Forged in battle
But even in this otherworldly scenery, things were different for Ben. They have been walking for almost the whole day. Ben was feeling exhausted as well, but not as much as Freya.
He looked at Freya's pale face, worried. For any human, she was starved for god knows how long; it was a surprise to him that she was even walking straight. Maybe she was somehow pushing herself with magic, but it was clear to Ben that she was not going to last any longer.
"It looks like we are close!" The girl said she was wiping the sweat off her forehead. Ben snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the place Seh was pointing at.
The forest had ended, with almost no trees but long green grass. It was more than clear to look at the plain ground. Before them, about 500 meters ahead, lay a massive city, so wide that it couldn't be captured in one frame.
But, very unlikely to assume, the expression on their faces was not one of excitement or surprise but of utter shock.
"Just what in the hell could cause this level of destruction?" Ben asked out loud, and Freya too had the same question in her mind, looking at the city.
Despite being so huge and the architecture looking so advanced, the city was completely in ruins. None of the buildings standing there were in decent shape; like a candle that had been exposed to heat, the stone building looked like it had melted away.
Without uttering a single word, Ben and Freya walked towards the city. At this time, the sun had already fallen, and the sky was getting darker with each passing second.
The closer they got to the ruined city, Ben couldn't trace a single drop of life energy in the range of his blood vision. Ben closely inspected the building and the ground, which wasn't even horizontal anymore.
The building material is not normal; it is at least 10 times stronger than processed steel.
'And what could cause such tough material to melt like this?' Ben asked in his mind, surprised by the revelation.
[Only a peak king can possess this level of magical energy. ]
"Didn't you say there was supposed to be a civilization around?" Ben asked, looking at Freya, hoping that at least she had some answers or clues regarding this place.
"I don't know," she replied, looking around. "Knowledge about the Human Kingdom is strictly stored in Lunara; the only thing I know is that this is where the Valoria Empire is supposed to start."
Ben easily grasped what she meant; there were places on earth as well where knowledge from outside the world was strictly censored or manipulated. With this hope lost, Ben was worried if Freya would make it to the next destination.
In the worst-case scenario, he will have to hunt something for her to eat and relax, but the real question is, what about him?
[ Hunger stat: mild (rising) ]
"Let's just find a safe place to hide for now. Any remaining building would do; we might need to spend the whole night there," Ben said after a well-thought-out plan. Freya nodded in agreement.
"The magic density at the center of town is exponentially greater than the edge. It would be better if we just walked along the edge." Freya advised, worried how Ben would take it.
Her interaction with Ben was quite surprising; she didn't expect someone with a slave would treat her so kindly or open-mindedly. Is Ben just a different person? Or perhaps, if this is how slaves are treated, does it mean her former life was even worse than that of a slave?
[It looks like her magic sense ranges more than your blood vision. ]
"Then we will walk along the edges if we can find a better place to use as a shelter," Ben said with a genuine smile. He summoned the ancient spear in his hand and began to make his way through the rubble.
It had been almost 30 minutes since then, and they were searching for any wall; even a broken roof would do, but they could barely find any. Walking along the edges, Ben had traveled quite far from the city, almost at the end of the city, where he was finding rubble walls.
"I see light!" Freya exclaimed, standing over a hill. The expression on her face changed to joy. "I see a lot of them; it looks like a village."
"For real?" Ben asked. He too climbed over the broken wall and looked at the source of light. His vampire abilities made him eligible to look far in the darkness; he could see some traditional-style buildings and moving figures as well.
"It's a village; I can see some people there as well," Ben exclaimed. He slid down the wall with renewed energy, walking towards the destination.
Freya, too, followed behind him, as if all her fatigue and exhaustion had gone in a mere second. She too followed behind Ben, until...
"It's an enemy!" She said, sensing extreme energy; it was so fast that just the next moment of warning, Ben could sense the presence as well. Not one or two, but at least twenty of them.
His senses screamed him of danger; instinctively, he activated his blood vision and swung his beetle's chitin dagger.
Ben couldn't see clearly what the dagger collided against, but the impact of the attack was so strong that he was sent a few meters back, sliding.
[ HP: 96/100; BE: 000/100 ]
Ben felt the shock running through his body; his hands felt numb, almost collapsing on the ground, but he withstood. Ben observed that he and Freya were now surrounded by a group of 19 wolves and an alpha wolf.
[ Inspecting opponent: 19 normal Tiers, 1 intermediate Tier ]