7 Chapter 7 - The Caravan

Location: Unknown

Time: Afternoon

Adam and his three new companions returned to the same forest he left previously.

"Hmn. Where are we, Master?" Agent asks while her head twists around looking at the forest.

"No clue. I was dropped here without any explanation." Adam shrugs. "Anyway, did you sense any internet network or signals? That is my closest bet to get us out of here."

Agent nods and closes her eyes as she focuses to sense any wireless network which she did but felt inferior to what she used to. She sensed two different wireless networks. One is powerful but far away while another is weaker but nearby. She taps into them and extracts all necessary information to navigate this forest.

Agent opens her eyes and lands her sight on her Master's face covered by a gas mask.

"I found a settlement nearby, Master. However, the elevation of their position tells me it would be difficult to reach." Agent informed before she silently waited for his decision.

"It's fine. Let's go. I think none of us want to camp out in the wild when night falls." Adam hurried his companions to reach the settlement as no one knew how to deal with the black animal all night long.

———

3 hours later.

"Master, I can sense people fighting over there." G41 suddenly stopped and sniffed the air.

"Can you tell what they are fighting against?" Adam wondered as it would decide how Adam approached the people.

G41 sniffed the air again and answered "They are fighting the black animal."

"What is our plan, Master?" Agent suddenly joined the conversation and asked for Adam's opinions.

"We save them of course. Who knows what information and help we can get from them." Adam said and quickly sprinted ahead while Eric held on to his shoulder tightly.

"Wait for me, Master!" G41 went on all four running like an actual wolf, chasing after Adam while Agent simply ran leisurely to keep up the pace with Adam.

A few minutes later, they all stopped by the sound of gunshots and beast snarls. Adam looked at the state of the people and found them mostly intact with all limbs and fighting against the monsters they called 'Grimm'.

Eight people with weird weapons fighting against the monsters while protecting the caravans. The reason why Adam calls their weapon weird is because it's all fusion of a melee and firearm.

"Let's help them." Adam ordered and summoned his Assault Rifle into his hands before opening fire along with his three companions.

Agent and Eric's laser beams are the most eye-catching ones, even more than Adam's loud rifle because the area is a little dark and it lights the place up with flickering light.

"Reinforcement!" One of the caravan guards, a male with blond hair and light blue eyes, shouted which caused the morale of the others to rise up through the roof.

"Uaaah!" Someone shout his warcry and charge into his enemies with a giant warhammer and smashed one bear-like black monster

Another asian looking man with black hair, brown eyes and light toned skin in Japanese style clothing and happens to also wield katana-like weapons also join his friend and charge into the enemies along with a warcry too. "Waga ko kyo no tame ni! Banzai!" He howled with a face filled with rage as he stabbed one of the bear-like monsters and eviscerated its gut.

"Oi, Jett! Tone down your Minstralian culture obsession. This ain't a movie! This is real battle dammit." The blond man shouted like he is the leader of this group while brandishing his plain sword without any weird modification to slash down three approaching wolf monsters. His hand turned into a blur and decapitated all three wolf monsters cleanly without breaking a sweat.

Soon, the monsters are all wiped out and strangely turned into puddles of black sludge that soon evaporate away. A phenomena Adam never noticed before because he leaves as soon as he scores a kill.

Adam lowered his gun and so did his companions. Agent hides her laser cannons back under her skirt before anyone can see it.

"Greetings, friends. My name is Nicholas Arc, the Commander of Reach's Hunters." The man sheathed his sword on his waist before holding his hand out to Adam. Adam shook hands with Nicholas which made the blond man less tense. "I am very thankful for your assistance just now."

"I am Adam White. It's nothing. We fellow humans should help each other right?"

"Indeed. Indeed, you are correct. Hahaha." Nicholas laughed but he didn't look convinced and remained suspicious as he scanned Adam's companion.

Nicholas thought Adam was a distraction sent out by the bandits. But, his equipment honestly gives the impression of an Atlesian soldier rather than a bandit. Not to mention a maid? Who brought a maid into the middle of nowhere.

Rather than being suspicious of Adam, Nicholas is more worried about what Adam and his group were doing.

"Anyway, where are you people heading toward? If you want, you can come with us. The more the better especially with the increasingly abnormal presence of Grimm lately." Nicholas extends his offer after he thinks Adam and his group are very likely not bandits.

"Great, we were heading to the nearest settlement. To be honest, we are actually lost." Adam accepts Nicholas' offer and explains his situation, hoping to get some sympathy.

"That's terrible. Anyway, we are glad to have more hands on board. Let's get going, we had stopped for too long." Nicholas said before ordering the caravan to start moving again.

