Chapter 179: Aurelia Voss

Aurelia Voss stared toward the black-haired young man for only a brief moment before forcing her attention back onto the battlefield as there were still enemies alive.

The collapse of the Western Spatial Anchor had shaken the remaining Zombie Race soldiers far more severely than Cain’s arrival.

Several immediately attempted to flee deeper into the settlement, while others continued fighting, though the coordination they had maintained earlier was already breaking apart.

Cain had no intention of allowing them to regroup as he spoke in a loud voice.

"Clean them up, but don’t chase too far."

The order was mainly intended for his own group.

He had no interest in wasting time pursuing every last enemy through the entire Western region when the Anchor Gate had already been destroyed.

Professor Irina and Cole were the exceptions.

He then quickly helped them to kill 25 beings between level 45 and level 50.

Several minutes later, after Cain had helped both of them in completing their missions, he stood guard for both of them as they advanced.

Another few minutes later, silence gradually returned to the town as most zombies had been killed.

Cain looked around and saw bodies covered the roads.

Many belonged to 1st Echelon soldiers.

There were also a considerable number of 2nd Echelons scattered around the inner settlement after the two human groups had joined forces.

Cain’s expression immediately became thoughtful as that was a lot of loot for them to be ignored.

He turned toward Ron, a meaningful smile appeared across his face.

"Same as usual."

Ron saw Cain’s expression and understood the assignment immediately.

A grin appeared on his face.

"Got it."

Cain looked toward the rest of his people.

"Search the buildings. Anything useful comes with us."

His tone remained perfectly normal.

The look in his eyes did not.

The others immediately understood.

Even Sonya’s lips curved upward slightly before she turned toward one of the nearby military buildings.

Cain’s group instantly scattered as they had already repeated the same process throughout the southern region.

Warehouses were checked first.

Command buildings followed afterward.

Anything that looked valuable disappeared into Cain’s Inventory once it was gathered.

Aurelia watched the group move through the settlement, her blue eyes narrowed slightly.

"They seem very familiar with this."

Cain turned toward her.

"Well... We’ve had practice."

Aurelia looked toward Ron, who was already entering a partially damaged warehouse with Jack.

"I can see that."

The two stood several meters apart.

Now that the fighting had ended, Cain could finally inspect her properly without having a dozen enemies interrupting them.

Her golden hair remained tied behind her head. Several strands had come loose during the battle and now rested against the sides of her face.

The white-gold light surrounding her body had weakened considerably after she dismissed most of the manifested swords.

Only the physical sword remained in her hand.

Aurelia slid it back into its sheath, then she walked toward him.

"Aurelia Voss."

Cain nodded with a smile.

"Cain."

"You’re Heavenly Dragon, aren’t you?" She asked as her gaze shifted briefly toward the ruins of the Western Anchor.

Cain smiled faintly.

Aurelia studied him for another moment.

"You still haven’t advanced yet."

"Unfortunately."

That answer made her eyebrows rise.

"You say that as if the System personally decided to make things difficult for you."

"It basically did." He chuckled lightly.

Cain saw the obvious question in her expression.

So, he did not bother waiting for her to ask as he explained it right away.

"My Advancement Mission requires the World Gate Core’s destruction."

Aurelia became still, her expression turned into a surprised one.

"The World Gate Core that needs to be destroyed to complete the World-Class Mission?"

"Yes, that one."

"So that’s why you haven’t advanced." She laughed helplessly as she had never thought that his mission would basically be the same as completing the World-Class Mission.

"After seeing what you did earlier, I was starting to wonder whether you were really only 1st Echelon."

"Unfortunately, I really am."

"That’s ridiculous."

Cain merely laughed it off.

Aurelia’s eyes returned to his face.

"Then the Universal Announcement about you was real too."

"Why wouldn’t it be?" Cain chuckled lightly.

Aurelia’s lips curved faintly.

"You don’t exactly act like someone whose name has been searched for by nearly every powerful Awakener I’ve encountered."

Cain raised an eyebrow.

"That many?"

"You seriously don’t know?"

"Nobody sent me a survey." Cain shrugged with a faint smile.

Aurelia stared at him for a moment before a quiet laugh escaped her.

Cain smiled at her reaction before shifting his attention toward the corpses scattered across the nearest road.

Then a thought occurred to him.

He looked back at Aurelia.

"What are you planning to do with those?"

Aurelia followed his gaze.

"The Zombie Corpses?"

"Yes."

She looked confused as to why Cain asked such a question.

Then gave an answer like a normal person would if they were to be asked the same question.

"Nothing."

"You’re leaving them here?"

"What else would we do with them?"

Cain didn’t answer as he pointed toward the bodies belonging to soldiers killed by her group instead.

"Then can I have them?"

Aurelia stared at him with a confused expression.

"The corpses?"

"Yes."

A few members of her group nearby overheard the conversation, then looked toward Cain strangely.

Aurelia glanced at the dead zombies again.

"Why do you want them?"

Cain didn’t answer again as he asked with a smile.

"Can I have them or not?"

Her eyes narrowed.

"That is not an answer." Aurelia crossed her arms, as she thought that Cain must be hiding something.

However, she had already decided to leave the corpses behind.

Whatever value Cain saw in them did not change the fact that they were useless to her group.

Aurelia finally nodded.

"Fine. You can take them."

Cain’s smile widened.

"Thanks."

He immediately turned around.

"Boys."

Several heads appeared from nearby buildings.

Cain pointed toward the corpses scattered across the streets.

"You know the drill, right?"

His expression carried a faint trace of satisfaction that immediately made Aurelia suspicious.

The members of her group looked at one another.

Cain’s people reacted as if the order was completely ordinary as several of them changed direction and approached the nearest bodies.

The Cores were extracted one after another.

Aurelia slowly turned toward Cain.

"You collect Zombie Race Cores?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Cain met her gaze, then answered with a faint smile.

"You’ll find out later."

Aurelia stared at him for several seconds.

The urge to ask again was obvious, but in the end, she restrained herself.

"You’re surprisingly annoying."

"Well, lucky for you... You haven’t met Ron yet."

Just as she was confused by what he meant, an angry voice sounded not far away from them.

"Cain, you bastard! Stop ruining my reputation when I’m not even part of the conversation!"

Cain turned toward the voice and laughed.

Aurelia followed his gaze and saw a young man carrying a bloodstained spear walking toward them with several harvested Cores in his hands.

She finally understood who Cain had been talking about.

A few minutes later, the harvesting was nearly finished.

The extracted Cores had been gathered near Cain along with dozens of boxes filled with Blood Crystals recovered from the surrounding military buildings.