The spices had made the stew somewhat palatable according to the Crusader. Thankfully, he had recovered quite a good bit of strength after all that rest. The only problem that remained was his armor: it had gotten so severely beaten up from the last fight that the best possible solution would be to merely replace the entire kit and go with some new armaments.

A choice that would be impossible for the Spartan’s associate. After all, the man didn’t have any knowledge of blacksmithing. There was no way for him to create a replacement armor that would suffice for his desires.

There was the option of using whatever pieces of armor that were dropped by the monsters as a replacement, but that wouldn’t work either. For some bizarre reason far beyond the Spartan’s understanding, every single last one of those monster’s armor pieces would dissolve into dust as well. Didn’t matter the fact that they were clothes or not even attached to the creature, they all turned to dust.

What exactly compels them to turn to dust? The flesh is understandable, for it acts as the container for the soul. However, why did the armor itself dissolve as well? They were similar to that of clothes and ultimately did not make up the fundamental make-up of a person’s identity. Though, was it possible that the armor these monsters wore were living as well? After all, that fur cloak did move and had a full connection to the body…

The Spartan could only shake his head at this information while he wiped himself down with a soft cloth towel. He had taken the time to rest up once more after using the facilities to wipe himself down. The extra water he had brought over had proved perfect for being the best means to help clean off all the filth on his body and his armor.

This wasn’t as good as having a nice long soak in some hot baths, but it’ll do just fine for now. Besides, if he had to, he could probably find a way to make a hot bath at some point in time.

Perhaps a thing he could do when the city was fully secured. For now, he would have to get back to work. He rolled his shoulders around and equipped his armaments before getting his spear and shield ready. He sighed as he walked out of the small restroom and exited the room proper.

His associate had been waiting for him with the same damaged outfit from before. Much to his surprise, the Crusader had put in some elbow grease into attempting to fix up the dents in the armor. Though there were so many obvious signs of damage that the attempt seemed to have only made the problems pop out that much more.

Though the interesting thing was the ways he tried to cover up the holes. He had used the skinned leather from earlier in an attempt to disguise the glaring breaks in the armor, but that only served to make things look far worse. In fact, he looked like a fool’s attempt at art: someone who did not understand the intricacies of good design and structure.

In short, obtaining a new suit of armor for his associate had reached a higher priority at this state.

The Spartan nodded at his associate before he started to move out. Once more, the two of them went out into the foggy streets and were back into enemy territory. He had to admit that this scene had stopped being scary and had become an annoying problem to deal with.

He sighed before activating his divinity, the only means to divert the visibility issue. He took note of his surroundings with the maximum comfortable zone, before turning it off. He had found a few monsters that were patrolling now, but none of them seemed like they were responsible for all of this mess. No, they looked like they were the troops that were sent in to deal with the quarantine, though it did beg the question on what exactly they were meant to prevent getting out.

Perhaps there was a retinue of traitors that were willing to work together with him and his associate? That would be a wonderful thing to have but truthfully, he could not see such a thing being the case. He shook his head before going through everything that he had garnered from a preliminary scouting.

There were several buildings and a few ruins. Most of these structures did have monsters within, but none that looked similar to the soldiers the two had fought previously. Each of them were far too similar to the monsters seen previously, like the lizard or the hulk. None of them were complex enough or humanoid-like to be marked as target number one.

There was one building that did catch his interest, however. One that he doubted would be the catch that he desired, but one that looked quite interesting to explore.

It was a tall tower that seemed to be taller than any of the buildings within the vicinity. This singular structure was mostly vertical, with what seemed to be several balconies that led to stairs that went out and into the building once more. There were four entrances, all of which were tall and wide.

Then there was the fact that he truly couldn’t get a grasp of what was inside. When he had done his search, something in the area felt hazy and he ultimately couldn’t get a full understanding of the inside. Whether this was due to the immense size of the tower itself and the overflow of information or because of some strange mystical abilities that warped his perception, he did not know. What he knew was that this was quite peculiar and something to investigate.

The only reason why he didn’t think this place was the catch he wanted was simply due to the fact that the whole exterior was rather plain. The whole thing was made up of stone bricks that were able to tower constantly with some strange slimy material that acted as the binder. The fact that there weren’t any guards specifically around made him think this was merely another building that was specialized for cosmetic reasons.

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Thus came the path they would take. The Crusader did say he wanted to cleanse this entire town before he left and indulging his associate wouldn’t be too much of a hassle.

While yes, they could potentially deal with a dangerous opponent, such a thing didn’t seem possible through his lens. The monsters in their path consisted of those lizards, the imposter horses, the giants with spiked arms, and two of those hulks. That was if they walked down the street like arrogant fools without using the alleyways to their advantage.

