They stared at the message for half a minute before Olivia finally spoke. "I don't understand. Why did Rasmus and Caroline, and these people they apparently traveled with, decide to go to Sweden? Why not just go further into Denmark?"

Eik pursed his lips, giving the question some thought before answering. "Well, I mean, I obviously don't know anything for sure, but if I had to guess, it might have something to do with the exposure here at home."

"What do you mean by exposure?"

"Do you know how much of the area of Denmark is covered by forest? Or at least how much was covered ten years ago?"

"Uuh, no, I can't say I do."

"About fifteen percent. The rest is mostly farmland, urban area, and some stretches of moor. And given how, if nothing else, they knew the city was overrun, I imagine the thought of running away to open farmland with nowhere to hide from the monsters probably wasn't particularly attractive. Sweden, on the other hand, is rife with deep and dense forests."

"That makes sense to me. So I guess we know where we're headed now, then."

Eik went back into the house and up the stairs to the second floor. He was finally back in his own room. It was exactly as he had left it. He went through his clothes, finding it difficult to recall most of the shirts and pants in the drawers. Had it really been so long that he had forgotten it all?

"Are you going to bring some clothes with you? It is yours after all."

Riffling through a stack of neatly folded t-shirts, Eik grumbled to himself. "I don't know. It feels kind of weird for some reason. It feels like it belongs to someone else, you know? Like, the guy who owned these was me, but he was such a different version of me that we can barely be compared."

"Yeah, I get that. A lot has happened since you last set foot in this room. There's not doubt about that."

"I mean, seriously. When I was fifteen, before my grandpa died he would have me help him kill and butcher the chickens he kept. I barely avoided puking when I saw that. Now, just within this weeks, I've killed more than ten people, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun doing it!"

Olivia offered a sympathetic pat on his shoulder but didn't have anything else to say. It was a reality that any resident of Earth post induction into the Unified Mass was painfully familiar with. Acts that would have bristled the hairs on the neck of a modern human just ten years earlier were now inevitable aspects of life.

People died. They died often. And they died horribly. Torn apart by monsters or devoured while they still drew breath.

"Put some clothes in your rucksack of holding and bring it along so we can get going. Otherwise you will just regret it later. God knows you have enough space for it in that mysteriously magical bag."

"Yeah, you're right." He began to shove shirts, pants, underwear, and socks into the rucksack of holding, deciding to just take all of it rather than racking his brain to decide what to bring. Olivia was right. It was his and it was a reminder of more peaceful times if nothing else. It should be considered a privilege to be able to go back to his original home. Most people in the apocalypse didn't get that luxury.

Soon they were once again underway, flying across the rooftops at speeds that would have gotten them plastered on the front of all newspapers and gossipy tabloids and on every news airing on TV for a week. ten years earlier. Superman? No, just some guy, actually.

As they traveled, they took turns exterminating monsters as they encountered them. Depending on species, the beasts either roamed around on their own or in packs of varying sizes. Some of them were actually somewhat challenging for Eik, although his sister never seemed to have any issues.

Two things were clear.

Ever since Earth hit the second phase of its induction into the Unified Mass and thus expanded both terrestrially and magically or spiritually, the average standard of strength of roaming monsters had also grown. That meant that life had just become even more dangerous for those who didn't actively pursue power and chose to stay at F-rank.

Second was the type of monsters that they encountered. The Gohkamorians had unleashed hordes of countless monsters upon Earth and its inhabitants, but, looking back on it, the actual diversity in species had not been that extensive.

Now, however, they had barely seen the same type of monster twice with the exception of multiple individuals within the same pack.

"Given the way it's done, my guess is that the Gohkamorians probably bred the monsters they sent to us. The could explain why so many of them were more or less the same. It was a simple matter of efficiency more than anything else. Go with the ones that procreate the fastest or something like that."

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Makes sense to me," Olivia said with a nod. "I don't know if they've pumped the brakes a bit on the numbers they're sending but I've mostly been seeing new species since waking up from my coma. And the new species often share striking resemblances with animals I recognize from old Earth. Maybe the Awakened animals of Earth are simply killing off a majority of the Gohkamorian herd."

"I was thinking the same thing. A while back, Mikla told me that this is not a novel strategy. Established civilizations send monsters to new worlds to cull their numbers and then more or less stop when the inhabitants of the new world grow too strong and the cost of sending the monsters becomes greater than the benefit," Eik said as he leapt from one roof to another, the wide street below silent. He continued.

