Chapter 153: Chapter 152 : Mirror

‘What will it be this time?’

This thought passed through Ares’ head as his radiant figure flew through the sky. Below him were the trees of the Great Ocelot Forest and monsters, both numerous in quantity.

At the heart of the Monster Zone, monsters were as common as grains of sand on a beach. Ares watched them savagely go at each other from high above. Flying several kilometres above the fray, Ares avoided the monsters’ detection/attention, well for the most part.

“Craaww!”

A dozen or so flying monsters caught sight of his flying form and took issue. They immediately ascended upon the Ascendant, each one breaking the sound barrier in the process. Encased in his golden plane, Ares watched their approach with a blank expression. Not a ripple could be found in the blood lake that was his gaze.

Having already dealt with so many monsters during his travels, Ares kept it simple. With a thought, a telepathic wave fired out to meet his would-be-attackers. The monsters had no defence against his Mental Master-level telepathic prowess and all without fail lost their Ki control and froze up. In the passing moments, the monsters were forced to watch helplessly as his summoned Onki blades descended upon them.

The golden swords pierced through the monsters’ skulls with pinpoint accuracy. Dead, the monsters’ corpses rained down on the forest, adding yet another layer of red on the Monster Zone’s trees.

‘So annoying.’

His outburst had drawn no less than a thousand eyes to him. Not wanting to deal with what came next, he ceased his casual flight. Dematerialising the golden plane, his Ascendant aura surged and he took off. The sky quaked as his figure streaked off at hypersonic speed. The monsters that had given chase were quickly left in the dust by his swiftness.

Two minutes later, he was back off the monsters’ radar. Out of sight and out of mind, he slowed back down and reformed his Onki plane, returning to transonic speeds.

Coasting along, his mind returned to the previous topic. The question would be answered a minute later.

Ahead, a few dozen flying monsters suddenly took to the air. Ares didn’t attack this time though, and neither did they. These weren’t regular monsters but tamed monsters under the control of his old friend, Walter. Knowing the procedure by now, he dismissed the Onki plane and landed before the monsters. He folded his arms before his chest and waited.

‘Okay, let’s see it.’

As if hearing him, the monsters began. After a collective shriek, the giant bird monsters suddenly formed into a tight sphere. Importantly, none of them flew using their wings but through their Ki. They stayed clustered up for a few seconds before coming apart. To Ares’ amazement, the monsters formed up into a number of shapes, first simple shapes, and then more complex ones.

They didn’t just stay static either, after taking the form of a giant humanoid, the monster ‘collective’ began doing simple poses and then motions. Then, going from a running motion, they did a leap. While doing this, they reshaped themselves into a snake and roamed the sky for a bit before transitioning into a giant bird and finally, they returned to their initial sphere. The collective shriek a few seconds later ended the performance, and the dozens of bird monsters broke off in every direction.

‘Not bad not bad,” Ares thought, even clapping as he saw the performers off.

These performances were a regular thing by now. Every time he came to visit, Walter would put on a show to welcome him.

The last time, he was treated to the sight of monsters juggling boulders, and the time before that, a complicated song performed by a slew of parrot monsters. Frankly, half of his motivation for visiting his old friend was seeing what would await him next. His old friend thrust his creativity into very strange avenues, with this being one of them.

Ares ceased his clapping and directed his attention northward. Knowing not to keep his friend waiting too long, he promptly set off.

***

Ares’ lifted the wooden carved mug to his lips while his eyes roamed the surrounding forestry. He took a sip. The juice was good, though, it would have been much better if it was ten degrees cooler. Of course, this was a tough ask in his current circumstances. The only electricity to be found in this place was the static kind.

After lowering his cup, his eyes pointed to the senior-aged man across from him. Capturing Walter in his red-dotted sights, all too familiar thoughts began crossing his mind.

