Taking a few steps, I reach the open circular iron door that leads to the facility, and from where I stand, I look towards the city that is in a half-spherical cave.
As I noticed before, there are plenty of buildings that seem much older than the others. They are likely the original buildings of the cave. Yet even they show the passage of time. There are scratches, and there is rust on the surface.
There are even a few cracks on some taller ones. The newer buildings are mostly made of wood, with some clay-like material for daubing. The city isn't perfectly clean, no matter how people try, there just isn't enough water.
People are even wearing clothes that are made from old cloth or leather. Plenty of them are thin and scarred. Everyone seems to have something to do, trying to be useful to keep the Sanctuary going.
And plenty of them are cannibals without ever knowing, eating meat they think comes from the animals hunted outside.
(Why such a change of heart?) I finally ask the granny, (You seemed of a different opinion before.)
I'm honestly curious.
(Will you do it?) she asks me instead.
I then think about it for a bit longer and answer, (I will free him and give him the chance to kill himself. The decision will be on him.)
(Ha! Even if it means he might kill himself and most of the people will die of hunger sooner or later?)
(Weird thing to say after what you asked of me. So, is that sufficient to pay you back?)
(I guess I will have to live with that much. Yes, consider your debt repaid.)
After that, the connection turns off, and I break the transmitter in my hand and watch as pieces of it fall to the ground.
I send my mana ahead, and a thermal orb forms in front of me, which I start to fill with golden thermal energy.
I’ve officially completed the quest to find out what's happening in the Sanctuary, and I’ve already gotten a thousand shards. I also filled more tanks with water and filtered it, but that hasn’t completed the other one asking me to help the survivors. I plan to try one more thing, but with 10 days left until the end of my 3 weeks with my disciple, it's time to head north.
"Minion, stay here for a bit, okay?" She doesn't react, even as I say this, totally focused on her training to the point where she isn't even checking her surroundings.
I would be a bit more annoyed if it wasn't something I do myself.
Instead of trying to talk to her again, I just create a barrier in front of the door to the facility and then use the anchor I left on the surface.
With a push of kinetic energy, I send myself high into the air and then deeper into the forest.
[Perception] fires off as I start looking for animals. Even they are quite abnormal. In a place where veil shriekers roam freely, only the stronger ones have survived. Well, them and the ones that have learned to avoid them.
With the speed I'm flying at, it doesn't take that long, and I locate the first one.
[Berserk boar - lvl 190]
The boar detects me while I’m hovering in the air. Its eyes turn blood red. There is no mana, and I detect it as an animal with a full physical build.
I create an anchor near its eye and send a sharp explosion of kinetic energy through, obliterating half of its face. The monster sways, and for a moment, it looks like it will fall, but then the wound starts healing, fully restoring itself. I send three more piercing attacks through the monster, each burrowing deeper into its head. There it reaches the skull which disperses and reflects the attack.
As it’s healing, its head little more than a bloody skull, the boar jumps into the air, using its sheer strength to reach me. A single red eye glowing maniacally.
I avoid it with ease, and when the boar falls back to the ground, I quickly create and compress a mana arrow. I boost it with kinetic energy, and it pierces through the animal's skull. I tried to avoid damaging the body too much at first; there is no way I won't show the beauty of a full mana build to someone focused on physical stats.
The boar wobbles, healing even that wound. The feeling I get from its body becomes even more dangerous.
With a sigh I allow myself to settle on the ground and my mana radiates into the area.
[Redistribution] grabs and holds the monster, even though its strength is nothing to scoff at.
I take a few steps and touching its head I release the kinetic energy I’ve collected, exploding most of its head and the entirety of its brain.
[You have defeated Berserk Boar - lvl 190]
Then I touch its body and send it through [Tether] to the anchor I left at the main entrance to the Sanctuary.
I check the side quest and it's still not completed. Collecting more kinetic energy I lift off again and [Perception] sends a pulse into the area. I reduce the amount of details it collects and focus more on extending the range. Sensing multiple presences, I fly towards them for half a minute and land on top of one of the bigger trees.
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Down in the clearing, there is a group of animals.
[Lightning Bison - lvl 122]
[Lightning Bison - lvl 180]
[Lightning Bison - lvl 165]
[Lightning Bison - lvl 198]
[Lightning Bison - lvl 201]
[Lightning Bison - lvl 200]
They detect me nearly immediately but don't seem to be too bothered. Only two of them that are over 200 look at me. Projectiles form over their bodies like arrows made of lightning and shoot toward me.
Before the projectiles even reach me I disrupt them and continue to observe the animals.
They are all probably twice or thrice the size of bison on Earth. Their fur is brown with streaks of lighter brown that look like lightning. Their horns are bigger than the horns the ones on Earth have. The horns are transparent and look as if they have lightning trapped inside of them.