Truth be told ,he was half tempted to go down that path. He’d be teaching the Crusader a lesson in restraint and making sure that he understood that the Spartan knew better. Then he realized how stupid that decision was and decided to continue going through with stealth.

It was safer and better to reserve their energy. There truly was no point in wasting all of their efforts murdering numerous monsters when they had to end up facing more as a result of attracting too much attention.

With that in mind, he led the way. They started to go down one of the nearby alleyways before moving on.

The road to the tall tower was rather boring. Any monsters the duo would have had to deal with were taken down with the Spartan’s divine powers or with the speed of the Crusader. They were able to take care of any and all monsters that got in their path no matter who they were.

The lizards were killed before they could demonstrate what the circle of flames above their head could do. The hulks were surprise attacked and taken down with a well-aimed strike into the split areas between the scales to avoid dealing with them completely, which required a usage of his divinity to avoid the shimmering around them. Every other enemy wasn't even worthy of having a description of how they were taken care of as all it took was a minute application of divinity to take them out before they could alert anyone.

Within moments, they were able to reach one of the entryways to the tower. Now that they were closer, there were some details that he had missed, though those would never have been seen even with his divinity fully activated.

The stone bricks were not consistent in color or shape, some of them being a dark purple or brown, while the shape differed between a pyramid to a regular square as expected. The fact that this structure was able to stand tall even with all the imperfections made the Spartan slightly worried about entering, though not so much as what the doorways were made up of. There were no gates or doors that he was familiar with, no. What did cover up the entryways were some kind of black sludge that seemed to wobble in and out in a chaotic manner, giving off black specks that evaporated into nothing within a few seconds of time. Another worry was the fact that there was an emblem plastered above the doorway in front of them. This icon was that of the flag they had found in the complex prior. Something that told him this place was far more important than he had thought previously.

“So. This is the enemy’s lair then, no?” The Crusader whispered as he tightened the grip on his longsword, “Then let us make haste and wipe the heretics out once and for all. Free this town from their tyrannical grip and provide salvation to the citizens.”

Those words made the Spartan pause and turn back to his associate with absolute shock.

What? Why did he recommend such a reckless action? Did he forget about how the whole point was to be stealthy to reserve energy for big fights? Why was he trying to rush in blindly and get ambushed for no reason?

“Where did this come from?” he whispered back with annoyance tinged in his words, “Do you not realize that this tower is possibly the enemy stronghold? Have you ever heard of anyone willingly charging into a well fortified defense without plans or strategy and coming out victorious?”

“We don’t have any other choice. There isn’t any other means to go in.” The Crusader hissed back, “Do you really think we can sneak in when there aren’t any methods of climbing up the tower to get on the balcony? There aren’t any openings available besides this one.”

“Are you serious? We need to investigate this liquid and see what this thing would do to us. Don’t you understand that the liquid could be poison or even acid? We could die the moment we go in!”

At his words, the Crusader went silent. The Spartan took that as a confirmation of his realization and decided to press onwards.

“I’m not saying we run away. We can hold up in one of the nearby buildings and scout the building out for any monsters that go in or out. That way we could get a clue of how to bypass this liquid and whether it is safe or not. Rushing will only prove detrimental especially in your condition. Your armor is severely damaged and we had to use up some of our divinity to get here. It’s better to get more information before rushing in.”

His associate stayed silent for a good bit longer, worryingly so. He began to seriously wonder if he had been listening to his points or if he was brushing them aside to pursue his thoughtless desire of glory. He should understand that–

“There’s really no other way besides waiting and scouting?”

“Do you have the confidence to go in and take care of everything within that area?” The Spartan threw back at his associate, watching to see his reaction.

The man seemed to think about the response. He looked at him, before looking towards the tower. He seemed to stare at the building for a long time, before nodding to himself.

“I respect your thoughts. I understand the need for being cautious. However, we have to go in and deal with this threat here and now. Standing around and waiting will only do nothing for our cause and we have to act now.”

At that, the Spartan could not help but lift his hands up in defeat.

“Why? What purpose would it serve to rush in so recklessly?”

“It is simple.” The Crusader said with a soft yet firm voice, “I came here to be a warrior. I am tired of acting as a rogue and sneaking about in the darkness. I am going to go in and do God’s will, no matter what you say now.”

And with that, he rushed into the dark liquid that guarded the tower doorways. He slammed into this matter and seemed to freeze, before sinking into it and disappearing from sight.

The Spartan quite honestly had no words as he was left alone on the street.