One-Way Trip to Monster Town

The battle against the beasts took several hours of carnage and destruction before it died down. It left a field full of cracks, craters, and many more unnatural soil formations.

Weapons and armour could be seen strewn about, being collected by the helpers from the city.

Restiel was being healed by someone with a healing ability. He was receiving praises from a few youths that had joined the fight.

"Restiel will really be famous wherever he goes," Magnus chuckled as he watched them praise his Hivemind member.

The looks, the strength, and the powers, all point to a way to become famous.

Suddenly,

"Well done out there, young man." A hardened voice echoed out, making the surroundings silent. Everyone looked at the speaker with reverence in their gazes. It was Vieth. The source of the barrier that protected the city singlehandedly.

"I'm afraid we haven't met. What's your name?" Vieth continued.

"...Zekiel," Magnus had Restiel reply with a different name.

"Zekiel," Vieth beamed, "I'd like to repeat myself, you did really well. As the protector of this city, I would like to reward you. Is there anything you want?"

Restiel put on a pensive expression. His brows knitted in thought. Magnus thought about this, as he wasn't expecting it.

His expression too, crumpled in thought.

"What do I want...?" Magnus asked himself, "What does the Hivemind need right now?"

He needed a way to strengthen Klaris into a 1.9-star threat. Javelin too.

Instead of assimilating a stronger being, Magnus planned on pushing the two forwards. He was curious about this ritual as he has not experienced one before.

.

.

.

Vieth waited patiently as Restiel went into thought. He didn't feel the need to hurry the young man up, and no frustration appeared on his face.

He inwardly nodded to himself.

"He's not an impulsive young man despite his youth."

Vieth admired the fact that this Zekiel was putting a lot of thought into answering his question.

After all, it was a benefit given through the risking of one's life. And yet there were still gazes of envy and jealousy directed at Zekiel. It was as if they didn't realise just what he had put at stake.

There were a few other humans that he had to reward too, of course, but this winged man was more prominent. His Blessing gave Vieth a feeling that he was from the divine.

It was a feeling that Vieth never expected to exist. He was, after all, a nonbeliever. To him, the Divine was nonexistent.

He was having second thoughts now.

"I want information," Zekiel spoke up after several moments of thought, "If that's okay."

Vieth raised a brow.

"What kind of information?" He asked.

"I want to know about the monster populations in the area, as well as the best place to hunt undead."

Vieth was surprised.

"Why ask me of this? Couldn't you have gained this information through other sources?"

"It is because it is you, sir, that I want to ask these questions. You might have something that others don't know." Zekiel replied, with a coating of silver on his tongue.

Vieth chuckled upon hearing this.

"Alright then," He said, pointing towards the central tower of the city. "Meet me there in a bit. I will arrange the information you seek after I fulfil my duties here."

"Thank you, sir." Zekiel bowed.

"No need to be so formal, Zekiel. I'm just giving you what you deserve."

Vieth put an emphasis on that last word as his gaze swept across the crowd. A few people averted their eyes.

"If any harm comes to this young man before you, you will be harming my reputation. He is my guest. Remember that."

.

.

.

After the crowd dispersed, so did Magnus. He had Restiel travel towards the middle of the city. He stayed behind to dine on the flesh of some of the beasts he had yet to partake of.

"Mmmmm," Magnus shivered in ecstasy.

The feeling of devouring souls was just too good. The flavours ranged from candy-like to tastes he only found in cuisine.

There were also differences in texture. Some souls had been crunchy, some soft, while some were chewy. It was an eye-opening experience.

"I wonder," Magnus thought to himself, "Is drinking blood considered eating their body?"

If so, then his previously discarded idea of cannibalism could be partially retrieved. If he just had to take a sip of someone's blood, it didn't feel that disgusting. Not the cannibalism part of course, but the devouring of human souls.

After all, there were Blood Compacts back in Earth's olden days. And it was a celebrated event too.

Magnus ate and ate until he felt his rating reach 1.97 stars. At the end of it all, he felt that he had eaten an entire meal despite only taking small pieces of flesh each time.

