Chapter 46 Kill or leave!
Seeing that nobody believed him, Dilan couldn’t help but shake his head lightly.
“It’s true, but whatever. Her name is Kathrine, and she will probably join us temporarily.”
Taking a look at her he halted for a moment just to quietly ask,
“Should we start hunting for Essences tomorrow onwards?”
It was quite obvious that Kathrine needed to get stronger to pursue her goal which made him ask this question.
As such, Dilan couldn’t help but smile wryly. He didn’t really feel fit enough to fight right now.
There were still quite a few broken and dislocated bones in his body that were mending and relocating to their original place.
Kathrine saw that his condition was still far from being good, which was why she nodded her head, even if it was only in reluctance.
“I need to reach the fourth floor as fast as possible…so please recover quickly…”
She was aware that it was not in Dilan’s hands to recuperate faster, but she could still hope for the best outcome.
After all, she could tell that the monster on the third floor was not something she could defeat alone.
This frustrated her, and the desperation arising out of her helplessness could be seen in her dark eyes.
It was clearly visible that she had something important to do on the fourth floor.-.
Thus, Dilan gave her a small smile as he used his [Regeneration] ability once again.
‘If she is ready to risk her life for the person on the fourth floor, I shouldn’t slack off, right?’
He assumed that there had to be someone she was searching for on the fourth floor.
Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a reason for Kathrine to be that hurried, and desperate.
Dilan had been disappointed way too often due to the callous attitude of other Survivors.
Because of this disappointment, it was refreshing to see Kathrine care for someone else and be desperate enough to risk rushing all the way to the hospital, up the stairs.
And that was after considering that it was likely for ferocious monsters that were strong enough to tear her apart to be on the higher floors.
If Dilan were to be honest, one had to be extremely lucky to survive the last six days without any kind of trouble.
He hoped the best for Kathrine, but decided against saying anything.
Instead, he switched his attention back to the backpack.
“Great, they’re still alive,” he mumbled, as he dug his hand into the backpack.
A moment later, Dilan pulled three horned rats out of the backpack, while tightly gripping their lengthy tails.
They looked just like corpses and were partially squashed, bones protruding out of their small bodies, or they had been severely injured by Dilan before.
Several hours had already passed since the massacre against the Krendels and horned rats ended.
The floor was littered with dead and half-dead, lethally injured monsters.
If they didn’t die while Dilan recuperated from his similar deadly injuries, he ended their life with a final slash of his spear.
For now, he spared only three horned rats that were the least injured and likely to be able to survive a few more hours.
This allowed him to pull them out, and they began twitching to wrestle free of his grasp. This caused confusion in the group of Survivors as they had deemed the horned rats to be dead.
Yet, several Survivors retreated in fright when they saw that the rats were still moving.
“You…what are you planning?!” One of the older male Survivors asked in an anxious voice.
He was the same man from the day before and hearing his voice, almost everyone felt like punching the man in the face.
But they remained silent and stared at the horned rats in Dilan’s hand with several questions in their mind.
‘Will he finally start providing us with living corpses so we can kill them to get their Essence and status points?’
A few had such assumptions, but Dilan didn’t even notice that as his attention diverted to the nurses who were in one big group.
However, instead of looking at the two older nurses that helped him out before, he looked at the three newcomers.
His reason for doing so was quite obvious and his eyes turned cold as he said,
“Each of you has to kill one, or you guys can leave! If you guys don’t want to fight, give the abilities you will receive to someone else.
If they’re useful for some other job, such as something you guys can do, take them as a means to support the entire group. If you don’t want to pursue the specific path the ability will lead to, give it to someone who needs it!”
By now, the other survivors had gotten a little bit used to Dilan’s behavior, which was different in the case of the nurses.
Because that was quite obvious, Dilan knew that he wouldn’t be able to achieve much by talking nicely to the nurses.
His words might sound harsh because he was forcing the nurses to kill a living being or to die outside the safe shelter, which the cafeteria represented.
As such, it was quite obvious which choice they would take.
However, it was quite astonishing that Dilan seemed to be serious about throwing them out if the three nurses wouldn’t kill the half-dead horned rats.
Kathrine didn’t expect the situation to turn out like this.
She was witnessing everything as a stranger who knew nothing about the group’s past experiences and hardships.
The way in which Dilan acted was quite overbearing, which was a sharp contrast to his earlier behavior when they had encountered each other.
But she clearly understood his reason for Dilan to behave like this.
Kathrine was fully aware of the use and the necessity of possessing powerful abilities.
After all, a powerful ability was able to change the tides of an entire battle.
Her own ability was the best example for this scenario.
She was only level 5, but her ability was powerful enough to kill the War Krendel with ease.
And that monster had been at level 9, with stats manifold higher than hers!
There were not only attack-type abilities as well. Some had different uses and it was especially the high variety of abilities that made out a balanced and mighty group!
Because her understanding of an ability’s value was thorough, along with equally great comprehension skills, it was quite obvious what the Shelter’s situation looked like to her.
‘There is no direct Leader, but because Dilan is the strongest, and one of the few, who dares to fight monsters head-on, he can do whatever he wants, is that it?’
In the end, this would mean that she would be able to get in the good books of the entire group just by showcasing her ability.
This was certainly not good because it was quite obvious how little the group trusted each other.
Small groups had formed in the community of 19 Survivors, and their boundaries were quite obvious.
Kathrine didn’t like this, only to perceive that everyone’s outlook on Dilan changed a little bit.
‘Even if he seems to act quite domineering, the others don’t fear him.’
Her conclusion was that Dilan didn’t mistreat anyone and that he might even help others, which she clearly deduced based on the fact that Oliver and Ailee had been given a weapon to fight.
He trusted them enough to allow them to wield weapons.
It was as if he knew nobody would attack or backstab him.
And after looking through the room, her eyes fell on the two Glocks that were lying on the table, unguarded.
Someone could just take them and kill others in a fit of rage.
This was quite dangerous because some Survivors might just think about killing Dilan if he were to be too overbearing.
But then again, Kathrine also sensed that they needed him to survive.
Thus, she couldn’t help but look at Dilan in a new light.
‘Are you a leader in the shadows, or are you so unbothered by the others that you don’t care about what they do?!’
Kathrine was unable to understand Dilan, and this was something that bothered her.
Thus, she decided to observe him and his interactions with the group to find out more about him.
After all, the moment Kathrine would complete the task she came for, there would be no place for her to return!