The World Cataclysm

"Ahhh!...What are you doing?" Rachel cried out in shock as she stared at the leader in fright. Weren't they students like them? Why were they threatening them? Did Rebecca's life only amount to a bag of food in their eyes?

"Wh...Why? We tried to help you..." Rebecca kept stuttering in her words as she said it and as blood dripped from the cut on her neck. She just wanted to help them. How did she end like this? Even worse, she felt more nauseous than before.

"If you want to help us, then just shut up and be a good hostage." Their leader shouted as he pressed his dagger harder on Rebecca's neck. "Give me that bag and leave the building and I'll release her."

Rebecca shook slightly as she felt cold metal pressed on her skin. Conflicting thoughts began to emerge in her mind as she felt her life hanging on the line...Was she mistaken when she tried to help them? Without a clear answer and with the chaos occurring in the world, she started to doubt her own actions which would have been normal in a conventional world.

Staring coldly at the leader who was threatening him, a deep frown crept on his face as he started analyzing their situation. He already predicted that they had likely gotten themselves into trouble when the man blocked the door by which they entered.

Even then, he had thought he'll easily deal with them since looking at their weapons and the time that passed after the start of the second Cataclysm, their level wouldn't have been higher than level 3.

'Why did she even tried to intervene?' Dave criticized Rebecca's actions in his mind as he searched for ways to save her. In the worst case, he was ready that she may die as a result. However, before everything he had something to tell Rebecca, and he hoped she'll learn her lesson.

"So how did it end? It was your idea to save them, but you're the one whose life is being threatened. You know, better to let go of such thinking in a new world. Perhaps, it was normal before, yet such a mentality would only kill you faster than you can imagine."

"But..." Rebecca muttered as she gritted her teeth since she completely understood that it was her fault. If she didn't try to save them, she wouldn't have ended like this nor Dave and Rachel would have been threatened.

"Fuck! Stop spewing bullshit and just shut up. Pass your bag, or I'll kill her." The male student pressed his dagger on her throat as more blood dripped from the cut. "Don't try to pull something. Put your sword on the ground and do so that your hands can be seen."

Two male students also seemed confused as they observed everything with a pale face. One of them approached their leader and asked, "What are you doing? What if you kill her accidentally? I thought we would just take food from them and leave them by."

Clearly irritated, the one threatening Rebecca responded lowly while still keeping his eyes on Dave and Rachel, "And how are we going to do it? They dealt with zombies outside and seemed to be stronger than us. And if we don't obtain food, we'll either die from hunger or he'll kill us." Then, he shouted to Dave, "I said put your weapons on the floor!"

Staring coldly at them, he heard the content of their whispers and decided to disregard it. He had already warned them, and it didn't matter were they desperate or threatened by something; he already gave them a chance to retreat.

"Rebecca, do you see where leads excessive kindness? It only brings you closer to your death." Dave said as he said to her his last words. Nextly, he turned to his threatener. "I already gave you a chance, so don't blame me. I hate it when someone threatens me!"

"STOP SPEWING BULLSHIT! I'LL CUT OPEN HER THROAT!" The leader student shouted impatiently as he madly threatened him. Sensing the cold blade on her neck, Rebecca gritted her teeth as she decided to act than standing idly, so she tried to summon Star.

As she called upon her, light particles started to gather above her but quickly dissipated after a moment. At the same time, Rebecca felt a sharp pain like a needle had pierced her head as the world blurred in her eyes. She felt as her consciousness was slipping from her.

Stunned, by a bright light in the building that came from nowhere, everyone was distracted by the light, and taking advantage of that, Dave lifted his hand with a ring on it as it flickered with a blue light.

Bang!

Shooting from his ring, Dave quickly took his steel sword from the ground and dashed towards Rebecca. The Mana Bullet pierced the leader's forehead as he fell backwards. Right before losing her consciousness, Rebecca heard a loud sound as she was falling, and in the next moment, she fell in someone's embrace. She felt warm...and secure before closing her eyes.

...

"Ahhhhhh!" Both students behind the leader student screamed in fear and panic as they backed from the corpse. Well, it was unsurprising since they were just students a week ago, and they weren't prepared for such situations. Rachel also seemed stunned by the sudden death of a leader before her eyes.

