God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

While all that fighting was going on, Sue and Stan had already arrived at the shore of the island. Although the {Broodmother} had almost completely absorbed the life energy from the forest, fortunately, the trees and plant life at the far edges of the island bordering the ocean, as well as the central region were able to escape annihilation.

"I wonder how it's going over there..." Sue said as she gazed into the distance. Not a single wave stirred in the ocean, creating an eerily calm atmosphere that unsettled her heart.

Oddly enough, there was no salty ocean breeze blowing against their faces, nor was there any of the sun's warmth kissing their skin. Only an unsettling calm...

"We shouldn't worry about those things. We need to focus on the task at hand." Stan, who was sitting on the sand beside her said as he looked over at the group of people they were supposed to watch over and protect.

Sue let her eyes follow Stan's line of sight. Her face fell suddenly...

"You freaking gorilla! We are stuck here taking care of these burdens while Jenny and my brother fight. We are also missing out on the opportunity to level up and acquire more stats, stats that we, unfortunately, will not find here." Sue yelled out angrily at Stan.

"Gorilla? You-" Stan felt his eyebrows twitch as he thought hard for a comeback, but came up empty-handed. He pointed a finger to the people sitting close by and spoke in a hushed tone,

"Do you suggest we leave them to fend for themselves?"

Sue's reply was instantaneous and merciless, "That's exactly what I'm implying..."

"You this brat!" Stan felt a headache coming up as he spoke in a harsh tone, "Regardless of the current state we are in, you should remember one thing... It is our duty as people with power to protect those who don- who can't wield the power we do." Stan said seriously, gazing straight into Sue's eyes without breaking away for even a second.

There was a brief moment of silence between the two before it was broken by a cold harrumph from Sue,

"I know that... I just can't help but get frustrated a bit. Why do we have to be the ones to protect them? Why weren't they given the ability to acquire power for themselves as well?" Sue said in a bitter tone. Since the beginning of the apocalypse, they were made aware very quickly that there would be two types of people. Those who could control their fate, and those who couldn't.

A majority of those that had died so far belonged to the latter category. They were doomed to live the rest of their presumably short lives in fear and anxiety, all because fate had dealt them a bad hand.

"Fate, I guess... Some things are just beyond our control. The best we can do is try our best to stick to our principles and not get carried away." Stan said with a profound look on his face.

"What do you know, you Baboon..." Sue quickly killed Stan's self-esteem with her words...

"Tch! You little brat!" A vein popped up on Stan's temple as he forced himself to bear the insult.

Suddenly, they were interrupted by one of the people sitting on the ground...

"S-Stan, we are in dire need of food and water... We were drained of a lot of energy on the run here." The woman who seemed to be the least destitute and lost in despair, Maya, said in a low, raspy voice. Because of the mana that saturated every inch of the planet, organisms that couldn't accept it into their systems suffered greatly.

It was the same as being cast into the ocean and surrounded by salty seawater. Taking in a gulp or two might be fine, but anything other than that could lead to terrible side effects.

It was just like when Cain tried to ingest the mutant beast blood. Because his body lacked the necessary ability to process it, he had to face the consequences, even if they weren't very severe...

For normal people, even breathing air was full of risks, as although consuming mana in small quantities wasn't very harmful, eventually, it would build up to a point where it would become problematic. Not only that but many things about the planet were slowly changing. Things like air density and even gravity were slowly changing over time.

This made simple tasks such as running many times more difficult than they already were...

One of the many symptoms of this mana poisoning was hyper-digestion of nutrients in the food and water they ate. This was because for their bodies to keep up with the changing environment, they needed extra energy and nutrients, and the only way for them to get that energy was through food...

"I'll think of something... Consuming mutant beast flesh, even when cooked is out of the question for you and the others..." Stan said with wrinkled brows.

"What of water? We will drink anything as long as it will keep us alive." Maya had a pleading look on her face as tears built up at the corners of her shrunken eyes...

"Sigh... I don't think we have what it takes to survive anymore." An older man part of the group of people let his head hang weakly as he spoke in a low disheartened voice.

"The air has become a lot heavier since last night. Any time I walk, I feel as though I'm carrying an extra five kilograms of weight on my shoulders..." Another person complained.

"Me too!'

"And the cold has become unbearable!"

"I could barely even sleep last night..."

Stan let out a sigh of distress before speaking, "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid there is nothing I can do about the water..."

