God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 226: Light, Blood and Darkness (2).

'Now, onto business...'

"Susan, what has been happening? How long have I been gone, and where are the rest?" Cain said all at once.

He planned to understand the current state of things before thinking of his next steps.

"Dan, Hunter, Manny, and Vincent are all on the Central Island. They are scouting it out. However, they haven't been back once for an entire day."

Staring at the dark expanse before her, her eyes seemed to turn glossy,

"They've probably encountered some problems."

"Problems?" Cain said with a slight frown.

'Problems aren't good at all...' Cain thought to himself.

"I don't know how I know, I just know it," Susqn said indifferently.

"In that case, we shouldn't pursue that line of thinking until further information arrives," Cain said, dismissing the idea that Hunter and the rest were in trouble. After all, he had complete faith in their strength.

As long as the opponent didn't dwarf them with more than twenty levels and wasn't higher than the legendary rank, he knew they would be able to at the very least, escape with their lives intact.

At least he hoped so...

In all actuality, he believed that while the system acted within the constraints of certain laws and principles, nature wasn't as forgiving.

For all he knew, there could be a huge eldritch nightmare that had been born from the putrid darkness of hell waiting for them to deliver their unsuspecting souls on the central Island.

'That's not a very healthy way to look at things, is it?'

Inwardly berating himself, Cain focused on another topic at hand,

"What are the greatest changes so far?"

Staring straight at him, Susan began speaking:

"First off, you've been gone for a little over three days. We still have an abundant amount of HP potions seeing as no one has been seriously injured lately. It seems as though the mutant beasts in the oceans have retreated into the darkness of the waters for some reason."

"The normal humans who received the blessing of Levron seem to be doing just fine as well. In fact, much better than expected."

"Really?"Cain sounded genuinely surprised. He never believed they would have gotten this far with no single death even if you had placed a blade on his throat.

These people were weak, susceptible to extreme weather, and could die if they were forced to bear the brunt of a residual shockwave.

"Yeah... It seems like the power of the Sea God keeps the brunt of the cold away from them. Coupled with the fact that most mutant beasts are nowhere near the surface, this place is as safe as can be."

Tilting his head toward his feet, Cain fell into thought. Recalling the details of Susan's words, he realized something.

'This means thirty days on Prometheus is about three days on Urbus. The time dilation is really something.'

"Anything else?" Cain asked.

"No. These are the only things that have happened that are of any relevance. There isn't really anything exciting on the open seas after all." Susan said with a tired sigh.

Cain turned to look around...

For miles on miles, all that could be seen was a dark deathly stillness. It was as though the world around them was devoid of light and life, and was gradually stealing what it could from them.

The people who stood in the backdrop on the ice bridge seemed like mere paintings on a canvas.

'This isn't good...'

But what could he do? With their current circumstances, hope wasn't really an option anymore. Even though he was very capable, Cain knew the times would only get rougher until he was at the point of breaking.

At that point, he would either shatter into a million pieces or become too hard to shatter...

"What do you suggest we do now?" Cain asked.

"We could head toward the central Island as well. Those fools in red don't seem interested in us anymore, so I don't think we need to worry about them for now. I think it would be better to push forward now." Susan said with a dark look spread on her face.

"What's with the look?" Cain couldn't help but blurt out.

"Nothing, just an off feeling..."

Staring at her for a while, Cain decided to drop it. After all, he could tell that it was some sort of internal conflict. If it was something important, he was very sure she would tell him without hesitating.

"I agree. Pressing forward would be the best thing to do in this case. However, we have to consider other things first."

'No point thinking about it now. If we meet danger in front, we just need to kill it. If the danger is greater than we are, we run. Nothing too complicated.' Cain smiled in his heart but kept a serious face on.

Sitting on the ground, Cain let mana flow through his index finger:

"We are currently on the ice bridge that stretches from south to north, north being in the direction of the central Island, while we are in the south. The Eastern and Western Islands are on both sides of the central, but are pretty far away as well."

With great finesse, Cain drew a very detailed description of their current surroundings. Currently, the distance between the Islands was a marvel they still weren't able to fully understand.

Before the apocalypse, the so-called Islands were just one school Island. They weren't very big as well, but now, they were as large as small-scale Islands, with some even having beaches.

Now, they had fractured and grown bigger. The distance between them had also increased dramatically.

"On the Ice bridge, we have two oaths to travel. One is forward, to the Central, and the other is back where we came from." Cain stared deep into Susan's eyes, trying to get a reading. Ince he got nothing, he shrugged his fingers and continued,

"What do we do about the east and west? For all we know, there might be living humans, who are waiting for a chance at survival" Cain said.