I return fire with a mana arrow as a test.
It meets with a barrier of lightning created by one of the bison and they all turn to me. The attacks on my position intensify, bombarding me with a barrage of lightning which I continue to disrupt. For a second I activate my trait and observe the attack and change the level of disruption I'm using, lowering the expenditure of mana.
At one point they destroy the tree I'm standing on and as it falls I hold myself in the air. Behind me six javelins form and I start compressing them, making them heavier and stronger. It's not to the point of the javelin I used against the Veil guardian, but I wouldn't call them weak either.
The group of Bison senses that, but they don't seem to be too bothered. Even their attacks seem halfhearted as if they were trying to send an annoying fly away.
It might be me hiding most of my mana or them not having to deal with any real threats. Hell, they may be dumb as heck for all I know or waiting for me to drop my guard.
When I feel like all six javelins are strong enough, I turn to them.
Finally sensing something, they form a domed barrier around their group, the six of them working in unison.
Without hesitating, I release all the kinetic energy I’ve been collecting and boost all of the javelins right after sending a disrupting wave through the anchor I left near the Bisons.
The disrupting wave weakens the barrier and the heavy and extremely boosted javelins pierce through the rest.
Each of the mana javelins pierces through the head of one of the monsters.
[You have defeated Lightning Bison - lvl 122]
[You have defeated Lightning Bison - lvl 165]
[You have defeated Lightning Bison - lvl 180]
Half of them die immediately and only the stronger ones survive the wound. They roar and start collecting mana, lightning flickering around their bodies.
I use the anchor I left near them and teleport, [Regalia] forming armor around myself while I take out the Voidsteel slicer. [Resonance] flows through the blade, synchronizing with it and making it even sharper and infusing it with mana disrupting properties. Before they even react, I remove one of their heads.
[You have defeated Lightning Bison - lvl 201]
Lightning tries to jump from its body to the blade and me, but it’s disrupted the moment it touches the metal.
The remaining two move at surprising speed, their horns elongating and the front of their heads emitting a shield-like barrier full of lightning.
I boost my body, dodging the attack and matching the speed of the monsters. The blade slashes again, removing another head.
[You have defeated Lightning Bison - lvl 198]
A lightning attack from the remaining bison disperses on my armor and I let its charge hit me. As the attack lands, I absorb the kinetic energy of the charge and my body doesn't even move from the spot. More lightning explodes all around us, tearing the ground apart and exploding the trees, giving me goosebumps as I feel the hair on my scalp rise.
I transfer absorbed kinetic energy into strengthening my body and move to the side and slash again.
The Bison tries to block the attack, but the blade ignores all the defenses.
[You have defeated Lightning Bison - lvl 200]
I calm down my mana and continue to search for any danger while I step closer to the monster. For a while, I examine its body.
The skin isn't as tough as I thought it was and the only part that interests me is the horns. So I take some time to remove all the horns before using [Tether] to send them to the Sanctuary.
This time a big chunk of my mana disappears. The expenditure isn't as big as if the Bisons were alive or if I had to deal with a natural barrier. I’ve tried it before but using an anchor on someone who isn't much weaker than me is extremely difficult. Well, it's not like I don't have enough mana anyway.
When they are gone, I check the side quest again. And nothing.
With a sigh, I lift off and head towards another group of animals.
----------------------------------------
After sending through a few dozen more animals, the quest has finally been completed and I receive 1000 shards. The entire time, I made sure I was hunting them far enough at places where the survivors would never go. I did it to avoid scaring off the animals they usually hunt.
When I use the anchor to reappear in front of the Sanctuary, the giant doors are wide open, and it looks like the entire city is there, skinning or moving the animals inside. They are carefully taking the skins, bones, organs, everything. Nothing seems to go to waste.
Hundreds of people jostling about, children laughing, adults smiling. Every one of the unknowing cannibals seems to be happy. Some of them start to notice me and rush me with big smiles on their faces.
I quickly use another anchor and reappear near Vega. When she doesn't react to my presence, too focused on her training, I grab one of her small horns and shake her head.
She doesn't even try to push my hand away, resigned to her fate, knowing that her best option is to hope I get bored. That amuses me even more, and I continue to wobble and gently shake her head for an entire minute. The way she tries to hide her annoyance makes it even more fun. To frustrate her even more, I stop when she is reaching out to push my hand away.
“Minion, your awareness sucks,” I tell her, “Anyway, get ready and pack your things, we’re about to leave. I will be back soon after dealing with one more thing.”
My senses flow into the Sanctuary and I quickly find Darren and Nina. Teleporting outside of the facility where Vega is packing our stuff, I move towards them.