"The goal is not necessarily to wipe us out, but to slow down the rate at which we grow stronger. And maybe kill off a few people who would have grown formidable with time. Plenty of civilizations don't like the idea of being bumped downward in the pecking order. It's risky."

"But they're a part of the alliance," Olivia argued, her voice showing signs of frustration. "A powerful and united front is the best weapon against actual enemies like Moon Shall Swallow."

Although awkward while running, he shrugged his shoulders with a sigh. "You're preaching to the choir, Oli. I think it's as dumb as you do."

"It just doesn't make sense."

"I agree."

"And Earth probably isn't even the only world they've done it to."

"Probably not, no."

She grumbled but said no more. She almost seemed annoyed to not have someone with whom to argue about the topic. She wanted rage and fight about it but there were no minds to change here.

The bridge to Sweden lay to the southeast, just on the outskirts of Copenhagen, spanning between the points on the respective shores of Denmark and Sweden where the two land masses were closest to one another. As the density of the buildings began to decrease, they had gotten into a routine of killing monsters and Awakened beasts as they appeared.

And with the use of abilities, their levels also increased.

[Acquired Movement Boost — Lv. 35]

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 80]

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 81]

[Acquired Living Manifestation — Lv. 32]

[Acquired Living Manifestation — Lv. 33]

Since most of the enemies were considerably weaker than either of them, the leveling progress was excruciatingly slow despite the enormous amount of kills. And Eik suspected that most of his progress had actually come from his experimentation with different ways to utilize the tools and strengths offered by his abilities

Once more he was convinced that the foundation of progress was not just risk, but rather two fold. Surely his advancement was also a result of his tendency to think up and apply innovative methods and styles of fighting.

If the employment of a strong will was a major factor for the system to grant advancement, then creativity and persistence would be the attestation of such.

Olivia had no sympathy for his plight, however. Having spent most of the past ten years as one of the most powerful fighters among a very small corps of Awakened, relatively to the number today, she had often been forced to neglect her own progress in favor of helping the weaker.

Unlike Eik entire adventuring career, the opportunity to fight monsters on or above her own level had been a treat that was few and far between. At times she had even gone several months where the only thing she got to do was incinerate vermin to keep the people safe.

This was also why she was convinced that there must be Awakened from Earth who had been living in solitude since the beginning who was stronger than her.

Eik had begun to train his aura again in earnest. It was easy to forget that control of the Ak'ki inherently present within his body was a skill that literally nobody else on Earth possessed right now. If he could use it effectively, it might turn out to be one of his greatest weapons.

With his aura alone, he was capable of intimidating any monster at D-rank to the degree where they refuse to make the first aggressive move. Anything weaker than D-rank would typically turn tail and flee when confronted with it.

They hadn't encountered a B-rank or A-rank monster yet, but the few C-rankers that had appeared stood their ground albeit clearly shaken. But that was sufficient to give him enough of an upper hand to crush them with impunity.

Like in the vicinity of Forest, topographical transformation had done a lot to the landscape around Copenhagen. Dense woods had sprouted up in the middle of the city, completely blocking any hypothetical traffic between large parts of town for anything larger than a pedestrian.

Along the shores, islands had risen from the ocean to create entirely new land masses. Perhaps there wasn't even a bridge between Sweden and Denmark anymore. Maybe it was simply a land bridge anymore.

In the distance, gargantuan mountains, largely resembling the ones observed around Forest, towered above all else as their peaks pierced the cloud cover. Considering the fact that Denmark had originally been devoid of even the smallest of mountains, the sight was almost unbelievable.

They were running along the coast, Eik's eyes glued to the islands and mountains further out when the first high-ranker attacked. Exploding from beneath a quiet sea, a huge body hurtled toward them at speed that belied its size.

"Incoming!" Olivia shouted and promptly changed course as her body burst into flames.

It wasn't exactly a giant octopus. For one, it had six legs in addition to the expected tentacles. For another, its bulbous head sported at least ten fanged mouths chomping away incessantly at nothing. The air around the monster alone told him it was a B-ranker.

"Wait, Oli!" Eik called, his sister moving so quickly that she was already about to clash with the beast. "Can I have a try first?"

"Alright, but I'm jumping in if you take too long."

"Fine!" He chugged a Potion of Mighty Strength class 2 but now that he was C-rank, the diminished effects made themselves known. At a thought, Backflow flared to life under his skin as it began to flake off in dry shavings.

With a grin plastered on his face, he went in for the clash, hurling a five meter long spear of crystalized toxin directly at one of the gnashing maws.

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