Bill was confused as to why Erin was walking back to them so slowly, but he just figured she might have been exhausted.
He was just glad to see her alright, but he couldn't spot Mako anywhere with her.
He quickly ran over to Erin who was barely able to keep her balance and keep moving forward.
She looked up and saw Bill racing towards her as fast as he could. Since Bill was also pretty exhausted, he wasn't as fast as he was but still, he quickly made it over to Erin.
As soon as Erin saw Bill, another wave of guilt washed over her as she knew she didn't have the heart to tell Bill what had happened.
Defeated by her overwhelming emotions and exhaustion, Erin collapsed onto the ground with tears in her eyes.
Bill was still a few feet away from Erin, but as soon as he saw her fall over, he used his Wind ability to boost him forward, and he was able to catch her before she fell to the ground.
"Erin! Erin! Talk to me! What happened to you!?" Bill asked as he shook Erin in his arms to try and get her to remain conscious, but his efforts failed as Erin completely collapsed in his arms and became unconscious.
Bill was utterly confused as he couldn't see any physical injury on her body and yet she didn't even have the energy to run and collapsed right in front of him.
Bill still had a lot of questions that were left unanswered such as what happened to the Beetle King, where was Mako, and what happened that made her so exhausted that she couldn't even run.
However, he wouldn't be able to get any answers right now, and he had to prioritize getting both Erin and Leon inside the shelter and make sure they were alright.
Secondly, he had to get their food and water situation figured out as they were all pretty exhausted and very hungry after such a long and hard fight, and would need a large and good meal to replenish their energy.
Bill carried Erin in his arms all the way to the partially destroyed shelter as it had a few holes and many cracks, but nothing his earth ability couldn't fix. He gently laid her down on the floor inside the shelter and then rushed out to quickly get Leon inside as well.
Bill was still worrying about Mako as he had not shown up yet and the only person who knew about his whereabouts was Erin, but she was completely out cold.
He really wanted to just go out and look for Mako himself, but he couldn't leave Leon and Erin alone as any cadet or wandering beast could come around and eliminate them while he was out looking for Mako.
When he looked at Erin as she was slowly walking over toward him, it looked as if she wanted to say something to him.
He knew that Erin wouldn't have just abandoned Mako and most likely left him in a safe place to get help but collapsed before she could tell him anything.
Now he just had to wait for her to wake up to know where he was so that she could go and rescue him as there was nothing he could do at this point.
After they were both inside, Bill took some time to recover his own energy and stamina. He ate all the leftover food from the giant feast they had before the fifth wave started and after a couple of hours, Erin still hadn't woken up, and Bill was getting more and more anxious as Mako himself had also not come back, but still, he couldn't do anything. After having a full belly and getting a decent rest, he was in a good enough condition to get some work done.
He first harvested all the crystals from the Terra Beetles that he and Leon had killed and after disposing of all the decaying bodies, he got to work fishing for some fish so that he could get some food cooking for Leon and Erin.
Bill went up to the lake and since it was much deeper than the river he had fished at earlier, he couldn't just catch the fish as they had a lot of room to escape.
He didn't have the water ability or any skill that would help him catch fish, but then an idea came to his head. The bottom of the lake was full of sand and by using the same technique he used with his Earth ability to sense any movement in the earth, he could do the same with the sand even though it required precise control.
Bill concentrated for a while and after many failed attempts, he finally got the hang of it with his sand ability and now whenever he sensed fish, he would create a sand spike bellow then which would erupt upwards in an instant and kill the fish in one go.
As he sat there, killing fish after fish, his mind kept wandering back to the events of the battle and what could have happened to Mako that made Erin leave him and walk back to the shelter.
He couldn't shake off the worry and the sense of responsibility he felt for his missing comrade. He hoped that Erin would wake up soon and provide some answers.
The thought of Mako actually being eliminated from the test never even crossed his mind.
After some time, Bill had caught a dozen or so fish which he thought would be enough for now, and so he picked them all up and made his way back to the shelter.
