In the morning of the next day, we woke up early, and headed back towards the battlefield. The squad we replaced this time didn't seem to have lost any of it's members, but exhaustion was still visible on their faces.
I noticed that Lysa and Velor looked like they didn't get much sleep last night, but that was understandable, considering what they saw and experienced yesterday, so I didn't ask them anything about it.
Nothing special happened today and we succeeded in ending our shift without gaining any major injuries or loosing anyone in our squad. Once our shift was over, we said goodbye to Ivan, took a written notice that we completed out quest from Aaron and headed back towards the city.
On the way back, Velor suddenly said to us: "Ethan, Anise what do you think about this war?"
"Hm?" I turned towards him with a questioning look, not really understanding what he was trying to ask exactly: "What do you mean?"
"I mean, those people. The ones we killed. They had no skills, no magic and some didn't even carry weapons and were using their teeth and hands to try to bite and claw at us. They were normal people and we killed them…"
I let out a sigh and said: "Did we really have a choice in the matter? Sadly, for now, it's either them or us."
Velor hang his head and didn't say anything else, but Lysa intervened this time: "It's true, but if we focused on killing the demons that control them, maybe we can free and save them."
'Senna, what do you think?'
[*It's possible that killing the one who cast the mind control might release them, but I can't know for sure. Also, there might even be spells to help remove the mind control, but I don't know any.*]
"You're right, that might be a possibility, but who can even face those demons? I heard that, at the same level, none of out warriors or wizards could face them."
"Can't you do it? I've never heard of a wizard being capable of using all kinds of magic without a chant. With the amount of spells at your disposal, you'll be able to overwhelm any demon for sure."
A self-mocking smile appeared on my lips as I said: "If only everything was so easy, the fact that I can silent cast almost any spell might make me stronger than usual, but my level is still too low. Low enough that I can't even call myself a wizard. "
"But you can level up. It should take less time for you to level up than for others to learn silent casting."
"I know. I'm leveling as fast as I can…"
We kept chatting for a while until we reached the base of the wall. Once there, we all headed towards the adventurer guild to turn in our quests. We took our 2 gold coins each before Lysa said:
"What are your plans now? Do you want to take on another quest?"
"I think we'll take a break for a day or two. You?"
Lysa and Velor looked at each other before Lysa replied: "We'll do that as well. Honestly, the cruelty of the war took us by surprise a little. A break might help us calm our minds a little."
"Then, shall we meet here again in two days to decide on a new quest?"
"Sure."
After settling that, we said our goodbyes and I returned together with Anise at our inn. Once we were inside our room, she asked:
"So? How do you plan to get out? Are you waiting for tonight?"
I shook my head and started channeling my mana to slowly bend the light around my body, stopping it from reflecting back and effectively turning myself invisible. I worked on this spell together with Senna and Ai the other night, exactly for this occasion. Once I was done, I asked: "How is it?"
Anise looked surprised and slowly extended her hand towards me, managing to grab my shoulder before exclaiming: "This is amazing. How did you do that?"
"It's not that hard the hardest part was finding a way for me to see as well. I'm using light to camouflage myself. I'll explain it to you once we progress further with our lessons."
She nodded eagerly as I removed the invisibility spell.
"What do you think? Was it good enough for me to sneak out?"
"Yes, definitely. Even if I focused really hard, I could barely see anything other than a slight blur, even with the enhanced senses of a level 25. Those soldiers guarding the wall shouldn't be higher level than me."
"Okay, then I'll go."
"Wait, right now?"
"Yeah. I don't know how far I must go inside the enemy camp and I want to return before our scheduled meeting with Lysa and Velor."
She looked a bit worried, but nodded in the end as she said: "All right. If you are not back in two days I'm coming to look for you."
"Don't worry. I'll be fine. If worse comes to worst, I'll just use spacial magic to run away."
