Chapter 16: Reunion

"A giant water lady. Monsters sure take on many forms." Samuel's eyes glowed white.

[Aquamarine Maiden]

[Stats:]

[Strength: 28]

[Vitality: 39]

[Agility: 23]

[Intelligence: 12]

[Willpower: 9]

[Anomalies:]

[-Highly pressurized water flow]

[-Dense concentration of energy moving around body]

Based on the mana structure of the Aquamarine Maiden, Samuel could analyze the stats of the creature. His eyes could also see something new: anomalies. Before, when Mammon was acting as a proxy for the information, he was able to see a description and names of abilities. Now, he could only see anomalies.

However, anomalies were arguably more useful than Mammon's Eyes of Truth as they highlighted something very interesting. In the body of the Aquamarine Maiden was a bright spot of light that shifted around from time to time. The information relayed to his brain told him that this was a weak point of the monster.

Now, the problem was that he had no reliable weapon that could hit that weakspot. His main method of attack was throwing an explosive fireball, but this monster was completely made of water. Even though he saw from the water splashing around the area that it wasn't totally extinguishing to his fire, there was simply no way a fireball could penetrate a thick mass of water.

But, that's why teammates existed. Technically, these guild members weren't teammates but they certainly were allies.

"Akaash! There's a small object or something inside of the water lady that's moving around. Shoot that and destroy it!" Samuel shouted loudly.

Turns out that wasn't the best idea, because his shout both startled some of the Awakened and attracted the water lady's attention.

"Augh! Fuck!" A familiar, Indian-accented voice rang out in pain. Samuel saw Akaash being blasted in the arm by a water projectile. He dropped his bow on the ground after falling over.

Samuel face-palmed before jumping to the side to dodge a water blast.

Luckily, there was another projectile-using Awakened in the group. Ariana was barely able to see a small rock-like object inside the water lady. She created two energy discs and launched them at the object. Sensing the danger, the Aquamarine Maiden tried to block the energy discs with her arms but the first one sliced through her arms before dissipating while the second followed through and hit the gemstone core. The energy disc shattered the gemstone in two halves.

Immediately after the gemstone was destroyed, the water all stopped flowing at once and splashed back into the lake.

Once the immediate threat was dealt with, the group of Awakened collectively sighed in relief. Even though they weren't getting hurt, the battle was mentally taxing on them. Coupled with the previous battle, their mental energy was worn down.

"Samuel! You're okay." Angela was the first one to greet him. She ran up and inspected him up and down before giving him a pat on the shoulder.

"Yeah, I got separated right when the fire started."

"Samuel, you didn't tell us you Awakened?" Akaash came over. He had long figured out what happened. There was simply no way that such a powerful magical fire came out of nowhere. He figured it was either Samuel or that Mr. Bo who set the fire and when he recalled that Samuel was running around like a madman earlier, he deduced it was Samuel who had done it.

"Sorry Akaash, I had some stuff to take care of before I wanted to tell everyone." Samuel smiled sheepishly. Luckily, it had worked out somehow.

"Well, it's none of my business really." Akaash winced as Preethi rolled up his sleeves to inspect the hit. "Ow."

Anastasia came over with the civilian Bobby in tow. From the looks of it, he was unharmed.

"Good work everyone, but our mission isn't over. There's one more civilian somewhere in this dimension. We need to find them. We'll take a few minutes to rest briefly before setting out." Anastasia turned to Samuel after relaying the orders. "Samuel, did you run into Rick and Mr. Bo while you were out there?"

In her mind, since Samuel was in one piece he probably didn't run into them. There was even less of a chance that he could have done what he wanted to do.

Samuel knew better than to disclose anything. He shook his head, saying that he didn't see them. By denying ever seeing them, he would reduce the chances of his involvement in their deaths. With the way that they died, no suspicion should ever fall on him. Now, the issue was whether Anastasia could manage to shield the guild from the scrutiny of the Quan Group.

While the group was resting, they took the time to discuss the situation.

"That water lady sure was difficult to kill. Well, until Samuel found that weak spot."

"Yeah, honestly how did you even spot that tiny rock, Samuel? Even Akaash didn't see it."

"Hey! I saw it, I just didn't know what it was…"

"Oh, my Awakened ability has the power to identify some information about creatures and things like that."

"Ooh! An identification ability! You could probably make a good living as a scout or something in a guild or expedition team."

"Wait a second, if you have an identification ability and that fire, doesn't that mean you Awakened with two abilities?!"

"Uh…Yeah, I guess so."

"Wow! That's amazing! Out of all of us, only Anastasia was like that."

