Victor sat back down on the old wooden chair, gathering his thoughts.
He now had the location of the survivor group.
According to the information those men gave him, there were a little under a thousand people there—far more than Victor would have initially expected.
After all, going from a calm and peaceful civilized life to an environment whose sole purpose was to tear your guts out every second was… quite the abrupt transition.
But regardless, a thousand out of a city of roughly thirty thousand was still impressive.
Victor had also learned that the group's leader was a former soldier, and although he was strict and ruthless, he was fair and respected—someone who insisted on maintaining the old laws exactly as they were before.
That was the type of person Victor hated most.
Those blinded by words written on a piece of paper, letting it dictate their life without ever stopping to question why or how.
It made him sick.
Even if he fully understood that such things were necessary to prevent a society of sentient beings from collapsing or tearing itself apart, once the world changed, the so-called laws had to change with it.
And if they had not realized that yet, Victor would help them understand.
But before heading toward this so-called survivor camp, he still had something to do.
Analyze the effects of his new skills.
Especially [Nest], which was still a complete mystery to him.
Even though he knew instinctively how to activate the skill thanks to the system, he didn't know its effect or its use.
He took a deep breath and activated it.
Almost immediately, he felt a wave of dizziness, nearly losing his footing. His face grew pale in seconds—a sign of excessive mana consumption.
Despite the weakness that spread through his body, Victor felt a spark of satisfaction when he saw the small swirling portal appear in front of him.
It was pitch-black, streaked with dark green lines, about twenty centimeters in diameter.
Victor stopped channeling the skill and slowly caught his breath.
Forming such a small thing had exhausted him in seconds.
The boy straightened, walking around the small anomaly and trying to deduce what he could.
It was clearly some kind of passage between two places.
But where did it lead? He had no idea.
And there was no way he could crawl through it given its size—not that he would have tried even if he could. Who knew what was on the other side?
In his mind, he simply needed to develop his magic further to create a portal large enough to enter.
But he was still far from being able to do that.
He was about to close the portal when a faint buzzing echoed in his mind through the thin link he still shared with what remained of the symbiote.
He didn't need to think long to understand.
The creature wanted to go inside.
He didn't know why, but it had to be something instinctive to the insect.
And if its instinct drove it to do something, it had to be beneficial in some way.
Victor commanded the remaining fragments of his companion to enter the portal.
A small dozen flies crawled out from his sleeve and slipped inside without the slightest hesitation.
The already weak link between symbiote and master thinned even further until only a thread remained.
The boy could no longer communicate in any way. He could only sense whether it was alive or not.
Sighing in resignation at yet another unclear situation, he closed the portal, which had continued draining his energy.
If the symbiote survived, good. If not, it didn't matter.
After all, although he felt no aversion toward it, he still considered it nothing more than a tool.
That was also why he hadn't hesitated to sacrifice nearly the entire symbiote.
And in any case, he planned to expand his swarm before heading to London.
One creature more or less made no difference, especially when it was already badly damaged and nearly useless.
Pushing aside distracting thoughts, Victor now wanted to test what he considered his greatest gain from the trial.
His Decay Magic.
It wasn't exactly intuitive, but he knew he could make something of it.
It was also why he took the moss-covered colossus's words seriously—the creature seemed to embody the very same element Victor was now tied to.
Victor crouched beside the man whose neck he had snapped.
He placed his hand on the man's forehead—the wide-open eyes still frozen in shock testified to how quickly death had taken him.
With a thought, Victor activated the skill.
His right hand emitted a dark green glow that spread over the corpse.
The skin began to visibly rot, blackening and necrotizing over the limbs and abdomen.
Victor removed his hand. That was about all he could do for now.
Honestly, he would have preferred something simpler and more offensive, but he was sure this would become useful. Whatever Beelzebub had planned for him, that being would ensure he became stronger—a weak human was of no use.
Probably.
He would have liked to test the effect on a living human, but he hadn't thought of it in the moment—too lost in the strangely pleasant feeling of watching the light leave their eyes.
However, Victor did not doubt he would have countless opportunities for such experiments.
But right now, he had things to do.
*
A boy with hair as black as the night crouched on the roof of an abandoned building, his gaze fixed on the horizon.
He stared at one of the few structures still mostly intact.
The hospital.
According to the men he had interrogated, that was where the survivors were holed up. They had turned the place into a makeshift fortress, installing traps and fortifications.
Thanks to his enhanced perception, Victor could indeed see several armed guards patrolling the perimeter with firearms, watching for any hostile movement, along with makeshift barricades and hastily dug pits.
Rudimentary, yes—but no doubt effective, especially against the Fallen or low-intelligence creatures roaming the streets.
Occasionally, small human groups exited the building—likely scouting or looking for supplies.
Victor had originally planned to enter and simply take over as leader.
But he had thought of a better idea along the way.
One far more beneficial—though slower and far more tedious than his original plan.
But the potential reward was far too great to ignore.
And to begin, he needed to make an entrance that would favor public opinion toward him.
His plan was simple.
He began tailing a small group that had just left the hospital.
There were three women and two men, moving with purpose between buildings.
Victor followed at a safe distance, waiting patiently for the right moment to act.
His plan: save the group from certain death, make them feel indebted, enter the camp as a welcomed ally, and let their testimonies spread.
Simple and effective. And while it wouldn't be enough by itself for Victor's true goal, it would give him a very strong start.
So he waited, following them for hours until they reached their destination, the shopping mall.
The place swarmed with creatures—mostly Fallen, but also mutated animals: Vioren, which Victor had already fought, and others he didn't recognize.
The five survivors crouched low, sneaking carefully through the living minefield.
Victor had to admire their courage. Based on their movement speed, they were clearly weaker than him, yet they advanced without hesitation.
The more he observed, the more something felt… unnatural.
Unless they all had military training—which he doubted—this wasn't normal.
It was more like they were… being controlled. Or, at the very least, stripped of fear—focused entirely on completing their objective.
It could have complicated his plan but unfortunately fot them, they had moved into the perfect spot.
After all, triggering just one of these "mines" would start a chain reaction of catastrophic proportions.
A cold smile split his mutilated lips.
This was going to be fun.