Chapter 113：Not a Haven

"I don't know how you'll respond," Pete said as they left his house.

"Respond to what?" Stanis asked.

"Respond to… Naa, I don't wanna to ruin it for you," Pete answered.

"Come on, what is it?" Stanis asked again.

Pete shook his head. "You'll soon see, anyway. Just remember that the guys here are also strong,"

Stanis snorted and broke into laughter, before noticing that Pete didn't join him. "What? Compared to me? It was only you three who came to the Colosseum,"

Pete shook his head again and sighed. "If it had been that easy, then I would have already taken control of the village but there are, umm, complications that stop me from doing so,"

"And these complications link to where we're going now?"

"Yeah,"

The next five minutes passed by quietly as neither of the two spoke. They walked towards the centre of Haven and Stanis quickly noticed how barren the streets were. There were people still here and there but compared to the other regions of the village, it was essentially empty.

It was while Stanis was inspecting a particularly decorated house that he heard Pete's footsteps stop. He looked forward and saw Pete looking up. Following suit, he looked up and saw a line of light blasting up from the village. It was a few metres wide and blood-red. Following its path down into the village, Stanis realised that the light was actually coming from the village hall building he had been at earlier.

Pete resumed walking and Stanis followed behind.

"Is that where we're going?"

"Yeah," answered Pete.

After a moment of thought, Stanis linked the barren streets with the red-light.

"Is that the reason no one's in the streets right now?" he asked.

"Yeah, but just the stronger people. The slummies will right now be as surprised as you are,"

"So you knew this was going to happen?"

"Why do you think I'm taking you there right now?" Pete answered with a question of his own.

Within minutes, the two of them were standing in front of the village hall. Stanis noticed that the building was actually roofed, and yet the light just pierced through the rock. He looked across and noticed Pete unscrewing a bottle that lay around his waist, before taking a wide swig. Pete rubbed the alcohol off his face before looking at Stanis.

"So you're actually going in like this, no weapons?"

"I didn't get a chance to get a good one," Stanis answered. "Let's just go,"

Pete shrugged and led the way. They were met by the same receptionists as before, who recognised who Pete was, and so opened up the way to a corridor that led to god-knows-where.

Pete led the way once again and soon they were walking through a hallway that dug itself into the ground. It was well-lit by all types and manners of gems and other precious stones which were embedded in the walls.

Stanis inspected the stones as he passed by, eventually curious enough to tear one out of the surrounding rock. It came out easily enough and he rubbed it around in his hand. It was rough, extremely hard, and strangely warm. Applying mana to his hands, Stanis tried once more to crush the stone in his palm. He then looked at Pete with a grin, the stone still whole in his hand.

"This is amazing. Would create top-notch equipment,"

"You're free to try, I doubt anyone here can stop you from taking it anyway," Pete said, "although I doubt you can do anything with it. It's not from Earth and no one knows how to use it,"

In response to what Pete said, Stanis's mind raced months back. He had been hopeless for everything but death then, and just days from having that very wish fulfilled. But then, he had walked across the beach, finding himself in a tunnel that led towards a temple, a certain temple that had changed his destiny. And that tunnel had also been filled with darkness of intensity that he couldn't find elsewhere on Earth.

Was it possible?

Stanis broke away from his thoughts as he realised Pete was already walking away. But before he could ask about what he had just realised, Pete raised his open hand over his shoulder. "I know, but it's a surprise," Pete repeated without even waiting for Stanis's question.

Grinning, Stanis followed on. What was the point of speculating long models of theory when he could just walk forward and discover for himself? Due to this mentality, Stanis managed to keep himself from asking any more questions.

It was 15 minutes later that Stanis saw the end of the tunnel in the distance. He could hear singing and chanting coming through the hole, as well as a pull of force similar to Moonshine's. This force of attraction grew as he got closer, to the point that it was exhilarating as he was just a few steps away from the exit. His blood rushed through his body and adrenaline coursed; he was ready.

Stepping through, he was immediately met with a blast of heat. He was in a circular hall in which the ground below his feet burned coal-hot. The top of the hall had more in common with a cavern than a traditional hall: the roof littered with stalactites, each a couple of metres tall. The single revolving wall that encompassed the hall was embedded with gemstones even larger and brighter than the ones in the tunnel.

But all of these details were of low-priority. Instead, the most eye-catching detail was the hundreds, if not thousands, of men and women chanting their hearts out. What were they chanting? Stanis had no clue, and from Pete's expression, neither did he. But both of them knew the reason why they were doing so. It was similar to how the frog-shamans had chanted during the initial test into tier-four, each adding their own little bit of power to the grand-formation. Back then, the frogs had been creating a large swamp out of the solid ground; now, well, it was obvious that whatever was going on now was a lot more malicious, a lot more nefarious.

To the centre of the hall was a circle of around 20 men and women. In the middle of them was a raised platform that tore through Stanis's mind and spread fear. The air, which had been hot and relieving, was now skin-peelingly sharp. He looked closer at the platform and felt his breath rush out; the multiple hundred strands of generously given mana rushed into the platform, pulling open a rift in the middle of it.

Stanis turned to face Pete with wide eyes, his fists shaking. Pete merely looked back, shaking his head like he had done multiple times before.

"They aren't turning into monsters, they're actually bringing them into the world," Stanis uttered, shocked at his own words but even more shocked at the stupidity he was witnessing.

"What?!"

"What?" Pete asked. "You want to go and kill them all? You can't!"

"I can," Stanis responded, squinting his eyes.

"No you can't," Pete said as he stared Stanis dead in the eye. "Look there," he said while pointing to the other side of the hall. There were large, transparent, egg-like objects there, each seemingly an incubator that grew a monster inside. "Those are ones that have already been summoned. They can awaken at any time, although they would be weaker than their potential if done so. But even so, with those numbers, they will easily take you down, especially since you have no equipment whatsoever,"

"Why are we allowed here then?" Stanis finally asked, hesitating to leave.

"What do they care? They know who I am and know that my motives don't lie opposite to theirs. Besides, they don't fear anyone with such a force behind them," After saying this, Pete began walking away.

Stanis looked at the hall once more, before finally tearing himself away and hastily following Pete.

"Where are you going?" he asked. "Come to Yora. I might not be able to take them down now, but given a few days, I'll have the right equipment and power to do so. Single-handily,"

"I was planning on doing so," Pete answered. "But first, we gotta go to the villages surrounding here. Bear and Skint have already made rounds, so let's just go to Silvermoon; I told them to meet us there once finished,"

Stanis shut his mouth and walked behind. Whoever Pete had been before was no longer who Pete was now. As for why he had changed, only God himself knew…