"Don't let that get to your head, Samuel. The main sanctuaries like Washington Sanctuary have many Awakened like that. Some of them might have three or four abilities from their Awakening." Ever the knowledgeable one, Anastasia reminded everyone that the world was a vast place.

Samuel was originally from the Washington Sanctuary, so he knew just how common dual-ability Awakened were. In fact, his parents were both dual-ability Awakened. When he recalled them, a wistful mood briefly set in his mind. He shook his head as if shaking off the bad feelings.

"By the way, what the heck was that flying bat man earlier?" Finally, someone brought up that strange appearance.

Samuel froze up slightly. Obviously, he knew that was actually him. Or rather, that was Satan possessing his body.

"Yeah, that was so weird. He just stayed there for a minute before shouting some stuff and then falling out of the sky."

"Actually, didn't he fall around where Samuel came from? Did you see that thing on your way here? It was like a tall white-skinned creature with bat wings."

"Uhh no. I must have missed him." Samuel lied.

"Well, alright. We better be careful not to run into that thing again."

Luckily, when Satan possessed him, he grew several centimeters taller and even regenerated his arm. The other Awakened didn't even suspect Samuel of actually being that strange bat man.

After their rest, they continued on. By this time, with all the water that had been flung everywhere along with the gradual lack of fuel, the fire in the forest had mostly died off. It was essentially just a barren stretch of land with burnt tree trunks. Many of the thicker trees hadn't completely been burned to ash while the thinner ones had.

As for the deer, when Samuel told them that he'd killed the alpha, the group was completely shocked. Even Anastasia was in disbelief. With her power, if she was able to get within grappling distance of the alpha, she could easily kill it. But Samuel was a newly Awakened.

When Samuel showed them the Gale Deer Alpha's monster essence, they were even more shocked. There was no Awakened in the world who didn't know about monster essences. Of course, these guys were no exception. They finally believed his words. Fortunately for Samuel, none of them seemed to covet that monster essence. He was glad that they weren't greedy people.

Now that the Gale Deer Alpha was dead, the rest of the Gale Deer would be completely scattered. With the fire rampaging around earlier, there wouldn't be any more horde attacks to worry about.

Of course, the dimension was large enough to host a few hordes of deer, but they would deal with that if it came to it.

After about half an hour of searching, they finally found the other civilian. He was at the top of a tall tree, hiding from a pack of wolves at the bottom of the tree. They kept growling at him, unable to do anything meaningful to hurt him. Scattered around the tree were spiked protrusions that reached a meter up.

These wolves were the other natural inhabitants of this dimension, Geowolves.

[Geowolf]

[Stats:]

[Strength: 14]

[Vitality: 19]

[Agility: 11]

[Intelligence: 13]

[Willpower: 10]

[Anomalies:]

[-Rock-like carapace around the head and abdomen]

[-Tough fur bristles]

[Geowolf Alpha]

[Stats:]

[Strength: 18]

[Vitality: 21]

[Agility: 14]

[Intelligence: 16]

[Willpower: 10]

[Anomalies:]

[-Rock-like carapace around the head and abdomen]

[-Head carapace is embedded with gem that emits mana waves]

[-Tough fur bristles]

Geowolves were pack animals that hunted in groups of six to nine. They were always led by an alpha and they were natural enemies of Gale Deer.

Now that Samuel didn't need to hide his power anymore, he joined the fight properly this time. The civilian seemed safe for now, but it was best to rescue them as soon as possible.

The group jumped into battle, getting the initiative against the pack of wolves. Akaash sniped one immediately, while the melee-type Awakened ran into attack range to tank and fight. The rest of the ranged Awakened stayed in the back providing supporting fire and taking any opportunities to kill.

Samuel materialized his arm and blasted into the battle, using his superior strength and explosive acceleration to smash the wolves to pieces.

Anastasia fully showcased her power this time, without the interference of tens of enemies. She located the Geowolf Alpha and used her insane grip strength and wrestling skills to completely dominate it.

With Samuel's help, the battle took just a few minutes to conclude. The civilian was rescued from the tree, and the group was finally able to take their time to rest and properly loot their kills.

Anastasia finally relaxed a little when the two civilians were saved. With this, the next step was to claim this Gate for her guild.

Gates were dangerous anomalies that could potentially spell the doom of a town or city, but they were also extremely valuable strategic resources. As they were natural habitats for the monsters inhabiting them, they were great money since the monsters themselves were valuable resources. Provided the guild that controlled the Gate could maintain it and periodically clear out the monsters, they would have endless monster resources at their disposal.

If her guild claimed this Gate, they would gain the resources necessary to expand the guild and protect the town better. Awakened would migrate to Stoneburg to join the guild and as a result the town itself would expand.