Maids VS Apocalypse
Chapter 41: Pressure.

Chapter 41: Pressure.

"... what’s up with him?" Natalie motioned toward a withered, bleached Mark whose soul was slowly escaping from his mouth.

Lara, who had been dragging him all the way to the hangar, looked behind her and heaved a sigh.

"I’m unsure of the exact reason, but..." shaking her head, she added in a confused tone. "He was yelling something about an author being unfair toward him."

"... Oh, I get it now..." The Head General nodded. "Get on your feet, kid. Don’t tell me you plan on sulking after nagging me about wanting to go out."

Mark remained motionless and radiated depression. When he didn’t say anything for a while, Natalie clicked her tongue and shook her head.

"Listen, did you seriously believe you won’t face any restrictions just because your LRGS is custom-made for you?"

Her annoyed voice seemed to draw a reaction out of Mark.

"Even if your psychic potential is one of the highest in the multiverse, you’re still a recent Awakened. Those restrictions aren’t there to stall your progression; they are a representation of your natural limits. Only by getting stronger would you be able to surpass them."

The weathered corpse turned in her direction and stared for a couple of seconds only for a rather annoyed expression to take over his face.

"Hey now, what’s up with the face?" Natalie asked.

"Nothing. I just hate it when people tell me things I have already figured out." Mark sighed. "Where do you think I got the bad mood from?"

Veins began to bulge on the muscular woman’s head.

"How about you get on your feet before I give you something else to feel bad about?"

The threat felt as real as it could get and Mark was standing upright the next second. With fear showing on his face, Natalie nodded with a satisfied smile.

"You can drive, right?"

"Well, I don’t really have a license."

The world was ending so he doubted anyone would care, and their escape from Malarak made him a little more confident in his driving skills.

If he could maneuver through a burning city that’s swarming with monsters while being chased by a fire-spitting dragon then anything less would be a walk in the park.

"Truthfully, I was planning on dropping you off at the city, but some people suggested I give you jobs to finish along the way."

"What kind of jobs?" Mark had a very bad premonition.

"It’s nothing big." Natalie shrugged. "Besides, accepting these jobs will turn them into Quests. Don’t you want to earn some extra AP on the way?"

"You can give quests?"

Mark was under the impression that all quests were given by the Main Server so it never crossed his mind that he could get them from other sources.

"Well, it all depends on the LRGS. As an authority figure, if my objective aligns with that of the Main Server, there is a high chance the tasks I give out would turn into quests." She raised her arm and tapped the vehicle behind her. "Anyways, I’ve decided to lend you this baby. Try to bring it back in one piece."

The vehicle was nothing like the SUV he drove the other day. It was a full-fledged military truck; an armored war machine much like the ones seen in the countless movies that came out since the Great World War.

"It takes some getting used to, but as long as you know how to drive a normal car you should be able to drive it as well. You don’t even have to worry about fuel!"

"Great."

Mark wasn’t one of those military nerds, but he could still appreciate the craftsmanship that went into the design and manufacturing of such war machines. The little boy in him was looking forward to driving it.

"Now, about those jobs I-"

"Head General?" A familiar voice interjected. "What are they doing here?"

"Ah! You came at the right time, Ramsay!"

The motorcycle guy showed up and from the look on his face, he didn’t seem thrilled to see Lara and Mark there.

"Don’t tell me..."

"You’re going to supervise them, of course." Said Natalie. "Make sure they reach Hope’s End an-"

"I refuse." Once again the young man interjected.

"And may I ask why you would do that?" Her left brow twitched.

"I was finally relieved from the surveillance mission after two years. I no longer wish to babysit another one of your geniuses."

"That’s not a goo-"

"And he tried to kill me!"

Mark wanted to refute that claim; Lara did her best to take out his motorcycle alone. Ramsay didn’t seem to care, however. He was trying to help and they shot at him, causing him to crash.

As an Awakened, he had no trouble surviving, but those two couldn’t have known at the time.

If the circumstances were different they would’ve been locked up for attempted murder, but since his assailant was a Level 5 Awakened the Peace Keepers decided to brush it all under the rug.

