Chapter 122: Queen (4)

Eventually, the unavoidable event happened, and Luke was hit by Gravity Sphere. Everything in contact with his body became extremely heavier, but his sword returned to normal when he let it go. The effects only worked when something was in contact with him and since he was wearing quite a bit of pieces or armor, that only got worse...

Luke raised his arms and pointed them toward the monsters, and stopped those that tried to approach with Water Cannon followed by Spark Ball. Dozens of enemies were fried up alive… Fortunately, just when Luke ran out of mana, his body returned to normal, and he began to split apart the monsters again.

At that point in time, many of the Cursed Staurs had fallen, around seventy percent… Thanks to that and the fact that they were no longer the target of the beasts, Jennifer, and her group approached and covered for Luke. It was hard to say if it was due to the buffs of the elves or if they truly had that much power… but her group sure was strong at long-ranged attacks.

When the forces of monsters decreased to one-fifth of their original, the creatures began to run away. That was the usual pattern… They wanted the power that those humans acquired, but it was impossible for them after losing that many allies.

"As expected, of Her Highness… even such an obviously weak human can become that stronger while receiving her support."

One of the elves said something annoying, but Luke ignored it… he sat down on the ground to catch his breath. However, he soon got up to check the loot, he would claim the best items, and no one will stop him.

"Thanks again… we only talked for a couple of minutes, and you already saved us twice," Jennifer said. "How can we repay you?" 

"Not forcing me to save you for the third time would be a start," Lule replied

"Hahaha, I suppose so," Jennifer laughed even though Luke said that seriously.

In any case, while he was gathering the loot, Luke told Artiuno to help herself with the corpses. While it was quite a gruesome sight, Luke needed to obtain his army of monsters. 

"Nothing good again, huh… what rotten luck," Luke said.

Jennifer and her friends were waiting patiently for their turn to check the loot… as expected, they were goody two shoes that wouldn't cause Luke problems, but thanks to that, they weren't at the level where Luke could trade items with them and hope to gain some nice gear. Nevertheless, Luke decided to get all the potions and half of the item, if even those were useless to him. 

"What are you guys going to do now?" Luke asked.

"Since you destroyed the crystal, we were planning to make a decent camp here. Why do you ask?" Jennifer asked while she was checking the remaining loot.

"I know a camp south of here that might welcome you, most of them are military, but your friends might feel a bit uncomfortable there," Luke said while pointing to the elves.

"Military, huh," Jennifer said while looking at her allies. "Wait, aren't you a member of their group?"

"Some acquaintances are, but I don't want to follow anyone's orders, so I just help now and then," Luke explained.

Jennifer put her hand on her chin and began to think about why Luke didn't mention that earlier… She was smart enough to connect the dots and Luke's previously overly cold behavior. In any case, Jennifer consulted her friends before deciding anything. Her group now had fifteen members, so Luke wondered if they would manage to reach an agreement. It would be convenient for him if they decided to split in, he would have a lot fewer people to look after on the way back.

"We will accompany you, but we will decide if we will join after seeing the group with our eyes," Jeniffer said.

"Fair enough," Luke said. "Let's find a truck to transport all of you. The trip back will take a while, so that will help more than a little bit."

Luke also wanted to ensure they had enough room to transport all his loot… there were cities that he could clear of zombies around Miami that he could store them. Using those as a basis of operations seemed the best idea. While they quickly found some, Luke vetted those. He wanted one big enough for ArtIuno to stay standing at the top of it. So, a truck that could carry dozens of tons would be necessary. Fortunately, there was a gas station nearby that had such a truck with the keys, but driving that would be hard.

"Is there any of you who can drive that?" Luke asked.

"I used to drive a minivan…" Jennifer said. "Rather than that, I am more worried about the obstacles along the way."

"That is why I and her will stay at the top of the vehicle to open the path from real obstacles of monsters," Luke said.

Luke's strength had reached a level where he could turn a car upside down by himself, after all, and by combining his powers with Artiuno, he could use a combo that could paralyze and kill most enemies instantly. They also had the range to do so, so there was no need for them to go flying in front of the truck. So, without wasting any more time, they departed for Miami.

While heading south, the group passed by some small cities that didn't cause them any trouble. The number of monsters and zombies was limited to the size of those, after all. This time the route only had two big cities on their path, and while it took some time to deal with the hordes on the way, Luke managed to get a ton of loot and even reached level sixty. Thanks to all that, he became even more certain that he needed a bit and safe vault.