The Spartan had to admit that he was quite shocked with the absolute scale of this building. This entire structure made no sense at all, and the only possibility for it being able to stay as it was to be the heavy usage of mystical abilities. In fact, the layout was so complex and confusing that his head hurt trying to understand how such a design could be done.

Some of these areas went diagonally and horizontally in a way that they would have been clear signs of outcroppings from outside. Multiple rooms went into spirals that seemed to go upwards, with multiple areas that settled between the loops. There were giant ones, small ones, those that were nothing more than a long shaft and others that were never-ending hallways. Some even seemed to become lobbies that led to another room that would be nothing more than a closet or even an entryway to another room.

There was no rhyme or reason to this place. Everything was done to be confusing and lead to another area that would either be a dead-end or a completely new place. There were secret hallways and entryways scattered throughout that, while useful for stealth, seemed to only act as nothing more than shortcuts to more dead-ends. He honestly could not determine what kind of madman would allow such architecture, but now that he had gone through all this, he came to a single realization.

Was this not similar to the labyrinth of Knossos? A complex and overly insane construction project that was designed not to keep others out, but something within? True, there were multiple monsters that existed within the walls that were roaming around, but they were also out on the streets. Those soldiers from earlier were also in other buildings, so they weren’t the ones being quarantined.

Though none of that would make sense either way. After all, if this was meant to keep something in, then what would be the point of having monsters inside? There should be guards on the outside to prevent me and my comrade from getting in. Which means that the goal of the tower to keep something in doesn’t quite make sense either. Perhaps the goal of this tower was to keep things out and the obfuscation of the architecture was a means to make others that entered eventually die of thirst and hunger?

The Spartan sighed as he shook his head, before focusing a bit more. He focused on all the living beings in his range, taking count of any that broke the mold of what he expected. So far he had found nothing that stuck out at all, each of the monsters being the same thing he had fought throughout the city. Then he spotted something interesting.

There was a group of the same soldiers that he and the Crusader had taken down, their movements heading towards the stone coffin that had been abandoned. This time they were in a group of fourteen marching down a hallway in formation, working their way through all the secret passageways to get to their target in due time. However, the moment he focused on them, they all froze in place. They stood still as statues for a brief moment.

And then they all turned towards a certain direction. They began to shake and tremble violently before rushing forward in the general direction of where he and the Crusader were.

That was certainly not good. He quickly deactivated his divinity and picked up his associate, before rushing onwards towards the staircase. The next room onwards was to be a kitchen of some sorts, which hopefully meant there should be some liquids available for consumption to restore his energy.

He knew the soldiers were quite a while away. Even then, they had been moving at a rapid pace that made him quite concerned for the upcoming battle. If he had the Crusader up and ready for the upcoming fight, then there shouldn’t be a problem, but that wasn’t the case now. The best option here was to hole up in a place that didn’t have any secret passageways that lead inside. At least then, he could barricade the entryway to prevent anyone from coming in and take the time to recover some of his pent-up energy.

He reached the staircases and went up the steps with rapid pace before bolting down the hallway. He went past several doors and continued to go down a predefined track that he knew would lead to a dead-end that had a water source as well as a possibility of food. There was the possibility of dealing with monsters on the way, but even that wasn’t much of an issue anymore. Not when he still had a good supply of divine power to tap into.

Thankfully, he didn’t encounter any monsters in his journey and found his way to the area without much fanfare. The place was as he expected: a dead-end without any other ways in. However, the room provided plenty of things for use that the negatives outweighed the positive.

For one, this area provided quite a decent amount of goodies. A giant stone cauldron that seemed to have plenty of water to spare, several bottles that adorned the shelves on the wall that could hold edible liquids, and several butchering racks. Last but not least, there were cooking ware as well as a giant oven that was more than ready for firing with some wood already at the bottom to start. However, there was no food available within this area and there weren’t any good resting places to set up.

No tables, no chairs, no cushions, nothing. The only place to rest was the hard stone tile floor. There was no way to rest his associate on a comfortable position and so, he did so.

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He leaned the Crusader against the wall and checked the water cauldron out. He looked over for any mold or signs of contamination, but the liquid was clear and seemed to have nothing inside to warrant any danger. Thus, a preliminary drink was necessary to clear this water safe for drinking, and that proved to be more than enough. The water had a crisp, clear taste that quenched the Spartan’s thirst without much problem.

Then he went ahead and got himself back up to full. That was when he took a bowl and filled it up before heading over to his associate.

