635 Arrival At Codon, The Busy Port Settlement of Catanduanes (1/2)

The soldiers in the patrol vessel had their eyes pinned to the dying rebels as they made their escape. Looking at the demise of the rebels, some of them could not help but turn blue. It was not because of what happened to them, though. It was because of the school of gigantic fish that tore the bodies of those people like tofu.

Some of the soldiers could not help but turn to Mark. He seemed to have predicted this to happen in advance. They did not know how he did it. However, it was, without a doubt, the case since he stopped the Lieutenant from capturing the rebels and told them to leave right away.

Mark aside, there was also the beautiful girl that had just jumped down from the roof of the boat. To these soldiers' envy, she went straight to Mark with a look asking if she did well. As if it was natural, Mark caressed her head for the job well done. The soldiers could only stare at Mei's cute face as she was complemented by Mark.

No, no, no... That was not what they were looking at.

They were amazed by her shooting abilities. Although not all of them were experts, they noticed that Mei handled her gun amateurishly. Even so, while the form and posture were lacking, the important thing was that she did not miss a single shot. There was no point in a perfect posture if the shots missed the target after all. In the worst cases, a single mistake was a matter of life and death.

There was also Mei's strange looking gun that who knows where it came from. All these soldiers were sure that she did not bring anything as big as that when they boarded the boat.

The last thing that they could not fathom was the invisible shield that was currently covering the whole boat. The soldiers only heard Mark shout ”Iola” before this shield appeared. What was ”Iola”? A name? A chant? What was this shield? New technology? Magic?

There were a lot of questions. However, with the brutal end of the group of rebels that ambushed them, only an idiot would dare ask Mark.

Nevertheless, the most important question...

The soldiers thought that it was just a group of people tasked to deliver a package at first. But now... Just was kind of powerful beings, did they let ride their boat?

Putting all of the things that happened on a mental note, Lieutenant Ignacio decided not to ask any question. At first, in his eyes, Mark's group was just a band of lucky people. But now, they were mysterious and unfathomable. It was better to get on their good side instead. Now that he thought about it, it seemed that Captain Zacharia's future would be bleak now.

”It looks like we owe your group this time.”

Lieutenant Ignacio said to Mark, looking at the boats of the rebels. The boats already started to drift away, following the ocean current.

”If you didn't tell us to leave, things might become dangerous.”

”Are those fishes that dangerous?”

Mark asked.

”You might not know since you are not from here, but those fishes are the most dangerous predator in these parts currently. Those are evolved Sardinellas always found in schools of several hundred fishes. Now, we call them steel-teeth fish because their large mouths can pierce metal. Look at how they easily bit off the limbs of those bastards as if they did not have bones at all. If we did not manage to get away in time, in the worst case, our boat will sink. If we are lucky, we'll still get stranded in the middle of the sea for who knows how long.”

”Stranded?”

Mark asked. After all, while it was not strange that the boat would sink from those ferocious fish, but why stranded?

”Because those fishes are pretty much blind and highly sensitive to sunlight. That is why they are mostly active at night.” The Lieutenant explained further. ”They don't hunt using their eyes but by feeling their surroundings. Those fishes target things that make a lot of vibrations on water.”

”So, that was the case.”

Mark nodded.

It was no wonder those fishes targeted the limbs of the rebels first. While swimming, a human needed to move their hands and feet to keep afloat. Well, at least while alive. The dead only had to stay dead and start would floating after some time.

The fight had already ended, and there was no need for Mark to stay outside. Together with Mei, they entered the boat once more.

”Iola, you can remove the shield now.”

Mark said, patting Iola's head.

”Okay.”

The girl smiled. This time, she was the most helpful.

Of course, Abbygale and Miracle were both sulking. They did not have to do anything at all. Or rather, there was nothing they could do. They were in the middle of the sea, after all.

Mark could only shake his head.

He had a family of battle maniacs. It was not a bad thing, though, as it was better than being weak while in the middle of the apocalypse.

***

”We're almost there!”

The voice of the soldiers could be heard after traveling for some time. Even though the distance here between the two landmasses was shorter compared to the regular route back before the apocalypse, it still took about more than an hour journey. It included the time spent during the ambush of the rebels.

Mark's group came out to see their destination. Sure enough, the scene was way too different from before the apocalypse. In a bad way, of course.

The desolate village in this part of the island was no more. It was replaced by a noisy and boisterous refugee camp.

”There's a lot of people.”

Mei said, looking at the pier.

She was not referring to the number of people inside the settlement. What she was literally saying that there was a lot of people waiting at the pier.

Were they here to welcome Mark's group? Of course, not.

”They are people who are still hoping that their relatives or friends made it here. Even though it is very unlikely.”