Post-Apocalyptic Dispatch Society

"Monster?" Xuna felt that something was up with the place as she brought her boat ashore, tailing after the middle-aged lady from far away, without alerting the other party.

From the shore, the middle-aged lady ran for a distance of two kilometres through a beaten path, arriving at a village by the mountainside.

There were around two hundred houses situated there, so it was a sizeable village. The middle-aged lady rushed into the village, shouting at the top of her voice, "Monster!"

"Monster? Another one?"

"Where is it?"

"Dammit, take all the children inside!"

The villagers clamoured in response as the able-bodied men among them rushed out, holding swords and spears.

'They are armed?' Xuna was pleasantly surprised. Typically, the villagers would have used tools like hooves or sickles as weapons in such emergencies, and not come out fully equipped with proper weaponry.

"Hmm, wait?" She frowned all of a sudden, condensing her rocket to take to the skies as she arrived above the village, looking around as she observed traces of blood on one end of the village.

There, strewn amid a sea of arrows was the carcass of a giant monster, spanning a size of two metres. It resembled a honey bee at first glance but possessed the scythe of a praying mantis for hands and a long tail similar to a scorpion.

Moreover, its mouth resembled the mandibles of an ant, all overgrown, portraying a terrifying sight, especially since parts of its body that were protected by a layer of exoskeleton armour, apparent of its defensive strength considering how the arrows had broken upon impact and there were more than dozens pierced in its body, resulting in only surface level wounds.

It had only died due to blood loss.

"The insects modified and controlled by Luncress." Xuna frowned, sighing in response, "He must have fused the characteristics of various insects into a bee. This way, he only needs to control the queen bee while she commands everyone else."

The modifications on the bee didn't seem balanced enough as parts of the scythe's movements had clipped its own body, not to mention the scorpion tail interfering with its balance and wing movements.

'But, that's the first generation. Now that he had imparted the desired characteristics, they would gradually evolve upon successive generations until they overcome these defects gradually.' She understood the details, grasping Luncress' character to a certain extent, having spied on him a lot, for he was the head of the Fornol Empire's royal guard.

Xuna landed beside the honey bee carcass, using her rocket to prob its body, "This is a scout…"

Swoosh!

An arrow flew towards her as Xuna didn't even bother with it, going about inspecting the insect carcass as every time she moved, the arrow would go through the gaps, missing her.

Soon, more than ten arrows had been launched, with none even scratching her, riddling the ground. A small crowd had surrounded her, weapons hoisted, forming groups of two.

There was one that held swords and spears, forming the close combat unit while the other held bows and arrows, forming the ranged unit.

Xuna observed the men surrounding her, noticing that their arms were ripped, a result of years of training. And judging by their posture, they were veterans at the very least. Currently, they were all staring at her, weapons gripped, nervousness evident in their expressions.

"Do you mind telling me about this monster carcass here?" Xuna didn't care about their expression, planning to direct the interrogation to her pace first. After all, she was curious about this village as it seemed everyone here had a story to tell.

"Who…are you?" Suddenly, a soft voice resounded as a man walked out of the group. He sported a head of brown hair that was strewn with grey hairs. His eyes shimmered with vast experience and knowledge, something that was rare in this world.

The villagers clamoured a bit in response as two able-bodied men immediately stood guard at his side, protecting him against harm.

"Village Head, it's dangerous here. Please stand back." One of the able-bodied men said nervously.

Though, upon seeing the man addressed as the Village Head, Xuna was stunned, muttering in response, "Chief Yubak?"

The man's eyes widened in surprise as he stared at Xuna, "You…know me?"

"Chief Engineer of the Fornol Empire, one that single-handedly created the siege weapons that allowed the Fornol Empire to win repeatedly, also the one to develop the most recent battleships. Of course, I know about you." Xuna said before staring in puzzlement, "But…what are you doing here?"

"This isn't the Fornol Empire."

