As the night continued, we luckily were spared more earthquakes or similar troubles. Only more Shattered, many more of them, falling at our feet. It was a pure grind, we had a target-rich environment, no competition and a desperate need to get stronger, driving us into a killing frenzy that would make any serial killer blush.

There were only three brief pauses, one to have a late-night snack, essentially our lunch, one to loot yet another mall, adding to the supplies I had previously acquired and the final one to a pet store, getting a large supply of dog food. Amusingly, the saddle-bags, normally for a motorcycle, fit Silva quite well, with a bit of adjustment. That way, she could carry her own food and supplies, though we had added a quick-release so she could get rid of the thing if needed. It had a bit of a do-it-yourself look to it, with clearly cobbled-together parts but it would serve well, even if not to win a beauty pageant.

With full bags and yet another level for me and two for her, bringing both of us to six, we began our way back to our shelter. Skill-wise, I hand only gained a point in Darkness Rune Mastery and Blood Rune Mastery, bringing them to five and three.

I had considered looking for another base before leaving earlier, but at the end of the day, it was a serviceable and remote place, leaving me somewhat confident that we wouldn’t be disturbed there. In a few days, we’d have to head out of town, simply because I had no doubt that, even in the cold winter air, the decay of countless bodies and the diseases springing from them would make the town a death zone, even without any Shattered or monsters around. Until then, I wanted to gain as many levels as possible and have a nicely sorted stash of supplies, even if I could only carry so much. Silva carrying her own gear helped, but only to a point. Without her, I certainly wouldn’t bring dog food along, nor the assorted treats she had convinced me to get by abusing that even a sixty-kilogram canine with a bloody snout from tearing apart Shattered could make puppy-dog eyes with the best of them.

It was an odd scent that stopped me, one that I couldn’t quite place. It was both disgusting and yet inviting at the same time, a confusing dichotomy. The easiest description of that light, almost joyful, scent would be sunny and it only took me a moment to realise that I wasn’t smelling a mundane scent, I was smelling magic.

Sniffing the air, I felt my hackles rise, the type of magic rapidly becoming clear to me. Divine Magic, not the same flavour Olivia had used back on Mundus but something else. For a few moments, I tried to place it but the only similarities I could tie it to was the divine magic I had tried to study in Kolyug, from the retired adventurer that became an Innkeeper, a cleric of Frigg, and the divine magic that had been used to burn me from the face of Mundus at the end. It wasn’t quite the same as either of those but closer to the second, with traces of the first. Either way, it deserved to be investigated and, quite possibly, the one responsible killed before they could become a threat. I had been cursed by the Gods and if they wanted to have their agents hunt me down, I would have to make sure none of their agents had the power to do so.

Following the scent, I slowly and carefully made my way forward, making sure that I wasn’t spotted as I prowled through the streets, a quiet Silva by my side. Compared to the earlier, somewhat joyous, hunting for Shattered, this was different. Sure, Shattered had begun to plot and scheme, some more than others, but now I was planning to go after humans.

Finding the source of magic was almost trivial, just a few houses down and I could see the obvious, bright-yellow light shining out between a couple of buildings. Moving in that direction, blending even deeper into the darkness, I continued on, now with my blades in hand.

Peering out between a few dumpsters, I could actually see the building and had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. Whoever had cast the magic, they were in a YMCA building. That they had chosen the building of a Christian organisation as their shelter, protected by what should be called pagan magic by Christian standards was somewhat amusing to me.

And it wasn’t just one person holed up, even from afar I could see two guards standing out front, protecting the building behind them. The light was coming from an orb set above the entrance, with multiple other light sources shedding their own light on the other sides of the building, making it a bright beacon in the night. Blinking, I focused a bit of Astral Power into my eyes, allowing me to see the magic as if Lenore was with me. I didn’t try to look too deeply into the structures or into the general ebb and flow of magic, merely focusing on the light to get a vague feeling of what it might do. It was familiar, awfully so, not quite the magic of Sunna, but so infinitely close. It might even be that magic, the differences due to my imagination or due to the differences in spellcaster, I didn’t know. But it was divine light magic, almost certainly received from the Norse Pantheon.

For a few seconds, I simply watched, trying to understand the complicated mess of divine magic I could see across the road when Silva moved a little, causing a bit of noise. Nothing major, but it was enough to be audible in the dead silence of the night, loud enough to spook one of the guards on the other side.

He immediately picked up his club, peering warily into the night. His body copied his movement, but I could see from the frown on his face that he hadn’t heard Silva. For a moment, I was simply watching and waiting, to see what they might do, but they didn’t do anything. They simply waited, vigilantly, standing in their light.

To test a little further, I picked up a small rock and tossed it into the darkness, just to see if they would react. The rock made more noise, spooking the two a little further but they didn’t move to investigate, even if one looked a little irritated.

When he moved forward, his buddy held him back, reminding him to stay in the light. Provoking them a little more, I tossed a second pebble into the night, making more noise but again, nothing. Only the irritated one getting reminded that they needed the light to kill the zombies.

Letting out a soft sigh, I stepped back a little. I really wanted to kill whoever was responsible for the light, if only to sever a link of Sunna to this world but looking at it, I was quite confident that the people within the YMCA wouldn’t be able to survive without the spellcaster’s help.

Remove an irritant from this place, someone who hadn’t done anything but asked for help in a desperate situation and doom a bunch of people to death or leave them, allowing them to possibly grow into a danger. I had no doubt that Sunna had a bone to pick with me but no idea whether that had filtered down to her faithful.

Moving back forward, I used Observe on the guard, quite pleased with the way he twitched, shouting out into the darkness that I was to show myself. Now even more cautious, both guards stared into the dark, as I disappeared again. One guard was a level two, the other a level three human, neither of them a threat to me. Killing them would be quite easy, especially if I simply attacked from afar, using Ice to strike them, forcing them to fight me in my element.

But, as I admitted to myself, I couldn’t just kill them. Not if I had no idea how many people I would doom if I did. I had no desire to destroy this world, not as I had on Mundus after Sigmir’s death. I wanted this world to be flourishing, at least to the point that Sigmir and I could live comfortably here.

That didn’t negate my previous consideration, that I wanted to have enough strength to make sure the faithful of the gods couldn’t just strike me down, but it put my needs into perspective. The path, I wanted to take wasn’t the one to kill those that might become a threat to me, but to improve myself to the point that they couldn’t be a threat to me. At the moment, all humans were at roughly the same starting point but when it came to advantages, I should be the one with the biggest. The Legacy of Morgana gave me incredible advantages and I could only blame myself if I squandered them. Sure, I could only really function during the night, thanks to the curse that came with the legacy but many predators were nocturnal, I’d simply be one of them.

Moving back into the night, I started to take some distance, my path heading back towards the abandoned building. The only difference was that I was even more aggressive when it came to hunting down Shattered, the need to get ahead and stay ahead of everyone strengthened by the realisation that I wasn’t the only one growing. That there was a potentially hostile cleric in the city.