A group of ten or so people, including Darren and Nina, waits for me near the facility that Vega and I were using. Even though most of them seem happy, there is an awkwardness to their smiles. It deepens even more when I reach them.
Before Darren says anything, I interrupt him with a listening finger, "You can use that annoying skill of yours. It will make things a bit easier."
He closes his mouth, and his forehead furrows. A hint of worry on his face.
"I want to thank you for what you did. The amount of food you gave us should be able to last for years," he says carefully.
That's true. Most of the animals I brought were higher level, and just a little bit of their meat is enough to feed a low level human. And that is what most of the survivors here are.
"Good, I want you to tell everyone what they were eating all these years."
The smile disappears from everyone’s faces. I don’t fail to notice Nina watching me with newfound interest. She’s the only one from the group that seems intrigued.
"I understand where you are coming from, but we just can't. Even though the food we have will last for years, the time will come when we will need..."
His words die off in the tunnel as he uses his skill. His face gradually pales. He shifts uncomfortably and tries to say something, but no words come out of his mouth.
I speak in his place, "Darren, I'm this close," I gesture with my hand, "to killing everyone standing here. This fucking close to dyeing the walls of this shitty bunker with your flesh and blood."
His face pales further even though I'm not even releasing any mana or threatening him otherwise.
I take a step towards him, "I will go to check on the man down in the tunnels. I will free him and give him the opportunity to kill himself if he wishes to do so. Or he can leave and fight you guys. If he really wants to, he can stay down there. It's up to him."
Darren's mouth opens and closes. He probably wants to say something about children or women. People dying without food. The same old bullshit.
But I don’t care. They should know. Then they can kill Darren for doing this to them if they wish to. Or they can embrace what they were doing and continue doing so, becoming savages. What's important is the choice Darren never gave them.
"Sounds good, right, Darren? So meanwhile, while I'm down there with your surprise meat supplier, you will go and talk to everyone in the Sanctuary."
The only one from the group with a different expression from the others is Nina. She looks relieved. Is this something she’s always wanted to do without ever finding the courage?
Looking at them one last time, I place an anchor as far as I can and repeat it a few times until I teleport down to the tunnels. Irvin sits there on the bed as before, surrounded by blood and pieces of his limbs in the corner.
“One grumpy granny sends her greetings, a Vitalist. Now that I think about it, I never asked for her name.” I tell him while taking a few steps towards him.
He doesn't react at all for a while, so I start examining the silver collar on his neck.
The collar looks extremely delicate yet it's surprisingly tough and covered in a web of inscriptions. There is no mana stone or anything else. It's just mana-conductive metal that takes mana from its wearer and uses it to produce some sort of disrupting effect.
As I examine the collar, the man speaks to my surprise, “Her name is Valery, she is my daughter.”
“Huh, really? She looks much older than you.”
His eyes cloud, and he smiles as if remembering something funny, “She never cared about her appearance nor has she ever tried to use her skills in that way. Always thought of others first.”
He then looks at me, “There is no use. Darren destroyed the key long ago and without it, you won't be able to…”
“Done!” I say and the collar opens with a soft click.
Shortly, I check the item.
Null Collar (Epic): Actively disrupts the wearer's magical attempts and skills, using absorbed mana to diminish both magical potency, strength, and dexterity.
“How? Just how?!”
“What do you mean? It was affecting your mana and stats, not mine. I just needed to find a few switches and deactivate it. It wasn't that difficult.”
“There is no way…” he shakes his head, “You wasted your time. I'm not going anywhere.”
I move the thermal orb I had been filling for a long time and let it float in the air in front of him.
While he looks at it, I explain, “If you touch the orb, it will release all of its energy. It should be able to kill you just fine.”
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Even while talking to him, I observe the collar. It's as good an item as I thought it would be. A really nice reward and either an upper epic or close to it.
“Did you help me and remove the collar just so you could keep it?” the man asks.
I ignore his question. “Your daughter’s helped me and my disciple a few times so I’m helping her in exchange, and you by extension. You now have multiple options. You can stay here and continue what you were doing. You can go out and kill Darren and others to get revenge. You can escape and find your daughter. Or you can just die if you can't live with memories of what happened,” I glance at the thermal orb floating in the air.
I take a few steps away from him, “Take your time if you want. The Sanctuary now has enough food to last them for a few years and find a different way. And around now everyone should be learning what they were eating.”
“How could you…” the man's voice is quiet, without any energy, “Do you know how many people might die because of what you have done.”
