraid.

Even if they all worked together, they definitely did not stand a chance against this one.

They held their breaths, even more desperate to be silent. Soon, more and more of the mob passed and the level 40 beast also went past them.

But then… it stopped. It turned its head at a creepy angle, its rounded—almost glowing—eyes stared straight at them, sending shivers down their spines.

It saw them. It definitely saw them.

SHIIIITTTT!!!