Draconic Ascension - System Apocalypse Isekai LitRPG

The journey back to James' Safe Zone was slow, but simple.

After leaving the Safe Zone, Michael led Sam and Amy in the direction of Safe Zone M36. Naturally, monsters soon found them, but Michael dealt with all of them swiftly. There hadn't been a single enemy capable of withstanding a single Arcane Missile to a weak point. All of them had appeared exceedingly slow to Michael, even though he hadn't activated his Dragonheart. In the end, they reached the edge of the Safe Zone without a single hair on either Amy or Sam being harmed.

Michael stepped through the 'barrier' around the Safe Zone, arriving in the pristine interior, followed by the other two. He turned around and smiled at them.

"We're here. It won't be long now."

Sam and Amy nodded repeatedly. He looked at them carefully. Amy had recomposed herself over their little trip and was staring at him with admiration, as well as happiness. Sam, on the other hand, looked like he was about to cry again. Michael smiled at him and raised his staff, casting Whisper. The ethereal mouth of blue mana took shape.

"Michael? So, what did you find?" the mouth spoke in James' voice. Michael could detect the hopeful edge in his tone.

Sam and Amy froze. They stared at the blue mouth for a second before Sam started crying once more. Michael shook his head with a grin. Now that they were finally back inside the Safe Zone, he could relax a bit.

"I found them," he replied proudly. "Your parents. Where are you?"

There was no reply for almost ten seconds.

"S-South of the restaurant where we met. I-In a white building, ground floor. Come quickly," James stuttered out, his voice breaking. "Please."

"Of course. I'll be there soon."

"…Thank you, Michael."

"Don't mention it."

Michael dismissed Whisper and looked at Amy and Sam.

"Let's go. You'll see him soon," he said tenderly.

Sam stepped forward, still crying, and held Michael's hand.

"Thank you, Michael," he said, sobbing. "Thank you so much."

He tried to keep speaking, but his voice was broken up by his sobs. Amy smiled warmly at Michael.

"Thanks, Michael. I'm glad you were the one to find us," she said.

He nodded at both of them, tapped their shoulders, turned around, and kept walking. They followed him. As he walked, Michael kept his eyes on the streets.

Things have changed a bit.

He hadn't been gone for a long time at all, but there were noticeably fewer people in the streets. Had they all gone inside the buildings? It was certainly better than just standing around in the middle of the street. It also allowed them some privacy.

Man, I should take a shower.

Shaking his head and trying to ignore the thought, Michael marched on. The minutes started to tick by. Behind him, he could hear the strained breathing of both Sam and Amy, but he knew that they wouldn't be willing to stop and rest, not when their son was so close. He grinned.

Finally, they arrived in front of a building. Michael unhesitatingly walked through the entrance. Even though James' directions had been lacking because of his shock, Michael could perceive his mana signature clearly. This was the place. Following this sixth sense, Michael soon reached the building's party hall, where all of his friends were. They were all facing the entrance. James veritably lit up once he looked in Michael's direction. Michael only smiled and stepped to the side. A heartbeat later, Sam and Amy ran toward James from further back.

"James!" Amy shouted.

A second late, James started running toward them as well, clearly struggling to remain composed. He stumbled as he ran before hurriedly trying to recover his balance.

"Dad! Mom!" he finally let out as tears started streaming down his face. Michael could veritably feel his relief.

The three of them met halfway. James pulled his parents into his embrace. Sam was bawling his eyes out, as was Amy. Michael didn't think less of them because of it for even a second. Smiling, he walked closer to the rest of the group until he was standing next to Allison.

"I'm back," he said to her, keeping his smile. "Everything went well."

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Allison slowly nodded, keeping her eyes fixed on his.

"…Have you eaten?" she asked after a second.

Michael shook his head.

"I don't need to eat regularly. I'm fine."

"Still, it's been days. Come on, we managed to find some food. Eat something, anything."

Michael had to keep himself from flinching at her pleading tone. With a deep breath, he turned to look at his friends. Some, like Naomi and Dylan, were staring at him with hope in their eyes, while Elizabeth and Anthony were looking at James and his parents. Thomas alternated between Michael and James.

"I'll keep looking for your families," Michael said in a clear tone.

He omitted the words 'for as long as I can' from his sentence. He tried to hide the bitterness he felt.

I don't know how long I'll be able to keep this up.

The clock was ticking, and he had no clue how much time he would need to be able to survive against the Gods of War once the 'grace period' ended. He only had ten years. Compared to Veilthar, who had been chained down for millions of years before his sacrifice, it was an utterly negligible amount of time. At the same time, he cared about his friends and was the only one capable of finding out about the fate of their loved ones as soon as possible. How could he turn them away? The argument between these two sides raged endlessly within his mind. Michael's eyebrow twitched.

