Draconic Ascension - System Apocalypse Isekai LitRPG

The next few days consisted of nothing but running around.

Channeling the Rune of Shadows the whole time, Michael ran from Safe Zone to Safe Zone, scouring each of them with his senses and sixth sense for the people he was looking for. If he found family members of one of his friends, he would escort them back to Safe Zone M36, no matter how far away they were. If he didn't find the people he was looking for, he would simply move on to the nearest Safe Zone, all of which were simple enough to find due to the stark contrast between them and the ruined landscape around them.

At the same time, the constant, unintentional exploration helped Michael get a much better grasp of the city's new geography and even Dungeon entrances. The underground Dungeon still seemed to be the biggest, but he managed to find a few Dungeons that emitted enough mana to make him pause. There were only a few of them, all close to the giant trees that rose above the skyline in a few locations.

He also became more familiar with the trees themselves, including the one with orange leaves that he'd seen before. The four largest trees were placed in the city according to the four cardinal directions, with plenty of smaller trees all over the city, which were then surrounded by even smaller ones. The orange-leaved one was one of the mid-level trees.

On the eighth day since he'd found Sam and Amy.

Michael smiled as he watched Naomi hugging her parents. The girl was bawling her eyes out. He basked in the scene for a few seconds before turning to look at Elizabeth, who was standing next to him and staring at the scene with a somber expression, as if she had just found out she was next in line for a guillotine. No, it was an even worse look.

"I'm sorry, Elizabeth. I'm sure they're out there still," Michael told her in a low tone, even though he knew all comforting words were useless.

Elizabeth gritted her teeth. He could see the rage building up within her eyes, only to be replaced by overwhelming sadness. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. When she opened them again, she appeared a bit calmer, as she always did, but the emotions still marred her expression and bearing. He had never seen her look so fragile, even if he included the time before the System's descent.

"It's fine," she replied in the most deadpan voice Michael had ever heard. "We both know what's more likely to have happened to them. We need to keep moving."

Michael stared at her with a complicated expression.

"…At least give yourself room to grieve."

"I don't need your advice," she snapped, lashing out, before she caught herself and took another deep breath. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have talked like that. I'm just trying to remain focused."

Michael nodded slowly and looked back at Naomi. Thomas, Anthony, and Dylan were around her, congratulating her with wide smiles. It was only natural, since Michael had managed to find their parents, all of whom had survived by sheer stroke of luck. James, however, was alternating between looking at him and Elizabeth. Michael nodded at him slowly and glanced at Elizabeth twice, making the young man belatedly nod slightly.

"Still, I'm sorry. You also need time to go through your emotions," he said. "I hope it gets easier with time."

"It never does," Elizabeth replied, her neutral tone breaking. "It never will. Not this."

Michael frowned sadly. He remembered her parents clearly. Alex and Madison had been energetic, wise people, who always seemed happy. Alex had given him some advice during the nights when he'd drunk too much and gone to talk to the man, and Madison had always been so incredibly gentle, always asking about his feelings.

Both of them went silent. After an unknown amount of time, Michael spoke again.

"I'm sorry, Liz. Please, don't bury yourself under your pain."

She sighed and remained silent for a few seconds.

"…I know, but I can't promise anything. You should go. There's a lot that you still need to do, based on what you've told us and how you've acted so far."

Michael looked at her and nodded with a sad smile.

"Yeah."

Elizabeth nodded.

"I'll explain it to the others. Just talk to your mom before you leave."

"…Of course. Thank you."

With one final nod at her and a pained stare, Michael left Elizabeth's side and went over to where Allison was. She was smiling at Naomi and the others. Once Michael got close enough, she turned to look at him, her smile dimming a bit.

"You have to, don't you?" she asked before he could even say anything.

Michael only nodded with a heavy expression. She let out a deep sigh.

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"Be safe. We'll always be here when you come back," Allison continued.

Michael could tell she was putting on a front, but he didn't question it. He nodded at her again and decisively turned around before he lost the strength to do so, then walked out of the room. Behind him, his senses could grasp Allison walking over to Elizabeth and wrapping her arms around the girl.

At least she isn't alone.

Resisting the urge to turn around, he marched on. As Elizabeth had said, there was a lot that he still needed to do. Failing to do so could mean the extinction of his entire race, depending on whether the Gods of War would be willing to destroy Earth in its entirety to eliminate him.

Soon, he found himself back on the Safe Zone's streets, his hearing managing to capture some of the hushed voices escaping the apartments through the windows.

"Duncan is fucking dead," a male voice said, heavy as a bag of bricks. "The monsters underground killed him. I told you we shouldn't have fucking gone down there! Fuck all of you!"

"Calm down," another man replied, barely managing to keep itself from stuttering. "We all knew the risks. Right now, we need to think about what to do, so calm the fuck down!"

