Chapter 3. The Fifteen Strongest (3)

Early in the morning, Konrad came out of his tent. He looked around the area where the surviving members of the squad were camped. Everything around the camp was scorched and devastated.

Even the sky was dyed crimson, as if the blood of all the fallen people in this long-term war with monsters had penetrated the atmosphere. Even the sun was not visible, only the red light illuminated this nightmare.

- Why are you up so early?

A red-haired youth who was completely covered in sweat came up to him. His eyes were tired, but there was a thirst for battle in them.

- Have you been practicing all night again?

- Old man, I asked the question first!

Patrick gave him a haughty look.

*Bam-s*

Konrad responded to such brazen behavior with a weighty slap in order to put the young man's brains in place.

- Ay-ay-ay! It hurts!

- How are you talking to a senior in rank!?

Although Konrad's voice and expression were serious, he was not angry at Patrick at all.

- What difference does it make what rank someone has, when there is almost nothing left of humanity.

There was a deep longing in the young man's voice.

* Bam-s*

- Ay! Stop hitting me on the head, I'm not the smartest anyway, but because of you and this witch, I'm going to be completely stupid.

- It was done in order to raise your morale and knock bad thoughts out of your head.

Patrick looked at Conrad, whose gaze was thoughtful and staring into the distance.

- In that case, can I also give you an inspiring slap?

*Bam-s*

- Ay!

---

All the members of the squad woke up a long time ago and started packing. They loaded them into three pickups, which miraculously survived the last battle with an impenetrable horde of monsters and a numbered one.

- Master, which car will you drive?

- Along with Zass, Walter, Wesley and Aisha.

- I understand you.

Disappointment could be heard in the voice of the black-haired youth, who had two daggers on his belt.

- Sairan, you'd better go with the young ones, because we are old people, boring people.

Konrad grinned and patted the black-haired youth on the head.

- Who are you calling old here, you, idiot!?

Konrad looked at Aisha with a smile, who did not hide her indignation.

- No matter how you look at it, we are already over 40.

Aisha's face showed a lot of irritation.

[Wind Path: Whisper]

- Forgive me, Master…

The black-haired young man standing next to Konrad seemed to disappear into the wind.

- Aisha, calm down, I didn't mean to offend you.

[Water Path: A Thousand Needles]

Despite Conrad's attempts to calm the woman down, she was unwavering.

Streams of energy gathered around her, which turned into a huge number of water needles and rushed towards Conrad.

Konrad calmly dodged every needle flying at him. Although, even if all the needles had reached their goal together, they would not have caused any harm to the man, because Aisha was not a fighter, and she used this skill to perform acupuncture operations.

- What do we have here, a loving couple fighting again?

A tall, thin man joined the action. 

- What a fight, Walter, I'm just helping Konrad with his morning workout.

Aisha smiled sweetly.

- And we're not a couple at all.

Conrad's face reflected childishness

[Water path: Five thousand needles]

After Conrad's words, Aisha was even more annoyed. The number of needles has increased significantly, and the intensity of the shelling has increased.

- It's been fifteen years since we started working together, and you continue to act like children.

- It's all because of this jerk.

Conrad continued to dodge all the needles flying at him. He did not use wind energy and relied only on his reflexes. In the past, Aisha had often helped him hone his combat sense in this way.

She took a deep breath and canceled her technique, and then walked over to Conrad, who was dusting himself off. She handed him a container of food.

- There are potatoes and dried meat. Despite the disgusting ingredients, Zass was able to cook something edible, which is already incredible.

- That's how it is.

Konrad smiled warmly, looking into the eyes of the woman, whose face was sad. She put her hand to his chest.

[Water Path: Detection]

- Your organs are getting worse.

There was bitterness in Aisha's voice. She knew that the man standing in front of her right now didn't have long to live.

- That's the price for strength.

- You promised…

She clenched her hand, which was lying on Conrad's chest, into a fist.

- That you won't use that technique until you meet Zero.

- That's right, my current strength is more than enough to kill the remaining three, and I'll leave the trump card to the main boss.

Konrad was casually eating jerky and potatoes baked over a campfire, smacking his lips with relish.

- If you die, I'll kill you.

The girl looked seriously into the eyes of Conrad, who continued to eat. The seriousness of the moment was spoiled by the remnants of potatoes that remained on the man's pitch-black mustache and beard.

- You fool!

Aisha punched Conrad in the chest and walked away towards the pickups.

- Bad news?

Konrad looked seriously at Walter, who had been standing silently on the sidelines until that moment.

A sinister smile appeared on Walter's face.

Chapter end