Stacking My Abilities

The rest of the journey was rather smooth.

With his newly gained ability [Aura Vision], Jeff saw a lot of people hiding in buildings, but no monsters.

Walking onto a bridge, this place was congested with empty cars. Broken glass everywhere. By the looks of it, the looters paid this place a visit as well.

"So. Jeff. How about it."

"Tssscchh..."

"We have free food and bean bags." Alice flicked her brows as she talked.

"Yeah..."

"We'll become the biggest superhero organization one day. Trust me. We are determined in this path. In face of evil, we'll never back down! We'll fight to the last man! This is our resolve, and our path of superheroes!"

Jeff stared at Alice and slowly nodded.

Avoiding Jeff's gaze, the girl's ears flushed red. "Hey. Whatever happened back there."

"Never happened." Jeff nodded.

"Alright. I know our organization's name isn't the best. But we are willing to change that. Just for you."

Jeff felt a little bad for rejecting now.

"Yeah... Thanks for the offer... But I still think I'll say no to this one."

Just a little bad though.

"Still got some business to solve first. But after that." Jeff pointed at the girl, then back at himself. "I'll think about it."

"So the camp is..."

"Just across the bridge." Alice sighed. She looked a little tired.

"Nice. Nice." Jeff looked around. He felt a gaze. However, even with aura vision turned on, he couldn't detect the source of danger. 'Huh. Weird. Maybe those guys have some sort of detection abilities as well?'

Jeff quickly threw that idea out of his mind. The camp was empty.

At the base of the bridge, right in the middle of the highway, there was a group of tents scattered there. Fits about 30 - 50 people. This group had set up a barricade with abandoned cars as well.

Campfires here and there. Gas stoves set up and abandoned. Walking up closer, Jeff could see backpacks on the ground. Looked like these guys had left in a hurry.

However, no signs of battle or destruction around here.

Seeing this, Alice just stood there in shock. Widening her eyes, the girl didn't know what to say, or do.

Squinting his eyes, Jeff looked around with [Aura Vision]. Still nothing. 'Weird...'

"Let's take a look. Maybe your friends left you a note." Jeff pointed to that camp with his chin.

They were already here now, in the open, not hiding. Also, in the camp, Jeff couldn't sense anything dangerous inside.

His [Aura Vision] picked up nothing big either. Could only see little rodents eating abandoned food.

Alice numbly nodded, as if she still couldn't accept the situation.

"Relax. I'm sure they are fine. On a positive note, maybe they are chasing a nice item or something."

Alice nodded in reply.

Entering the campground, Alice hurried off.

Jeff casually walked around. Smelled like they were enjoying barbeque, right here, just moments ago. There's leftover food everywhere.

Looking around, a glinting light caught Jeff's gaze. That seemed to be an energy source.

Casually walking over there, Jeff found a single-edged dagger laying on the ground. About 6 inches long. Unsheathed. A cold and sharp looking blade sitting on a bronze hilt.

With [Aura Detection] active, Jeff could see this dagger glinting with a dim white light. Rather strange for an item to be honest.

'Huh...' Picking up the dagger, Jeff suddenly felt a chill down his spine. Danger!

'Haste.' Jeff darted forward.

Poof. A crossbow bolt sank into the asphalt ground at where Jeff was standing.

Poof. Poof. Poof.

A stream of bolts continued to chase Jeff. Even with [Haste] turned on, these arrows were still rather fast.

Without further hesitation, Jeff held his newly gained round shield above his head.

Clank! Clank!

Jeff's arm felt a little numb. The bolts left two deep dents onto the shield.

Those hits might have broke a critical structure in Jeff's shield. The shield on Jeff's arm started to evaporate into a grey mist.

Nevertheless, the shower of bolts stopped.

Hearing the faint whistling sound of something dropping down, Jeff dashed out this abandoned camp.

Thump!

Looking back, a human figure had dropped onto the highway. The asphalt ground dented and cracked like an eggshell.

This guy was hiding on top of the bridge struts the entire time!

Jeff could swear that he had looked up there as well. Double checks. Triple checks even.

Yet, Jeff couldn't detect this guy even with his abilities activated.

"Hey. Are you ok?" Alice ran out the campground.

"Yeah... So far so good." Jeff squinted. If his [Beast Instincts] ability was correct, this... thing, was dangerous. Way more dangerous than anything he'd fought so far.

Jeff's heart pounded. 'Based off my instincts, if I fight this thing, it's a 95 to 5 win chance. 95 for this thing. 5 for me.'

'But if I only wanted to flee. With my supernatural tier physique, and [Haste], I am 99% sure that I can make it out just fine.'

"Go. Run. I'll distract it." Jeff slowly backed off from that monster. Leaving his back to this dangerous threat might not be the best idea.

Alice hesitantly looked at Jeff.

"Trust me." Jeff stared at the rising human figure. The fog was obstructing his view. But with [Aura Vision], Jeff could still see this thing as a glowing figure.

Alice bitterly chuckled. "I'll just hold you down if I stayed..."

Before Jeff could reply, the girl continued. "I trust you Jeff. You are the fastest man I know."

"Thanks?" Jeff tilted his head. That compliment didn't sound very right.

"Stay safe. Don't die." Leaving that, Alice jumped off this highway bridge. Taking a look, they were only about 5 meters above ground.

There were industrial factories down there. Good for taking cover. This girl seemed rather experienced in running away from monsters.

Turning his gaze back to the road, that monster was walking towards him now.