Life Is A Game : Rise Of The Bloodvolva

After a few minutes I go down and join my group. My mother is with Marie in front of the car, Inuyama watching around. He gives me a nod that I give him back. My mother sees me. I carry the body that I packed with the ultmost care possible in a curtain. She looks at it and then place her eyes on me. I try to look as solemn as possible. The pretty redhead, Marie, has a blank look on her face, lost in thought.

(She stabbed an ax in the back of a goblin after it almost violate her and saw me absorbing his blood but ... ah ... yes it's the acc.u.mulation I imagine, and the fact to have seen the office with all these bodies it had to make her snap ... well hope she does not slow us)

I'm pragmatic : she's probably coming back to our group unofficially, my mother does not want to leave her, I'm sure. So if she is with us I do not want her to slow us down.

(She may have flaming hair, hypnotizing eyes and a body to die for but...god Lukas will you calm down yes or shit ? She is shocked, so repressed your libido for a while. Damn hormones... wait I'm not a teenager anymore, so it's not the hormones... it's those damn skill and blood of libidinous monsters !)

"- The goblins must flee at the moment, the village should be relatively safe for now so we must hurry to get what we need.

- Lukas ... Marie is not ..."

I stop it immediately:

"- Mom, people are waiting at home, remember ? I do not want to leave fifty percent of our workforce behind for too long. I want it to be clear: I will prioritize our survival. The situation in which we are is not allowing me to delay our plans any longer. I have already released the village of goblins, now our goal comes first."

She remains silent, pained, I can see it well. She worries about Marie but I worry about her, grandfather and Alyssa. I have probably lost my father, my cousins, my uncle, my aunt and my older sister. I will not lose what I have left.

I put the body of the woman in a hole that I dug quickly with Inuyama then we all get in the car after burying it. My mother is behind, talking to Marie to try to calm her, but her eyes remain empty. I drive and Inuyama is with me, head out the window to smell the air (although he looks like a dog pulling his head out of the car to feel the wind ...). The driving is difficult because despite the little time since the beginning of the apocalypse and the fact that it occurred in the middle of the night there are cars across the road and debris, furniture etc ...

(The goblins have really put a mess ... and those cars and blood marks ... I guess it's not good for the owners of that blood...)

We finally arrive at the small supermarket. I see some goblins who seem to ... scream after a few things. They see the car and scream again.

(hiss, their cry !)

I go down with Inuyama and grab my two weapons. I intend to do that quickly. Suddenly I hear why the goblins shout, well after whom in fact. Three orcs.

(five goblins and three orcs, easy [Predator's Eye]!)

Ding*

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Congratulations !

Your skill [Eye of the Predator] is now Intermediate level.

Effect:

- weak points appear more easily, increasing your chance of critical strike

- weak targets have a chance to be paralyzed by fear when you stare at them

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(Perfect...)

Indeed the goblins seem to be paralyzed when my skill is activated and stare at them.

(Same for the orcs, it'll be even easier ...)

I feel myself smiling, my famous new carnivorous smile.

(points ... points ...)

that's how I see these creatures : like bonus stats points.

The fight is fast: the goblins do not dare to move as I advance towards them. Only when I decapitate the first one do they scream and try to escape after urinating on them. They stumble over each other and I kill them quickly. Inuyama retain the orcs during this time, letting me calmly absorb my goblins. Once done it was the turn of the orcs. They are terrified by what they just saw and ... begs me ? In any case, one of them kneels. It makes it easier for me to split his skull. The others are put down by Inuyama. I kill them at once with a strike in the neck, triggering a critical blow every time.

Once the fight ends Inuyama takes care of the bodies and I go to get my mother. She does not seem to want to leave Marie and Marie does not seem to be able to move. I roll my eyes. I open the door where Marie is but she does not react.

(ok that's enough, you upset me there ...)

I grab her face to force her to look me in the eye.

([predator's eye] !)

My gaze crashes in her own who was looking in the air. When my skill takes effect she immediately leaves her trance and begins to tremble.

"- Now listen to me well : you're alive and you're with us so you're not going to slow us down. What you saw today is just the begining so prepare yourself to see that again if you plan to survive. I intend to do it, and I also plan to protect my family. If you do not react, if we have to drag you, I'll get rid of you myself. If you'd rather die than live the apocalypse then I can arrange that too ..."

I disable my skill.

"- ... but if you plan to survive and be useful to my family, then count on me to protect you as I did today".