Agent and G41 were offered to sit with the women in the caravans meanwhile Adam can only find any place he can sit or hold on to while the caravan is on the move again. Nicholas Arc joined him sitting on the truck carrying cargos.

"So, Mr White. May I ask how you and your team went missing? I reckon although we are quite far from Vale, the CCT network should still work and be able to access GPS right?" Nicholas asks curiously but Adam feels like this is more like an interrogation than just simple curiosity.

"Ah, Adam is enough." Adam moved a little and opened up some space for Nicholas to sit. "We were on an investigation but our plane crashed which resulted with us being lost in the forest."

"Investigation?" Nicholas mumbles as he wants to ascertain something but with the mask hiding Adam's face. He cannot confirm. However, Adam's choice of outfit, especially his mask, is interesting for Nicholas.

"Could it be that your investigation is about the freak incident in Ansel near the border?" Nicholas said with a gasp of surprise. "I heard the whole town died overnight and the dead were never found. But some rumors said the dead never stay dead and crawl out of their graves to seek revenge." Nicholas shivered at the image of dead people chasing after him.

Normally, Adam would just simply ignore the story as rumor or just bored people spreading horror stories. But…

[New Objective]

-Head to the mining town of Ansel near the mountainous border between Vale and Vacuo to investigate the sightings of Infected.

"Yes. Actually I am heading there but our plane crashed midway after being attacked by these monsters." Adam was sweating inside while trying to spin the story from every angle to make up a coherent lie. "We hope to get another transportation and some supplies before continuing our journey to Ansel."

"The Hunter Guild would be more than willing to help. Many are actually worried after we lost all contact to Ansel four days ago." Nicholas said.

"I see. You have my thanks, Nicholas."

"No worry, I am just returning the favor for helping us." Nicholas shrugs with a smile on his face. "The Grimm's activities have become more abnormal lately since the incident at Ansel. They are becoming more common around this area and preventing our town from receiving supplies because they keep attacking our Caravans. Without your help, some of my mens would have been injured while defending the Caravan."

Adam nods and lets Nicholas leave to check on his mens before he asks his System urgently about the objective.

"Hey, System. Will this world be attacked by a Zombie outbreak?" Adam asks with an anxious mind. He would rather not live his second life in a world wrecked by Zombie outbreak.

[Unfortunately, yes. But the Host can rest assured this is not caused by the Host's arrival, the System or the Creator. Hosts were sent here specifically to combat the Outbreak after it was detected.]

Adam's complexion immediately soured. He can sense his robo dog rubbing its body on his head after sensing his distress.

"How far has the Infection spread?

[Host has to find out on his own. However, it only started four days ago. Three days prior to the Host's arrival.]

"Wait, four days ago… So, Ansel is the ground zero?" Adam immediately connects the dots of the Outbreak and the freak incident in Ansel. His System didn't comment and let Adam explore on his own.

Adam can feel himself tensing up. A world with a Zombie Apocalypse in the future? He didn't sign up for this. Heck, if he knew. He wouldn't even agree to this Reincarnation.

A Zombie Outbreak may sound like a fantasy to some people but definitely not Adam. Did they not think clearly about the impact of a very highly infectious disease that can turn living beings into walking corpses that want nothing more than to tear apart more living beings?

There are countless worst case scenarios to consider. Too much that Adam's brain just short-circuited trying his best to think of countermeasures. But he is just a normal guy, not a protagonist with 1 Million IQ and Luck.

His immediate worry is to find out how the infection spread and how fast it spread.

"Grimm attack!" Someone at the front of the caravan convoy shouted and the caravans immediately stopped as people got ready for battle.

Adam joins Nicholas and his 7 other Hunters meanwhile other non Hunters assist with guns while keeping a good distance away from the battle area.

"What's the number?" Nicholas asks the hunter to spy with binoculars on top of a tall caravan.

"Two packs of Beowolves with an Alpha and a pack of Ursa." The hunter replied with a slightly shaky tone.

"What? Two packs with an Alpha?" Nicholas looked shocked and in disbelief before he ordered his Hunters to not charge ahead and instead keep a tight formation. They cannot afford to be lax with an Alpha leading the packs.

"Nicholas."

"Adam?" Nicholas turns his head to the side when Adam suddenly holds his shoulder.

"Let me take care of this." Adam said and called an artillery strike and shot a few shots into the air using his rifle to fake it a little to make it look like a power and not straight magic with an artillery shell that came out of nowhere.

"How ar-"

*Boom*

Earth shaking explosions shook the ground and interrupted Nicholas when the first strike took out half of a pack of Beowolves.