Ares was a fairly opened minded person, at least he believed himself to be. As an author, he believed himself able to place himself in the shoes of all sorts of characters, fictional or otherwise. However, even with this ability, he could never fathom the type of mind that could live the way his old friend did and be perfectly content.

Walter Viori.

To the world, he was one of less than a hundred people capable enough to hold the Mental Master title. The S-Rank Adventurer was a fearsome existence, known for his unrivalled monster taming prowess, said to be able to wield nearly a hundred monsters at the same time.

His prowess had earned him the title, Great Horde. World powers feared him as a literal one-man army, thought to be capable of toppling small nations if he wished. Luckily for the world, Walter had no such intentions. The man, for reasons not understood - or rather accepted by all but Walter himself, chose to reside at the centre of Great Ocelot Forest all alone - or rather, surrounded by his tamed monsters.

This had been his official residence for more than two decades already. Many world powers breathed a sigh, half out of relief and half out of bafflement. They just couldn’t understand why he’d live in the Monster Zone, all ‘alone’. He was an elite powerhouse and could live any type of life he wished, so why had subjected himself to this hell?

In truth, while most saw it this way, the man himself saw it as the opposite. Passing his days in isolation away from the masses and civilisation was no different than heaven to him.

Ares had heard his reasoning many times but still couldn’t wrap his head around the lifestyle. He too had a strong preference for his own company. He had long spells of wanting to be alone…but not to the extent his friend did. It seemed absurd, inhuman even - in a way, he couldn’t relate to.

“Walter,...it’s been forever already, aren’t you curious as to what changed?”

Walter stayed silent at the question but his eyes showed a clear disinterest as he chose to sip his juice.

Ares glanced around and continued. “It might not be bad as you remember, you might even enjoy yourself…why don’t you give it a shot while your old bones can still move about?”

“Hmm…Ares,” Walter lowered his cup and addressed the other after a long silence. The old man tilted his head and shot the other a look of confusion, just a look. Ares didn’t misunderstand this look. While Walter was nearly seventy, his mind was sharp as a Psi blade. There was no confusion present.

Ares’ face began crumbling as he read the other’s thoughts, and then fully crumbled when the other continued his words.

“...are you talking to me?”

This simple question was enough to shut down the conversation. Ares could only smile bitterly and move on. Their cups were refilled and the simple handcrafted board games were brought out.

While playing, the two spoke about what they had been up to since their last meeting. Walter went over and showed off his many craftworks. Ares showed a subtle smile as he did. His old friend had a perpetual grumpy look to him, except when he was showing off his creations. Seeing this, Ares felt it was a pity his friend stayed all alone. He might not need it as much as others but it was clear he derived some pleasure from others.

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Ares didn’t take the direct route like last time but instead brought up a proposal Micheal and he had discussed before.

“Oh, really?” Walter questioned while rubbing his chin, clearly not against the notion entirely.

“It’s true,” Ares followed up. “I heard it from Micheal. He made a special forest for you in Velusia. You can have it all to yourself. It’s not as big as this place, but you’ll have about thirty kilometres all to yourself. I spoke to Astra, and she said she’d do it, saying that it doesn’t affect the story and all that.”

“But what about the monsters?” Walter glanced to his lap. A gryphon’s head lay on it and was currently being patted by him. “She can’t teleport more than a few people at a time, there’s no way she’ll be able to teleport most of my monsters. And having my monsters make the trip would be a…nightmare,” his face darkened as he imagined the scare it would cause the surrounding nations to have hundreds of powerful monsters collectively move as one wave.

Ares shook his head. “There’s no need to worry about that. Astra can connect two spaces with her spatial rifts. That can be widened enough for most of your monsters. As for the dozen or so that can’t fit, well, their heads can pass through. That’s enough. Micheal can keep them alive as heads and after passing to the other side, he can recreate the rest of his bodies in flash. We’d have to do a bit of slicing but none of them will feel any pain, and it’ll be over in a matter of seconds. What do you think?”

