Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

"Where are you taking me?" Hitori asked as Akira pulled him out of the house. Hitori waited on the veranda as Akira locked the door with magic and turned to Hitori.

"We are ready to go," he said.

They spent the day planning about assault strategy including them and Kogara siblings. Their priority was to get Reon safely out of the fort. The rest will happen after they make sure she is safe.

Hitori rejected a few strategies Akira had proposed and suggested a few of his strategies. Then they two mixed their strategies and finalized two plans.

Plan A for when shit goes right. And Plan B for when their Plan A backfires.

Through the process, Akira never revealed how they were going to the other side and when. By the time they were done, it was quarter to nine, Akira got up and left the room to check for last-minute preparations.

Hitori thought what was the hurry? He told Eya to meet at nine-thirty, so they had time. But by the time he had a chance to ask Akira, he found Akira pulling him out of the house, saying, "We need to leave, right now!"

So here they were. Akira climbed the stairs and prompted Hitori to follow. He asked again, "I need to prepare myself, I need these thirty minutes."

Akira turned to the woods and walked toward them. "Of course. You will have the next twenty minutes to yourself while we take the walk in the dark."

Hitori frowned. "Why are we leaving early? I need to meditate and—"

Akira turned with a glare. "Do not fool yourself, Hitori. You know you are prepared. You always were, from the last few months."

Hitori gulped and nodded. "Do you know the way?"

Akira smiled.

But Hitori was worried. "No. Seriously. We used the Adventurers\' way to get into the forest, and then—"

"Eya-nee, she did a mistake. So that path is closed for us. Forever. And I remember the time when you stormed his fort ALONE, you used this same route."

Hitori wanted to take a safe route, but perhaps there was no safe route. "Alright. You won. Come on now, we need to reach in twenty minutes."

They reached the walls in ten minutes. It figures out that Akira knew his way around the woods better than Hitori had expected him to know. And that raised a question.

"Where do you live?" Hitori asked.

Akira, who was preparing for teleporting, replied, "In  a cave." He stretched his hand.

Hitori was excited to teleport with him. A whole new experience was awaiting him– Akira\'s mana was that strong after all.

He held his hand and stepped beside him, Akira threw him a glance and said:

"I will show you my house someday." Then they disappeared from this side and appeared on the other side.

It took them fifteen minutes to reach the fort. They stopped a few meters away from the fort and took cover.

They exchanged glances and told each other they were ready, by communicating with eyes. Hitori rose when Akira tugged him. "Wonder why we are here alone?"

"Does not matter," Hitori said, looking at him, "but why?"

"You have to take action, they will cover for us."

Hitori chuckled. "And that makes us what?"

"The action-takers." Akira stood and nodded at Hitori. "So are we ready?"

Hitori took his running stance. "Five guards at the door, not much to take down."

"Just remember one thing, if things get out of hand, do not care about those forbidden curses."

Hitori glanced at him. "Of course," he said. "Like duh, I never cared."

Akira took his stance. "At the count of three, we ambush them and blow their heads in three, two, and one."

Hitori dashed out of the bush followed by Akira. Unknown to them, the camera had scanned them and the radar had detected them, so the guards were ready.

Hitori saw the guards turn to him with sub-machine guns pointed at him, the moment he jumped out of the bushes.

The firing started and Hitori was taken by surprise. Akira was ready for the attack. He stepped forward and created a shield to block the high-caliber bullets.

​ "Hitori! Do it!" he ordered.

Hitori jumped out of the cover, rolled on the ground, and fired ice spikes at the guards. They were ready for that attack. The spikes crashed against their battlesuit.

A failure for Hitori, and now he was the center of attention. "It is hard to aim while moving," he muttered as he prepared for a fireball.

Akira was keeping the other two guards as the three charged at Hitori. He created his shield and just had to find the perfect timing.

Their Plan A had failed even before kicking into action, and the Plan B? Oh… oh, ho! Fuck it.

From playing the games where his strong opponents had the armor and suits of the same level as the guards\' suits. Hard to penetrate, no ordinary blade or spell could break through.

Hitori was experienced. He had gained knowledge and ways to break through the suits. Although these suits were different from the games, their mechanism was the same.

Hitori found the perfect chance when one of the two guards stopped to reload his gun. He took cover and hid from Hitori, leaving the other two open.

It happened in a flash, cause it took them a second to reload, they were trained. But one second was enough for Hitori.

He rose from his cover and swung his wand aimed at the guard\'s groin region. A fireball crashed into his groin, and he broke out in a scream.

His mates turned to him, and so did Akira. They were startled by the scream, and that was a chance for Hitori.

He threw a spear at one\'s groin and when the other guard was trying to cover his groin, Hitori blew his groin region along with his hand.

The places like groin, armpits, elbows, and knees were hard to plate. So they were the weak spots in a battlesuit, just like they were in armor. Unless they start making skin-tight suits, the weakness will remain.

Akira knew just where to attack. So after Hitori was done, he watched Akira blow the groins of two men.

Akira from the left side and Hitori from the right side met a few meters away from the door. "See, you take action. You know how to get out of shit," Akira said.

"Get ready for more guns." Hitori drew his wand and broke the polycarbonate glass door. For some reason, the mana was rushing through his veins, leaving the blood behind.

He believed if he is cut or shot, his mana will spill out before his blood would.