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"According to the map, there should be a settlement somewhere north of our current position." Dorian mumbled to himself as he walked through the dirty and broken streets. This was the second day since his awakening, and he had made good progress in exploring the area around him. Of course, his exploration was not done alone.

The sound of heavy footfalls and panting as heard just before Bolt shot past Dorian and pounced on the small, black furred critter that was lurking some distance away from Dorian's current position. A flash of yellow light accompanied a pained screech, before relative silence enveloped the area once again. Bolt came bounding toward Dorian only a few moments later, having downed the small creature in one go.

"Your hunger is as insatiable as always." Dorian chuckled as he ran his fingers through the thick fur that covered Bolt's head. The hound barked at him in response before falling into step beside Dorian. It was quite a strange sight. Normally, very few people bothered with pets after the Apocalypse fell upon the world. And even if they kept pets like dogs and the like, no one would expect to see a dog as large as Bolt.

The pair kept on walking for several hours with a few short breaks in between. It wasn't until the second half of the day, when evening was approaching, that they noticed signs of people.

A few leather wrappers littered the ground, and from the look of them, they looked as though there were still new.

"These look fresh. Maybe there's someone around here somewhere." Dorian mumbled to himself as he inspected the wrapper. Bolt stopped beside him and took a whiff of the scent that still lingered on the wrapper.

"Ruff!" Bolt exclaimed, his loud, gruff bark erupting from his chest in a deep tone. He turned toward a seemingly random direction and his ears straightened. Dorian studied Bolt's reaction with a raised brow.

'It seems like Bolt has caught on to something.' He thought to himself before steeling his resolve.

"Let's head in that direction." He patted Bolt's head before turning in the direction that Bolt had hinted at.

...

Not too far from Dorian's position, a battle was raging on. Blades of wind and whips of water flew around the area, breaking up the ground and scattering debris into the air. A few hisses of some snakes even rang out occasionally.

"Cover me, I'm going for the leader!" A tiny feminine voice rang over the sound of destruction, and the whips made of water momentarily vanished. A small petite girl with blond hair packed into pigtails, and light blue eyes dashed toward the center of the pack of Earth Snakes, wielding two long, narrow swords that were made entirely of water.

She quickly crossed the distance between herself and the largest snake in the pack before making her move. Her hands drew a clean arc through the air, just some meters before the snake. She never got close enough to touch the snake, but she didn't care. She never needed to get close enough in the first place.

Two thin, blue arcs of water shot forward from the point where the petite blond had swung her blades, straight at the largest snake in the pack. However, the snake had already taken measures to protect itself from the charging girl.

A layer of earth covered its thick, light green scales and partially blocked the effects of the water blades. Two thin lines appeared on the layer of stone that covered the body of the snake. The attack had dug into the protection around it and left some faint lines that cut through its scales.

HISSSSS!!!

The snake seemed to erupt into anger and lashed out in the fraction of a second. It threw its body in the direction that the girl had dashed to, reaching her in a short moment.

Just before it could slam its body on her, a barrage of heavy wind blades slammed against its side, flinging it across the area and slamming it into a pile of debris.

"Careful, Dora! Your dad would kill me if he found a single scratch on you!" The man that accompanied Dora in her hunt exclaimed from his position on the backline. A few snakes noticed him and slithered to attack him, but they were met by a dense gale that did not hesitate to throw them away in a different direction.

"Don't worry, Gun! I can handle it." The petite girl, Dora, grinned at the burly man before turning her attention back to the livid serpent that raised its head from the expanding cloud of dust. The snake glared hatefully at Dora. Its violent emotions were so intense that one would expect Dora to explode into nothing but a gory mess just from the look it was giving her alone.

The large mouth of the snake opened up to let out another angry hiss, only for a yellow flash of light to erupt, forcing Dora to close her eyes. The flare of light was so unexpected that her body simply reacted on its own.

"Ruff!" A deep, guttural bark rang out before the sound of a large collision was heard.

Dora's eyes snapped open immediately. Her training kicked in as her body went into overdrive, forcing her to leap backwards and get to a safe position. When her eyes focused, he first thing she saw was a one meter large dog wrestling the massive snake down to the ground. Sparks surrounded its figure and constantly electrocuted the snake that was pinned underneath it.

The snake writhed in agony as it endured those shocks. It's body slammed on the ground, and its tail whipped around madly in an attempt to force the hound that was pinning it down away, but it was all for naught. Bolt would never allow a potential threat to his master remain alive.

The struggle continued through the next minute before the relentless shocks managed to make the layer of earth surrounding the snake's body crumble. Bolt didn't let that chance go, and immediately snapped his jaws around the head of the snake. The amount of force that was delivered through that chomp was enough to completely shatter the thick and sturdy skull of the snake. It was only expected that Bolt's teeth sunk into its brain, completely ending the snake's struggle and life.

Dora and her partner, Gun, could only watch, slightly stupefied, at how easily their prey was stolen from them. Their surprise was even amplified when they saw a brown haired boy stepping out from behind a crumbled wall.

"Um, hi?"