We shared a kiss before I walked out, taking nothing with me and leaving even my spear behind. As I reached close to the wall, I cast my invisibility spell again and managed to pass through when the gate opened for a group of adventurers.
Once on the other side, I kept the invisibility spell active as I ran towards the battlefield and asked Senna:
'Does it matter in which sector of the battlefield I go?'
[*I don't know. For now just keep going north. I'll direct you if I feel anything. How do you plan on passing through the waves of enemies?*]
'I was thinking of using wind magic to fly over their heads. My mana should last me for a while. If I happen to run out, I can always use the staff and spend some of the stored mana.'
[*All right. I'll focus on feeling the spirit around and direct you as soon as I pinpoint the location it is gathering to.*]
With a plan in mind, I kept rushing north at full speed. It only took me around ten minutes to reach the nearest camp. Just to make sure, I ran a bit further away from the main tent, worried that whatever commander might be inside might be able to feel my presence or use of mana.
Once the place where both armies met came into sight, I used wind magic to propel myself and fly over the main battlefield in the direction the enemy army was coming from.
I was surprised that even after flying for over twenty minutes, the mind-controlled humans were just as densely packed as before, like an endless sea of people. It took another twenty minutes until I finally noticed a change. A big chain of black towers were in the distance and people kept coming out of the base of these towers. The towers were placed right on the beach. I stopped in mid air and asked Senna:
'So, did you find anything?'
[*Nothing yet, it's like all the spirit is being siphoned straight down, with no focus point at all.*]
'What does that mean?'
[*Maybe some of our assumptions were wrong. I can't say for sure. You'll have to find a way underground to make sure.*]
'Can't I just make one?'
[*That is an option as well.*]
I waited in midair for a while, hoping for an opening in the sea of people, but since there was no change for a while, I floated straight into the sea. I figured I could tunned from the sea as well.
Once I was inside the water, I started swimming towards the shore and used earth magic to borrow into the ground. As I was tunneling through the ground in search of any open space, Senna's voice sounded in my head.
[*Head south-west and burrow twenty meters deeper. There is a high concentration of spirit in that direction.*]
Excited to finally get some clues, I did as I was told and came upon a gigantic room filled with boxes, I was about to ask what to do when Senna said:
[*Each of those boxes appears to have a lot of spirit store inside. Open one to check it out.*]
I did as I was told and opened one of the boxes. Inside I counted roughly a hundred transparent crystals. Picking one of the crystals up, I was about to examine it when Senna exclaimed in my head:
[*Those are crystallized souls and judging by the size of this place and the amount of boxes here, there must be millions of souls inside. This is a treasure mine.*]
I couldn't see Senna's face, but I could feel the excitement in her voice. Curious, I played around with the crystal in my hand as I asked:
'What are these used for? They must be quite precious to get even you excited.'
[*For humans and demons, they probably use them as power sources or to restore used mana, but for us, beings of the soul race, these can be devoured to increase our strength. Doing the same as a human or demon would pollute their souls and they'll slowly go mad.*]
'So you can use these to increase your strength? Can I do it as well?'
[*I don't think you can. You need to evolve your soul first, but that's not a problem for me. They are still souls of normal mortals, so the quality is not that great but they make up in quantity. Do you mind allowing me to absorb them?*]
I was about to agree when Ai intervened:
[Those are still souls of humans. If they are devoured they wouldn't be able to return to the spirit well. If you agree to her request you will be wiping these souls out of existence for good.]
[*They are already dead and crystallized. They won't feel a thing. It would be a shame to just return them to the spirit well. Please, Ethan. If I consume all these souls I'll be able to recover some of my strength and I could also help you in combat without requiring to borrow more of your soul. It's a win-win situation.*]
I was in a dilemma. On one hand, Senna getting stronger might indeed be of great help to me, on the other hand, devouring so many souls, ending their possibility of reincarnation, wasn't really a choice I could make in good conscience.
