As Isaac soon found out, Elaine wasn't in the village. According to Marie, she had decided to take a few of the Hosts they had rescued into the wilds to help them get used to fighting—and maybe earn a level or two in the process. When he first heard that, he thought she had lost her mind. After all, there was a reason why they didn't take those people with them to LA.

Thankfully, Marie quickly clarified that Elaine wasn't the only experienced fighter in that group. She had over ten people who had come here from Los Angeles with her. People who could fight and help her protect those three almost helpless Hosts.

That said, Isaac still didn't like it.

Call him paranoid, but he would never trust a bunch of strangers to watch his back. At least not right away. Too many unknowns. Too much that could potentially go wrong. Hell, he was kind of surprised Elaine didn't share his worries. Or maybe she did, but just decided that waiting inside the village wasn't helping anyone? A calculated risk, as they say?

Yeah. That sounded more like her. Which gave Isaac an idea.

He could have waited for Elaine to return. Really, with the night fast approaching, it probably wouldn't even take that long. Not everybody had night vision after all, so staying in the wilds after dark would be just too risky.

So, if he really wanted to, he could have just sat here for maybe another hour or two and then gotten some more answers about this Safe Zone from the source.

Only he didn't want to do that.

Just the thought of staying here, doing absolutely nothing, gave him jitters. And with only a bit over seven hours remaining before the next stage began, there was no way in hell he would fall asleep. Not that he was tired in the first place.

Which was why he also decided to go out. Getting another level and some practice before the Virus Wars began couldn't hurt, right?

Marie didn't agree, but she also didn't try to stop him. She just muttered something about "stubborn fools" and wished him good luck. And so, after leaving all the supplies he had brought from LA, Isaac transformed and left the village far behind.

His new destination?

The Valleys of Whispers, of course.

Back when he traveled with his team, it had taken them about four hours to make the trip from the Valleys to the village. Now, all alone and with his Legacy evolved, he made the same trip in a bit over an hour. Really, it was quite unfair just how overpowered flying was when it came to traveling.

No stops. No obstacles. Just flying straight toward the target at full speed.

It kinda made him wonder just how far into the wilds he could go before some high-level monster killed him before he could react. Instantly, his mind flashed back to the Quarantine Site at the edge of the Burning Wasteland.

He shuddered. Okay, so maybe let's not test that.

Now entering: Valleys of Whispers.

The moment that notification appeared before him, the usual soft whispers carried by the wind returned. For now, they were still quiet, still harmless, but as he glanced toward the fading sun, he knew that wouldn't last long.

The night was close, and with its arrival, the Valleys would awake once more.

Now I just have to find a place to land.

Last time, he and his teammates had to face the horde inside a thick forest that made up most of this territory. That definitely wasn't the ideal place for a fight of this scale, especially not when he had a flying-type Legacy. Which was why tonight, he would be the one to choose the battlefield.

This looks pretty decent, he thought, his eyes scanning a small meadow running alongside a wide river. A few trees dotted the area, but compared to the forest from last time, this was ten times better.

Almost no bushes. No gnarled roots waiting to trip him. And not enough trees to make maneuvers in his Legacy a pain in the ass.

Yeah. I will take it.

With that thought, Isaac landed in the middle of the meadow, sat down cross-legged, and waited for the final rays of the sun to vanish. Already, his blood boiled beneath his skin, ready to begin another symphony. It knew well what was coming.

The tattoo housing Root of Blood also pulsed with warmth.

Soon.

Barely ten minutes after Isaac landed in the meadow, the wind picked up, once more turning the soft whispers into distant screams. The temperature dropped within seconds, and Symphony of Blood took it as a challenge, finally starting to play the first notes of its song.

Isaac stood up, the Root slipping into his land in a loose hold.

The Shades of the Valley are waking. The Ruins of Whispers have revealed themselves. Hosts, prepare yourselves. Survive.

A smile tugged at his lips as colorful Shades emerged from the treeline, one after another.

Was coming here reckless?

Maybe. Probably.

Yet as more and more shades stepped out of the forest, forming a loose ring around him, he couldn't care less about the insanity of his actions here. This was where he felt the most at home. In the middle of a battlefield, with the Symphony's song rising higher and higher with each second.

And… there was another part of him that had missed this. Missed being alone.

Working in a team had its perks, and he definitely didn't regret teaming up with Elaine, Marie, and James. However, the few times when he fought alone, when it was just him against hordes of monsters, that was when he truly felt alive.

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The Pioneer Trials. The dozens of Wretched behind his apartment. The Double-layered Quarantine Site in Sacramento.

Those were the times when there was nothing holding him back. He could fight and fight, focusing only on himself and the beasts that blocked his path. No other distractions.

The Root pulsed in his hand.

Isaac smiled wider. Yeah… Let's cut loose.

Shades of the Valley are furious. Swarm Stage 1 inbound.

And so it began.

The dozens upon dozens of Shades charged at him like an army. Even the monsters on the other side of the river attacked, running across the water as if it were solid ground. Neat trick.

Now, Isaac could have transformed and summoned his flock. Or hell, he could have even just created a volley of Crimson Deaths to face the horde. But he didn't. In the end, this was only stage one of the swarm. Almost none of the beasts here showed up as anything higher than a Low threat.

For now, he would conserve his strength while also training his lower-tier abilities.

Like pure Blood Manipulation and Cursed Draw.