It took a few trips back and forth to fully quench the Crusader’s thirst, but the job was eventually done. Now all that remained was to get some food, which was going to be an even more difficult problem considering the whole situation with the incoming threats.

That being said, the Spartan had a sneaky idea. While this was one he wasn’t certain would work, there wasn’t any harm in trying out this method. He closed his eyes and activated his divinity, extending his range to try to find the horse monsters as well as get information of the incoming soldiers.

What he found was a bit concerning. They were already a quarter of the way to him, and their usage of the secret passageways were allowing them to zone in even closer. Something that was dangerous for certain and a situation he needed the Crusader for. However, the good news was that he had been able to find a horde of horse monsters nearby.

This was the ultimate test. If this succeeded, then he wouldn’t have to be so worried anymore. He opened his eyes and opened the doorway to the room, before navigating a path to the horse monster, specifically towards its leg. Then, he used his mystical powers within the flesh.

The goal was not to kill the monster. Such a thing would be simple and easy to do. No, his goal was to try to extract its flesh while it was still living. After all, if he could get his hand to strike against the leg of that soldier and rip out its flesh protrusions before he obtained the soul shard, why shouldn’t he be able to get the flesh all-in-one with a single motion.

He breathed in and out. The path was complete, and he could rip out the flesh at any moment. Without further ado, he went ahead and began the process.

The horse monster did not know what was going on the moment it felt a pull. The beast shrieked as the leg was yanked at a fast pace. However, instead of a small piece coming through like the Spartan anticipated, the entire beast got dragged along the floor. It was following the same path that was made prior, which meant that this was going to get to him in record time.

He got his spear ready and waited. The monster got dragged through hallways and around corners. Eventually, the beast found itself right on the floor between him and the Crusader, with its back on the floor. The monster flailed around frantically in hopes of getting up, but the Spartan did not allow such a thing to happen.

He struck and ripped into its knees, destroying any chance of the beast getting away. Then he worked as fast as he could to prevent the beast from dissolving into dust. He needed the meat here and now to cook, otherwise he wouldn’t have anything to work with.

There wasn’t any time to be fancy with this. He started the fire for the oven and proceeded to set the monster on top while skinning it alive. The flames burst up faster than he expected, which was something that he had to admit was a surprise. There was no prior indication that the flames would burn so fast and intensely. Not a bad shock, as this was something that he could definitely use to get the necessary heat to cook the flesh.

The monster got to broiling and screeches began to fill the room. As there was no mouth for him to cover up, he was forced to continue listening to these loud screams as he skinned the beast and cut into its flesh. The meat hadn’t been fully cooked yet, seeing as how the flesh was still bright red and oozed with blood, but he could not afford to be picky at this time.

He sank his teeth into the warm meat.

There was an intense saltiness to the flesh, with a lot of bitterness to the tongue. The sensation was slimy and tough. He couldn’t quite bite through the flesh entirely, and he was forced to gnaw constantly as though he was chewing on a tough piece of leather.

Then came the wave of bitterness. By the Gods, how awful of a taste this was. He needed honey and wine to balance all the disgust in his body and he wanted to reject this vile meal, but there was no choice. At this time, he needed to fill his stomach to recover all the spent energy. He swallowed and went in for another bite. Then another.

He didn’t know how many times he had to go in, suffering through the nasty texture of the meat and the awful taste that continued to coat his tongue. However, what he knew was that there was no other method of eating with the incoming soldiers zeroing in on their location. So he chewed and swallowed this vile flesh until he was full, and his body began to recover its energy.

That left the Crusader to feed. As much as he didn’t want his associate to eat this nasty material, there wasn’t a choice in this time. He gritted his teeth and dragged the smoking monster to his associate before cutting grooves into the meat. Then, he ripped the helmet off and shoved the flesh cuts into his mouth.

His associate seemed to struggle before biting in. A moan of pain and exhaustion came out of the weary man, but the Spartan did not care. He continued feeding him this way until he finally stopped taking bites. Then and only then did he pierce the head of the beast and let the remains fade away into bone and dust.

He took a look at the dust settling on the floor and shuttered. As easy as it was to simply make some meat substitute with the mixture he knew of before, even then he could not imagine himself doing so.

Unfortunately for him, the Crusader was still out of it and was unable to stand up. In fact, the man seemed to have fallen asleep, leaving the Spartan alone to take care of the incoming problem.

That was fine. He’d have the soul shard all to himself then.