Chapter 9: The Path Chosen

Allen Stryka was ashamed of what he did. He was not like this when he departed from the town. Or at least that was what he had decided to not become to when he left. But perhaps the first-hand experience of the dangers outside his hometown had affected his mentality.

What was he ashamed of exactly?

It was that he hesitated. Whichever option he chose to take, he should have done that decisively. This proved that he still had much to learn.

Bam!

His flaming right fist landed on his target. It was none other than the mutated cat. The cat tried to create an afterimage using the wind covering its body. But he was unable to do so.

Boom!

The flames made contact with the wind. This resulted into an explosion. This seemed to have caused the cat some damage.

"Take that!"

Allen was overjoyed with what had happened. He could not believe that he could now land such a hit easily. In addition, the resulting explosion had not affected him at all. It was his flames that detonated after all, the energy was his and it did not cause him any harm.

Water has an advantage on Fire. Earth was at a disadvantage against Wind. As of late, humans and beasts were able to manifest only five elements. That was as far as the people of Kinshin was aware of anyway.

Using logic on the three statements above, one could infer that Fire would probably have an advantage against one of the other four elements. Water and Earth could then be removed in the possible choices. Thus one could further infer that there was a fifty percent chance that Fire was strong against Wind.

Turned out, that was indeed the case!

Meowr!

The cat immediately recovered its stance. Its fur was all standing up as it glared at the young man angrily.

The mutated rats seemed to be taken back by his actions instead.

"Don't misunderstand. I'm taking your side to pay back at the time you spent training me."

The young man explained. He glanced at the three rats. His eyes then made contact on Boss Mo's. He then added,

"Once this is over, we'll go our separate ways."

Allen was aware that the choice he made was probably not the best. There was a chance that the rats would dispose him once they had defeated their sworn enemy. But that would be something the young man had to deal with after this battle.

On a different perspective, the cat was peacefully sleeping along the river bank. For all he knew, the evil side here were the rats who invaded the place.

But what is good and what is evil exactly?

That was a philosophical conundrum which Allen could not possibly answer right now. What mattered here was he spent more time with the rats instead of the cats. If he did somehow, someday, spent time with the mutated cats as well then perhaps he could finally reach an answer.

However, that was not yet possible since the mutated white cat was beginning its attack!

"I'll handle the defense. Go and attack!"

Allen declared. He had proven that his flames could negate the cat's afterimage dodging. Thus he proposed to handle that aspect of the fight.

The rats seemed to have agreed and followed his instructions. They began to move out in different directions.  Boss Mo had even let go of his central position and headed to the right instead. It focused on tackling the cat relentlessly.

The battle became manageable afterwards. With four participants, taking on a single opponent had been possible. This had troubled the cat. It then decided to run away.

But since there were four of them, they were able to block its escape route. Albeit Boss Mayni had to struggle the most since it was the only one who could catch up on the cat's running speed.

Boss Mayni's speed had carried their team on covering that aspect.

Boss Eni on the other hand had increased the size of its armor. This might have decreased its speed but in exchange, this enabled the rat to resist the penetrating winds and deal stronger hits.

The four were not left unscathed though. The cat was able to scratch with its claws and hit them with its tail. It was also capable of unleashing wind projectiles from its claws.

Allen was unable to avoid these projectiles and had suffered serious injuries. Each projectile dealt damage similar to his jabs. Getting hit once might not be that much, but multiple hits would surely cause one to faint.

Make no mistake. Allen was definitely stronger compared to how he was when he left his hometown. There was even a possibility that he could truly defeat the Mayor Nark of that time. But as he had gotten stronger, the rest of world would probably have grown stronger too.

He was reminded once again that getting stronger was no longer enough. He needed to git gu… ehem, get better as well.

With the help of the three rats, he was slowly able to adapt against the varying strikes of the cat. He was then able to parry some of the wind projectile. Rendering those attacks useless.

In addition, the four were able to land hits more often now than being hit. The damages they were leaving on the cat would surely have piled up by now.

Meowr!

The mutated cat cried out angrily. It then ran towards the river. Cats before the apocalypse were not fond of water. But it seemed like this white one did not mind getting wet. It then began to manifest stronger winds.

Allen tried to tank the incoming wind projectiles. He threw a right jab to parry the attack.

Bam!

The punch was able to hit the projectile. But the exploding instance did not happen.

"The fire is being neutralized?"

The young man was surprised upon seeing the result. He was not expecting such thing to happen. He began to wonder what made such instance possible.

Relative Humidity. It was the measure of the amount of water particles present on the atmosphere of a certain location. On this particular instance, the wind projectile attack that the mutated cat released. It had allowed itself to be covered in the river water to increase the water content of its wind element. This was why it could dampen the Fire element of its opponent.

"What a smart cat!"

Allen was impressed. During his time traveling around the wild, he noticed that the mutated beasts possessed enhanced reasoning skills. They could easily figure out the probable factors whenever they encounter a situation. They could also think of a solution for the predicament.

