The road ahead was eerily quiet, devoid of human activity but filled with remnants of what once was. Cars abandoned mid-escape, shattered windows on storefronts, and the distant echoes of some monsters' roars reminded Kael of how drastically everything had changed since the apocalypse.
Being alone often led one to reflect on everything, and Kael was no exception.
His thoughts wandered to the moment he had faced Azathoth, just before the other gods had sent him back to the past.
The realization that corrupted monsters had appeared before the 50th gate opened made him increasingly uneasy.
"Azathoth, you son of a b*tch," he cursed, kicking a small stone that blocked his path.
In his past life, the creature that caused corruption among the monsters after the fiftieth gate opened was one of the Shoggoths, an amorphous being that could change shape into anything and was a loyal follower of Azathoth.
Defeating it was extremely difficult for the Kael of today, because this creature was not only a shape-shifter but also incredibly strong.
Now, he was retracing the path he remembered in order to collect the necessary items to defeat the Shoggoth, a creature he also knew the exact location of.
Along the way, he repeatedly encountered monsters, but he chose to fight only those that emerged from the second and third gates, the ones untouched by corruption.
He needed to absorb at least one thousand mana shards to increase the level of his mana core. And soon, the fourth gate will open, bringing even more monsters and people from another dimension.
***
After two days of walking, occasionally encountering and fighting monsters that gave him about seventy-nine mana shards, he arrived at a library building near the edge of the city.
The building looked like a museum, with thick walls that could serve as a shelter for survivors. But on the other hand, it could also be a nesting ground for certain types of monsters.
Sneaking closer, he approached the building and swiftly climbed a large tree beside it. He opened a pack of beef jerky and ate piece by piece while sitting casually on one of the branches, having his breakfast.
After finishing his meal, he drank from a bottle of mineral water while frowning. He had been up in the tree for about half an hour, but there was still no movement from within the large library.
He recalled that this place used to be a gathering spot for survivors and Awakened, similar to Kelvin's group.
'Did the monsters wipe them out?' he thought as he jumped down from the branch. He moved carefully to the edge of a large window, which no longer had glass, and peeked inside.
There was no movement inside the library, making him even more suspicious. He then jumped through the window and landed silently on the library floor.
He had no intention of socializing with those people, but if they had indeed been killed by monsters, including their Awakened members, they would have left behind their items.
And that was what Kael wanted, items dropped when Awakened died. If the items were useful, he would use them immediately, especially since he badly needed a better weapon.
After checking several rooms, he finally found the people, all of them lifeless and in horrifying conditions.
Some bodies were incomplete. Some had their upper halves missing, while others had most of their flesh stripped away, as if devoured by rats.
'Looks like in this life, things will be very different from my previous one,' he muttered while walking among the corpses, picking up a blood-soaked green gemstone from the floor.
One reason he insisted on obtaining a basic skill system was its ability to detect all gemstones containing skills.
In his view, text appeared above the blood-covered green gemstone.
[Green Gemstone, this one contains a skill named Lightning Spear.]
"Heh. Weird name," he muttered, tossing the gemstone behind him. Then, he bent down again to pick up gemstones in yellow, red, blue, and finally, one in purple.
He read the description of the purple gemstone in his view.
[Purple Gemstone, this one contains a skill named Mana Blast.]
Kael smirked and muttered as he crushed the stone in his hand, "Finally, something good."
Purple smoke rose from the shattered gemstone and entered his body. His smile widened.
Mana Blast was a basic skill that allowed mana to explode like a bomb, and if someone could condense mana in an extremely dense and massive amount, its power could rival a nuclear warhead.
He walked out of the room again, searching for more skill items or weapons, and found a headless corpse with a red gemstone beside it.
He picked up the gemstone and immediately crushed it after reading its description.
A long, flowing red cloak suddenly appeared on his shoulders, reaching down to his heels. However, the ends of the cloak never touched the ground, seeming to hover as he walked.
Kael smiled while feeling the cloak, which was an item that allowed him to endure extreme temperatures.
After confirming there were no more bodies or gemstones left, he walked toward the library entrance.
However, there he found someone still alive, though with a torn-open torso and exposed intestines.
Kael couldn't find the lower half of the body, but from the trail of blood stretched across the floor, he guessed that this person had been dragged several meters before his body was torn in two.
The person's breathing was slow and weak, yet he was still conscious enough to see Kael, who now picked up the greatsword he had used.
"P-Please, kill me..."
The person pleaded as Kael studied the sword's name in his system view.
[Titan Slayer, a sword forged from the bones of a titan that had lived for thousands of years.]
He had never heard of this sword before, but just reading its name was enough to satisfy him. Then, he looked at the dying person, who gazed at him with desperate eyes, begging him to end his misery.
Now Kael turned fully toward the person and said, while swinging the greatsword, slicing through his neck.
"Please rest in peace."