Sighing, I asked: 'isn't there any way to absorb the spirit inside and also return them to the spirit well?'
[*What kind of dumb question is that? Of course not. The soul inside will get absorbed into mine completely. That's why it's called devouring.*]
'Then… I'm sorry Senna, but I can't do it.'
There was silence for a moment, before she replied:
[*You again with your stupid morals. Clinging to them will only lead you to an early grave. Didn't you say that you wanted to save this world as fast as possible? This is the fastest way. With the power I will be able to get from these souls, even if it wouldn't reach even one percent of my peak, it will be enough to deal with anything and anyone on this world. Devouring these crystals is the fastest way for you to save this world. What will you do if you fail? What if the whole world ends up destroyed because you didn't want to do this? Think of these souls as a payment for saving all the other beings living on this world that are still alive and breathing. Plus, I'll be the one devouring them and not you.*]
I could understand Senna's reasoning as well, but I still couldn't do it.
'I'm sorry, Senna. I can't. What meaning all of it would have if I have to step over all my principles and do this? I can't condemn millions of souls to extinction just like that. If I fail, so be it, I will carry the weight of all those deaths, but at the same time I would be at peace with myself because I tried my best without willingly sacrificing millions of souls to do it.'
[*You really are an idiot! You haven't…Never mind. Do whatever you want.*]
'I'm really sorry and don't worry about your strength. I'll help you recover it. We'll get stronger together, but we'll have to do it the right way, not the easy one.'
[…]
'You said something about sending these spirits back to the spirit well. How do I do that?'
[…]
Since Senna seemed to be brooding and was not answering, Ai did instead:
[You just need to stop the spirit gathering magic circle before destroying them. If you destroy them now, they will just be reformed into crystals again.]
'Ai, can you feel where the magic circle is?'
[I'm not really sure. It feels like it's everywhere at the same time.]
[*That is because it really is everywhere. The circle is extended all throughout the battlefield. That is the reason all the souls were going straight down after their death, because a part of the circle was already straight under them.*]
'If the circle is that big, can't I simply destroy a part of it to stop it?'
[*For a circle of this size you must destroy it's core. If you destroy only a part of it, the circle will just mend itself.*]
'And where is the core?'
[*Follow the underground tunnels. The place where they are bringing these boxes from is where you'll find the core.*]
'Thank you, Senna.'
[…]
It looked like she was still grumpy, but I was happy she was at least not ignoring me. With a plan in mind, I walked around the room until I found an exit. As I was about to walk through the tunnel, I started hearing footsteps coming from the front. I was not that worried since I still had my invisibility spell active, but I still hid behind a few boxes just to make sure nothing would go wrong as I waited to see who was coming.
Two people appeared out of the tunnel and I finally got to see how a real demon looked like. They didn't look that different from humans, except their red eyes, black horns that grew on their foreheads and the thin tail wobbling behind them.
The two put the boxed down, opened one of them and threw a crystal each in their mouths before one of them exclaimed:
"This is the best job ever. I hope the harvesting never stops. Where else could I get to eat human souls without any effort at all in catching them."
"Indeed. They are good, but it kinda feels like it's missing something. Maybe it's the taste of blood and flesh."
"Then you can just grab one of the mindless puppets from outside. I'm sure no one will notice it and even if they did, no one will care."
"Haha, maybe I'll treat myself to one after I finish my job for today."
"Too bad they kept the young ones back for reproductions or I'll join you as well. I'm telling you, once you taste one of those delicacies, everything else will seem too dull.."
I kept watching the two fest on their crystals as they joked about killing and eating humans and even children, taking all the effort I could muster not to attack them right here. The two consumed a couple more crystals before they closed the box and started walking towards the entrance.
I was about to get out and follow after them when one of them stopped and turned around while sniffing as if looking for something. After a while, he looked directly towards the box I was hiding behind as his eyes turned purple and he said:
"Looks like we don't have to go outside. We got some fresh meat right here."