Evolving Classes In The Apocalypse-Chapter 45: The King’s Raiders

After Ysor and I had spoken and decided this was the best course of action, I went looking for Marcel. It took a while. Some young men eventually pointed me in his direction, and after winding through the Stone Valley’s jagged corridors of rock, I finally found him.

He was standing with a group of men. The moment I came into view, one of them broke away and charged at me, shouting.

"You should not be here!"

"Back off!"

Marcel’s voice cut across the gap before the man could close it. Which was fortunate for him. I’d already summoned a metal ball, ready to take his eyes out the moment he crossed a certain distance.

’Very lucky fellow.’

He stopped, glaring at me.

I sized him up with open disinterest, then walked past him towards Marcel, who was watching me with a small smile on his dark face.

Seeing Marcel standing among these grown men, whose faces looked as though they had been literally sculpted from ugly stone, almost made me forget what sort of soul he was. He had the body and presence of a young warrior, but the people flanking him could have passed for convicts.

Marcel spoke with excitement.

"Axel, you’re back!"

I shifted my gaze from his companions and focused on him instead.

"Yes... I wanted to tell you."

I paused for a moment, letting the silence stretch intentionally.

"I changed my mind..."

Marcel’s eyes widened slightly.

"I’ll stay... and I’ll appreciate it if you can help Ysor."

Marcel’s expression brightened. He almost leaped but kept his feet grounded, allowing himself only a wholehearted smile.

"That’s so great, so great."

I glanced around at the people surrounding him.

"You seem busy... we can talk about it later. I’ll be around."

Marcel turned back to his men for a moment and then called out to me just as I turned to leave, still glaring at the guy who had nearly lost an eye.

"How about you help out..."

I turned back to Marcel.

"There’s an Undefined that’s been lurking around here. We’ve been discussing how to take it down. If it’s the two of us... there won’t be much to discuss, and the chances of victory will skyrocket."

"Marcy..."

"What do you say, Axel?"

I studied the looks on their faces. Marcel, one way or another, had just called them weak. They might have been useful so far in subduing Undefined in the wilderness, but at the end of the day, even an Awakened Novice was far more useful than any of them. Granted, Marcel was very sure I was an Established Novice and had no idea I was a Transcendent one, with three Classes.

’Tch, he hit the jackpot, alright.’

I smiled and intentionally looked at each of them.

"Are you sure your goons will allow it? They look like they could poison me to death if given the chance."

Especially the guy from earlier. He was glaring daggers at me.

"Marcy, I’m sorry but this guy is just full of words. At the end of the day, all of them are sheltered brats, nothing good comes from that place, you know it. Aside from being very weak, this one looks like the very reason we will fall apart."

I wanted to speak, but Marcel took the stage already.

He turned to them with a grim face.

"Weak? Even I admire Axel’s strength. I could kill you for calling him weak." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Immediately the young man backed away, lowering his head.

"I’m sorry, King Marcel."

"Don’t call me King."

"I’m sorry."

The brown-haired guy lowered his head. The other three followed suit. The brown-haired man grabbed the hair of the one who had spoken out of line and forced his head lower.

"Marcy, we’re sorry... this fool doesn’t know how to talk. We all know that, and this time, he certainly crossed the line. But we’re all doing this in your best interest. This boy and the girl are from the Area. The girl is understandable, she’s Undefined like us. But the boy... even a Mundane Defined in the Area could live each day easily. What does he have to gain from associating with us and helping us?"

He released Henry’s hair and straightened up.

"You could say it’s because of the girl, but are we expected to believe that an Awakened Novice who could literally have anything inside Area C is taking all these wretched risks and discomfort because of his girlfriend who is dying?"

He shook his head.

"It only sounds to us like a fairytale too hard to believe. A tale for kids."

Then he fixed his gaze upon me, hard and full of dislike.

"This person is very suspicious, Marcel, and I urge you to take caution into consideration when making decisions regarding him. He smells like a trap. He could be a ploy of the Enforcers to root us out."

He looked at Marcel intently.

"You know what I’m talking about."

’Not bad.’

This Truman person was observant, and his logic wasn’t wrong. If I really were just an Awakened Novice, my being here would make no sense at all. The fact that his reasoning was built on a false premise didn’t make it any less sharp.

Marcel was silent. He said nothing and just continued to stare for a few seconds. Then he smiled, looked at me, and simply said:

"Well, what to do? I trust Axel and I want him to stay. I understand all your concerns, but if Axel proves to be the kind of danger you’re implying, then I won’t hesitate to kill him."

He stared deeply into my eyes while saying it.

And it was so impressive to me that I smiled and nodded.

’An easy way out. As expected, he is smart after all.’

His subordinates had nothing to say after that. They fell silent in unison and accepted Marcel’s response.

Marcel then waved for me to come closer.

"Since we all agree then, I’ll introduce everyone."

As I reached his side, he started.

"Everyone, this is Axel. Axel, this is Perk."

A middle-aged man with grey eyes, brown skin, and an even deeper shade of brown hair scattered over his head politely nodded at me. He carried himself like someone who had lived long enough to stop caring about first impressions.

"Welcome to the Raiders."

Marcel continued.

"And this is Kenny."

The guy who had almost lost his eyes nodded, his dark gaze still lingering with hate and disapproval. He hadn’t forgotten. Good. Neither had I.

"Orion here."

A blond-haired guy with round eyes and pale blue irises. He smiled charmingly at me, and unlike the others, the smile seemed genuine. Either he was actually friendly or just better at hiding his suspicion.

Marcel turned to the other two and faced the brown-haired man first.

"This is Truman."

The sharp one. He held my gaze for a moment without expression, then gave a short nod. I returned it. Of everyone here, he was the one worth watching.

Then Marcel regarded the one who had spoken out of line before.

"And this is Henry."

He nodded too. He had shorter hair compared to the rest of them and looked slightly docile, though that might have just been because Marcel had put him in his place moments ago.

’Unbelievable that he’s coordinating all these guys... and they’re actually obeying him.’

I don’t think I’d ever want to put myself in Marcel’s shoes. But then... to each their own.

Marcel now turned back to me and held his hand up.

I tilted my head slightly and looked at it with a little confusion as that hand headed towards me.

"I told you I can affect the flow of things... I can help you heal your eye... I think it’s important that you have two eyes to hunt Undefined. We can’t count on them not to take advantage of your blind spot."

My hand instinctively rose to the side of my face where the eye should have been. The socket had long since become just another part of me, a permanent reminder. And now Marcel was offering to undo it, just like that.

I studied his face. He wasn’t joking.