Born in apocalypse

’Wait, how could they track us down, but how?’ Dhruv panicked for a moment as his mind instantly imagined the worst scenario.

As the seconds passed Dhruv quickly managed to calm himself down, remembering that they had returned and there wasn’t any immediate danger.

Since they missed the chance of a surprise attack, Dhruv was confident enough to handle anything after that.

After calming down he began to think with a cool mind,

’So they managed to track us down... But how did they do it? Did they use some type of item or was this the result of a skill?’

After getting in contact with so many magical items, Dhruv was sure that there would be some items with tracking ability as well.

There was a possibility for such items, but having possibilities doesn’t mean they would have that item on themselves every moment. Following this principle, Dhruv began to think of something else.

After thinking for a while Dhruv comes to a conclusion,

’Didn’t one of the skills of the hunter have ’Track,’ and after evolving the skill, maybe it grants such a potent track ability. Hmmm! That must be how it had unfolded. If only Alaric could see how they were able to get clues about us and use that for tracking.’

The obvious thing he could think of was that they must have left some item there, and the group had used that item to track them down.

’...so they managed to track us with the help of that skill, but why did they return and not come to attack us? Did they think this wasn’t worth their effort, or was there some other motive behind this?" Dhruv contemplated the possibilities.

Dhruv couldn’t exactly pinpoint either of the possibilities as there weren’t any clues in his favor. Not having enough clue he put this matter in the back of his head and looked at Alaric.

"Did you hear anything they were talking about?" Dhruv asked.

"No, master, the sound of the helicopter was so much louder, and I couldn’t hear anything, but I managed to see that before returning they were talking with someone on a phone-like device," Alaric said as he recalled the scene.

’So, they weren’t at the top of the order either and were following someone else," Dhruv connected the dots and urged Alaric to continue.

"At first, I was planning to follow the vehicle back to their group hideout and know their location so we can attack them... But after noticing that they were about to leave the perimeter and following them would mean that I have to go against the command. So, I abandoned the idea and returned to mapping the city," Alaric said with a hint of regret in his voice.

The reason why Alaric had said that following them would mean he had to go against Dhruv’s command was because Dhruv had instructed him to only stay on the mainland and not cross any river borders.

Dhruv nodded, understanding the situation. After thinking for a bit, he asked, "Alaric, did you see which direction they had gone in?"

"North, Master, they had gone further north," Alaric responded with a calm expression.

"Ohhh! North. So, their base is on the continent of Ehai," Dhruv thought aloud.

’Continent of Ehai, so the place they had gone is called Ehai,’ Alaric thought and took note of the names of the places to further enhance his knowledge so he could serve his master better.

Curious about something, Alaric looked at his master and asked, "Master, the place I was mapping, what was its name?"

"Ohh! The name of that place is ’Ajaeis,’" Dhruv said after recalling for a bit.

Although his geographical knowledge wasn’t that extensive, he at least knew the names of continents and countries along with some important places.

After thinking for a while, Alaric began to explain how he had spent the rest of the time on Ajaeis.

For the rest of the time, he didn’t encounter anything out of the ordinary. He came across another four bomb marks, saw a few tens of human groups wandering in that wasteland, and encountered tons of monster groups.

’Even though the situation is bad, it shouldn’t be this bad that humans are gone from one of the cities almost completely. Why are there so few humans there? Have they been evacuated? Man, this situation is so complicated, the more I think, the more questions emerge,’ Dhruv thought, pondering how to learn more about the situation in Ajaeis.

As he was pondering over this matter he suddenly remembered someone who should be enough knowledgeable about this situation.

’Isn’t that old man from there? He should be quite knowledgeable as well and should know how things have gone on in the city and before the apocalypse. Why didn’t I think of asking him about this...’ Dhruv realized his oversight and instantly signaled Azarex to let the old man come into the tent.

Dhruv had decided to listen to the rest of Alaric’s report after learning about the history first.

...

Outside of the tent...

An old man was getting fresh, and when he was about to return to do some work he noticed that Azarex, one of the guardians, was coming toward him.

’Did I do something...’ This was the first thought that came to his mind as he looked and found out that he was indeed the target of the undead lord.

Even after noticing Azarex, the old man didn’t panic. He knew that this guardian of their lord was very gentle, always trying to help everybody with his undead, unlike a red-haired guardian, who only wants to fight everybody.

Sighing, the old man bowed toward the approaching undead lord and asked, "How can I help you?"

"Master is calling you," Azarex said with a cold expression.

"Lord, me? Why?" The old man didn’t understand the reason for this sudden call and asked the reason for the call.

"I don’t know. It’s unwise to let the master wait. Follow me." With few words, Azarex showed his intention and began to walk toward the tent.

Having no intention of dishonoring the lord, the old man began to follow Azarex. In just a minute or two, they reached the tent, and after getting permission from Dhruv, the duo entered the tent.

The moment he entered the tent, the old man could feel the seriousness in the air. There wasn’t any sound coming into the tent from the outside and there was an eerie silence; everything was cut off, and a shield surrounded him.

He noticed the eldest guardian sitting beside the lord. The old man bowed to his lord and the guardian and sat on the chair that Dhruv had created.

Without wasting any time, he heard a voice, "Old man, tell me how things happened from the start..."