< To Survive and to Live (Part 3)>
The Wargrave group is now taken care of
The monster group had depleted its troops while fighting against the Wargrave group, and Leona overpowered the monster group with her missile and junkwagon troops.
Oh man! Youre pissing me off!
Leona utilized the fast junkwagon troops to attack the monsters and dealt consistent damage. Her junkwagon troops were upgraded to detonate when the unit was taken down by enemy units, dealing massive damage to them.
Leona was able to develop most of the skills, and her units were very powerful.
She murdered the Wargraves executor troops, and she was out to hunt down the monsters boss unit, the devil. The devil unit was an extremely powerful unit, but the kid who was playing as the monster group overestimated the power of the devil unit, and did not bring in any support units.
Things were not looking great for Leona at the moment.
While Leonas main forces were fighting against the monsters, the devil unit was destroying Leonas base by itself. Leona was not able to counter the devil with her main forces, so she gathered some hunter units to fight against the devil. Hunter units were generally strong against a monsters unit, but it was not the case against the devil units. A devil unit was very powerful in that it required at least twenty executor units to bring it down. The devil unit had already regenerated for the third time during the game.
Leona quickly brought in the hunter troops to fight against the devil. The hunter units quickly engaged and starting shooting at the devil. However, the hunter units were not strong enough to fight against the devil. The devil dashed towards the hunter troops.
Leona calmly used several hunter troops to aggro the devil unit. Fortunately the kid was focusing on the battle of the main forces, and was not actively controlling the devil unit.
Leona was observing the two battle scenes and controlling units on both sides. Sara was amazed at the speed with which Leona was controlling the units.
Although Leona took some damage on her main forces, she was able to hunt down the devil with her hunter units.
Oh no! My devil is dead! The kid yelled as she realized that her boss unit was killed. Leona smiled confidently. Leona had destroyed the strongest units of both the Wargrave and the monster groups. Now, all she needed to do us slowly take down both bases.
Dont underestimate my skills huh?
As Leona was celebrating her victory, she saw a message pop up on the bottom right corner of the monitor.
[You have succeed in hunting the devil with only hunter units.]
[Devil Hunter unit is now unlocked.]
What the heck is that?
Leona was staring at the message that popped up.
Initially, she thought that it was weird for the wasteland people group to not have any boss unit. The nuclear missile was available, but it was not categorized as a boss unit. The wasteland people group indeed had a boss unit available. It just so happened to be that the requirements to unlock the devil hunter unit were tricky.
The entire tech tree had to be fully upgraded, and the devil unit had to be killed with only hunter units. There was no manual for the page, and nobody knew about the in game secrets.
It was nearly impossible to hunt the devil unit with the hunter units alone. Leona was able to hunt the devil unit because the other player was not paying attention.
Not many players knew about the devil hunter unit.
Anyways, Leona was able to unlock the devil hunter unit.
She started to produce the devil hunter unit. She could have finished the game, but she wanted to see the boss unit. In a short period of time, the devil hunter unit was made. The game did not have the best graphics, but it was a solid RTS game, and each unit was portrayed accurately.
The devil hunter unit looked ordinary. It did not have fancy weapons like the other boss units, the devil and the executor.
It looked very simple, and it almost looked like a regular hunter unit. However, as she looked at the devil unit closely, she found the difference between the two.
What?
The devil hunter wore a black long coat.
And she spotted the massive grey sword on the back of the devil hunter. It was Phantomvein!
Mister?
Other kids would not have noticed, but Leona recognized the person.
Leona was puzzled why the devil hunter she knew was portrayed in a Wargrave video game.
Leona was shocked after finding someone familiar in a video game.
—–
Leona came back to her senses after she heard someone talk from behind her.
You look like youre having fun there.
It was Sara, not Leona, who was surprised.
Wow! Its mister executor!
Wow!
Ramphil?
The kids gathered around Ramphil, who had an executor badge on his uniform. Ramphil didnt know how to react as all the people came up to him all of a sudden.
As Leona noticed that Ramphil was by himself, she became anxious. Leonas face paled, and she asked Ramphil, Wheres mister hunter? Why are you by yourself?
The hunter went to the production facility to use the manufacturing machine. He will arrive soon.
Oh, ah really?
Leona breathed a sigh of relief. Ramphil smiled as he watched her.
The hunter would be so happy if he saw you now.
Would you stop fooling around? But anyways, whats up?
