Chapter 111: New pet (5)

"That was a pretty interesting way of using a flying mount," Rina said. "However, I feel bad for Artiuno since you are heavy with all that armor."

Luke also felt a bit bad, but it couldn't be helped. He had to get as much experience as possible with battles in the air. While Luke was good at improvising, it was too risky to do that in the sky while his mobility was limited.

"Most of those who use pets to fight, only use them for mobility or to use long-ranged attacks," Shalia said. "As expected of Luke!"

Luke laughed a little since he didn't deserve all that much praise… he just copied a video game character, after all. In fact, it only worked because Artiuno was smart, and the skill Tame forced the monsters to become extremely loyal.

In any case, Luke tried to see the city from above to find the crystal. Still, whenever he did that, the other Koriri would immediately chase him. The higher he went, the easier it became for them to find him. In the end, he was forced to give up on that way of finding the crystal.

"I thought it would be easier to find…" Luke said and then rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

Flying at a low altitude would be wiser. Luke would save stamina, and Artiuno would have to slow down between the buildings. Thus, Luke would have time to use Meditation. At low altitude, the other Koriri will have to approach to attack and enter Luke's range. While that was his new plan, Luke was forced to change it when he heard the sound of glass breaking in the distance… The sound had been quite powerful, so it seemed that some building covered in the ice had been attacked. Luke recalled what he had heard previously… aside from destroying crystals, he should bring back survivors to the base.

"Luke…" Rina said while making a complicated expression.

"You don't owe anything to anyone," Shalia said. "They will only get on your way… those who cannot protect themselves."

"That might be the case now, but you don't know if it will be the same in the future," Rina said. "Besides, you can probably ask them where the crystal is."

As usual, the merits and demerits are pointed out by those two. Still, they also ignore the demerits of their own options. Rina says that Luke should help and gain some time in searching the crystal, but she ignores that he will have to waste time as well bringing those people to the base. Shalia was the inverse, but while Luke won't waste time escorting people, he will waste time looking for the crystal and also the potential of using some people to carry the loot. Luke kicked the others when because he couldn't carry so many things, but people could do that for him. Until he finds a group strong enough to trade equipment, leaving loot behind was a waste.

"As usual, let's aim for the middle ground," Luke said and then made Artiuno fly.

It didn't take long for Luke to find the place that was being attacked by a small group of Koriri. However, he didn't expect to find one of them already falling on the ground with dozens of arrows on its head. Luke looked around, and he saw some armored individuals fighting the remaining monsters. They frowned when they saw a new monster appearing, but they frowned even more, when they saw a man standing above it.

"All of them are over forty… not bad," Luke thought.

Luke gave the order to Artiuno to retreat, and then he watched the battle. He came to help, but that group didn't need it. They had bows, crossbows, but they also had melee weapons. All of them… it didn't take long that they defeated the monsters despite the advantage. Luke waited to see what would happen, and when he saw the group putting away their weapons and then a single tall, black-haired woman stepped forward while waving its arms.

"Don't worry, we are not your enemies," The woman said.

Those certainly were the lines of someone planning something no good, but that didn't make any sense since they put away their weapons. Luke wondered what he should do. It seemed that he had found a group that he could trade items with, even though he didn't have anything with him right now that he wanted to trade. Still, considering that the group had ten people over level forty, why didn't they escape the city yet? They had the strength to destroy the crystal as well.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Shalia said. "They have a weird smell on them."

"Is that so? I can't feel anything like that," Rina said.

In the end, Luke decided to make Articulo land, and then he jumped from his back. While the number of survivors on the other group was high, he couldn't feel any ill intentions coming from them. If something happens, he has the skill to do anything to fight back or escape.

"Oh? You look rather young," the black-haired woman said. "Wait, is that…"

The black-haired woman frowned when she saw Rina and Shalia. After that, she gulped nervously for some reason. Despite that, she recovered from some surprise and introduced herself to Luke. Her name was Sheila, and she was the leader of the group that came from a nearby city looking for survivors. No wonder their levels were high. They certainly had decimated a few hordes of zombies.

"Are you working with those two alone?" Sheila asked. "Are you from here?" 

"Yes, I also came from a nearby city to look for some relatives," Luke replied.

Although they wanted more survivors on their side, Luke wouldn't risk his neck to help Billy. The behavior of Sheila changed for some reason when she saw Rina and Shalia, and Shalia also felt something amiss in that group, so he won't lead a suspicious group to where his parents are.