Roy stepped closer so he could hear who the doctor was speaking to.

"No way ... leave them all ... because of it..." Dr. Gretsch spoke hastily and failed his attempt to keep it a whisper. Still, Roy couldn’t catch all he spoke. From those few words, though, one could tell he was agitated.

There was a muffled voice that responded, but Dr. Gretsch instantly shouted, "No!"

"I have ... my decision and ... final ... better way."

With that, Roy sensed the call had ended and continued on his way.

Dr. Gretsch turned to the entrance door sharply and had a look that was a mix of fear and suspicion. Did someone hear? If they did, how much? He stood up and went over, but peering his head outside, there was no one.

... 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

’Who was Dr. Gretsch talking to?’ Roy wondered, having already returned to the APC.

— No way ... leave them all ... because of it...

However, he could guess from the few things he heard that it should be Mr. Professor. Then again, it could also be someone of similar status to the old-timer and investment in this mission. But since Roy hadn’t heard of a hidden figure up until now, it was safe to assume that that was Mr. Professor.

’If ’them’ is us, the ’it’ should be the recovered sample,’ he deduced. Spending time around Black Zero was sure to rub off on him.

But there was a problem with this train of thought, Roy soon realized.

’Dr. Gretsch can’t return to the city by himself. I might even fare in the wild much better than him. But the way Mr. Professor and Dr. Gretsch spoke, their assurance that he’ll get back to the city was definitely more than eighty percent...’

He palmed his face. ’Dammit. I’m using math lingo now. Sigh, I’m becoming a full-blown nerd. Master Abe, are you happy now?’

’Anyway, they sounded quite sure. I wonder why...’ Roy couldn’t fit the remaining puzzle and relayed everything to Master Abraham. If Dr. Gretsch and Mr. Professor were planning to leave them for dead, then it wasn’t an encounter to keep hush about. That would be foolish.

"..." Master Abraham fell silent, even more brooding than usual, and fell back into his seat. Then, he answered, "Sunfire. She will leave with him."

Roy had a look of surprise, and then shock, followed by extreme worry. "What? Lady Sunfire?"

"Her mission is most likely different from ours. Ours was to find the lost expedition team, then we helped them find the sample. But hers should be simpler, like: Return the sample safely," Master Abraham explained.

Roy let out an awkward chuckle, mixed with a bit of uncertainty but also confidence. "But Lady Sunfire will never do that."

"Let’s hope so."

* * *

A few more days passed, and from the drone clips, there was now a multitude of abyss creatures under the control of the Witherflower. It didn’t help that the creature was smart, always centering its forces around unbroken gates, protecting them from executioners, and at the same time, waiting to devour the creatures that were to come out.

The group of six sat in the meeting room of the bunker. Sunfire sat at the top of the table, complete in her executioner uniform, with her booted legs crossed atop the other on the wide table.

The satellite footage of the Witherflower’s horde of beasts, monsters, and undead advancing and spreading just ended, and froze at the horrific image so all sitting here could grasp the magnitude of death out there.

Roy glanced at Dr. Sally, and of course, the woman seemed like she was about to throw up. ’Who even thought it was a good idea to put a normie on a suicide mission outside the city?’

"As you all know, and can actually see, the Witherflower’s horde is spreading," Sunfire began.

"And despite how safe you might think we are in here, the Witherflower is coming. The more the number of its army increases, the fewer safe places there will be. I will be leaving for two days to burn the horde that’s heading down here. In the meantime, Black Zero and Wolfman will take on the duty of finishing up any abyss creatures that slipped past my fingers."

Roy was about to raise a hand to ask for his own duty, but Sunfire’s fiery but absent gaze landed on him already. "Roy, you’re to remain in the bunker to protect Dr. Gretsch and Dr. Sally. I trust you can do that, right?"

Roy initially wanted to grumble that he was given such a mid-duty, but then he considered it. If he were to replace either Black Zero or Wolfman against undead creatures, just how well would he fare? Tragically, that’s for sure.

And just like that, Roy was now feeling good about his duty. It didn’t expect too much from him; the bunker was already safe.

"No."

The table turned to look at who just said that simple word.

It was Black Zero.

Also, in his tactical get-up, he now wore a black overcoat, but his lower face mask was missing. He merely said, "Let Wolfman man the bunker. Roy and I will go out and cull the lucky undead."

Of course, if an abyss creature managed to escape Sunfire’s light, it was right to call them lucky.

Roy giggled and muttered, "Wolfman, man the bunker, man."

Acknowledging Roy was still a sixteen-year-old, Black Zero, and the others ignored him. Obviously, battling the undead wasn’t an issue to him as long as he was with his Master Abraham.

"That’s too dangerous for Roy," Sunfire said, knitting her eyebrows slightly.

"Let me worry about what’s dangerous for him." Black Zero stared down at her. "I left the city to train Roy, not follow orders. I’m no soldier, most especially not the Professor’s. Remember that."

"..." Sunfire squinted at his warning.

"Oh, uh, Wolfman, you don’t have an issue with that, do you?" Dr. Gretsch spoke up, trying to reduce the tension in the air.

"HM..." Wolfman had his hands folded and eyes closed as he ruminated over the thought.

"WOLFMAN WANTS TO KILL UNDEAD," he said, but glanced at Dr. Sally. "BUT WOLFMAN WILL STAY TO PROTECT."

"Fine then." Sunfire sat up and brought her legs down. "That settles it."

With that, Sunfire rose to leave the bunker, along with Black Zero and Roy, who was clad in the black tactical suit.

"Aren’t you scared?" Dr. Sally asked Roy, as they walked side by side to the bunker slam door. Wolfman and Dr. Gretsch trailed behind. Black Zero was far ahead, and Sunfire was slightly behind him. They came to see them off.

"Scared? Maybe. But lucky for me, I can fight. Not everyone can fight, even among those with systems," Roy answered and unsheathed the dagger strapped behind his waist.

He chuckled. "This is from when Master Abe told me to choose a weapon. I chose a bow and arrow so that I could be far away from the abyss creature. But he gave me this netherstone dagger. He said I am not allowed to be scared. Abyss creatures sense fear."

Wolfman placed his large hand on Roy’s shoulder and patted it.

"BOY MCLLOYD."

"Tch." Roy shrugged his hand off, and the brutish man let out a loud laugh.

They entered the elevator. Roy watched the door close in on the simple Dr. Gretsch, the waving Dr. Sally, and the arm-folded Wolfman.

"Hoo...! Hoo...!"

Roy jumped left to right in the elevator, breathing in and out deeply, getting pumped up for the fight ahead. He was eager to put his new skills, capabilities, and all the training he had done so far to proper use.

"Let’s get this show running..."