“Hmm…I’ll have to think it over.”

Ares nodded, not pressing Walter further. Frankly, getting the other to even consider the proposal, counted as a victory in his mind. He got up. “Think it over. It would make contacting you a lot easier. Travel to this place is a real pain with all the monsters.” His face grimaced at the memory. Eight hundred kilometres was hardly what he’d called far but over a Monster Zone, and one with monsters as rich and powerful as the Great Ocelot Forest, it was a pain to cover. Ares retrieved a book from his handbag and placed it on the table.

Walter was broken out of his daze at the sight. “Oh, another one, hmm, The Lone Old Fool…” The S-Rank Adventurer squinted as he read the title, then directed a questioning look at his old friend, who just flashed a smile and turned away.

“Enjoy the mirror, I mean book. See you.”

Delivering all he wanted to deliver, Ares didn’t linger a moment longer. Ascendant aura surging, he took off, disappearing over the horizon as a golden streak.

“Hmph, it takes one to know one,” Walter fired back, his monsters cheering at the scathing burn.

***

Flying eastward in his golden plane, Ares’ mind was set adrift. After thinking about the plot of his latest book, he moved to the inspiration, Walter, and then finally, a question the other asked.

…are you talking to me?

His face flinched as the question reverberated through his head.

‘Who was I talking to back then…I wonder that as well,’ he sighed a deep sigh at the thought.

His gaze shifted rightward - or rather, southward. Ares’ face turned progressively bitter. Five seconds was all he could manage before he was forced to shift away, unable to stomach the feeling anymore. He sighed again, this one, longer and more densely packed with negative emotions.

‘I’m…hopeless, really.’

A cloud of gloom wrapped around Ares as his mind delved into the shameful topic. This cloud darkened as his mind did, but a minute later, it would scatter as he caught something up ahead.

It was monsters, of course. But this time, their target was a group of Adventurers.

Usually, he would leave them be, but this group wasn’t suited to handling the monsters themselves. The long rope of smoke made by the flare signalled that clearly.

Noting their dire situation, Ares threw his thoughts aside and blasted forth at full speed.

False Flame activated, turning him into a living rocket; yellowish flames exploded from his backside. Working in tandem with his Ascendant aura, he propelled forward at high-hypersonic speed, leaving an inferno in the wake and scarring the skies.

Swoosh!

The three-kilometre gap was closed in a second. As soon the monsters were within his 500-metre Onki Range, he sent a wave of telepathic energy to paralyse them. After slowing down by employing counter thrusters, he summoned golden sword projectiles and felled the dozens of monsters in an instant.

“The monsters…they’re dead!”

“What happened?! I blinked and they’re dead, hey get Morty up, we have to get out of here right away!”

“Hey, did anyone see a flash of light just now, I swear I could have seen one-”

“Huh, you think that was Raiken, no way right.”

“No, that was fire - if anything, it was Tora…”

Ares lingered for a few seconds before leaving. The party of four was pretty worse for wear. Usually, he would aid them with his medical skills but noting a group of Surveyors heading their way, he decided to leave it to them. Out of sight and mind, he took off, this time without any flames. That was much harder to erase out of one’s real-time perception.

The good deed did Ares good. Instead of the previous negative thoughts, his mind was occupied by much lighter topics.

‘What to do next?’

Having just finished a book, his schedule was empty. Lost on what to do next, he flew while considering his options.

‘Maybe, I should pay Velusia a visit as well. I’m curious about all the changes he made. Though, before then, maybe a movie would be nice. I’ve been off the grid for a few months, there must be something interesting.’ He nodded at his decision before delving into his memory. ‘Hmm, if I’m not mistaken, up ahead, in Popleigh, there’s an Enviso branch. I’ll use that. Hopefully, I find something interesting.’

Ares’ hopes wouldn’t be dashed. Rather, what awaited him would leave his dragon-like tail restless for quite some time.

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