Chương 191: Sharpening the Axe Won't Delay the Woodchopping

Seth came tumbling back in from the hallway, his spear raised, his face pale with panic.

"Wh-what happened?"

"What the hell is Dage doing... chopping a propane tank?!" Zoe stared at the scene unfolding before her, absolutely dumbfounded. She shook the dirt out of her hair and looked up blankly at Claire. Claire was equally bewildered. Being taller than Zoe, she could see much more clearly through the settling dust... The master bedroom... was gone. The exterior wall of the building had been violently blown out, leaving a massive, jagged hole.

Claire knew for a fact there was no window in that direction, yet the clear blue sky was currently shining right through. The apartment had been literally blown wide open by whatever just happened. Amidst the dust, Vince emerged from the smoking crater, covering his mouth and coughing violently. The sleeves on both of his arms had been shredded into rags, dangling loosely beneath his elbows. Even his forearms and wrists were trembling unnaturally.

He looked at the shell-shocked Claire and Zoe, then at Seth, who was standing guard in a daze. Vince let out an awkward cough.

"... Heh, so, uh, I might have used a bit too much force." Seeing the disheveled state of the three, and then looking back at the colossal fissure and the sky beyond, he finally understood why you weren't supposed to fire RPGs indoors. Rumble—CRASH! Whoosh— The corner of the master bedroom, its load-bearing wall severed by Vince's strike, finally buckled under the weight of the roof. A massive slab of the ceiling caved in, kicking up another huge cloud of dust behind him.

The perfectly intact master bedroom of Apartment 602 had instantly been converted into an open-top convertible. A breeze blew in from the roof, sweeping the remaining dust away and fully revealing the absolute ruins behind Vince.

"I..." Zoe stared at the rubble and the blue sky beyond the doorway, momentarily at a loss for words.

"We're never getting that crystal back..." she muttered.

"Ah, whatever, it's just one crystal... Material possessions are fleeting. Raising our strength is what truly matters." Vince pretended nothing happened. He reached out to pull the two dust-covered girls up and gave Claire a sheepish smile.

"Let's go. We've got more buildings to sweep!"" Kzzzt... Vince, I heard the building you guys are in collapsed. Is everything okay?!" Ben's voice crackled from the walkie-talkie at Vince's waist.

"Wait, that noise was a building collapsing?!... Vince, are you guys alright?" Cody's voice quickly followed.

"Heh..." Vince offered a sheepish grin to his group. He picked up the radio and replied, "We're fine, we're fine. I don't know what happened, a wall just randomly gave out. Everything's under control..."

"Dage, you should really look into joining a demolition crew. You'd make a fortune." Zoe stood up and patted the dirt off her head. She gave Vince a helpless, perfunctory smile before groaning in despair.

"I'm so hungry... I'm exhausted and starving." This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Are you... are you okay?" Despite having a face full of dirt herself, Claire noticed the shredded sleeves on Vince's arms. She gently grabbed one of his arms and asked, "Was that... did you do that with your sword?"

"Heh, I'm fine." Vince offered a bitter smile, taking Claire and Zoe by the arms and leading them toward the exit. He honestly hadn't expected his spur-of-the-moment combo to pack that much firepower. Thank god they were on the top floor. If this had been the ground floor, he would have buried himself alive.

"You could say that..." In reality, he wasn't exactly 'fine.' Even after the [Armor Crystal] absorbed over ten points of energy, the massive kinetic force had still punched right through the energy shield and transferred directly into his hands. Though he was pretending to be unbothered, that single strike had cost him 27 Energy points and 29 HP. The bones in his wrists and forearms had suffered varying degrees of micro-fractures.

Sure, equipping the [Revitalization Crystal] would heal it up in twenty minutes, but it still left him with a lingering sense of dread. He had gotten cocky. Way too cocky. His raid on the Corrupted Giant Tree last night had wiped out dozens of mutated zombies in one go, practically doubling his max HP. That sudden explosion of wealth had definitely gone to his head. He silently equipped the [Revitalization Crystal], letting it mend his body while he mentally reviewed everything that had just happened.

The explosive burst of energy from the [Impact Crystal] had given the greatsword terrifying acceleration. The massive kinetic energy had nearly sent Vince flying along with it. If he hadn't quickly recalled the greatsword into his spatial inventory at the very last second, he probably would have had to retrieve it from outside the residential complex... But losing the sword wasn't what scared him. What truly gave Vince chills was the thought of the sword slipping from his grasp.

If it had hit Claire or Zoe, they wouldn't have walked away with just a few bruises. It made him realize that power and control were two very different things. Rapidly inflating their strength wasn't necessarily purely beneficial. The same went for Claire and the others. Right now, they were fully capable of teaming up to handle mutated zombies with 1000 or even 2000 HP. For their current situation, their combat prowess was 'sufficient.'

After all, it wasn't like they were going to be fighting the Corrupted Giant Tree or a berserk mutant horde on their own. Glancing at their Health Bars, Vince decided it was time to take a break. As the saying goes, sharpening the axe won't delay the woodchopping. Vince checked Claire's Health Bar; it had increased by well over a hundred points today. While he didn't fully grasp the underlying mechanics, he remembered coming back starving and exhausted last night.

He had suspected it was tied to his rapidly expanding Health Bar. Zoe's currently abnormal level of fatigue seemed to confirm this hypothesis. If this had been the past, she would definitely be throwing a tantrum, demanding that her "Dage" cut down another building for her. But she had been constantly burning Energy points to maneuver her flying swords; the mental toll was likely much heavier. Right now, she looked significantly more exhausted than Claire, who had relied purely on physical strength.

Although Vince had never precisely calculated how many Energy points Zoe recovered per minute, she was currently sitting at just over a hundred. This clearly wasn't her peak regeneration rate. It seemed that whether it was Energy points or HP, they weren't just purely abstract numbers. They were metrics deeply intertwined with the actual state of the physical body...

"You're hungry too, aren't you?" Vince asked Claire, who was supporting Zoe.

"Let's call it a day. Let's go back and get something to eat."

"Eat!" Hearing they were done sweeping buildings, Zoe instantly perked up. She lifted her head off Claire's shoulder, fixing her big, watery puppy-dog eyes on Vince.

"I want meat..."

"Alright, alright, we'll have meat. We still have some left at the apartment..." They were leaving soon anyway, and the RV's mini-fridge couldn't hold much. They still had a decent stockpile of meat in their two fridges back home. They had been so busy these past few days that they had barely cooked, surviving mostly on MREs, instant noodles, and leeching off the communal meals Ben's crew prepared.

"Really?! We're off the clock!" Hearing meat was on the menu, Zoe was instantly invigorated. She grabbed Claire's hand, her swords clattering against each other as she practically skipped down the stairs. Vince and Seth, who was still clutching two spears, were left staring at each other in the hallway.

"I'd say she has enough energy to clear buildings for another two hours..." Vince muttered, looking down the stairwell. He then patted Seth on the shoulder.

"Good job today. Push a little harder, and you'll surpass Bruno..."

"Heh, thanks Vince..."

"Don't thank me. Come on, we're off the clock..."