There were just that many giant beasts. Magnus was astonished that the humans managed to repel them at all.

'It was all due to that man,' Magnus recalled Vieth.

That blood-red barrier of his was powerful beyond his imagination.

.

.

.

Restiel arrived at the central tower where a few guards patrolled the area. The tower was larger than he thought, perhaps having a radius of dozens of metres.

It was built out of stone bricks and was about eight stories tall. Tiny windows could be seen here and there while a small veranda could be seen attached to a few doorways.

Restiel walked forward expressionlessly as the guards let him pass. He entered the tower with ease.

There was a pretty woman waiting for him.

"Welcome, Zekiel." A voice akin to that of a flowing river rang in Restiel's ear. "The master of the tower is waiting for you in his study. Please, follow me."

A beautiful back then appeared in Restiel's view but he gave no reaction. No matter how alluring someone could be, his Curse counteracted a lot of the emotions that he would have normally felt as a hormonal young man.

It was more Restiel's powerful resolve, but it was also because Magnus did not place his full focus on controlling the mindless body from afar.

The lady in front of Restiel led him through a flight of stairs and a few corridors. All of them were carved out of stone, with wood only seen here and there as decoration. The floors were covered in a soft carpet and paintings lined the walls.

Eventually, they arrived before a pair of doors.

"This is sir Vieth's study. The master should be inside, so please," The lady gestured, "Feel free to go in."

Restiel obliged, quite curious as to what kind of study Vieth would have.

Creaaak!

The doors opened with a loud groan and Restiel was greeted by the sight of a full-on library. Shelves filled with books lined the walls, as a desk lay peacefully in the middle of it all. The room was circular, giving birth to a few architectural feats near the ceiling where a chandelier lay.

"Wow," Restiel muttered.

"Like it?" Vieth beamed. He was clearly proud of his 'study.'

"Very much so, sir. I never expected such a huge collection."

"It took me years to gather this much, especially with the wars going on." Vieth admitted, "I have also lost many books over the bloodshed of war. A lot of lost knowledge hurts my heart."

"It is indeed a waste." Restiel agreed, "It should be a part of human practice to avoid destroying any place that has knowledge stored in it."

The burning of the Library of Alexandria on Earth was a story that Magnus knew about.

"Haha," Vieth nodded thoughtfully, "Perhaps indeed. I will see if that can be proposed."

"Now," Vieth continued, gesturing to a few tomes on his desk, "I have the information you wished for. It took me a bit of digging but I have found it. I surprise myself sometimes, in fact. There are things that I just learned from looking for the knowledge you asked for."

Vieth handed Restiel a scroll.

"This contains a summary of what you needed. Now go," Vieth pushed Restiel out of the study, seemingly in a hurry.

"I am close to a discovery thanks to your request."

.

.

.

Magnus chuckled at the excitement hidden within Vieth's voice.

'I never expected him to be such a scholar.'

Anyways, he got what he needed, so that was good.

In his hands was the scroll that Restiel received from Vieth. He had already read through the extensive information supplied by it despite it being a summary and narrowed down a few places. He also learned that the city he was currently in was called Hummoi.

And nearby, there were the cities Hummer and Hummolus. They were a trio of cities built after one person. Hence the similarities in their names.

Hummolus in particular intrigued Magnus.

It was a monster-filled city that was now half in ruins. A war between humans and monsters was ongoing right now and danger was everywhere in such a city.

'It's a bit far on foot,' Magnus thought to himself, 'But with the One-Time Transport Scroll, I can go there right now.'

He took out the Scroll in question. Amini had only taken a mirrored version, and Magnus still had the original.

[[ One-Time Transport Scroll ]]

[[ Choose a city in your area to instantly move to. Write its name down on the Scroll. Tear to be transported. ]]

Magnus then got to writing. It didn't take him long to mimic the writing used by the locals. Some kind of power had acted upon him during his transportation into this world. Any latent language issues had been instantly solved with it.

'And we're done,' Magnus thought with a smile.

Rrrrip!

Then, he was gone.