The gritty, grotesque nature of the scene seemed completely lost on most. More than anything else, they felt fear.
Maybe it wasn't until this moment that they understood how truly cruel this world was, and how unforgiving. In one moment, Van Hollen was controlling their lives and deaths in the palms of his hands, making them feel as though he was a god amongst men that couldn't be dealt with by the likes of them as mere mortals.
And in the next, his life was snuffed out in much the same way you would stomp an ant to death by the roadside. It carried the same casual flair, the same indifferent air.
Zarek turned his back to the ground and moved to Priya's side again. Crouching down, he observed her while she slept, his Scouting Skill picking up on the streams of Godsfall that were still rushing toward her.
At D Class, she had awakened yet another ability, and it was probably among the most useful—but also amongst the most troublesome.
—
Name: [Priya Synghe]
Role: [N/A]
Core Stats:
[Strength: E-]
[Dexterity: E-]
[Intelligence: E+]
[Endurance: E-]
[Charisma: E-]
Talents:
[Melaloon: D-]
[Abilities: Absorption]
The flow of energy comes naturally to you, the barrier between the outside world and what is stored within you moving with grace and fluidity—an ease that others could only dream of.
[Abilities: Heal]
Your synergy with energy is strong, the barrier between yourself and it easily blurring. You are energy, and energy is you. Transfer your energy directly into vitality and increase your healing speed considerably.
[Abilities: Passive Absorption]
The flow of energy comes so naturally to you that it follows your breath. Your body and its oneness with energy is truly the stuff of legends.
[Unawakened]
[Unawakened]
—
Passive Absorption… the ability was great. Its secondary and tertiary effects, though… truly troublesome.
There was nothing negative that came with it—at least not directly. But because of Passive Absorption, Priya's Intelligence was in a perpetual state of improvement. Its Growth Potential had even increased from SS+ to SSS- just now.
That was to say that even while Priya was sleeping, her Intelligence would be increasing.
That would be fine under normal circumstances, but if Zarek wanted her to continue having Core Breakthroughs, this would obviously hamper his plans because her other stats wouldn't be able to keep up.
The gap between different S Class Growth Potentials was enough. An S might very well be 50% faster than an S- in improvement. So one could imagine the gap between SSS- and SS+, let alone SSS- and Priya's second-best Growth stat—her S Class Charisma.
Zarek stroked her hair. Ultimately, it was a good problem to have. If he couldn't do something about this, then he would just be too useless.
Just crouching there, Zarek showed no signs of paying attention to anyone else. It wasn't until Zade realized that he was actually supposed to be the leader here that he started trying to organize people.
It was hard to imagine, but it wasn't even the dead of night yet. Feeling as though there was still so much left to this hellish, nightmarish fantasy they were all trapped in, Zade felt a heavy weight on his shoulders.
He needed to get stronger, and he needed to do so quickly.
…
"…Is it rude of me to try and talk to you right now?" Zade asked.
It had already been half an hour, but Zarek hadn't moved. Honestly, Zade didn't even know how he managed to sit in that crouched position for so long—his legs must have been on fire.
Zarek turned back with a smile on his face. "What's the matter?"
For some reason, Zade found himself breathing out a sigh of relief. He wasn't sure what happened, but this Zarek was far different from the one that had entered before.
"I hate to ask, but…"
"You want to know how I dealt with him?" Zarek asked.
"I do."
Zarek's smile didn't fade. "I can't tell you that, unfortunately. Even if I did, you wouldn't be able to replicate it."
Harmonic Recall only worked on inorganic targets. Trying to use it on a human was impossible. But a clone formed of Godsfall was an odd in-between state.
Most wouldn't think of it, but Zarek knew that there were methods of forcing the system to glitch and finding chinks in its armor. While Harmonic Recall would work just fine on a clone, because they were connected to a real human, any attempt to decipher its origin would inevitably lead back to Van Hollen.
At that point in the chain, Harmonic Recall would fail, but there would also be a hiccup in Van Hollen's control as well, causing his mind to enter a brief lull that could be taken advantage of if the timing was right.
If one wanted to avoid hiccups like that, you had to master your Skills and Talents to the point that you didn't have to rely so heavily on the system to follow through on things for you—but it was impossible for Van Hollen to do that.
Just take a step back for a moment and imagine how difficult it would be to control just one other clone. Most people couldn't even make a circle and a square at the same time with opposing hands, let alone control a completely separate person.
The only way Van Hollen could be so ambitious with the number of clones he created was by relying on the system to do all the difficult stuff for him, and only taking control for the finer details of things.
Someone like him was the most susceptible to such things.
"So it's related to your Talent?"
"Maybe." Zarek grinned.
At that moment, Priya stirred a bit. The blanket Zarek had formed for her almost slipped off. And just like that, it was like Zade didn't exist anymore.
"How are you feeling, babe?"
A groggy groan came from Priya as she blinked. A yawn came from her lips and she stretched out, seemingly not realizing she wasn't in bed until her mouth had opened far enough to fit a baseball in it.
Zarek chuckled, and that seemed to finally snap his girlfriend awake.
"Ah…" Priya blinked and then hurled herself into Zarek's arms. She didn't cry, but she held onto him so tight that someone before the apocalypse would have probably broken a few bones by now.
"It's alright. You did great."
Priya nodded, but she didn't say anything in response.
Zade sighed and shook his head. He wanted more information, but it also wasn't his place to press.
"How are your injuries?" Zarek asked.
"Injuries?"
Priya pulled back. She remembered that she had suffered a few injuries.
"Ah!" She hurried to look at her hands, but the burns that had been there before were completely gone.
Zarek chuckled. "Looks like you're fine. Ready for round two?"
Priya looked at him like he was crazy, but her eyes flashed with determination soon after. If this was the world they were living in now, she had to be ready for anything.
"Round two? Who are we fighting?"
"We?" Zarek grinned. "You'll be fighting all on your own, babe. I have a special little something for you if you're up to it."