219 Alarm Clock (1/2)

Everyone didn't feel safe even when sheltered by walls. The one-meter long snake they saw caught the hamster after getting it cornered. Its body width of one foot made it appear like a swollen hotdog due to its size if it weren't for its black scales.

The large snake constricted the hamster. When the three-foot-tall hamster stopped resisting, the large snake swallowed its meal. Its mouth stretched wide and stuffed the hamster whole.

A night watch helped to ease their nerves but almost no one fell asleep.

Jun's an exception though.

He practiced aura control and spread the invisible force to surround him. If he used the system skill, he would run out of energy in less than a minute. He threw that thought aside and manually trained.

He increased the usual 2energy/second consumption to 3energy/second. For the first time in training with energy spatial control, his energy was slowly getting drained. He then learned that his energy regeneration was 2.6 which was one percent of his total energy (260).

Confused, Jun wondered why it takes so long to recover energy after a fight. Was it meditation? Probably, that's the only thing people don't do after draining their energies. Besides, only a small group of people knew about energy control. Well, that won't go for long and some bright people will learn about this too. Better widen the gap while still ahead.

Jun closed his eyes and continued meditating.

As he sat on the bed in meditation, a realization dawned upon him. An experimental idea popped up in his head which could solve the problem of his abilities getting maxed out after generation.

Time passed.

Dawn came and a loud explosion of something crashing onto a car sounded from the distance. The soldier on duty used his increased visibility to see what was going on at the end of the street.

When the ground smoke scattered, he saw the large snake they saw last night engraved on the roof of a white van, unmoving. He turned around to wake everyone up, only to see five people armed to the teeth as they cautiously strafe towards him.

”What happened?” Jun asked tightly gripping his Warhammer with two hands.

Explosions of that caliber weren't common which woke up the light-sleepers inside the house.

”I think the snake we saw last night got killed.”

”That giant snake? Where is it? Did you see what happened?” Carl responded.

”It's over there.” the soldier pointed at the end of the street.

Instead of focusing on the white van that got crushed and has a large snake embedded on it. Everyone stared at the silhouette that was flapping its wings as it landed on the nearby roof where the snake was.

It had red feathers on the head and the neck while black on the body. A rooster usually found as a pet or in cockfights. It flapped its wings a few more times before raising its head and crowing out loud.

”Tiktilaok!”

Its voice echoed repeatedly in the tranquil town.

”Oh, it's Mang Inasal,” Carl commented. He noticed Jun's confusion, so he explained. ”We call him Mang Inasal back in the subdivision. He's the alarm clock of the whole town. Whether you want to wake up or not, he will keep going until the sun rises.”

”There's no connection at all?”

”True. We just want to cook him because he's annoying. Now, I love him. Everyone pack your gears up. We'll use this time to sneak out of here. We're going on foot.”

With the hidden threats coming out of their hiding places, the group of six moved swiftly and quietly. They retraced their steps from yesterday and finally got out of the streets. They arrived at the national and only encountered a few carriers along the way.

Evolved Carriers seem to be scarce in this part of the town. Was it because there's not enough time for them to evolve or were they already hunted down? Whatever the reason for their disappearance, it was good news for their group.

They ran as fast as they could before looking for a working vehicle. The group found a four-seater sedan parked at the side of the road. Six people squeezed themselves in, so they could get out of here. There's a lot of chances to change cars as long as they get out of here.

The sedan stormed off at top speed.

On the adjacent two-storied house, a man breathed furiously as he pushed the door open.

”Not again! My car!”

The sedan traveled the national highway quite peacefully. There was already a path for them to follow and the highway was pretty clear. The carriers on the other side of the guardrail became entertaining to look at as they zoomed past them.

SN Taytay appeared desolate as empty plastic bags got carried by the wind across the road. There were no people to be seen but there were signs of life around the area.

They stayed for a bit, hoping that the caravan waited for them but they were nowhere to be seen.