On our way back to our hideout, Silva and I kept destroying Shattered, trying to gain as many EXP as possible. The task had almost become rote, the Shattered quickly ceasing to pose a challenge to us, causing the speed of our advance to diminish. It made me wonder, would we have to start hunting people to keep going or would the Shattered advance as well, gaining strength in their own ways?

I had taken the opportunity to Observe some of them, causing shrieks of discomfort that drew additional enemies towards us. Their levels were between two and four, meaning that they seemed to have advanced unless they somehow were formed at those levels but it also meant that their advance on its own wouldn’t be enough to keep me at an advancement rate I was content with. I needed more, or others might be able to catch up to me.

One such opportunity for “more” came to my attention when I noticed a feline slinking in the shadows as Silva and I destroyed yet another of the Shattered. The cat was incredibly stealthy, carefully keeping an eye on us but wisely not attacking. The primary reason I took notice was the vague sensation of magic around it, though the irony that its innate Concealment Darkness Magic was what drew my attention was not lost to me.

Once our Shattered foe was destroyed, I focused on the cat, even using Observe, despite the risks involved. The cat let out an angry yowl, before darting off into the darkness, faster than I could follow. Silva’s head shot up and around, an angry growl rumbling from her throat and I could see her twitch with the suppressed desire to hunt down the feline. But hunting a level four feline wouldn’t be worth it, not after it already fled and dawn was coming soon. Knowing that there were animals capable of gaining levels without being Shattered was interesting all of its own and well worthy of being investigated at some later point. But maybe I shouldn’t be too surprised, given that the System had turned me from Human to Firn-Elf, so why wouldn’t it turn animals into beasts, or even into sapient versions of their old selves?

Whatever this new world was, it might not be just a world of Humans. Or ex-humans like me, no longer human according to the system and likely soon no longer appearing human. Which opened up an entirely new avenue of targets that I might be able to hunt and kill, allowing me to cull the enemies that my fellow survivors could level up against while also giving me additional EXP. Not that I was about to start hunting cats, that wouldn’t really be worth it, but there were more animals than pets in a human city.

Unless my guess was completely off-base, there had to be hundreds, if not thousands of rats in the sewers of the city. Depending on numbers and probabilities I had no way of knowing, that meant that there would either be swarms of rats, all of which were slowly gaining levels down there, or there would be countless Shattered Rats, possibly working on their own, possibly organised in swarms, as their instincts would dictate. Given that Shattered Humans were capable of working together in a very rudimentary fashion, I wouldn’t immediately discard the idea that rats might be better at it. Which was an incredibly scary thought.

Though, after a few moments of consideration, I wasn’t sure which idea was worse. Mindless, Shattered Rats in swarms or system-enhanced, intelligent rats that could breed and multiply their number at the same speed rats had always bred? Only now, they had nearly limitless food in the area, by way of the countless dead bodies produced by the change, dead due to Shattered, the fires, the recent earthquake or likely hundreds of other possible causes. It would be an all-you-can-eat buffet, allowing rats and similar scavengers to breed at leisure, especially without humans and their poisonous traps and similar hazards around.

While we kept killing Shattered, I idly began to wonder how to best go about getting EXP from killing rats. Just the thought amused me, memories of old games popping up in my mind, where you started your adventure by killing ten rats and collecting their tails or something similar, only to realise that apparently in that particular world only a fraction of rats actually had tails, forcing you to camp the spawn of those same ten rats for hours. Sadly, killing rats would be a lot more troublesome in reality, unless I managed to regain the Mist-rune and use it to build the devastating large-scale attacks Morgana had become famous for on Mundus. Such attacks would allow me to clear out the sewers, especially if I managed to get my hands on some humanoid resources to fuel my Blood Magic.

I doubted I would find a Soul Prison in the sewers but the boost from killing hundreds, if not thousands, of rats would go a long way to cement my dominance, at least while I wasn’t weakened by the sun.

My thoughts were interrupted by yet another Shattered who desperately wanted to donate to the Samantha Empowerment Program and it was a welcome donation. By now, I didn’t even need to re-cast the runic Hail spell, I simply used Ice Magic to bludgeon the Shattered as it approached. Using that same spell had essentially stopped raising my skill level anyway, so I took the simple brute-force approach.

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By the time I had struck the Shattered twice and had a feeling another strike would finish it, my ears tried to twitch at a noise coming from my other side and looking back, I noticed a pair of Shattered trying to come at me from a blindspot. It might have worked, if not for Silva and my own vigilance, allowing us to notice their approach before they could get too close.

