"What is it doing?"
"It's gathering mana."
"Why?"
"It's preparing for something."
Two people were talking, standing atop a mountain. One of them was asking questions while gazing at the sky.
In the sky, a humongous dark-scaled serpent could be seen gathering mana from its surroundings. Its giant, one-kilometre-long body slowly trembled as mana from the surroundings seeped into its muscles.
A glowing ball of mana was forming at the tip of its nose. With each passing second, the ball of mana kept on growing.
"Will it attack the city?"
"It shouldn't, but…" The voice of the person who was answering trailed off.
The conversation that was currently happening was between the Thunder Emperor, the retired S ranker and the Fist King, another S ranker from younger generations.
The Fist King was asking questions to the Thunder emperor about what was happening in the sky.
"It has been over a decade since it last moved. The mountain king is a prideful mana beast that doesn't attack anything below its level. Even we, the S rankers are nothing but a speck of dust in its eyes. It is improbable that we or any human could offend it." The Thunder emperor stated as a matter of fact.
"Still, we might have to fight it."
"Hm. We won't be enough if we have to kill it."
They looked at each other in dismay.
The battle with the S-rank mana beast was impossible to win unless you had overwhelming firepower.
"I hope it doesn't escalate to that point. The mountain king acts as a guardian to the dragon city. Because of its presence, other S-rank beasts don't bother us. It would be a loss to make it our enemy."
"Hm." The Fist king nodded.
—-
While that was happening, inside the research outpost, Oliver was surrounded by spectres.
Humanoid little balls of cloud moved around, glowing in pale blue when he tried to go towards the tentacle flesh monster.
"Child."
A voice suddenly spoke in his mind as a giant pale white figure appeared above him.
The spectre was 4 to 5 meters long and looked like a mink with its slender long body and short legs.
"Child." It called out again, speaking fluent humans catching Oliver off guard.
He quickly sidestepped the flesh tentacle that was following him and looked in awe.
He had never heard of mana beasts speaking, much less a mink-shaped spectre.
"Child, you can hear us, right?"
It asked again while floating down.
"Yes." Oliver didn't know if replying was the right choice, but he still did so.
"Don't follow it. It is growing quickly. If you follow it, you will die." The mink warned in a relaxed tone.
Meanwhile, the smaller humanoid spectres hopped onto Oliver's shoulder and pulled him back.
The situation was too fantastical to comprehend. And yet, Oliver tried to make sense of it.
He asked the mink, "Who are you?" His voice trembled.
"I am them. I am me." The mink pointed at the small humanoid spectres, "We are one."
"What do you want?"
"I don't want anything. But they want to save you."
"They are you?"
"Yes, they are. But they make up only a part of me. After death, they came to me and I accepted."
"Whose death?"
"The children."
"..."
Speaking with the mink was like deciphering an encrypted message. Half made sense while the other half didn't.
"Follow them. Then you will understand." The mink said as the tiny humanoid spectres guided Oliver.
"But, I have to save my people."
"You can't. Not yet. The head of the beast is out hunting. You will die if you follow it."
"So, when can I save them?" Oliver asked.
"When the head goes to sleep."
"Do you know what it is?"
"It is a monster of human creation. The symbol of pain and suffering." The mink circled in the tunnel while speaking.
Its whiskers shook and it winced in pain as it tried to remember. However, the memory seemed to be too painful for it to bear.
"I will help you save your people if you can come with us and hear our complaint." Suddenly, the mink gained back its senses and said.
"Our complaint."
"Our complaint."
"Our complaint."
Hundreds of childish voices chimed in at the same time.
All the specters turned their round beady eyes and looked at him with expectations.
"Why should it be me? And couldn't we do it after we save my people?"
"No."
"No."
"No."
"You can hear us."
"You are the only one who can hear us."
…
Similarly, dozens of voices chimed in.
The mink looked at him in expectation.
Oliver, who was desperately healing his body paused to recall his knowledge about spectres.
'Spectres are mana ghosts.'
'They don't communicate with people.'
'They exist as long as they have mana.'
'Often, they are driven by some motivation or goal they had when they loved.'
'Complaining might be their goal. I was selected because I can hear them. Usually, I am not supposed to. But when did I gain the ability to communicate with the dead?' Oliver scratched his head.
"Are you sure that I will be able to save them once I hear your complaints?"
"We can help you. Without our help, it is impossible."
"So, it is a trade, then. Hear you out in exchange for helping me save my people."
"...yes." The mink nodded followed by the rest.
—
Oliver soon followed the spectres along the dark tunnel.
Usually, sane people would have avoided spectres. But Oliver was insane, he didn't mind them at all.
Finally, they reached the end of the tunnel with a giant door. The door was open and painted next to it was a giant 5.
'Block 5'
Oliver thought in his mind.
Wasn't this the place the researchers wanted to hide?
When he stepped inside, he saw giant metal boxes and shelves stacked with vials. This block was supposed to be cold storage for something.
However, it was not cold anymore.
When the outpost lost power, the refrigeration units seemed to have stopped working.
Following the tiny humanoid spectres, he reached the end of the room. There was an open door at one end of the wall.
"We need to enter there." The mink said.
"Why?" Oliver asked.
"Because this is part of our complaint."
"Okay."
Oliver entered the dark hall connecting the door to the other side.
Immediately, a pungent smell wafted into his nose.
The scent of death.
The scent of decaying corpses.
The scent of blood.
The mixture of pungent smells drilled into his nose.
What happened inside?