"Thank you, Michael," Elizabeth said after a second as she turned to look at him. "I mean it."

He nodded at her with a smile. The others also thanked him, with Naomi even walking closer to grab his hands. After that, they got closer to James, who was still hugging his parents and shared in his happiness. Michael watched them from the side, next to his mother.

"Is something worrying you, son?" Allison asked in a low tone.

Michael blinked and only managed to keep himself from flinching because of the bodily control he'd acquired as he became stronger.

"…Why do you ask, Mom?"

Allison looked at him, her green eyes staring into his own. The wrinkles around her eyes were still the same as always, but the details on her skin had become even clearer to his sharper vision. Time had taken its toll on her, but she hadn't been defeated by it. The sight filled Michael with a type of sadness that he didn't quite understand.

"You just look like there's a lot on your mind."

Michael smiled, trying to keep it as natural as possible, and put his hand over her head.

"Everything's fine. It's just this and that. Nothing I can't handle."

Allison frowned almost immediately.

"…Have we become so distant that you can't even talk to me, Michael?"

"No," he replied as he shook his head. "But this isn't something I can talk about."

Her frown deepened, but Michael held her stare.

I'm sorry.

He wasn't apologizing because of his inability and unwillingness to tell her the truth. Instead, he was apologizing for placing her at risk because of something he didn't have the strength to do.

I can't use the Rune on you.

Theoretically, he knew it was what he should do. Using the Rune of Shadows on everyone he knew, therefore letting their memories of him slowly disappear, was the best move, for both their safety and his.

But he couldn't bear to do it.

Michael clenched his jaw. Meanwhile, Allison only stared at him.

"Michael," James' voice came from the side, breaking the delicate standstill between Michael and his mother. Michael looked at him. The young man was sporting a huge smile. "Thank you. You're my savior. I can't really put into words what this meant to me, but I'll have your back no matter what happens and where you end up. I swear."

Michael smiled, trying to throw the talk he'd just had with Allison to the back of his mind.

"Don't mention it," he replied. "Just did what I should, and I'll keep doing it."

James nodded repeatedly. Sam and Amy also nodded at Michael, smiling as they thanked him.

"Allison was right," Elizabeth started carefully once a few seconds passed, making everyone look at her. "We found food within the buildings. You should come have a look and grab a bite."

Michael raised an eyebrow at her.

I guess it makes sense.

Apart from restaurants within the Safe Zone, the apartments and areas within the buildings were the most likely places for someone to find food. He nodded at Elizabeth.

"Lead the way."

She nodded and started walking deeper into the hall they had been in before Michael arrived, closer to the cupboards that covered the right wall. Once she got close enough, she grabbed the handle of the nearest one and pulled, opening it. Michael blinked as he saw what was inside.

"…I see," he belatedly said. "I don't know what I expected."

Inside the cupboards were all kinds of food, including cooked meat, vegetables, rice, pasta, and much more. Each type of food was in its own transparent container made of a material Michael didn't recognize.

Elizabeth nodded at him.

"It's everything you need for a good diet, and watch this," she grabbed one of the containers and pulled it out of the cupboard. The air around its previous position shimmered. Then, another identical container emerged out of thin air, perfectly filling up the space left by the previous one. Michael widened his eyes. "All food is automatically replaced. If there's a limit, we haven't found it, even after everyone was done eating. The containers also disappear once all food within them is eaten or removed. We've got infinite food. But…"

Michael narrowed his eyes.

Sounds too good to be true.

"You also don't think that's quite it," he replied, making her nod at him. "There's no way it's that simple. Not after what the Tutorial put us through."

Elizabeth nodded again.

"Exactly. Even our food in the Villages was different based on how many quests we had completed, and that was the Tutorial. It's unlikely for things to be much better here for no reason. We were talking about it before you used Whisper to talk to James."

"And your conclusion?"

She frowned.

"I don't know yet. But if food is infinite right now, I don't think it's going to stay this way forever. Or something else is going to happen and make everything shitty. Maybe the Safe Zones will shrink, maybe they have a population capacity limit, whatever. Shit is only going to get worse."

"I don't think that's quite a healthy mindset," Naomi chimed in timidly from behind Elizabeth. "But we agreed it's the one most likely to be correct."

Michael nodded. He agreed with Elizabeth. Her words weighed especially heavily on him, who had to shoulder a burden much greater than that of any of his peers.

For some time, he discussed the group's next moves with his friends. There was no time to properly discuss the changes that had happened to the entire Safe Zone, and there was also the issue of his friends' limited knowledge. In the end, he decided to simply keep looking for everyone's families and adopt a wait-and-see approach.

With words of farewell, Michael left the room and started running. Now, he still had people to find.