*Boom*

The second strike killed a few more Beowolf and Ursa.

*Boom*

The third strike injured the Alpha but it managed to flee away along with the surviving Grimms.

While a max level Aerial Bombardment deals way more damage and has 14 total strikes, the initial had only 3 and the damage is limited but still strong enough to devastate a small swarm of these Grimm.

"What was that?!" Nicholas looked absolutely stunned. "Are those artillery shells?" He turned to Adam who nodded in reply.

"To turn a normal bullet into an artillery shell… You would need Earth and Gravity Dusts. That must be very costly ammunition." Another Hunter chimed in. "Ah, apologize." The Hunter apologized out of the sudden much to Adam's confusion. "I am Doctor Schwartz, the Medic for this mission. I hail from Atlas and I couldn't help but wonder. Isn't fusion Dust ammunition a restricted military supply." The Hunter introduced himself before subtly prying information from Adam. "Mr White must be part of a military to have access to those restricted ammunition and your equipment." Doc Schwartz's eyes sharpen at Adam suspiciously until Nicholas suddenly appears behind Doc Schwartz.

"Ahaha… Don't mind him, Adam. He just worried you are from Atlas coming to arrest him." Nicholas quickly cleared up the misunderstanding and then stared at Doc Schwartz. "He isn't from Atlas. He's an agent dispatched by Valeian Council to investigate Ansel."

"Oh! I see. I made a mistake." The eccentric doctor nodded while holding his chin while staring at the void for a moment before turning to Adam. "I apologize for my mistake, Mr White."

"I didn't mind it." Adam shrugs.

"Wonderful! I hope we can still be friends with each other." Doc Schwartz offered and shook hands with Adam.

Nicholas and the rest of the Hunters return to the caravan and depart on the double. The attack from Grimm had worsened a lot and they cannot afford to dally any longer. Not with their dwindling supply of ammunition.

Adam returns to the caravan he previously sat on and climbs back up on top of the cargo and sits while the convoy is picking up their pace. Unexpectedly, Doctor Schwartz followed him.

"Mr White, I wonder if you are looking for more members to investigate the mining town, Ansel?" The doctor asked while his eyes remained peeled at the surroundings, watching out for any Grimms.

"Just call me Adam, Doc. But I don't think I will be requiring any additional members. My companions are already adequate." Adam replied while he was keeping his eyes on the minimap on his HUD.

"May I know why?" The Doc prodded more.

"It may sound rude. But I cannot bring people with capability I cannot trust." Adam replied with a reasonable excuse.

"Hmn, it is not something rude. It's very common for Hunters to stay in the group they were assigned when they were still in the academy even after becoming professional Huntsmen." Doc Schwartz nods and replies. "I can understand that sentiment."

The Doctor looked at Adam for a bit longer and then left defeated when he couldn't get what he wanted from Adam.

"Master, I think that insect is up to no good. I have been reading his body language which is filled with lies." Agents communicated through the comm while their eyes were looking at each other from a distance.

Agent and G41 was sitting at the back of a truck carrying a bunch of people, one truck ahead of him. Agent and Adam made eye contact while they talked mentally with the comms. For Agent, the voice directly appears into her Neural Cloud but for Adam, it appears on the headset built-in to his helmet.

"Should I eliminate him, Master?" Agent asked for an order.

"No. Let's not be hasty. We have yet to fully understand his purpose. But I do suspect he might have some relation to the incident in Ansel." Adam holds his elbow with one hand and his chin with the other while thinking of the matter.

It's obviously suspicious. German name, a doctor, named Schwartz, acts quite passionate when it comes to his job. This is a telltale sign of a mad scientist in hiding. Maybe he indeed had a hand on this Outbreak and wanted to join in order to silence Adam and his team.

"Agent, you will be spying on him for now. Try to dig up information to see if he is really related to the Incident in Ansel." Adam gave his order.

"Your order is my will, Master. Leave it to me." Agent couldn't give her salute to Adam without causing a commotion. So, she simply closed her eyes and imagined she did it. Not the act that matters, but the thought that matters.

"How about me, Master!" The excited pup, G41 chimed in demanding for a task too.

"You will be guarding Master while I am away." Agent reminds G41 of her task which she forgot.

"Oh, protecting Master. I will do my best!" G41 cheered and would wag her tail happily if she had one.

—————

(Where is Eric? Eric is in the Inventory. Unlike the two T-Dolls, Eric has the appearance of a robot. Something that I don't think Remnant has. So, it's kept hidden to not rouse suspicion.)