Chapter XIII: Contact

"So you're saying… there's more of these?" Gasping for air, Lena stabbed her sword into the corpse of the plant once more to make sure it was really dead. 

"Yeah. We should probably start looking for Kenneth now. We won't be able to last long against these beasts without assistance from him and Tyrone." 

"When I find him, I'm giving him an earful. Choosing a hard difficulty is in no way an efficient method to get stronger." 

"Give him a break. While his actions are uncalled for, the reason behind is noble. Maybe settle for consoling him instead."

After the plant was defeated, the siblings continued on to the city, their guard higher than ever. They avoided almost anything that screamed danger, as they would not be able to handle more battles continuously. 

But of course, that didn't mean they would give up on any opportunity to slay a few more beasts. The somewhat harmless ones, like the rats that popped up from the cracks in the road, were taken care of by Lena. 

They didn't have anything else to do than to kill more beasts, as that was the main objective of the simulation. 

Any participants in the simulation could always choose to opt out if they felt like they were not getting any progress, but Lucas and Lena couldn't find it in them to leave their younger brother and their dog alone to clear it. 

"Say, can't your Blink affect me as well? I'm sick of trying to catch up when you can just move through the buildings with the flick of a wrist." 

Unlike Lucas who relied on his physical strength to get most things done, Lena had a vast array of spells ranging from movement ones to ones that could destroy the land in front of her. 

And it just so happened that Blink had a rather sizable range, and did not require as much mana as one would think. 

"I'll be able to see my little brother easier this way. And even if I could, I wouldn't let you tag along with me." 

"Wow. In that case, lead the way. Let's try heading for the center of the city. We're bound to enter the range of Kenneth's Mind Link at some point."

<50th Floor, Kenneth POV>

Once the flock of birds were cleared, Kenneth could feel the restraints on his mana loosening. The indestructible wall that had obstructed him from casting his Link spell was dissipating.

"I hear them. Testing, testing…"

"Is that you, little brother?" Lena's voice resounded through his head. 

His consciousness was soon taken from him, and he felt himself moving through the city. 

"Great! It worked. Do you guys hear me?" 

"Loud and clear. Where did you spawn?" Lucas' voice joined the conversation.

"I'm not sure if it's in the middle of the city, but I'm at the tallest building. Shouldn't be too hard to find."

"Wait… that building?" Pointing to the behemoth of a structure that towered over the whole city, Lena was lost for words.

"Mhm. Don't worry, I can lead you guys there. Make sure you slay any monsters you come across. I'll be assisting here with my magic." 

As Kenneth was currently engaged in a Mind Link, his real body was unconscious. There was always a possibility of monsters attacking him, but with Tyrone there to guard him, he didn't worry too much. 

And since he was able to use all of his spells even while in the Link, a huge burden would be lifted off Lena and Lucas' shoulders. 

"Now that we have Kenneth with us, should we focus a bit more on killing beasts? We can do so while on the way to the building." 

"I'm down. Just make sure you don't hold me back!" With those as his last words, Lucas shot forward, leaving Lena in the dust. 

If she wanted to, Lena could always catch up with her older brother using her Blink, but seeing as how Kenneth was here, she didn't want to miss an opportunity to talk to him.

"You seem a bit moody, Lena. Did something happen?" Being in a Mind Link with his sister, the consciousness he had sent to her was able to feel almost everything she felt. 

And right now, he could clearly feel his sister's mood turn sour the moment he Linked. 

"You know, little brother… this isn't the way."

"Huh?" 

"I mean that this isn't the best way to get stronger. That's why you're doing this, right?"

"I mean… yeah…" Unable to respond, Kenneth managed to blurt out a broken sentence. 

"Your big sister understands too, you know. The incident earlier still haunts me. When I went back to my room, I tried to sleep. I really did."

"I…" Kenneth tried to speak. 

"It wasn't the images I saw that terrified me. It was the thought of you losing control over yourself." 

"That's why I'm training." 

"Are you really? Do you call facing magical beasts when you can barely fight, "training?" 

Kenneth could not find any words to retort her statement. Inside his mind he had thought he was doing the correct thing.

"I'm not saying it's bad to train. Rather, I'm thrilled that you're striving to be stronger. But this isn't the way."

"I'll take your words to heart." Kenneth mumbled, his words showing deep remorse. 

"I hope you do." 

After their talk, an uncomfortable silence descended upon the siblings. To hide the worsening mood between the youngest brother and his sister, they focused on hunting any nearby beasts they encountered. 

With Kenneth, who had spells that ranged from messing with his enemies' mental state to that of analysis, their battles were much easier. 

The words exchanged between the two were not much. Aside from the information Kenneth would give them, there were no talks to be had. 

But really, it was more like there were none that could be had. The only thing keeping the group's mentality from crumbling was the occasional goofy stunts Lucas would pull. 

He too, noticed the tension between his siblings rising and chose to deal with it indirectly. Even if he had to make an idiot of himself to do so. 

Still, it worked somewhat. The two were gradually getting more chatty with each other, until they could somewhat hold a conversation longer than half a minute. 

"There. That's the building." Kenneth pointed to the high-rise building that towered over the rest of the ruined ghost town. 