The kids were surprised to see Leona talk casually to Ramphil. An executor was all kids role model, and Leona talked to an executor casually!
The kids knew that Leona was not ordinary, and Sara and the kids looked up to Leona.
Lets go to the Warlord. He seems to want to talk to you.
As Ramphil spoke, Sara, not Leona, became very happy.
—–
Zin was back from the manufacturing facility and taking a break in his room. He was planning to leave the fortress as soon as the armored vehicle was ready. He wanted to leave as quickly as he could because things could get complicated if the Heaven Power castle was taken by the enemy.
However, Zin sat down on the sofa quietly. He had many thoughts he kept to himself, but he could not think of good answers to his problems.
After a while, Leona came back. As soon as she saw Zin, she greeted him with a big smile.
You must have accomplished the mission without a problem.
Mmm. Yeah. As usual, Zin replied normally. Is Ramphil coming?
Oh, yeah, he got caught by some kids.
The kids who were curious about the executor did not let Ramphil go. Just outside the room, Ramphil was answering their questions.
It was a funny situation, but Zin did not smile.
Leona stopped smiling as soon as she saw Zin with a serious look.
There was a long silence.
At times, the two spoke freely when they travelled together, and they also travelled without talking to each other at all. They didnt talk to each other because they did not have much to talk about.
It was the first time that Leona couldnt start a conversation, because she felt intimidated. Leona looked at Zin for a long time, and finally started to talk.
I visited the Warlord.
Oh, okay Zin replied, and remained silent again. Zin also didnt like the fact that he didnt know what to say. You asked me to train you as a hunter.
Yeah.
I believe that you want to become a hunter because you want to protect yourself from danger while wandering the wilderness.
Thats true.
Zin continued to talk. You told me that you were afraid of being alone.
Yes. Leona did not deny it. Zin did not know what the Warlord and Leona talked about.
If you stay here, you will not have to become a hunter to protect yourself.
If you stay here, you will not be alone.
If you stay here, you will be able to think about how you are going to live moving forward. You will not have to worry about survival.
The environment at the fortress was a blessing for someone longing for a safe environment. It was a great blessing to not worry about survival. As Zin watched Leona happily smile while playing with the kids, he told Leona about this.
There were no threats in the fortress. There was little hatred or scorn. The children in the fortress were kind to outsiders.
Zin thought that it was the right thing for Leona to remain at the fortress. Leona looked at Zin with a hardened face.
Zin did not directly ask Leona to remain at the fortress, but he was strongly advising her to do so. Zin took out the chipbox from his pocket.
I will give the chips back to you because I didnt fulfill your request to train you as a hunter.
Zin had acquired enough chips to give back to Leona. Leona looked at the chipbox that containing about 5000 chips, and dropped her head.
Her eyes were getting teary. Leona thought about the conversation she had just had with the Warlord.
The wilderness is a scary place.
I know but
Leona, as much as its dangerous to you, it is also dangerous for the hunter as well.
The wilderness is a tough and dangerous for someone to be actively protecting others. And you know that too.
Leona felt terrible as the Warlord reaffirmed what she had been thinking about all this time.
The relationship between Zin and Leona did not benefit anyone.
Zin knew that it was illogical to take Leona with him into the wilderness. And he was not able to easily ask her to follow him.
Leona knew that she was not much of a help to Zin, and she was not able to tell Zin that she was going to venture together with him into the wilderness.
Both of them were not able to speak what they had in mind. Zin calmly looked at Leona, and Leona looked back without crying.
Leona knew that crying did not help solve any problems, so she didnt cry.
Leona lifted her chin up, and looked at Zin. Is that all you have to say?
Yes.
Is that really all?
Leona bit her lips. Mister.
Yes.
Do you know something?
What?
You always let me decide how I should live my life
While travelling with Leona, Zin never forced her to do anything. If Leona decided to settle at a place, Zin would tell her to do so. If Leona told Zin to go away, he would go away as she said.
Zin did not try to dictate how Leona should live. He just tagged along with her. And even now, Zin only suggested Leona settle down at the fortress, and allowed Leona to make the decision.
And frankly, I am not happy about it. Leona didnt always like how Zin treated her.
I dont know what you are trying to say. Zin knew what she was trying to tell him, but he replied calmly anyways.
Leona continued to talk with a sad smile. I hate people who try to manipulate others, but I feel so sad when someone seems to not care at all.
It was the best way that Leona could express her feelings.
Zin knew what Leona meant, but he couldnt say any more.