11 Talk With Other Fallens

"I finally did it," he glanced all around the two hundred giant room where he used to find a boss inside, "it never was this quiet before."

<Ding! Get used to it> the system said, <Ding! Now return to the town>

"Are you sure?" Aroon's mood changed when he thought about returning to that place again, "they won't welcome me with warm arms there."

<Ding! You need to rest for a couple of days before the next assignment. Don't worry, mission will take you far away from here>

"I… hope you stick to your words," Aroon walked outside while the world was now ushering under the bright sunlight of the new day.

<Ding! Just to make sure, you want demolish this dungeon, right?>

"If it's up to me then I would prefer to leave it there and let it attack those living in that town," he said while protecting his eyes off the bright light, "but I can't do that."

<Ding! Growing some conscience?>

"It's because I hate seeing humans die," Aroon started to run back, "even if they were mean to me."

<Ding! You have a good heart>

"Don't get me wrong," Aroon corrected, "I prefer to kill them with my hands instead."

The system went silent while Aroon crossed the distance to the town in less than two hours.

His stamina was almost depleted. He was hungry, thirsty, and so tired to the point that dreaming of his simple iron bed looked like a luxury to him.

The path to the town was covered with corpses of those monsters. Aroon resisted the urge to stop and gather some of their meat and cores. After all, he had nothing to store these things inside but the locked up inventory.

And he doubted his system would let him keep such things there.

<Ding! It's better to cancel this form now. You are so near the outskirts of town>

Aroon had to stop as his body was mutating back to the norm. He returned to being a human and that made him feel a little weaker and more tired.

"Can't I just keep that weird netvor form? It's not even close to any known netvor."

<Ding! Sorry, you need to lay low at this stage>

"You are the boss," Aroon was so exhausted as to argue with the system. He walked again and this time he kept his speed as low as possible following the instructions of his system.

And even though he wanted to run faster, he doubted he could.

The moment he entered the town he felt the gloomy atmosphere there. The town that once was brimming with life was now drowned by death.

The buildings around were mostly damaged. Most lost their outer shining surface that was a classic feature of modern architecture.

It was now the year three thousand and twenty-one. Humans had a thing with shiny surfaces and bright lights. So it was normal for all their towns and cities to be filled with such things.

The streets lost their smooth asphalt covering in many places where deep gaps appeared everywhere.

"This rings some bells," he couldn't help but sigh as old memories came to his mind, unintentionally, when he saw that scene.

He used to walk through any town or city after clearing up the dungeons with his two brothers.

It was the walk of Victoire, something his a few seconds older brother used to call.

He took a deep breath and tried to shake off such unpleasant memories while finding his way back to his apartment with some difficulty.

It wasn't because the remarks of the town vanished. The street was filled with wailing humans, dead bodies, and many people trying to do anything to save those who still had a speck of life in them.

<Ding! No matter where the monsters strike, humans will always suffer same bitter end>

Aroon knew the system was trying to lean his heart on these people, and as matter of fact, he felt some sympathy towards them.

The honest screams of agony and even the silent tears of mourning that he saw on his way back made his heart quiver.

In his eyes, those people who he held bad memories of turned out to be the same as any others… Filled with grief and shrouded with personal losses.

Something he could perfectly relate with at this moment.

"This isn't something we can fight alone," he muttered.

<Ding! That's why I'm here>

"A stelsel that only knows how to speak in riddles and act mysterious… you are a great aider."

<Ding! Some things can't be known without a price. Or else disaster will strike your kin, one that race handle in my opinion>

Aroon didn't know what the mysterious system was talking about. Nonetheless, he decided to argue at this moment, trying to distract himself from everything around him.

"Didn't you ever hear of the wise saying; knowledge is power?"

<Ding! Knowledge equals responsibility, and as far I'm concerned you are doing so bad in handling such responsibility>

Aroon was about to argue again when he spotted a group coming towards him. They were around his age, men and women, all had scars and deep wounds shown from underneath their tattered clothes.

"See who we have here," one of them said, a twenty years old black male with short and coarse hair and bright brown eyes, "he is our loser fallen ladies and gentlemen."

"Mark, please leave him alone," a blondie in the same age moved to stand between him and Aroon, "we already had enough fighting."

"Who said anything about fighting?" Mark said before laughing a short one in mockery, "besides who said he can even fight? See, his clothes didn't even get any dirt! I bet he ran into a hole and hid there."

Aroon watched many of the group laughing at Mark's words and couldn't help but clench his fists.