This was probably how they toppled the food chain. Human were now outdated that some beasts don't even consider them as proper prey anymore.

The cat seemed to be grinning mischievously. Now that it had a way to deal with the human, the battle would surely sway to its favor.

But that would be wrong.

Spalsh! Spalsh! Spalsh!

If the cat could use the body of water to its advantage, then so did the three rats. They soaked their Earth element with the river water as well. This had made their movements slower. But so did the cat anyway.

An atmospheric air with relatively high-water particle content would be heavier than dry air. This would certainly affect the cat's mobility.

Furthermore, wet earth would be harder to penetrate especially when the wind was heavier.

MEOWRR!!!

The cat understood the mistake it did and decided to escape once again. It had perhaps realized the main factor for its inability to flee. Hence it decided to attack that certain factor.

SCREECH!

Boss Mayni wreathed in pain. The claws of the cat had punctured the chest of the former. But the rat refused to give in. It grabbed the puncturing claws which locked their owner in place.

Boss Mo and Boss Eni reacted quickly. They each grabbed the rear end legs of the cat. The two rats were being kicked back in defiance. Nonetheless they endured the pain.

The three rats then dragged down the resisting cat back to the river bank.

Allen followed the four creatures out of the river. He no longer hesitated. He took a stance and aimed for the cat that was pinned down in place.

[Fire Fist: Raging Smash]!

This was the technique that the young man was developing. His original concept for this attack was to increase his overall flames and barrage the target constantly with the raging punches.

But during their travels, he realized that rampaging aimlessly was not as effective as dealing a surefire damage. This made him revise the attack into a single-strike finishing blow. It was now a move that focuses on a single point and unleashing flames on that point of contact.

The downside of this technique though, was that it could easily be avoided by a nimble enemy. That was why Allen had to find a way to incapacitate his opponent first then unleash the attack.

The rats might have been aware of this and thus they now tried to hold the mutated cat with all their might.

BAM!

The raging right straight punch hit the white cat on its right side near its stomach. Then the flames erupted upon contact. Allen did not retract his right fist as he poured all the flames that he could muster on the creature.

MEEOOOWW!!!

The cat cried in pain as the flames began to puncture its stomach.

"Not yet!"

Raging Smash! Raging Smash! Raging Smash!

When Allen found the first strike to be lacking, he thew a couple more on the creature. Right Straight. Left Straight. Then another right straight punch. He casted it a few more times.

The mutated white cat finally died.

A special kind of energy coming from the dead cat was being absorbed by Allen. The energy entered his body and was heading to his own energy reserve.

The young man did not panic. He had felt this sensation before. When he was allowed to hunt on his own, he would end up receiving such energy whenever he successfully killed a prey.

Perhaps this was what they refer to as Experience or EXP. Some sort of prize one would receive upon defeating an enemy.

But that was sort of weird. This was the apocalypse not some kind of virtual game.

Allen wanted to celebrate the victory but he was completely exhausted. He lied down the ground and panted heavily.

"Huff, huff, we won!"

He was struggling to breathe in. And yet he could still not help himself from smiling cheerfully. Overcoming such challenge was indeed a reward itself.

But then,

Drop!

A sound of something falling down was heard. Allen quickly rose up and looked around. He then found the answer.

"Boss Mayni…"

The mutated rat had sustained a considerable amount of damage when it was attacked by the cat. It then held the creature to buy others a chance to hit the enemy. That had caused his life unfortunately.

Boss Mo and Boss Eni reached out its side. They sat down beside their fallen comrade. Their heads were cast low.

Allen had also wanted to get closer to the late Boss Mayni. But Boss Mo pushed him back. It was not a push with force behind it. There was no sign of rage or resentment on the act as well. It was just a casual push that could be considered as a statement.

Allen could even swear that he saw Boss Mo shook its head. Perhaps he wanted say something like, 'this is none of your concern.'

'Once this is over, we'll go our separate ways.'

The words he had said before had struck Allen. He was proven wrong. The rats were not planning on disposing him after they had dealt with the white cat. But since the young man had said his plan of leaving them behind, he was being told now that he did not belong here anymore.

It was just a casual push. So why did it hit more than any kind of attack?

Allen bit his lip. He made his choice. No matter what the result may be, he should never take it back. He bowed his head and said,

"Thank you."

The time he spent with the mutated rats was not completely good. More often than not, he had been beaten up. But he learned a lot from them as well. He could not deny the fact that he could not have survived the wilderness on his own.

All he could do now was express his gratitude and follow the path he had chosen.

However,

Splurt! Splurt!

Two pillars made of earth had suddenly impaled Boss Mo and Boss Eni. They were unable to react. After a few moments, they were not moving anymore.

"Hahaha, what a great haul we have today!"

A voice laughed from the distance. This was coupled with a few voices of cheering.

They were probably humans.

"Huh?"

Allen froze in surprise.