Plundering in the Apocalypse

'Don't come near me!! Don't!!'

'I have to escape.'

'You can't get anywhere.'

'Take this.'

A knife pierced.

"AAAHHhh.."

A scream sounded. The woman looked shocked and confused.

"I'm alive?"

She was sweating in fear. In front of her two people were looking at her with weird and surprised eyes.

"Are... Are you okay?" Shin asked. Not sure what to say.

He was chatting with Alice when suddenly the unconscious woman screamed. That gave him one hell of a scare.

The woman cautiously looked at them as she grabbed the sheets and take a defensive stance reflexively.

"Who... Who are you?" Her voice sounded hoarse. Probably due to caution or her sore throat.

"I'm Shin and this is Alice. We saw you surrounded by some people so we saved you." Shin directly answered her. Not wanting to hide it. That was the only way he could think for her to lower her guard.

Hearing Shin's words she shows a myriad of expressions. Shock, confusion, fear, nervousness, and more. She was still having trouble keeping up with her thoughts.

She had suffered a lot which made it difficult to trust others. 'Are they telling the truth or am I already kidnapped?'

In a sense, she was kidnapped. But it was different, it was done in her interest.

"What about them?" She asked hinting at her pursuers.

Shin understood what she meant so he explained everything. "I saved you without being found out. So there was no encounter."

Although she found it hard to believe. 'How can someone escape that situation?' Then she remembered herself flying before she fainted. Her memory was unclear but that feeling of being pulled was not. 'His eyes don't seem like lying.' She had a strong feeling that Shin wasn't lying. So she decided to believe in him for now.

"Thank you for saving me. I am truly grateful. Forgive me for my previous behavior." She bowed as she apologized sincerely.

"My name is Celeste Hall. Sorry for the late introduction." She introduced herself. 𝐟𝘳𝑒𝗲𝘸e𝒃𝘯𝒐𝐯e𝚕.c𝒐𝒎

Alice who watching by the side also butted in. "Who were those people? And why were they chasing you?"

She was still over the moon after their bathroom act. So her cheeks were still red. She tried to sound serious. But with her blushing cheeks failed her miserably.

The woman didn't seem to notice as she started explaining.

"I don't know much about them. But they are part of some shady organization. They approached me a few times before. When I asked for their license or certification. Even a contract would have worked. They denied showing me any. So I rejected them. I didn't want to join some shady group." Celeste's voice was firm but soon her voice started shaking.

"It was then, they started troubling me. I was even fired from my previous job because of them. It was an ordinary small company so they were afraid of these people following me." There were tears in Celeste's eyes as she said that.

It was obvious how terrified she was.

"They were persistent and kept harassing me. But I rejected them. I was fed up with them so I reported them to the Awakened Association. But while returning home today, I was corned."

"I tried escaping from them. I was never going to join them. Maybe they understood. That's why they sent assassins to finish me off. While in my last struggle, I gave up but ended up being saved by you guys."

"So, thank you. Thank you so much." She was very sincere. Tears constantly flowed out of her eyes.

"I see, you suffered a lot," Alice said pitying her.

"But you still haven't answered my other question. Why were they chasing you?" Alice asked again. She wasn't going to just let it go.

Celeste's expression turned somewhat gloomy. Her heart was in turmoil. She couldn't decide whether to tell them or not. Because it has already caused her a lot of trouble.

Seeing the reluctance in her eyes Alice said.

"Do remember you haven't escaped from them yet. I don't know if Association will even act on your request. If you want our help, you should explain everything." Alice's tone was unusual but still soft. Not trying to sound intimidating. After all, this wasn't her method of interrogation.

Like a sudden realization hit her Celeste's eyes were wide open.

She gulped in fear at the prospect of her attackers coming here.

"Don't worry you are safe here," Shin stated calming her nerves.

Celeste nodded her head in understanding.

'What should I do?'

'Should I tell them? But if I tell them about it and act like those guys what will I do?'

Celeste couldn't decide for some time. But after thinking it over and over again. She had no other choice.

'If I want to live this is my only chance. Even if I have to risk it all. They don't seem like bad people moreover they saved my life. Maybe I can trust them.'

Celeste decided to come clear.

"I am an 'S' Rank awakened!!!" She spoke those words with bringing all her strength out. Her eyes were tightly closed.

'I did it. I said it. I don't know what will happen now.' Celeste was very afraid. She expected to hear a surprised scream or something. But even after some time, she heard nothing.

'Why are they so silent? Don't tell me they are so shocked, they are speechless.'

She slowly opened her eyes expecting to see a surprised face. But she only got weird looks.

"And?" Alice's voice sounded as if she expected to hear more.

But seeing their reaction Celeste froze.

She was very embarrassed.

'What's going on?'

'What's with that reaction?'

"And... my ability is 'Creator.'" She said that with a somewhat meek voice.

As expected there was not much reaction.

"I see, but what does it do?" Alice probed.

"I can create or build things. It's a non-combat ability. It's not like I can create anything. There are many conditions and restrictions." Celeste started explaining.

She had awakened this ability 3 days ago. Unfortunately when she did and mumbled about her ability in excitement someone heard her. That's how she ended up in trouble.

"So you are saying they only know you are an 'S' rank user? Nothing about your ability?" Shin asked to confirm once again.

"Yes... they only know that I am an S' rank and can't fight properly yet." Celeste confirmed Shin's words as he started pondering over it.

"If that's the case. They just wanted a strong addition for themselves. But after failing continuously, they decided to end her. Thinking she may end up as an enemy. So they decided to eliminate her." Thinking this over and over. Shin felt it was pretty reasonable.

"Yeah, that sounds reasonable. But we still don't know anything about them."

Alice also came to a similar conclusion.

"It was obvious many organizations came into being. This also meant that criminals or people with previous records couldn't get a license. So they made illegal organizations."

"So how are we going to act?" Alice asked.

"Let's-" Shin stopped speaking as he turned to the voice.

"Um."

Seeing that Celeste wanted to say something. Shin asked.

"What is it?"

"It's... It's nothing. Just, the way you guys reacted. I wasn't expecting this type of reaction." Celeste said.

"The way we reacted?" Alice repeated her words in confusion.

'What does she mean?'

"Yes, even though I told my rank and ability. You guys didn't think about it much."

Alice's confusion grew even bigger.

"What do you mean?"

"I am an S' rank. You know." Celeste said again.

"Are S' rank nothing to you?"

At this moment Shin understood what was wrong with the situation. Well, it was obvious they won't be surprised by her rank.

Although for others S' rank is very rank. 1 among a million. But to Shin and Alice. The people close to them were very strong. They had already faced so many strong monsters and are very strong so it was natural they didn't care.

Shin had already used Magic eyes on her. So he knew about that beforehand. Even if he didn't.

Alice is an SSS rank individual. While Shin is unranked also stated as Z rank with unlimited potential. Why would they be surprised?

Of course, they can't say that. So he came up with an excuse.

"We have some S' and A ranks in our guild. Maybe that's why we weren't much surprised." As Shin said that. Celeste gave him a surprised look.

"What kind of guild is that? It has many 'A' ranks. Many guilds out there don't have even a single A rank."

It was natural for Celeste to be surprised. Shin was creating a team of monsters. All his encounters were fortunate.

Shin smiled awkwardly.

"Ahem, well the guild's name is Astros. I am the Guild Master Shin Wolner."

"And I am the Vice-Guild Master Alice Kayden," Alice said with a beautiful smile.

With her red cheeks and smile, she looked very stunning.