Chapter 23: Return.

After Titus absorbed all 8 crystals, he had now used 16 of them in total. He was basically very much ahead in terms of strength. He might not necessarily be the strongest and the first one to achieve this in the world, but ahead was ahead. So many people didn’t even know the existence of crystals!

Titus walked out of the bushes packed with strength. After he 'relieved' himself, all of his fingers now had their own paths opened that connected with the main path in his hand. He now had two iron fists ready to crush anything in their path. The new path opening started at the 11th crystal, and each new crystal he used opened new paths thus achieving the complete opening in his five fingers. 

There was also an added bonus discovery! After he took the 16th crystal, the same as what happened to his fingers, a new path opened up in his toe pinky. The situation shouldn't be too different from what had happened to his fingers when he took more crystals.

When Titus approached the group, they all looked at him with surprised eyes. There was a mix of laughter and disgust. Why? You may ask. Titus was aware that even though he had immediately cleaned himself up and got rid of the sticky substance, what about his clothes? And the smell? His clothes got stained with the substance and the stench was naturally pungent. Even if Titus removed his shirt, he couldn’t possibly get rid of his pants also, otherwise wouldn't he just be naked? Hence he decided to just f*ck it and kept all of his clothes on.

Titus' reappearance from relieving himself certainly lightened the mood to an extent. Who wouldn't take notice of a man stinking with the smell of sh*t, who, only moments ago, was just so aggressive on the battlefield.

Titus was not inconsiderate, so he kept a distance from everyone. He didn’t care about the laughing looks they were giving him, instead he was quite thankful and hopeful that they did, because later on when he would need to 'act' aggressively while getting the crystals, they would just think that he was venting his frustration at them.

...

Hours passed and the sun was now at its peak. It was lunch time. Even though they were thankful that no monsters had appeared yet and were able to eat their rations peacefully, they were also getting doubtful.

And that doubt only continued to increase as more hours passed. It was now late noon! The sun was now preparing to rest into the mountains and yet no new wave had appeared. Not even a single monster was in sight.

Soon, it was time to change shifts and another batch of soldiers and volunteers arrived. Obviously the Captain of Titus' group did not disregard such an anomaly and repeatedly warned the newly arrived group's Captain. Finally, although reluctantly, Titus' Captain ordered for their return to the base. Even if they wanted to help, they would just be burdens with only leftover resources in hand, which was only enough to last one more wave; it wasn’t sufficient enough and it would be too crowded, they needed to replenish it at the base first. They also couldn’t disrupt the system of changing shifts, unless they were willing to go back together with the new group after their shift, which was not possible. Their group then rode off with unsettled hearts.

As if to verify their doubts and worried hearts, halfway through their journey they suddenly encountered a small group of 3 rodent-like monsters who appeared loitering in the middle of the road. Normally, they wouldn't be so startled but after experiencing the lack of monsters the whole noon, their nerves jumped.

Some soldiers were dispatched and they got rid of the monsters easily. But before the soldiers could board the truck again, the group's anxiety skyrocketed altogether as the ground suddenly shook. It wasn't an earthquake nor an aftershock but it was the tremor caused by a huge flood of monsters surging out from the woods surrounding the truck from all sides. If compared to a normal monster wave, this was two waves combined into one!

The Captain hastily shouted at the top of his lungs, "Prepare for battle!" He shouted so loudly that he choked. He thought, 'This is bad, really bad, how would they survive this with only a wave's worth of resource? It would've been possible with a strategy, an appropriate location and if they were able to prepare, but this was just too sudden?'

"Half of you get on top and half surround the truck. Quickly!"

"Start firing!"

They didn't really fight over on who would get on top of the truck and thought that it was the safest because all of them knew in their hearts that this was the end of their road. Even the greenhorn volunteers were able to gouge out the lethality of the situation.

And thus the group's heart became one. It was only at this time that they were truly displaying teamwork. And the sole reason and purpose was, 'to take as much of these rotten monsters to death with them!'

Titus was the one who had the best senses so the premonition of something bad about to happen  was more prominent in his heart. Although he didn't know much and expected such a dire situation to actually occur, he was not full of dread like the others. Instead he was crazed with anger! He couldn't die here, who would protect his 'family' if he died? What about his promise that he would return? He was unwilling to go down at this moment hence, without any hesitation he bolted out of the truck like lightning and approached the Captain.

"Captain, let our men board the truck again. Prepare to drive off. I'll take care of our path to escape!"

The Captain was stunned and was about to scold him for talking such nonsense in this hopeless moment, but when he looked into Titus' eyes, he swallowed back his words. And before he could process his own thoughts, his own mouth already moved involuntarily.

"Get on the truck now! This is an order!"

Even the Captain himself was shocked by his own action, much less those soldiers and volunteers who were firing with all their might. Coincidentally, after the Captain's voice finished echoing in their minds, the guns in their hands were emptied out. Originally, their resources would last them for a wave but because of the density of the sudden wave, which was unlike the gradual increase of a normal wave, they were only able to manage to shave half a wave worth of monsters, still leaving one wave and a half that ensured their demise.

Since they already had no choice, and they couldn't fight back anymore anyways, they just followed the Captain's order for the 'last time' and obediently boarded the truck.

Proofread by: @lynn