There being no need for more words I take one of the transmitters I stole and copy the frequency Granny used to contact me. Then I throw the transmitter to the man. Before he can answer, I teleport to my disciple.
Our stuff is already packed and even Vega is ready. I take the bags and throw them over my shoulders.
Vega comes closer and lifts her arms so I can lift her onto my chest.
With a sigh, I do so, and she puts her ear against my chest while I boost my body and move through the tunnels. Much faster than if she had to run.
The tunnels are empty, not a single human is there, all of the presences I can feel are in the main cave where Darren, Nina, and others who knew about the tunnel stand and talk to the people. There is screaming, there are tears, and some of them are even throwing up. Mana fills the air and weapons have been drawn.
I reach the entrance to the sanctuary without being bothered and use mana arms to unlock the door and then carefully channel kinetic energy to force it open. The massive iron door slowly opens and I exit, closing it behind me in the same fashion.
An hour later, I'm still flying and there is no kill notification for the man down in the tunnels.
“Master, I want to learn to fly too,” Vega says.
We are high in the air, flying towards the north. I'm flying much slower than I’m capable of to avoid hurting her. I also get to enjoy the view this way. Currently, we are over a cloud bank watching the sunset. As far as I can see there are only clouds, lit in beautiful golden light. Even after all this time, it feels somewhat unreal and beautiful.
“Maybe at around level 150 or 200, you will start flying.” I slow down and float there.
The eyes of the little half-demon are wide open, she’s still not used to flying, and she holds on to me like a baby koala. She is still looking around, taking it all in.
“From so high everything looks so small and our problems seem unimportant, right?” I move us lower and we pass through the clouds and stop right under.
As far as I can see there are mountains, hills, giant trees, and valleys. Once in a while there are even ruined cities from before the war. And all of it seems so small.
“I'm not even level 20,” Vega complains.
“There is something we can do about that,” I lower us and float towards the spot where I sense movement.
And it's as expected. The most terrifying enemy. The animals with the worst curse. Bambi's curse. A group of 10 deer rests on the small clearing while two more keep watch. The guards are sending their mana senses into the forest surrounding them while their antlers shine with a pale blue color.
They are called Windrider Deer and all of them are around level twenty. That surprises me a bit, to see how low-level they are. So I fly around a bit and only then do I notice that the entire forest where they are is encompassed in inscriptions that work like the granny’s setup. These inscriptions don't seem to be directed at humans so much as they are monsters and other animals.
Oh my, did we cross into someone’s farm?
“Minion, what do you think about stealing?”
She blinks a few times and then says carefully while gauging my reaction, “If master is fine with…”
“Yup, totally fine.”
“I don't mind it at all!” She then looks around, “What are we going to steal?”
“We have a few monsters for you to play with. There is something called Bambi's curse and it's likely to be passed from master to disciple knowing the system. So it's good for you to get experience facing this sort of monster.”
“C-curse?”
I keep us afloat maintaining our view of the herd of deer and make my voice deeper, “It all started with a single fucking deer that a girl called Tess killed. Disciple, let me tell you, even though I had no prior experience skinning an animal I believe I did very well. Yet ever since that day, this curse has been something I’ve had to live with…”
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The last deer falls dead and along with him, Vega slides against a tree. Wounds cover her body, her heart is beating wildly and there is barely any mana left inside of her.
“I can choose a Primary class now, master. I did it…” she gets out in between gasps for air. Even though she is so wounded she is happy.
“You stopped checking your surroundings,” I remind her again.
I can see how difficult it is for her right now, but a trickle of mana extends from her as she starts examining her surroundings again.
Her smile starts to disappear from her face when I add, “Otherwise very good job.”
“Thank you!” The smile brightens her face again immediately.
"I especially liked how you dealt with the 5th one. Cutting off a piece of its antler and gouging out its eye with it was a nice move."
"The antler was very conductive, master! I was able to extend my mana inside of its head!"
"Yes, I noticed that. It also scared the 6th deer, so that's a bonus."
"It did?"
"Yes, when you did that, the deer stopped attacking you and went on the defensive, and that was a mistake."
"Oh, I see now!"
"Anyway, for now, go through your Primary classes, and when you are done, you will tell me what you think is the best option. We will then go over the options, and you will try to defend your choice."
"Yes!"
"Meanwhile, I will do a bit of skinning and try to smoke some meat."
"Please be careful not to strengthen the curse, master!" Vega warns me before going through the options.