Dave caught Rebecca as he swiftly lay her on the floor. 'Hmm...Why did she faint suddenly? Didn't I tell her not to overexert herself? This...'

"Ahhhhh!" The huge burly man, who had blocked the exit door, rushed at Dave madly as he tried to smash with his bat at his head. He wanted to take advantage of the fact that Dave was putting Rebecca down, but he didn't expect a blue screen to appear before Dave.

Clank!

"What the fuck is..." He couldn't finish his words since Dave swiftly turned in a circular motion to slice with his sword. The burly male student couldn't do anything as he felt how his stomach was sliced. Looking down, he saw his own intestines falling from the cut as he mumbled weakly. "No..."

...

"..."

"..."

"..."

The silence fell inside the building as the burly man fell on the floor with a thud sound. Rachel blinked her eyes in shock, yet since she was behind him, she didn't see clearly how his stomach was cut open. Well, the two male students got a clear view of it as they screamed in fear, "Ahhhh!"

Killing the burly man, Dave turned to the left male students and glared coldly at them. Both students felt shivers down their spine when they met Dave's cold eyes...For some reason, they were sure that Dave would kill them if they tried to move, so they stood unmoving.

"Please, don't kill us! We didn't want to threaten you, we didn't even know that he will pull something like this. Please, just let us go." Both students said with pale faces as they started to beg for their lives, blaming everything on the dead one. Of course, dead people couldn't excuse themselves.

Dave stared at them with disgust in his eyes as he said, "Scram! Better wish not to meet me next time, or I'll kill both of you." Their faces lightened immediately at his words as they ran towards the door, trying to get as far as they could from him.

Shaking his head, Dave sighed only, still thinking should he have killed them or not. Well, he didn't have any reasons to kill them nor their deaths would bring him any benefit. He usually refrained from needlessly killing people, but when it was unavoidable, he didn't hesitate at all.

He usually followed such a stance in his past life. In a world where human values became flipped upside down, there were lots of people who killed and stole for their own benefit, scheming and plotting behind other backs. Dave wasn't a saint since he personally lived in such a world for five years and even survived for that long somehow, yet it was still good to lie down some rules to keep your own self intact in all the chaos. Dave thought there was nothing bad in having a bottom line for killing.

He had already saved Rebecca, and he had also killed their leader who threatened him and a burly man that attacked him from behind. From the beginning, these two students were useless and didn't dare to do anything to him. Also, he had small chances of meeting them again since they needed to survive for that long to meet him. He had no reasons to kill them.

"Why didn't suggest them to go with us?" Rachel asked Dave. She was keeping her distance from him since she still had a scene of him killing two students fresh in her mind. Well, Dave wasn't bothered by a bit.

"Considering how they moved in a group and were searching for food, I believe they have a place to return. Also, I doubt that they would agree to go with us after this scene nor I want them to follow us." Dave responded as he checked Rebecca's pulse.

Noticing how Dave was checking on Rebecca, Rachel asked, "So...How is she? Why did she even faint? She should have been scared a lot."

Taking a slight pause, Dave sighed as he stood up. "No, it has nothing to do with it. Though I had told her not to overexert herself, she still didn't listen to me. Don't worry, she will wake up after sleeping a bit. Let's go to the dormitory, we should already be close to it."

Checking her body and pulse, he didn't find anything wrong with Rebecca. He was sure that she used too much mana, and when she tried to summon her spirit, it was a final blow on her mind and mana. Well, losing consciousness was a common occurrence when a person used too much mana.

With the appearance of mana in the world, it became an inseparable part of our bodies as essential as blood, and when there's not enough mana in the body, the organism automatically shuts down complex procedures happening in the body like entering a defensive mode.

As a result of countless experiments with mana in his past life, Dave came to the conclusion that Status Window only shows mana which a user could use freely without affecting the body, neglecting that small amount in the body. When mana hits zero, a person might feel exhausted and if it goes lower than it, it may bring side effects like headache, weakness, feeling nauseous and, finally, fainting. Well, it was better to never get into such a condition.