"Judging by the way you speak, you don't seem to be from the Fornol Empire." The man addressed as Chief Yubak said, shaking his head in the end, "I'm just an escaped convict, nothing else."

"What about you?" He stared at Xuna, "Are you the creator of this monster?"

"Nope," Xuna shook her head, "They are created by Luncress."

"Luncress?" Chief Yubak was surprised, staring in shock, "Ridiculous! How is this possible for him? It doesn't make sense."

"Chief, it seems you aren't aware of the Blight Humans yet," Xuna said, sighing as she noticed the expressions of confusion on the faces of everyone. It did make sense though; it hadn't been long since the Blight Humans had made an appearance.

The greater portion of the world wasn't yet aware of it, not to mention a secluded village like this. Secluded because it seemed all the people here had escaped from various Kingdoms and Empires to live here in peace, away from all conflict.

"The aristocracy of the Fornol Empire had turned into Blight Humans, able to wield a strange power that allows them to do a variety of superhuman feats." Xuna explained, "Luncress is able to create and control these monsters."

"Things have changed in the past few months. Currently, the world is being shaped by the actions of the Blight and Horned Humans." She said, pointing at the horn growing on her forehead, "I'm a Horned Human by the way. All Horned Humans have a horn growing on their foreheads like this."

She then pointed at the segments on her horn, "The greater the number of these segments, the stronger the Horned Human is. Similarly, the hair of the Blight Humans would be segmented to display their strength. And, they all possess shades of green hair."

"Is this the truth?" One of the villagers muttered.

"What is happening to the world?"

"Nothing makes sense anymore."

The villagers discussed, tense, worried about their fate as they were only regular people. Even though they had taken down the monster that arrived at their village, it was just one monster.

And even that proved tough. But if more of them were to come, their village would be decimated. So, they were worried, afraid of these changes.

"Do you wish to become Horned Humans?" Xuna asked all of a sudden, watching the eyes of everyone lit in surprise. But, they also contained fear, unable to trust her words.

"Hmm?" Xuna thought for a moment as she pulled out the arrow lodged on the ground beside her, condensing her petrify gun as she activated it, unleashing the petrifying beam that formed a greyish-blue coating over the arrow.

Xuna turned the arrow greyish-blue in a matter of seconds, nodding as it had become heavier now. But in contrast, it was tremendously tough, so much so that even she had difficulty in snapping it in half.

The arrow was somewhat cold to the touch but wasn't harmful once the petrifying beam vanished. Smiling, Xuna threw the arrow towards one of the villagers with a bow, "Check it out."

"T-This is?" The villager was surprised to see that the arrow was tougher as compared to before while still maintaining some of the original flexibility. He nocked it on his bow and launched it, watching it pierce the ground.

Even though it was somewhat slower, its penetration power had increased. Moreover, the edges on the arrowhead were sharper.

'If we had more of these arrows, taking down that monster would have been easier.' The same thought resounded in the minds of all the archers as Chief Yubak pulled out the arrow and observed it, muttering in response.

"Hmm, this coating improved its toughness. But the arrow lost some of its original flexibility and the feathers controlling its flight are too hard, making it unstable…"

"Yeah, it was just a demonstration." Xuna nodded in response, "If applied properly, this can improve all weapons, armours, and even buildings."

"Can all Horned Humans do this?" Chief Yubak asked next.

"Nope, this is my power." Xuna replied, "We Horned Humans rear a Mutated Beast in our body whose power we transform into weapons to wield. Your power depends on the Mutated Beast you get…"

"Which is entirely dependent on you."

"I see…" Chief Yubak nodded before cupping his fists at her, "Since it seems late, why don't you spend the night in our village."

"But chief…"

"We can't trust her."

"What if she attacks our village at night?"

The villagers expressed their concern when Chief Yubak raised his hand, motioning for them to stop speaking.

He then thought of something while staring at Xuna's face, muttering after a while, "Say…"

"Have we met before?"