Moving forward, towards my original foe, I created some distance, even as I increased my efforts to destroy that first Shattered. Just as I thought it would keel over the next moment, it suddenly moved with unprecedented speed, closing the gap between us and turning the final blow I had planned into a glancing blow.

Letting out a curse in my mind, I dodged aside, readying myself for the pain that would undoubtedly follow shortly after. A furry missile passed me by, as Silva tackled the Shattered, bringing it to the ground where both started to tear at each other, one with a bone-crushing maw and somewhat sharp claws, the other with inhumane strength and a total disregard for its own life.

For a second, I was tempted to help her but I just didn’t have the time. If the other two Shattered got to Silva while she was tangled, they would destroy her. If I tried to tangle with two Shattered without preparation, I might win or I might not, it would become a game of luck.

Forcing my mind into overdrive, I activated Bullet Time, using the additional processing time to channel Astral Power through both my hands. It took intense focus but I could create two runic triangles, my hands flashing through the motions with a practised grace that made it look easy, even if it wasn’t. My mind had to split focus, and I felt a trickle of blood run from my nose as a blood vessel couldn’t stand the pressure but I managed to complete both spells as my eyes flashed with the silvery blue light of Overflow.

The two new hailstones shot forward, each aiming at one of the Shattered while I controlled the other hailstone, smashing it at the form struggling beneath Silva. The controlled hailstone struck, but only managed to break a shoulder while one of the two Shattered managed to completely dodge the hailstone I had shot at it, the other tried to dodge but got struck in the side, the impact enough to stagger it.

I wasn’t yet at the level to control multiple objects with my Ice Magic, not quite, and yet, I knew that it was possible. And I knew that I had done so. My mind still running in Bullet Time, Overflow channelling vast amounts of Astral Power, I forced the two hailstones to obey my will. With a wrench of magic, I ripped the momentum that had carried them forward away from them, smashing them into the back of the uninjured Shattered, one striking its head, the other roughly in the middle of its back, the double impact sending it stumbling forward, only for the two hailstones to strike again, finishing it off with a double hit to the head.

I felt light-headed, the amount of Astral Power I had rapidly used leaving an intense strain on my system, but I couldn’t stop just yet. But I also couldn’t use any additional powerful magic.

Reaching down, I gripped my blade and channelled the last remnants of my Astral Power into the runes I had previously drawn onto it and took a step back.

That step brought me right next to the Shattered that was tangled up with Silva. Neither of them had yet emerged victorious but, under the fading effect of Bullet Time, I was capable of changing that and stabbing the downed Shattered in the head, ending the threat and freeing up Silva.

She sprung up, her fur matted with blood, and moved towards the last Shattered, with me following behind her. My head was already pounding with a vicious headache and I felt utterly drained, both my Astral Power and a lot of stamina spent by Bullet Time but I wasn’t done yet. The Shattered managed to avoid Silva’s initial attack, using its arm to block her maw and while she managed to tear into that arm, it opened her up to a retaliatory strike from the Shattered. Moving up, I stabbed at the free arm, going for the tendons that, even in a magically driven, inhuman monster were necessary to bring the force of its empowered muscles to bear.

I didn’t manage to completely stop the blow but I managed to cripple the arm to the point that the blow only dazed Silva, not even hurting her enough to make her open her jaw. And with the arm controlled by her; I could circle around the Shattered and go for the spine.

With a blade in its back, it finally fell, while I dropped to one knee in exhaustion.

A quick glance into my log made me curse. The first Shattered had been level seven, the other two level six. So much for my earlier assumption, that I was growing faster than the Shattered. But at least, I had gained another point in Ice Rune Mastery and Ice Magic, bringing them to eight and six respectively. And I levelled to seven, thanks to their donation.

“We really can’t take the Shattered lightly. They are growing and I have no idea where their development is taking them,” I quietly warned Silva, as I tried to gather enough Astral Power to treat her wounds. I had been foolish, thinking it was a coincidence that the Shattered had been heading towards us, despite my concealment. No, this had been premeditated, though I wasn’t sure whether targeted at us or at any living being that came down this road. Either way, I had to do better, there would be no respawn if I messed up too badly.

Hopefully, this would be the last surprise of the night. So far, the surprises weren’t to my liking, whether it was the earthquake, the divine spellcaster in town or the continuous growth of the Shattered.