He was already expecting a new world as soon as he left the gates.

And his expectations were not

disappointed. Cars scattered, flipped over and totaled on the streets.

Greenery growing through the cracks of the concrete and the side of buildings.

The scene was just as he imagined it to be, not only was Noah excited, but he was beyond relieved. Seeing the

apocalyptic city eased his heart to the fact the world was really as messed up as he hoped it was. There was no recovery from what transpired a day ago. No hope of modern civilization coming back within a few weeks of fighting back, this new world was here to stay.

Unlike him, the scene depicted a

different emotion for the others. For them, life foreshadowed a world that would be unbearable to live, their peaceful life before this appeared almost like a dream.

However they were forced to wake up to reality. It wasn't just the scenery that had changed. In place of the lively people that used to litter the streets, half eaten corpses had taken their place. And even further from their

locations, more zombies could be seen in the distance, but the zombies

appeared to be agitated by something. The noise that was created from their fight a few moments ago wasn't enough to distract them from their current objective.

No matter which road they chose to go down, they could see that they would encounter another large group of

zombies. Most of them didn't have the heart to experience another life and death situation so soon.

"Where are you going? Are you leaving us?" Jas's voice was suddenly heard. She had noticed Noah began to walk ahead of them as he headed towards the zombies down the road.

"That's the quickest way to get to your destination right? Then why are you all still standing around?" He turned back to continue walking, leaving the others to watch anxiously.

Ailetta followed behind him as she turned to give an apologetic smile before turning back around. If it was the day before, Ailetta would have tried to speak up for Noah's actions, her friends were too disturbed about approaching another large group of zombies to notice the small change.

"Noah?"

"I know."

Noah responded to Arachne who was looking up towards the sky.Even

during their fight with the last horde, there were dark shadows in the sky. It wasn't a problem before, but as they walked through the streets, they noticed the abundance of those

shadows sitting atop of the buildings looking down on them all.

Seeing the birds that perched on top of the buildings made Noah realize what was odd during the time they left the campus.

"The bodies from before were gone' He thought about the time when he encountered a large group of birds

feasting on the corpses before. At that time they were only a foot taller than their original counterparts, but now Noah couldn't help spotting one or two birds that stood out from the rest. They were twice the size and their talons actually pierced into the

concrete of the building they sat on. And unlike the other birds, these two had longer legs than the others and one in particular had hands on the ends of its wings. What Noah thought was the most peculiar about them was the fact that the gazes of the two birds never left his figure.

It reminded him of the time of the ants and just a few moments ago when Arachne stopped the zombie from before that seemed to have singled him out.

He wasn't sure if there was a

connection, the only information he could go on was the situation with the ants after he activated his blood skill.

'Are they attracted to me because of my blood?' He then observed the

surrounding birds, but he noticed their gaze wasn't directed towards him like the other two. That reminded him that even though the tier one zombie

singled him out, the sprinter zombies shared their attentions with the other humans.

'Nomaybe only evolved forms are attracted to me' "Arachne, Is there something attractive about my body?"

His sudden question caused the

oblivious Ailetta to suddenly flush in embarrassment to the ambiguous

question. Unlike her, Arachne took the question seriously and took a few moments to look over Noah while in deep thought.

"YesYour smell is really attracting, even now I have to contain myself not to try to have a taste." She said without a change in her expression, but her emotional state had increased after thinking about how good his blood had tasted before. 2

Noah had much to ponder about, his body now seemed to be a blessing and a curse. He wasn't sure if it was just him or would every 'human' have the same effect on creatures after they advanced.

Gasp!*

Noah and his creatures turned around

Gasp!*

Noah and his creatures turned around when they heard Ailetta, her face was flushed red, even while she tried to cover her face it was still noticeable to see. For Arachne and Fenrir, the two just thought that something was

mentally wrong with her.Even Noah was momentarily puzzled about her current state of mind until he remembered what they were just talking about.

"Pft! She's talking about my blood

weirdo, haha you just reminded me of Eliza." Noah tried to stifle his laughter, the scene of the two didn't fit with the current scene around them.

It seemed that Noah's comment

touched a trigger, the bashful Ailetta became offended, but she didn't have

any words to say to deny his claims which left her with puffed cheeks.