Sue who had been silent for a while suddenly spoke up, "There might be a way to solve the water issue..."

"Really?!"

"Really?!"

Maya and Stan both exclaimed in surprise...

"I have good control over the flame element, so I will be able to produce enough heat to boil the ocean water and separate it from the salt..." Sue said with a half-confident, half-embarrassed expression on her face.

"Brilliant!" Stan's eyes lit up as if he had just seen a pile of gold.

"The only issue now is getting containers to hold the water," Sue said with a frown on her face.

"Hahaha! Leave that to me..." Stan beat his chest with a hearty grin on his face. Light flashed in his arms as he retrieved an item from his inventory.

BOOM!

A huge chunk of metal as big as a boulder fell onto the ground, creating a deep crater. The boulder was a dull gray, with the characteristic luster of steel.

"What is that?! More importantly, where did you get it?!" Sue had an extremely confused expression on her face as she looked at the odd object sitting at their feet.

"I-It looks very... unique. How is it going to solve our problem?" Maya said with an expression just as confused as Sue, yet with an equal amount of hope.

"You'll see..." Stan said with a mysterious smile that made his handsome manly facial features even more pronounced.

He stood above the lump of steel and activated a skill...

"Body of Adamantine."

His entire body took on a dazzling silver color. The metal element stirred all around him as a thin layer of silver armor enveloped his body.

'What is this gorilla trying to do now?' Sue got even more confused when she saw this...

"HA!"

Stan let loose a low shout as he smashed his metalized hand onto the huge lump of metal. The huge boulder of steel instantly caved in like bad construction, forming a bowl-like interior...

'He is a baboon...' At this point, Sue understood what Stan wanted to do, but let out a sigh and an eye roll when she saw how barbaric his methods were...

Stan kept hitting the interior of the boulder until it finally began taking shape. The inside of the boulder hollowed out, causing the exterior to expand as well.

In the blink of an eye, a huge rough-looking metal basin had been created...

"It might not look like much, but it will most definitely work. Hehehe..." Stan said with a sheepish smile.

Maya gazed at Stan's creation for a while before the tears that had disappeared from the corners of her eyes resurfaced.

"Thank you so much..." Maya said, tears streaming down her face. Stan could hear the gratitude and exhaustion in her voice as she sobbed.

"No, don't cry... We made a promise to help you, so that is what we are going to do." Stan said with a soft voice as he placed a hand on the woman's delicate and fragile shoulder.

"Let's not waste any more time..." Sue said, hurrying Stan along.

Lifting the metal basin easily from the ground, Stan moved towards the water. As the waters near the shore were too shallow, he had to go a bit deeper until he found a sufficient enough depth. Bending down, he dunked the basin into the salty waters, filling it to the brim.

Just as he was about to drag the filled basin out of the water, his danger senses instantly went off. The hairs on the back of his neck all stood on end. Looking into the slightly dark water, he caught a glimpse of something he wasn't expecting to see.

A pair of beady eyes gazed back at him from the endless darkness of the ocean...

'What the-?!'

Before he was able to complete a single thought, Stan felt something clamp around his arm as tight as a vice. In a split second, he was dragged into the dark waters.

Sue who was observing all this from the shore felt her heart leap into her throat as she yelled at the top of her lungs, "Stan!"

All that answered her was the same eerie quiet that had been present since they arrived at the beach...

'Something isn't right here... There should be some signs of life here, but I can't seem to even notice a single living creature...' Sue thought to herself as she summoned her magic staff from her inventory.

"W-what happened?!" Maya, who has been starstruck by Stan's amazing character was shocked and scared out of her skin as she gazed at the inky black where Stan was standing previously.

"Tell the others to gather around me, now!" Sue yelled at Maya, who snapped out of it instantly.

"Everyone, gather around!" Maya yelled as she subconsciously inched closer to Sue, who was her only source of safety in a moment of vulnerability...

The others who had witnessed what had happened to Stan instantly rushed to their feet and raced toward Sue. However, before they could all reach her, the sand beneath their feet began squirming. This urged them to go even faster as they ignored the burning in their lungs, their thirst and hunger, and the heaviness in their bodies.

A frown made its way onto Sue's face as she pointed her staff at the ground, the element of fire rumbling violently around her.

Soon after, most of the people gathered around her. Just as the last person was about to reach the group, tragedy struck...

From within the sand, a creature of nightmare appeared and struck at the poor unsuspecting man who unfortunately wasn't fast enough to escape his I'll fate...

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