My speech was violent but say in a neutral tone. My mother is horrified all along. However when I disable my skill its effect disappears and my "target" is instinctively calm. I wanted to scare her. I wanted to replace all the thoughts she currently had with fear of what I am or can do to her if she does not react the way I want. Then I wanted to reassure her by promising her protection if she does what I want. The carrot and the stick.

I think it has the d.e.s.i.r.ed effect because she answers me then, still a little shaky:

"- I ... I want to live ...

- Good. So ?

- I'll help..."

She murmurs this last part, head down. I c.a.r.e.s.s her then.

"- There. Now come, we must recover as much as possible things to drink and to eat.

I see her blush a little and then nod. So here we are, four people to recover what we can.

We load the car as much as we can, even lowering the rear seats. It is especially drinks that we recover now. Several trips are planned now that the road so far is clear. Inuyama and I will run next to the car to return, the trip being really short, but because of the danger it took us much longer. I get a package of brownie that I eat because I'm starving. Out of curiosity I take the opportunity to identify it:

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Chocolate Brownie (300g)

a big industrial brownie

consume it gives back a little stamina

/!\ Be careful not to eat just that /!\

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(There is even a message reminding us that we must healthy food ... seriously ...)

I then begin to identify all the objects of the car as we come back, increasing my skill level (although it now increases much more slowly compared to the time when it was at beginner).

Nothing disturbs us on the way back and allows us to come back quickly. My sister is with Inukami and Inuyasha at the door of the house, on the stairs, waiting for us. When she sees the car enter the property she runs towards us followed by Inuyasha. Inukami returns to the house to look for my grandfather surely. She jumps in my arms and I give her hug, laughing.

"- We saw your life go down very low ! Inukami and Inuyasha wanted to join you but grandfather prevented them by saying that they had to stay here. I was so scared ... Inuyasha and Inukami reassured me, even if they do not speak well ... what happened? And who is this ?

- Ahah slowly, calm down. I met a strong opponent, but nothing insurmountable. The problem was that he had taken this girl hostage.

- I have a name you know ..." said the girl in question

"- Oh yes, excuse me. Her name is Marie and she seems to be a childhood friend.

- seems to be he said ..."

(Ah, she looks depressed there ... why ... well not that I care, first let's empty the car)

We empty the car when finally my grandfather appears with Inukami. His gray hair are all ruffled.

"- Ah, you're back! Who is this? Well, let's move on. Lukas I have gathered some objects and write things that can be useful to the Heir, come see it!"

He said all of this in one go, so I have to remind him that we have other goals for now and he just growls back. We all watch him leave all grumpy and we laugh with good heart. Marie then approaches me:

"- Your grandfather has not aged, it looks like. And this house is really huge compared to where you lived before.

- My grandfather has a goal", I answer her with a smile," he wants as much as me to protect this family and he sees in me the Heir who will revive our lineage.

- The Heir ?"

(Oops slowly, it's a foreigner, we do not talk about that!)

"- It's nothing, family stories. Well, mom ! Get your car, I'll take grandfather's one. Redhe... Marie you take mine and go back."

I'm going to my three kobolds.

"- Inuyasha, Inukami, thank you for staying here. Inuyasha you come with me this time, Inuyama you can stay and rest.

They lower their heads to greet me with dignity but their tails betray once again their p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e to be thanked.

So we leave with three cars this time in order to recover more food. I intend to take as much food as possible. There may be other survivors but that's not my problem right now. We arrive there and enter the store, each with a specific purpose: water and juice for Inuyasha, canned food for me and frozen food for Marie and my mother. Why frozen stuff when it risk getting lost without electricity? Because we have a generator and a backup generator that will allow us to have electricity for a while, and thanks to that we can have the frozen food preserved. We can even have meat !

However the ideal would be to permanently secure the village to have the cold room of the supermarket and of course the electricity network supplying the village. But one thing at a time.

Once the cars are full we return to the property and begin to store our supplies by categories. Once again I thank my grandfather for making such a ridiculously large house. We repeat the operation several times and we almost empty the supermarket of less perishable food and drinks. I also secretly prepare a reserve that I leave in one of the cars in case we need to evacuate urgently.

(However we are eight now ... we can not go at eight in this car with this stock of food and essential equipment ... I'll have to pick up a van I think. So much preparations are necessary and so little time. The apocalypse has already started after all... Well, we'll get some gas and we'll see how it evolves for the village tomorrow)