Susan scrunched her brows as she thought of this, "The unknown is West. From my calculations, those red fools came from the east."

"That's good..." Cain said as though talking to himself.

"What are you both doing?" Steve said as he slowly approached them. Previously, he had been held down by Ruby who seemed to be strangely interested in him. Trying his best to stop her and release himself from her grasp, he was completely powerless.

However, the bear had suddenly released him. He knew the bear was probably tired and needed a map, so he quietly slipped out of her arms.

"Trying to decide what the best course of action to take is," Cain said, a bit distracted by Steve's sudden intrusion. He quickly crossed the eastern part of his mini-map out.

"I'd rather not face a huge number of idiots," Susan said with a frown, completely agreeing with Cain for striking it out.

"I agree too. We could either go west or forward. However, we shouldn't be facing a party that has been proven to be aggressive toward us."

Wasting time with meaningless fighting wasn't something Cain planned on doing anytime soon. It was obvious the followers of the Blood God were no more than troublemakers. Thankfully, they were stronger than them. If not, things wouldn't be so easy...

"In that case, let's move at first light."

Although they could move through the night, it was better to move when there was a source of natural light.

Moving through abject darkness was... Unsettling.

***

Sitting on the ice bridge in silence, Cain stared up at the starless sky.

He was sure that if he activated {Eye of Clairvoyance}, the hue of the night sky would change, and he would be able to witness the flow of countless colorful streams of mana flowing in and out of existence from the spiritual plane to the material and vice versa.

'I wonder where all this came from.'

The mystery of the origin of the God Ash had plagued him for a long time now. He had no idea where or why it had chosen their planet. All he knew, was that it had kick-started a number of changes that were either terrible or wonderful depending on how you chose to view it.

'No use thinking about that.'

Opening his inventory, he glanced at the items within and realized that apart from a few survival necessities and some mana shards, it was practically empty.

'It's been a while since I last hunted. I wonder what everyone else's levels are...' Cain thought.

Shaking his head, he focused on the objects of his interest...

His arsenal of weapons sat in a corner of his inventory. His {Black} and {White} claws, the {Tears of The Water God}, and even the {Scale of the Abyssal Flame} weapon he had almost forgotten about.

The only two magical books he had sat next to them in still silence. The [Record of Akasha I] and the [Tome of Weapon and Skill Thesis].

Staring at the books for a few seconds, he quickly turned his eyes to the last few things he thought were of importance.

The [Draconic Blast Surface] was very small within his inventory compared to how it appeared in real life. And then, there was the glowing red crystal he assumed was Ignis in her dormant state. Somehow, he could feel the glaring radiance of her gaze through the imprisonment of the crystal and his list.

His eyes finally settled on the thing that interested him the most...

His {Armament Armory} rune...

Licking his lips, he summoned it from his inventory. Knowing how to use a rune, he didn't want to waste any more time. Taking his shirt off, he quietly placed the light paper thin, almost nonexistent rune on his chest.

The familiar pain came all too suddenly, eventually reaching and then passing the familiar pain the runes brought him.

'Is it because it's of a higher tier?'

Cain knew that runes had tiers, but he wasn't sure how they were arranged.

The pain continued to increase, continually pushing against his pain threshold. After a few seconds, the pain finally died down, replaced with a cool, hollow sensation in his chest.

He was immediately flooded with a strange feeling. It was as though he had suddenly grown an extra limb, complete with all the motor functions and a 'how-to-use' manual preinstalled.

Focusing his spirit, he could see the empty space in his chest gradually expand before his eyes. It was an empty 10×10 square meter room. With the space within, he would be able to store his weapons and still have extra space for many more.

Letting out a forlorn sigh, Cain turned his focus back to his weapons. He allowed his spirit to touch the {Black Claw}, but instead of willing it into his hands, he willed it into his [Armament Armory]. The weapon dematerialized from his inventory and appeared in the empty space inside his chest.

'Incredible...'

He concentrated on the {White Claw}, then transferred it using the same process. Then his other weapons followed. Furrowing his brows, he tried putting one of the magical books he had and was pleasantly surprised to see that they were able to enter his armory as well.

'Does that mean they count as weapons?' Cain thought.

'Depending on how one sees it, I guess information can also be a weapon in the right hands.'

He tried putting other things such as mana shards and the huge furnace, but they didn't enter, so he left it at that...

'Now... Let's set a lava monster free.' Cain thought as he focused on the magic crystal that housed Ignis