As his anger continued to swell, Ramsay felt a hand fall on his shoulder. He looked up to find Natalie smiling at him, and in an instant, his entire body went stiff. Without her having to say anything, he lowered his head in defeat.

"I apologize for speaking out of turn."

"Apology accepted." Natalie patted his shoulder, still smiling. She then turned to Lara and Mark. "Now, about those jobs."

"Can that wait a little?"

Once again a familiar voice interrupted them. This time it was Rebecca, the black doctor. Mark was about to jokingly ask if she came to see them off, but then he noticed the kid she was carrying and the two boys following after her.

"Those are..."

Before he could ask the two boys ran over to them, but their target wasn’t him.

"Big sis!" They went straight to Lara. "You are the big sis who saved us, right?"

"Um... uh..."

Lara was taken aback by the sparkling eyes looking up at her.

The boys must have not recognized her at first since she had her hair down and wasn’t wearing her maid uniform, which had been damaged in battle and would take some effort to repair.

"You defeated that monster, right!? The one who tried to eat us!" The first boy exclaimed in a loud voice. He was the taller one between the two and clearly blessed with athletic genes.

"A-are you... are you a superhero?"

The second one wasn’t as rowdy and seemed a little shy. His dirty blond hair was a little long, and his small face seemed a little girly. Mark didn’t get a good look at them before thanks to all the chaos, but seeing him now started several alarms in his head.

"Um... no, I... I’m just a maid..."

Lara seemed a little overwhelmed, but fortunately, Rebecca came to her rescue right away.

"Randy, Ron, take it easy." She spoke with a smile then turned her gaze to Mark. "They wanted to thank you for saving them so I brought them here."

The little girl she was carrying stared at Mark for a few seconds. Her eyes then widened showing that she had just recognized him.

"Ah!" She cried while pointing at him.

"What’s wrong Emily? Do you remember him?"

The little girl nodded repeatedly.

"Big bro strong!" She said. "So fast!"

The look of admiration the little girl directed at him was more painful than anything.

Mark felt unworthy of her praise; he wasn’t strong nor fast, and he only kept going thanks to the fear and adrenalin coursing through his body.

The little girl, Emily, reached out toward him asking to be carried. He was hesitant at first but couldn’t refuse when Rebecca handed her over.

Mark was frozen still as the little girl hugged him. He wasn’t very used to this kind of situation and didn’t know how he should react. When he heard her say "thank you" in her childish voice, a sense of relief spread through his chest, allowing him to relax.

Emily gave him a little peck on the cheek before he handed her back to Rebecca.

While escaping the lizardmen and Malarak, Mark had to constantly suppress the dark thoughts telling him to abandon the three kids. Back then, they seemed like nothing more than dead weight not worth risking his life for, but seeing them now made him feel glad he didn’t give in.

"Big sis, t-they told me I have superpowers as well! I... I will get stronger so..." Ron, the boy with dirt blond hair, was a nervous mess as he spoke. His face was beet red and he seemed to be forcing himself. His friend realized what he was about to do but was too late to interfere. "When I grow up please marry me!"

His declaration silenced the surroundings for a few seconds.

"Aaaaaah! That’s unfair, Ron!" The other boy cried. "Didn’t we agree to compete and see who becomes the strongest first!!? I want to marry big sis too!"

All of a sudden, a suffocating pressure enveloped the entire hangar. Natalie, Ramsay, Lara, and Rebecca tensed up and were about to summon their weapon, but when they realized where the pressure was coming from they couldn’t help but sigh and shake their heads.

"Hey kid..."

Ron, whose face was glowing red moments ago, and Randy, who was angry at his friend for cheating, looked ghastly pale.

They carefully turned around then raised their heads to look at the speaker who was standing right behind them. Seeing the darkness-filled eyes staring down at them, the horrors of their friends being eaten alive came back to them all at once.

"Stay away from my maid."

Not even letting out a shriek, the two boys passed out. Only after seeing them fall to the floor did Mark realize he just messed up big time.

"Um..." He slowly shifted around and saw that all the adults were giving him exasperated looks. "Sorry?"