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Divine Celebrity 154
🕑 Added 2023-09-02 03:50:01 +0000 UTCI didn’t need to know the notifications of the system to know that there was something wrong with the current state of the world, but the question mark next to Megan and my pet was a good sign nonetheless.
Of course, I wasn’t just freaking out due to a symbol. The moment I had established that connection, I had felt some kind of connection between me and them, allowing me to feel their general location and state. That was now gone…
Well, not gone, at least not entirely, just faded to the point of uselessness except somehow feeling that they were alive. The good news, I wasn’t in a position to do more.
“Now, what to do,” I said, looking around. My only plan was to hide in a corner, hoping to wait until the System recovered. Now that it did, I needed to get away. The school was in ruins, but not completely destroyed, I managed to get some clothing that was reasonably clean and fitting … at least, enough to be mistaken for a homeless person.
My lack of uncontrolled hair growth despite the months that clearly passed was just a nice bonus.
“Okay, let’s focus on the facts,” as I started walking toward the direction of the city. “Somehow, the world has magic once more, there are giant monsters prowling around, and humans were not extinct. Altogether, not as bad as it could be,” I chuckled, mocking my own glass half-full attitude.
Or, quarter-full, at least.
The two people with obvious magical abilities were not exactly representative, but at least they had offhandedly mentioned something about defending the city, implying that it still existed … and since they wanted to defend, also reasonably in one piece.
However, how it would look in a world with magic … I had no idea.
With that, I continued, ignoring the temptation to reach the magic, and somehow try and absorb magic to see if it could be used to replace magic. But, considering my earlier attempt had summoned two magical guardians, I decided that it might wait.
The lack of a constant flow of Intent was frustrating. It seemed that my long disappearance, coupled with the nature of my fame, was enough for all to disappear.
A pity.
Some extra Intent would have been useful.
Extremely useful.
I continued my walk even as the darkness started to cover our surroundings. I was walking despite the tempting presence of the abandoned cars for two reasons. First, I wasn’t sure if any of them would actually run. Nine months were enough to make it doubtful whether gasoline would actually work, not to mention many other mechanical troubles that might result from such a lengthy wait.
The second reason was simpler, but even more important. The car promised me some defense against any possible attacking beast, but its ultimate effectiveness was doubtful. Walking, on the other hand, gave me a chance to stay hidden from the beasts … which was a good choice, as soon I noticed several giant dogs at a distance, each as large as an ox.
Hardly something I wanted to tangle even inside a car. I doubted the car would resist more than a hit … it might have been different if I had some Intent to empower the car, but I did not, making that a moot point.
I moved forward. The large dog didn’t notice me, and I had a feeling it was due to Divine Body, still allowing me to keep concealed. Regardless, I didn’t dare to test them directly, and instead made sure to put a great distance with any creature I noticed.
No need to have a battle I could easily avoid.
I noticed a great advantage soon enough. The beasts were getting smaller and smaller as I got away from the center of the school. I just needed to stop for a second and meditate to understand the reason.
The cloud of magic was getting considerably thinner. “Good,” I said, happy with the result. After all, I hardly wanted to step into a world that was filled with monsters. Even with my advantages, such a life would have been at least tedious. Fighting against giant monsters every day was hardly my idea of a good time.
With that, I continued, the plants getting thinner as I moved … until l met a surprising sight. A giant electrical fence, almost twenty feet tall, filled with cameras and other tools of observation. I stayed concealed even as I wrapped one of my spare clothes onto my face, and started observing.
The thick security protocols were a surprise, but then, considering the presence of the monsters, hardly unreasonable.
I was more surprised by the giant warning sign.
NUCLEAR FALLOUT SITE. DO NOT APPROACH!
While I didn’t have any evidence, it didn’t take a genius to guess that it was a coverup. Especially since, the moment I looked at the warning sign, I felt a desire to believe the statement, no matter how absurd it was.
It was a fleeting sensation, very easy to ignore.
At least, with my Divine Mind. Without it, things might have been slightly more troubling.
Ironically, the subtle usage of magic, combined with the clear fate reason, gave me confidence. Why bother lying about a non-existent nuclear fallout if the whole world was struggling under the monster attacks.
Of course, that left the question of why Sunset College had a higher magical density than the other places.
“My guide,” I sighed with a sudden realization. She had burst out in a rather memorable manner, destroying the stadium and damaging my Divine System at the same time.
Assuming that she damaged even more in the process was not exactly a logical overextension.
Of course, that left me with a fun challenge. Avoiding the security perimeter without getting caught … and preferably, without being noticed. Luckily, it was in the middle of the night, which significantly limited the capabilities of the cameras.
Worst came to worst, I could have just dashed and run, hoping that I would be able to ditch whatever followed me. I would have just done it if I hadn’t seen two men appearing from magical portals. I was confident in ditching a car — not because I could run as fast, but because I could just choose paths that a car couldn’t follow — but the same didn’t apply to magical portals.
I needed a better path.
I might have tried to pull some tricks if I had any Intent stored, but I did not, leaving me to rely on more ordinary tricks. So, I started walking around the perimeter, using my superior vision to find the weakest spot.
I spent two hours on that, which was excessive in a sense, but I didn’t just want to escape. I also wanted to cover the fact that someone escaped from the quarantine zone as long as possible. Otherwise, things would have been far more troubling.
Soon, I discovered an area with some of the cameras broken. It wasn’t enough to create a gap in the observation radius … but I had a solution for that. I grabbed two stones, and started crawling toward the target until I was half a mile away.
An impossible distance for a human … well, an ordinary one. Admittedly, even for me, it was a challenge, especially without the intent to guide me. I took a deep breath, prepared myself, and threw the first stone.
It flew like a perfect Hail Mary pass, flying toward the target perfectly. Before it reached the target, I had already thrown the second one. With a second in between, two cameras exploded. I was tempted to put the same distance between the destruction of the two, but I was afraid that the destruction of the first would trigger some kind of maintenance response, wasting my opportunity.
I didn’t want to lose the opportunity while trying to act safe.
I rushed forward, using the gap in the observation I had created to my benefit, and soon, I was at the electric fence. Twenty feet high, a great distance, but as I jumped with a flying start, I was able to clear it with a comfortable margin.
Divine Body was truly awesome.
I hit the ground running, rushing toward a nearby ditch about a thousand yards away, and threw myself in, moving forward crouched to limit the view rather than maximize the speed.
Barely a minute later, a car arrived, and two mechanics jumped down, carrying their tools, confirming that my choice was a good idea. I just hoped that they wouldn’t realize the camera was taken down deliberately.
Just to be safe, I paid attention to them even as I slowly increased the distance. Particularly, I paid attention to the fact that whether they actually showed any kind of shock or panic as they installed the new cameras, or retreated it as an ordinary installment.
Unfortunately, that part, I wasn’t as lucky as I hoped, as their posture showed clear signs of distress, recognizing it as deliberate sabotage.
However, there was a silver lining, as their attention turned firmly toward the college rather than outside. They didn’t expect that someone was escaping. However, I could also see them calling for reinforcements.
I moved away even faster, hoping that whomever they called would share the same opinion. Either way, it was better to stay away…
A good call, as in a few minutes, I counted ten different military helicopters rushing toward the area, creating a search zone, on both sides of the fence.
Luckily, I was already out of the range.
Next stop, the city…