"Calm down? You expect me to calm down? I swear to fucking God, if you don't—"

On the opposite side, in another building.

"…I'm scared," a young woman said. "What do we do?"

"I don't know," an aged man replied. "The Tutorial was hard enough. I just don't know. Maybe we should just… accept our fate."

Michael momentarily focused on what he could hear. The dozens of voices created a cacophony, but he could hear each of them quite clearly and understand all of them at the same time, likely because of his high stats and sharpened senses and mind. In the end, he managed to discern what the predominant emotion among the many groups was.

Despair.

Truthfully, it was something he'd expected from the moment the System told him he would go back to Earth. The Tutorial had been difficult for him, but he had still been the strongest participant in the entire Tutorial Zone. Not only that, but his underlying draconic nature and his own desperation had helped him keep fighting. However, most people from Earth hadn't spent more than thirty seconds in a fight before the Tutorial, especially in a fight to the death.

I can't even imagine how many must have died in the Tutorial.

Michael gritted his teeth as he continued to walk. When they were told they would return to Earth, most people had probably been overjoyed, despite knowing what the Tutorial meant. The mere possibility of returning to their normal lives, even if they had changed a bit, had likely given them hope. That hope had been crushed when they looked outside of the Safe Zones.

Michael sighed. He could only hope people would sort themselves out and manage to get a working society again. While he could step in, this desire was hindered by the fact that he needed to remain as low-key as possible for as long as possible, so as to avoid being noticed by the gods. Taking on a key position in humanity would go against that. As his thoughts reached this point, he frowned.

…But what would all that secrecy be worth if it means letting an unknown number of people suffer and die?

The gods could wipe out humanity if they found out about him, or simply choose to destroy him and his family line. Humanity could end up with a functional society after adapting to this new Earth, or simply die by the droves until that happened, if it even happened at all. In the end, all possibilities were ones where he wasn't aware of the probabilities of any of them. He lacked too much knowledge.

Michael paused, standing still with a heavy frown. Almost ten seconds later, he shook his head and breathed out.

Focus on what you can do right now. Worry about the rest later.

First things first, he should improve his power. He could worry about helping New York City's budding new society once he grasped what enemies lay beyond the Safe Zones, what the giant trees were, and all other factors that could come into play. He couldn't forget his personal goals while worrying about humanity's fate. One step at a time.

He took a deep breath and started to run. While channeling the Rune of Shadows to avoid being recognized or even remembered, he ran faster than any other human he'd seen in his Tutorial Zone would have been capable of. Michael could perceive the people looking through the windows to stare at him with unfocused eyes. He paid them no heed.

He ran through the ruined streets, soon finding his first target. Michael ground to a halt with ease and looked ahead. Ten meters in front of him, circled by three beasts, was one of the smallest giant trees, one with a brown trunk and yellow leaves that drifted in the breeze. The first beast was a tiger-like creature that was over four meters tall, while the other two looked like giant squirrels on steroids. Their muscles bulged beneath their fur, claws ending in sharp, razor-like blades.

He took a step forward. The three beasts looked at him at the same time and snarled. The evolved cat lunged at him, making him wince. Just like before, he wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of butchering animals, or at least creatures that used to be animals. Still, he needed to do what he needed to do. Michael pointed his staff at the monster.

"Arcane Missile," he said less than a second later.

The longspear of mana took shape and shot toward the feline's head like a bullet. The monster flinched, but it was already too late. The Missile hit its forehead and unceremoniously pierced through it, making the creature's head disappear alongside its shoulders. The projectile continued on, drilling a hole through the monster's entire body. In the end, all that remained were parts of its limbs, which flopped to the ground. Blood quickly pooled under them.

The giant squirrel monsters flinched and took a few steps back. Michael raised his eyebrows.

Maybe I don't have to kill them?

It was the first time that the city's monsters had shown fear. However, it was then that he felt a resonance of mana come from the yellow-leaved tree. He looked at it with wide eyes.

What is this?

It was a spell-like pattern that he didn't recognize at all. The two animals stopped in place, as if listening to a sound that only they could hear. After a second, they looked back at Michael. He could see the aggressiveness and ferocity in their eyes, emotions that previously didn't exist. He blinked at the tree.

Are you fucking serious?

He cursed under his breath as the giant, monstrous squirrels dashed at him. Twin Arcane Missiles coalesced in front of him, only to pierce through the air in the direction of his enemies. Just like the cat, they couldn't even react before the Missile seared a hole through them. The carcasses dropped to the ground with a burst of boiling blood.

Michael looked at the dead beasts – or, more accurately, what remained of them – for a few seconds and then turned to look at the tree with narrowed eyes.

"What a fucked up power," he muttered to himself as he started walking toward it.

Once he stepped within five meters of the tree, after walking over its large roots, the tree's mana moved again.