"Isn't that… too high?" Lucas could barely raise his neck enough before it threatened to snap. The building was  just that tall. 

"It looks like it reaches the sky." Lena added. 

"It apparently has ninety-nine floors. Don't worry, we only need to climb half of it." Kenneth attested. 

"Is that supposed to make us feel better?"

<1st floor, Kenneth POV>

The siblings stood at the lobby which was located in the first place. The whole room was designed like a hotel reception, with various seats situated all over the perimeter. 

Broken down air conditioners and ripped curtains lined the edges of the room, along with cracked television screens and dirtied floors. 

Elevators that were out of use or simply inoperative were stationed in twos beside the stairways. 

Since the lifts were clearly inactive and weren't going to be operational anytime soon, the siblings had no choice but to head for the stairs. 

Lena wasn't too keen on doing so, but Lucas on the other hand felt challenged at the thought of climbing the whole flight of stairs without stopping.

"Wanna race? This time you won't beat me!" jeered Lucas. 

Somewhat insulted by his provocation, the competitive spirit inside Lena burned fiercely, and she Blinked directly to the second floor. 

"We'll see about that, Lucas." Now on the second floor, Lena poked her head out from the small crevice from the top and flashed a grin. 

"Ah! That's not fair!"

 <10th Floor, Kenneth POV>

The siblings blazed through the first ten or so floors and were able to feel Kenneth's mana in the vicinity. 

"Did Tyrone bring my body down? I'm pretty sure I told him to stay right where we were." 

"Or maybe your spell is just that impressive. Either way, we'll meet up soon."

Kenneth was currently focusing his onto the consciousness he had implanted in Lena's body. Meaning, he was currently "spectating" her. 

In fact, he was so engrossed in doing so that he had almost forgotten to actually scan the area. 

Magical beasts could attack at any moment. And if one was not careful, their lives could be taken from them in the blink of an eye. 

This was why having someone to watch the surrounding area was necessary. Even professional guild parties would always make sure they had enough scouts. 

Especially since Lucas and Lena did not bother to help Kenneth at all. They were completely focused on climbing the stairs. 

With Lena's every Blink, Kenneth felt that he had moved to a different dimension. He felt like he was sent out of this world and brought back in a flash. 

The feeling was simply exhilarating. Lucas, who was somehow keeping up with Lena toe to toe, cried loudly as he increased his speed. 

Lena did not miss this and focused more mana into her spells, allowing her Blinks to cross two floors up immediately. 

The race continued on until Kenneth put a stop to the whole thing, as he now felt massive mana fluctuations around the vicinity. 

Having near instant communication, he sent a wave of information to his siblings, who knew precisely where and when to dodge. 

And from their original spots massive chunks of rock and concrete were launched out. The dirtied floor was now replaced with a gaping hole.

Looking to their front, they found the source of the fluctuations. 

It was a worm, of gigantic size. Its whole body looked like it could wrap around the entirety of the building with ease, and still have enough to poke its head inside. 

In fact, that was probably what it did. Kenneth felt the walls of the already breaking building beginning to crumble. It was only a matter of time before the worm's body closed in on them. 

And that wouldn't be good. The worm had a tough exoskeleton-like metal that coated its entire body, leaving Kenneth to question how it was able to move that quickly in the first place. 

Its mouth had two blades that extended off into a curve, adopting the shape of pincer blades. One wouldn't want to find themselves trapped in the middle of it. 

*clang!* The worm's pincers closed in like a pair of scissors, causing sparks to fly around the area. 

No words needed to be said. Having received Kenneth's orders well before the worm even readied its attack, the siblings had ample time to dodge and counterattack.

"We can't stay here for too long. We need to get my body before this whole building falls over!" 

"Let me distract the thing. Have Lena regroup with Tyrone and retrieve your body."

"What about you then? We can't exactly leave you here."

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Focus on getting out of here for now."

The whole building was already beginning to collapse, as the concrete walls were replaced by a metallic structure. The whole length of the area would soon be enveloped by the worm.

And as if the enclosing metal walls weren't enough, the worm made sure to lash out on multiple occasions with its pincers. 

Twice were the times that Lucas narrowly dodged the sharp curved stakes situated around its mouth. 

"Looks like I've got its attention. Don't miss this chance, you two!" Lucas stood provocatively, his arm stretched out in front of him and beckoning to the worm. 

Lucas did not need to look behind him to find that his two siblings had long left the floor. Their mana signatures were weakening, indicating their movement towards the top of the building. 

"Now it's just you and me, Mister Wriggly. Come On!" 

Lucas' last sentence carried a hint of mana in them. They weren't meant to inflict harm upon the worm. Rather, it was meant to draw the beast's attention even more. 

While Lucas had long vowed to use mana as sparingly as possible, he made certain exceptions for spells like this.

Provoke was something that could be categorised as a "universal" spell, in the sense that anyone could learn it, no matter their innate element. 

While it would sound like the spell would be part of the Mental Magic class, it was not.

And for Lucas, who just so happened to be a fan of fighting and testing his strength, this one spell worked perfectly. 

The worm, who already had most of its attention set on Lucas, could not help but adhere to the voices in its head telling it to kill the human in front of it immediately.