He gutted and descaled all the fish just like Mako had done the day before, and once they were ready, he began building a fire.
Since Mako and Leon weren't available, there was no shortcut to building the fire, and would have to do it the old-fashioned way.
After some time he had built a good enough fire and he added more dry leaves, twigs, and branches to get it as hot as possible. They were out of the salt that Mako had saved up to this point so they would have to enjoy the fish as it was, which wasn't that bad considering they still had decent food to eat.
As Bill was cooking the fish, Leon slowly started to wake up from his sleep. He was still very exhausted but his empty stomach was killing him and he needed to get some food inside his system fast.
The aroma of the cooking fish had filled the shelter, and soon enough, Leon's nose led him straight to the source. He had been fully awakened by the smell, and his eyes widened with hunger as he saw Bill preparing the meal.
"Wow, Bill! You caught fish!" Leon exclaimed with a mix of surprise and delight.
Bill was caught off guard as he didn't expect Leon to jump up behind him as he was quietly cooking the fish which made him almost knock the fish off the fire, but thankfully he was able to control himself.
Leon made a run for the cooking fish but was quickly stopped by Bill who raised a wall of sand in front of him.
"Hold on, you idiot! They are still raw. You will have to wait for a while." Bill scolded Leon who moaned in pain as his stomach growled like an angry beast.
They sat around the fire, and after the fish was cooked, Leon eagerly started devouring the freshly cooked fish. It was a simple meal, but it tasted heavenly to his hungry stomach. As he ate, Bill kept glancing over at Erin, hoping that she would wake up soon.
"Hey save some from Erin as well, she must also be hungry after helping Mako defeat that giant beetle," Bill said as he snatched the fish from Leon's hands.
Leon had already eaten 6 fish and even though they were medium-sized fish, they could easily feed 2-3 normal people. The appetite of ability users was far greater than normal people with them having to eat tons of food to replenish their energy.
Leon was really annoyed by Bill snatching his food but understood his reasoning. Erin was sleeping next to him and would also be hungry when she woke so it was only fair that she got eat the remaining fish.
"Now that you mention it, Where is Mako? I haven't seen him since I woke up." Leon asked finally realizing the obvious.
Bill sighed as he replied," I didn't want to alarm you since you just woke up, but Erin came back from the forest alone. She was barely able to walk and it felt like she was trying to say something to me, most likely related to Mako, but she collapsed before she could say anything."
Leon now had a serious expression on his face as this was a serious matter. His friend was lost in the forest in God knows what condition and he was happily enjoying fish with Bill.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go and look for him right now!" Leon said as he stood up.
"We can't do that, Leon. We have no idea where he is and it will take too long for us to search the entire forest, and we can't leave Erin unprotected. Only she knows what happened and where Mako is right now, all we can do is wait." Bill said in a somber tone.
"Well, that may be true for you, but not for me! I can search the forest at super speed!" Leon said as he began dashing toward the forest; however, he only made it several feet before collapsing on the ground.
"Leon, you have just woken up, you haven't recovered any energy, and you can't look for him in your current condition," Bill said as he helped him back on his feet.
"Do we really have no other option?" Leon asked in frustration, cursing over his own weakness.
"I don't like this any more than you do, Leon, but all we can do is wait for Erin to wake up," Bill said.
At that exact moment, Erin's eyes fluttered open, and she let out a gasp. She blinked several times, trying to focus on her vision.
She stumbled over to the door of the shelter and saw Bill and Leon arguing over something.
"Bill? What... what happened?" Erin asked, her voice weak and groggy.
Bill and Leon turned around in shock as they saw Erin's figure standing in front of the shelter's entrance.
"Erin! Thank goodness you're awake. You collapsed earlier, and we were worried. Do you remember anything?" Bill said as he rushed over to help her walk outside.
Erin shook her head, her brows furrowing. "I... I remember. I defeated the Beetle King and then..."
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