As such, instead of massive spears, dozens of Blood Daggers formed above him as he took his first step toward the charging horde. Within a blink, they all shot forward, raining death upon the Shades.

Die.

Those who survived the initial salvo were swept away by a wide arc of blood, courtesy of Cursed Draw. Another swing sliced through the beasts trying to flank him from his right, while a fresh wave of daggers stopped the ones coming at him from the left.

Kill notifications tried to flood his vision, but Isaac pushed them all aside and allowed the thrum of Symphony of Blood to fill his mind. Only the enemies in his path mattered to him.

And so he danced through the horde like a man possessed. His body and Viron always moving, always doing something to stop the never-ending swarm from overwhelming him.

A parry or block here. A dagger to the chest there. A wide swing fueled by Cursed Draw to clear a group of phantom deer trying to skewer him with their antlers.

Of course, sometimes an attack or two would slip past his guard, decorating his body with fresh cuts and bruises. Yet, Isaac never let those minor injuries distract him. Instead, he pulled on the dripping blood and pushed it into the next Cursed Draw.

Other times, when the numbers swarming him would get too great, he just transformed and landed in another empty spot. No use wasting too much Viron to get out of a sticky situation when his Legacy form provided him with the perfect escape tool. That it momentarily scared all nearby beasts was another plus.

Before long, though, the swarm began to back off a little, returning to their position from before the first stage. Isaac knew well what that meant, and the following notification only confirmed that.

Swarm Stage 1 defeated. The Shades of the Valley are distressed. The Guardians are stirring. Swarm Stage 2 will commence soon.

That's different, he noted. The Guardians shouldn't be waking until he had defeated stage two. Guess I did too well?

Isaac narrowed his eyes, already finding multiple massive bears and some of the mutant-like shades in the horde. Unlike all other beasts, all of these showed as Low-Moderate threat.

This wasn't really an issue, considering that he still had about seventy percent of his Viron reserves left. He also hadn't used Obliteration, Crimson Death, or any of his ultimates yet.

Still, if the Guardians were really arriving early, he had to be careful.

Well then, let's kick it up a notch, shall we?

Just as the swarm charged again, Isaac transformed with Freedom mode active and called forth his flock. The sudden noise of his ravens froze the monsters, allowing him to descend again with another skill already building up inside his body.

Obliteration.

The moment he hit the ground, blood erupted all around him, shredding through every monster in its reach. Not even the phantom bear survived the blast.

But Isaac was far from done.

Even as two new Shades replaced every single one he had just killed, he was already back in the sky, out of the horde's reach. He might have fought the first swarm fair and square, almost never using his Legacy form, but with stronger monsters joining the battle, that was no longer an option.

Crimson Death.

Right away, half a dozen spears formed by his side. He was about to let them fly when he spotted multiple phantom, arrow-like projectiles coming his way.

So much for being out of reach. Isaac grimaced, banking hard to the right to avoid the salvo. Of course, within seconds, he had to dodge again and again. Obviously, some of the Shades didn't want him to stay in the air.

Annoying pests.

Isaac continued to dodge, weaving through the relentless onslaught as fast as he could. The presence of his flock helped a lot, but his creations could only handle so much before they burst into red mist.

He had to fix this fast.

And so, he swooped low, his eyes quickly finding two of the mutant-like Shades firing the arrows. They weren't the only ones, but he had to start somewhere.

The six Crimson Deaths trailing behind him left his side, and the monsters were no more.

Two down.

He landed and transformed in the spot of their death. A quick mental command forced his remaining flock to descend upon the monsters closing in on his position.

As for Isaac?

He charged forward, cleaving through the Shades in his path as his gaze locked onto another pair of mutants—the same ones that had tried to shoot him out of the sky. They might have forced him to come down, but they would pay for it with their lives.

A phantom bear tried to come to their rescue, but Isaac just sidestepped its charge and delivered a low-powered Obliteration to its side. The ravens following him finished the job.

Your turn.

The two mutants shifted their arms back into blade forms, ready to engage him in close quarters. Only, Isaac had no interest in trading blows here. There was no time for that, not with so many more monsters to kill.

Which was why he grabbed another chunk of Viron and swung the Root in a wide arc. The wave of blood that followed cleaved right through the mutants' blades and then their bodies.

Four down.

This pattern continued, with Isaac slaughtering the helpless Low threat Shades until they no longer wanted to fight him. They just remained at the edge of the meadow, leaving him to face the bears, mutants, and a few other larger monsters who continued to spill into the arena.

This should have made the battle easier. However, the opposite happened.

With their countless lesser kin no longer getting in the way, the stronger Shades moved faster and became almost… coordinated. Instead of facing two or three mutants at worst, Isaac found himself defending from five or six, with a bear or two always trying to come at him from the flank.

If not for his Legacy, Burnout, and the constantly ramping up Symphony of Blood, he probably would have been gutted more than once. Hell, even with these, he was still sometimes caught off guard and thrown across the battlefield like a ragdoll.

He winced, rolled to his feet, and raised the Root just in time to catch another blade coming for his head.

"Obliteration," he growled, thrusting his free hand forward.

A geyser of blood exploded from his palm, vaporizing half of the Shade. Not that it mattered, as within a second, two new monsters took their place.

For some reason, though, they didn't attack. Nor did the two bears nearby or the dozen mutants still left on the battlefield.

What?

That was when he heard it.

The distant thrum of hooves hitting the ground.

The Guardians' approach.

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