Chapter 302: Another City

A man, a woman, and a cat traveled down an ancient road that had almost been completely erased by time. The road itself was almost indistinguishable from the land surrounding it, as the surrounding vegetation had been stomped into the ground.

There were no tall or sharp grasses here. There were only stubborn plants growing from the blackened soil, scattered all over the place.

After traveling for over an hour, Leon and Selene could finally put meaning to the shape they were seeing in the distance. It was a large city, spanning several hundred miles in width. Dark, lonesome watchtowers rose from within it like dark antennas.

"Another one? This city is definitely larger than the last one we found."

Selene nodded to his words, then glanced around. "That explains the terrain. The parasites must have moved onto this city after bringing down the last one."

Leon couldn’t help but shake his head. ’This must have happened a long time ago. But these parasites seem really unstoppable.’

Raising his head, he looked at the dark city in the distance.

"It’s noon already. Let’s go there and hope we can find accommodation without parasites."

With that, they continued their journey. Today, the cat slept in Selene’s arms, much to her satisfaction.

It wasn’t as fast as they were, so she gladly carried it as they sped towards the city.

Even though the city was clearly visible in the distance, reaching it quickly was another matter. Several kilometers of land stretched between them and the ruined city, costing them hours before they could finally see the fine lines on the damaged walls.

Leon and Selene slowed their pace before carefully stopping at the entrance to the city.

There were no gates, closed or open, as they had been shattered into large metal slabs that littered the ground.

Seeing this, a grave expression appeared on Selene’s face. "Leon..."

He turned to her. "Mn?"

"We have to kill that thing on Staten Island when we get back to Earth. Parasites can’t be allowed on our planet," She said with determination in her voice.

Leon nodded and turned away. It was a worry that constantly plagued his mind too. After all, he had started seeing how horrifying parasites could be.

As long as they had a host, the damage they could cause would be enormous.

’What a mess.’

Scowling, Leon entered the city with Selene and the cat behind him. At first, they were cautious, knowing such a large city was bound to have some parasites left behind.

However, even as they moved deeper, they were stunned by the quietness.

’Is there really no parasite here?’

Leon frowned and kicked open the door of a nearby house. The door didn’t break, but crumbled just from the slightest impact.

Leon almost stumbled ungracefully, but he caught himself.

Looking inside the house, he saw nothing but damaged furniture that had been lying there for who-knows-when.

Shaking his head, he turned to Selene. "Looks like there are no parasites in this city. Maybe they all moved together to attack the next city."

Selene was about to nod when the cat in her arms stirred. It raised its head and snarled.

Meow...!

Leon and Selene followed its gaze and looked into the distance. They saw nothing but old buildings lining the streets, which confused them.

"Maybe it sensed wrong?" Leon scratched his head, puzzled.

Unlike him, Selene’s expression hardened. "No. I can hear them... coming."

Leon only had to wait a few seconds before they entered the range of his Shadow Sense. His expression changed.

"Looks like we’re surrounded...? And what’s with this number? Aren’t they too much?"

Selene couldn’t see them like he could, but she could hear the sound of a thousand running legs. It was like a stampede.

She immediately moved to pull out her sword, only to realize the cat was still curled up in her arms.

She hesitated slightly. Fighting while carrying the cat was possible, but wouldn’t be efficient. After all, she wasn’t a pure mage.

Relying only on magical attacks would be like cutting her combat power by half.

Leon noticed her hesitation and looked at the house beside them. "Let’s keep it here until we’re done. If it survives, good. If it doesn’t..."

Selene nodded and carried the cat into the building. After tucking it away at some corner, she stepped out with her sword unsheathed.

The rumbling was getting closer, and they soon saw their opponents.

From both sides of the street, Vaelari, Vaelari zombies, mutated beasts, mutated insects, and fused horrors of all kinds, all controlled by different parasites, rushed towards the two humans like moths drawn to a flame.

Leon and Selene had their backs to each other, their weapons drawn. Glancing over his shoulder, Leon chuckled. "This reminds me of a few mobile games my roommate used to play. It wasn’t as scary as this, though. And it wasn’t this real..."

His words had barely dropped when Selene moved. She dashed at the approaching horde, then swung her sword in a clean arc.

A massive blade of ice shot toward the horde, cleaving through several creatures at once. Very few died to her attack, though.

The ones that didn’t have their head destroyed immediately began crawling toward her, dragging their broken bodies behind them.

Selene’s eyes turned colder. "...Blizzard."

A wave of cool air blew over them, and many of them began to freeze. They toppled to the ground, shattering into pieces that remained motionless on the ground.

A flood of notifications appeared, but she ignored them. Her attacks had only killed about a hundred of them. More were still rushing towards her.

Taking a deep breath, she sheathed her sword and stood firmly. Facing the tightly packed parasitized creatures alone, she raised a hand towards the sky.

A steamy breath escaped her lips as the temperature around her dropped sharply.

"Icefall."

As she activated one of her new Class skills, ice swords began to form in the sky above her, their numbers multiplying with every passing second.

By the time her mana reserves had fallen below half, there were almost a thousand ice swords in the sky.

The parasites slowed down and simultaneously raised their heads. Even though they weren’t highly intelligent, they still recognized danger.

Many of them threw up their hosts’ defensive skills, protecting themselves.

"It’s useless," Selene said coldly, then brought down her hand.

The sky fell with it.