Chapter 67: The Line Between Us

Julian followed him.

He could have made it easy on himself — dropped back, moved quietly, let Michael clear the street ahead while he stayed close enough to catch up when it mattered. He had no trouble keeping pace. Michael kept stopping to fight, which gave Julian all the time he needed to close the distance again and again. The street was covered in broken glass and shredded awnings, torn loose from the shopfronts on either side, and every few steps he had to pick his way around something he didn’t look at too closely. But easy wasn’t what Julian wanted. His ambition didn’t allow for easy. He wanted to become strong — not just strong enough, but one of the strongest — and every time Michael turned to face something, Julian looked for a target of his own.

*It hasn’t even been a full day since the system was born, and we’re already this much stronger, with abilities that shouldn’t exist.* He kept moving, spear low, eyes scanning the dark storefronts on either side of the street. *It would be naive to think we’re the only ones. It would be even more naive to believe everyone else only cares about humanity. There were terrible people before the apocalypse too. It doesn’t take much imagination to guess what they’ll do with power like this.* His grip tightened on the shaft. *I can’t fall behind. I have to get stronger. Much stronger.*

The fights over the last few minutes had cost him everything he had. His mana was gone — completely, not the careful reserve Michael always seemed to keep. His summon was still with him, pacing at his side, but its outline flickered slightly at the edges, worn down from the last three fights it had thrown itself into. Once it dissolved, there would be nothing left to set him apart from any other fighter carrying a spear. No fireballs. No second body to call on. Just him, his shaking arms, and whatever was left in his legs.

He glanced down at the summon anyway. It was still upright, still moving, but its edges had gone thin in a way he’d not seen before. He’d have to be careful with it. One more bad fight and he’d be losing it for the rest of the upcoming fights.

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*Michael barely uses his skills either. I can do this too.*

He spotted a shape ahead, crouched between two parked cars — low, wide-shouldered, its skin the color of wet asphalt, claws long enough to scrape against the car doors on either side of it. He angled toward it before it noticed him. He decided against using his summon as a shield or a distraction — it wouldn’t survive more than a couple of hits in that state, and he needed it for something better than absorbing damage. *It only has to step in once, at the right moment. That’s enough to win this.*

The monster came off its crouch and closed the gap faster than he expected. Julian thought about sidestepping, the way Michael always did, but he was already too late. With Michael it always looked simple, like there was nothing to it. But Julian’s experience was totally different. Michael’s movements and reaction speed was a mystery to Julian. He didn’t know of Michael’s high Willpower and its effects. Julian didn’t have that. All he had time for was bringing the spear up in both hands, shaft angled across his body, and bracing.

The impact drove him backward off his feet. His shoulder blades hit the asphalt hard enough that the air went out of him, and one of the monster’s claws caught his forearm on the way down, a shallow tear that opened up along the sleeve of his jacket. The monster landed on top of him, its claws pinned just above his chest by the length of the spear caught between them. Its weight pressed the shaft down toward his throat, closer with every second his arms trembled. He could smell it — wet fur, something rotten underneath. Its jaws worked at nothing, snapping an inch above his face, saliva dripping onto his cheek.

„Now!“

His hound came in from behind, low and silent until the last second, and its jaws closed on the back of the monster’s neck. The bite tore it sideways off him, flinging it against the wall of a parked delivery van hard enough to dent the panel. Julian was up before it finished sliding down, ignoring the sting in his forearm, spear already turning in his hands. The monster’s neck was open on one side, blood pumping out in short bursts, and it was still trying to orient itself when Julian drove the spear through the wound and out the other side.

[You have killed a Gutter Stalker (Level 4)]

[You have received 100 Experience Points]

He pulled the spear free and staggered back a step, chest heaving, blood from his own arm mixing with the black fluid still dripping off the spearhead. His summon limped over and pressed against his leg, its outline still flickering, and he ran a hand along its neck without really thinking about it.

Julian looked up the street. Michael was thirty meters ahead, already moving on the fourth monster of the stretch, sword already coming around before the thing had even fully committed to its charge. No hesitation. No wasted movement. No wound like the one throbbing on Julian’s arm.

*That’s the line between us, I think.* Julian wiped his forearm across his mouth, tasting copper. *With full mana I can keep up with him. I can even get ahead of him, some of the time. But without it—* He didn’t finish the thought. He didn’t need to.

He pulled himself upright, forced his legs to move despite the ache spreading through his back, and ran after him.