She recalled how Eliza was one of the main love interests of a particular story they liked. Elize was a very shy and pure girl, but underneath that

innocent exterior, the girl had a very dirty mind.

Caw!*

As the two were taking enjoyment out of their conversation, it seemed that the watchful birds took this chance to test them.

One of the larger birds cried out and dove down first, its target was Noah. As if on cue, the rest of the birds

followed along, except they didn't have a specific target. Other than the other overly large bird, the rest chose to attack anything they could reach.The sky was barely visible when all of the birds decided to descend at one time.

This scene was haunting for the others and it even made Noah feel a bit of concern, but he had much more to worry about.

Luckily, Noah had received the skill to detect danger aimed towards him, it was partly the reason he was cautious of the birds before. But even though he was vigilant, the speed and

coordination at which they attacked was beyond what he anticipated.

His speed hasn't even reached a hundred and the two birds were

clearly faster than the zombie before. As soon as he heard their intent to attack, the first bird was already upon him as it aimed for his face, specifically his eyes.

Arachne has always been watchful of the birds and she was particularly alert against the two birds constantly stalking Noah with their eyes.

She was the first to react to the birds dive bomb, but unlike before, the bird seemed to be aware of Arachne and immediately avoided her, stopping its approach before Arachne was able to intercept it.

And at the same time, the other

evolved bird made a small detour to attack Noah from a different angle.

Noah was able to sense it coming from behind him, but he wasn't fast enough to completely react. Not only were the two birds faster than he anticipated, but their coordination was almost impeccable.

Caw!

However a tamer is never alone, Just like Arachne, Fenrir was also eyeing the birds, but he was doing so because he was hungry. Instinctively he viewed the other giant bird as his prey now that Arachne had targeted hers. He wasn't aware that Noah was being

targeted as he jumped in front of Noah to attack it, opening his mouth wide to engulf the bird in one bite. Just like the situation with the other bird, it

immediately halted its approach to make another attempt to attack.

Noah grew immensely frustrated quickly knowing that he was saved

from a tricky predicament twice. There was a considerable difference between a sentient animal compared to

mindless zombies. Even though he wanted to rely on his creatures, he didn't like the feeling of feeling helpless.

Unlike him, the others were having a harder time. The birds attacking them may have been slower and not as coordinated as their evolved

counterparts, but the large quantities of them made them just as dangerous.

"We can't stay like this, we need to get cover! Get inside now!" Mark called out before getting his flesh ripped from his shoulder while hacking down a random bird flying towards his face.

Hearing the screams of the others made Noah think of Ailetta, she was only as strong as the creature she was able to animate with her skill. He could only imagine how much she should be struggling in this situation, but why hasn't he heard her call for him? A small budding fear was awakened in him as he quickly searched for her.

That's when he picked up on the

muffled cries on his side and he turned to find a small swarm of birds

surrounding her figure. His entire being shook when he saw this scene, his pupils constricted and just as he had the sudden fear of Ailetta dying. What made it worse was that even

though she was in danger, not once did she ask him for help. It evoked in him the urge to not only save her, but to kill whatever it was that put her in danger.

Without thinking,his constricted pupils began to dilate before almost completely filling in the white of his eyes. He activated his killing instincts skills to the max while taking off towards Ailetta's location.

Fenrir and Arachne didn't have to know the reason for Noah's sudden change, all they cared about was the fact that not only was Noah angered, but his emotions were chaotic.The only ones to blame for this were the birds that were before them.

"AWWHHOO!"

Fenrir released an overbearing howl, much louder and oppressive than he's ever made since evolving. This caused the two evolved birds to stop in their attacks as they were about to converge on Noah again while some of the other birds were made to fall out of the air after momentarily not being able to flap their wings. But they weren't the only ones affected, Marks group was hit hard as well, there were still some students who weren't able to make it into the nearby building who fell to the

ground and cowered in fright.

As he howled, his body began to change, but unlike before, his body grew a quarter of a size smaller than his ordinal size. And at the same time Fenrir's pupils seemed to replicate Noahs as it entered into a frenzy.

Both Fenrir and Arachne had decided to go all out, Arachne wasn't able to use her skill to lower the stats of the two evolved birds since even though they were fast, she was still faster than them. But that didn't stop her from doing what she was born to do. Blood immediately was built up into her legs as she pinpointed the bird that she had targeted from earlier.

