Patrick Enenra [1]

They continued their plan from yesterday. Apparently, there were more people than they thought. It seemed that some tried to go behind Coll's back to level up.

They found them throughout the hallway, sharpening metal poles they tore off from foldable chairs. They decided to split up and scour through the entire building to maximise efficiency.

Except for Everette, of course. They would seem to return after a couple of hours before leaving. They noticed that he had come back; the white sack he hung over his shoulder would be deflated and empty, and it would be full when he left again.

Ada, while walking through a hallway, caught a glimpse of Everette leaving out of the Chapel through a window. The sack hung over his shoulder was full, so she assumed he was leaving again. She placed her elbow on the windowsill before leaning her cheek into her palm.

Her usual relaxed face was nowhere to be seen. The air around her seems to distort, almost like it's getting hotter while also remaining still like it's getting colder.

Her free hand would then tightly grip the windowsill. She was making a very displeased expression.

'What are they doing together?'

She clenched her jaw before moving away from the window and continuing down the hallway.

'I'll talk with him later...' A cold glint passed through her eyes. She was viewing Alice as more and more of a threat.

***

Everette sighed before leaning his back against a wall. He wiped the sweat gathering in his brows before placing the white sack beside him.

"This is a lot more work than I expected."

He sat down and opened the sack. The large sack contained a plentiful amount of food, mainly pastries and cheese. He sighed:

"To think they only had this. I guess they ate all the nutritious ones instead." He pulled out one of the pastries before quickly placing it into his mouth and tightening the mouth of the sack.

'I couldn't find any sweet liquids for it, so I just gotta hope it can eat or smell it.'

He sat down on the cold, hard floor and dug into the pastry. He was currently located in an alleyway outside of Trinity.

Everette had spent the last couple of hours since he woke up coming out and using the food as bait for something. He peered around the corner before smirking.

It was a long road with scattered cars and stop signs. In the middle of the street was a line of pastries and cheese. Everette had been leaving trails of food in hopes it would arrive.

He waited and waited. Occasionally, Infected dogs would arrive and try to snag some food from the trail for themselves before being impaled by a flying spear.

Everette waited patiently on the floor with his spear for it to arrive. After an hour of waiting, he sighed: "I guess it's not coming. I might need to think of another plan."

Subsequently, after saying that out loud, he felt a bit of tremor in the ground. He widened his eyes before hastily pushing his head out around the alleyway and the corner.

At the end of the road was a fork that led to the right. From that road, the tip of a pincer poked out before moving forward. The head of the creature entered his vision along with its body.

It was the beetle that Coll and his party fought and ran away from. The stag beetle had a pincer on the left side of its mouth. 2 of its six legs were gone, and its exoskeleton was decorated with cuts and arrows.

He further narrowed his eyes onto its back to notice the lack of dents. He raised a brow, "Did it heal?" Before he could ponder any longer on it, he could see the beetle tilting its head down before spitting on a pastry.

"Hm?" He leaned against the wall he was using as cover to try and get a better look. The pastry was covered in its fluid because it broke down before being dissolved in the liquid.

It tilted its head down and began to absorb the fluid back into its body. When he witnessed this, Everette fell into deep thought, 'Stag beetles drink fluid of sweet things... Could it be that it gained some kind of ability to make fluids that help digest solid matter?'

Even though he was a biology student in a good school, he was just pulling things out of his ass that sounds right.

He tilted his head up and stared at the cloudy skies. His lips stretched into a grin, 'I gotta be ready for the climax...' He stayed for a while to increase the food trail before returning to the campus.

***

With the sack emptied, he hurried back. When entering the campus, he decided to see how Alice and Patrick were. He neared the entrance before noticing Coll in the distance approaching.

Coll walked around in a black tracksuit while carrying something wrapped in cloth onto his back. He hid and waited.

*Knock Knock Knock*

Three knocks rang out from the door before a soft and elegant voice rang out from behind.

"Is that you, Everette?" The door widened open to expose the pure white-head maiden. "You came back earlier this... Time..." Her began to shake as her eyes landed on Coll's figure.

"O-Oh— W-welcome back, S-Sir! W-When did you get back?" He huffed before responding, "Yesterday, now move." He shoved her out of the way and entered.

His eyes fell upon a the back of a middle-aged man holding a clipboard while taking care of his target. "You there. I've never seen your face before."

Still resting in the hospital bed, Victor noticed Coll's presence and shook. Patrick turned his head back to see Coll staring at him with a menacing look.

Victor gripped onto Patrick's forearm before whispering:

"Just do as he says, Patrick. Don't antagonise him."

Patrick nodded with a suspicious look. He turned back around and to face Coll before introducing himself:

"I-I am P-Patrick Enenra. I arrived here yesterday. That kind-hearted girl allowed me to stay here in exchange for assisting her." Patrick could sense himself caving in under Coll's glare. The last part of his sentence was a lie.

Alice allowed him to laze around on the condition that he didn't disturb her patients. He felt a bit restless, so he volunteered to help her.

Coll's snorted, "Is that so? Well then, I need you to leave." The last part came out as a growl. Victor, still gripping onto Patrick's foreman, shuddered before whispering, "I-I take it back! D-Don't leave me here alone with him!"

Sweat began to form on his forehead, 'What the hell do I do? If I leave, I can most definitely guess this guy will do something to Victor, given the air around him.' He gripped his hand.

"I-I... will have to refuse, young lad." Patrick's hand shakily pulled up the side of his white-buttoned-up shirt to reveal a slim wooden cane poking out from his pants.

He pulled it out. It was a long, slender wooden stick with a smooth surface. The most right side had a black fur handle, almost as if it was used for swinging.

He held it up with both hands horizontally before pulling. The cane became two different objects. The one with the black handle had a long, thin blade attached to it - the cane was a sword and a sheath.

The blade was just a few inches shorter than the cane's overall size.

Coll raised a brow before reaching for the clothed object on his back. The end of the cloth loosely hung before being clutched and pulled off. His mandible greatsword was revealed with all its glory.

It swung it horizontally, slicing through the curtain used as a door to the first aid before pointing it towards Patrick.

Patrick widened his eyes as he saw the abomination that was Coll's weapon. 'W-What the hell!?' He took a short look at his cane sword before sighing.

'I'm gonna need a smoke after this.'

Coll huffed, "Come at me, loser." Patrick's vein began to pop out before taking a deep breath. 'The boy is just taunting you, old man. Calm down.'

He entered the aisle that separates the patients from the other side. "Hmph... You first." Coll seems to be ticked off by that and dashes towards him.

After nearing 5 metres from him, he raised his greatsword and brought it down. Patrick raised his blade to it horizontally with both hands on the handle.

CLANG!

Their clash echoed in the hall. Patrick struggled under the force before forcefully pushing back the greatsword with a sudden burst. Coll's weapon recoiled far back.

Coll's eyes widened in shock before grasping his handle tightly. "You... You're at the Soldier stage, aren't you!?"

"Heh! Why so surprised, boy? Did you think someone as old as me can't reach this stage?" The middle-aged twirled his cane. He had a relaxed smile spread across his face as he pointed with his thumb towards his face. It seems that the adrenaline coursing through his veins has brought similar effects to that of when he smokes.

His mind then began to think back to when Ada picked him for this expedition.