Warlord – Chapter 42
Mapping the area was one of the most common tasks. It would be very hard to do high-precision depiction of the map manually so Zero had rented an equipment. It was a multi-functional tactical watch. It could show time, used as a compas, test the temperature and act as a holographic scanner.
As soon as he turned on the holographic scanner feature the watch would connect to the computer in the base. The map drawing instrument would scan the area and send it off to the main computer. This tactical watch wasn't a common instrument and was connected to the computers of the each base that provided it. As a result the mercenaries that took the tasks about mapping an area had to lease this equipment from the base that gave out the task.
The tactical watch developed by the Remit was relatively simple in comparison to the ones developed by large companies or conglomerates. Zero knew that the tactical watch produced by Parker Conglomerate did have holographic dialogue feature and could be used as a holographic computer on its own.
Zero was out of the library. The watch had mapped the complete three dimensional plan of the western part of the campus.
Zero found a place to sit and rest. He hadn't eaten or slept in the last two days. The energy that he had consumed was more than he had expected. He drank about 200ml of water and ate a tube of nutrients. He closed his eyes to relax and nap for a while. It would be much easier to decompose and convert the food into energy.
In the last two days he hadn't met the three other mercenaries. The area of the state university was too large. But the unknown areas were getting reduced and it was matter of time when he would meet the other side. There were three people. In addition to expressionless woman the other two men showed hostility towards him. Zero clearly felt killing intent from the man with the element domain ability when he departed from Sean's office.
Zero wasn't afraid of the ability user of the element domain. He knew that the man should have a strong ability as he didn't have weapons on himself. However Zero wasn't planning to face him head on. Moreover it didn't mean that the person could resist the bullets. Zero could kill Ralph without Ralph being able to retaliate as long as Zero could find the right opportunity.
Zero could have bought an old sniper rifle if he didn't pay for the accommodation of Ted and others. The area of the university was like a labyrinth and he could trap and ambush the other side in this place.
For now he was only able to buy two grenades from the old era.
The only thing that he was worried right now was the woman. He couldn't see through her so he felt the danger of unknown.
Zero left the shelter about half an hour later. It was enough rest for him to go for another two days. He went to the south of the campus.
The south of the university was meant for dormitories. There were many buildings and artificial gardens. There was even a human-made lake in the center of the south part of the campus. The five storey dormitory that he was facing had collapsed. The gardens weren't looked after for so many years. The vegetation was dead and the artificial lake didn't have any water in it. He sensed the disgusting smell of the feces and body fluids of the unknown creatures from the bottom of the artificial lake.
There upper layers of the five story building had collapsed. There were cracks on everywhere that seemed stable for now. He entered the first floor of the building. The transparent mucus on ground caught Zero's attention. He squatted down and pressed his finger gently onto the sticky liquid. He brought back his finger and sniffed.
It smelled like dead fish. His fingertip felt numb so Zero knew that there was a small amount of neurotoxins in the mucus. Zero had seen this mucus for the last two days.
It was the musuc left from the spider's silk. Normally, rock spiders would use their silk to wrap the prey and tow it away. The cocoon would leave mucus while it was dragged.
The mucus hadn't condensed which meant that the rock spider had just dragged its prey. The tracks went through the corridor into the hall. Zero stood up and pulled out his revolvers as he walked into the hall.
Zero checked to see that the hall was cleared out into an open space by the rock spiders. The cocoons made by the spiders were hanging from the air as they were illuminated by the sun rays.
The rock spider had climbed onto the wall and used its thick silk to fix the new prey onto the wall. Zero didn't expect the monsters to use this hall as a food storage room. The hungry rock spiders would suck the flood and flesh of the caught preys until the skeletons were left.
The rock spider disappeared through a crack in the corner of the hall after it fixed the new cocoon on the ceiling. Zero joined the hall and went towards the prey that was newly captured. There were male and female humans that were wrapped in silks. Some of them had only their skeletons left while the others seemed to be captured recently.
Zero recognized the man that was just brought into the hall. It was the alcoholic that he had met at the union hall in the Remit. Zero took out the dagger and cut off the cocoon from the ceiling. He gently put the old alcoholic's body onto the ground.
The neurotoxins of the rock spider seemed to have invaded the old alcoholic's body. Zero hoped that the poisoning wasn't deep. He cleaned the silks while the hand of the alcoholic shot out and grabbed Zero's wrist. The old alcoholic who had to be paralyzed by now according to Zero, opened his eyes: "What the hell are you doing?"
“Aren't you poisoned?” Zero was surprised.
Alcoholic snorted: “What a joke! Have you seen a monster hunter caught by the monster that he wants to hunt? I let it catch me on purpose you idiot!”
Zero was surprised. He was aware of hunters but he didn't know that monster hunters could have such classification. Moreover, he thought that one foot of this old alcoholic was already in the coffin let alone the man to be a hunter!