She quickly leaped towards the bird in the air, but more than a leap, she

exploded from her location to quickly reach the bird. Just like last time, the evolved bird was aware of Arachne's presence, all animals seemed to have an innate sense of danger.However when the bird attempted to fly away, it felt that it subtly moved towards Arachne out of its own volition.

During that brief moment that didn't last longer than a second, its life was no longer its own after Arachne sank her fangs into its head while she gripped its sides with her hands and landed on the side of a nearby building.

Yet Fenrir didn't have the same

success with his target. Decreasing his body size, while also under the effects of both Killing Instincts and Double- edge curse since entering the state of Killing instincts was also considered a debuff, Fenrir's speed was close to rivaling the current birds.

However as Fenrir charged towards the bird with everything he had, the bird's sense of danger allowed it to fly quickly into the sky. Unlike Arachne, Fenrir wasn't too concerned with only one target, his goal was just to kill as many prey as he could. The most dangerous of the birds may have

gotten away, but that only left Fenrir to target birds that weren't able to recover. Stepping and squashing the ones that weren't able to recover from the ground while snapping the slower birds from the air within his jaws, Fenrir left the weaker birds no quarters to withdraw when he approached.

Caw Caw Ca-*

The last evolved bird seemed to grow frantic after it realized the danger they were in, it tried to give the call to retreat. Its original nature began to resurface as it tried to flee from the danger, but as it was in the middle of trying to give the command to escape, the last sound it headed was a small explosion coming from one of the buildings before its vision grew dark.

Arachne prioritized both evolved birds that were the greatest sense of threat towards Noah before she concerned herself with anything else.

With both of their leaders gone and while still recovering from the effects of Fenrir's roar, the remaining birds all made the attempt to flee. Even the birds that were attacking Ailetta had made the same decision, but not without being taken down by Noah. The current Noah may not have been fast enough, but after using Killing instinct and using his skill to receive 20% of Fenrir's agility after Fenrir's state boost as well as combining those factors with the use of his elusive skill, Noah wouldn't stop until he taken down every bird that surrounded Ailetta.

Time seemed to stop after the fighting was over, not only Noah, but Arachne and Fenrir were all on alert as they looked around for any other targets. If Noah was able to fly then he probably would've flown off to chase after the rest of the birds that managed to get away.

Noah seemingly was about to go on another rampage against the dead bodies, when the soft crying of Ailetta re-entered his ears. After his targets were gone, her soft cries were barely enough to wake him up from the use of his skill.

Seeing her bloodied body,Noah's worries shot to the sky, yet he didn't know what to say to her as he made his way towards her, he used this time to frantically observe her injuries which were a lot more than he thought there would be in the short time she was surrounded.

Clumps of her hair were taken out and her glasses were completely broken, deep scratches could be seen on her face while small holes were etched into her hands in the small attempts to keep the birds from gauging her eyes out. Besides those injuries, he could still make out pieces of flesh torn out from her body as their beaks full of teeth were able to bypass her armor.

He wasn't one to cry, but his heart ached when he saw her condition.

"Why didn't you call for me? I would've come to help you."

Even while in his arms, she couldn't hold back her tears, the pain seemed to fully hit her as her cries grew louder after his question now that she knew that it was all over. But her response made him feel a sense of guilt, greater than what he already had.

"II di-didn't want to ho-hold you backI d-don't want t-to be weak" She cried in between her words, coupled with the pain, each word made her cry harder than before.

"Stupid! You just have to get stronger! That doesn't mean to let yourself be killed!" Noah yelled as he stood up on his feet with Ailetta still clutched in his arms.

He noticed that her life wasn't in

danger just yet, but if she continued to bleed as she is now then there was the chance of her dying. He was capable of healing her, not unless he tamed her to be able to use his skill, but that's when he realized that he did have the option to heal her.

With just a thought, Noah made a

bottle filled with a red liquid appear in his hands. He didn't hesitate to remove the cork before forcing all of its

contents down her throat. While he waited for the effects to take effect, he couldn't help but think.

'Just what am I going to do with you?'

A/N: Hopefully the last week before I get everything at work situated and then I can routinely release chapters again.