"What?"

The moment he had accepted the quest for the soul, he was notified that it had been completed and the soul appeared in his inventaory.

The Soul of someone who cared a lot about the fate of others and was always ready to lend a helping hand. >

The would of the mutated Hangingtree had also lost the corruption effect. He had gotten all the rewards without even doing anything...

~Does this mean we visit that city you wanted to go to? ~

With all excuses out of the way, Seth actually felt a lot better about doing his own thing for a while. He was not ready to face his trauma with the hanging tree, but he was eager to get revenge for the near-death experience with the snakes.

Bully the weak, fear the strong and your life will be long or something like this. As for Lynri and Wedan? Duhu was probably enough to protect them. On top of that, Evan and Wedan might even be able to gain some level by fighting the small fry.

He realized that the chance they would have to face any danger was quite small. After all, Seth had the title "Master Skywalker?" which granted him a massive aggro boost from snake monsters. The snakes would probably ignore anyone beside him when they came into range.

"Alright, guys we have a new destination."

Everyone gave off moans of despair.

"Don't worry, we set off tomorrow. I won't force you to sleep on Puff's back."

Relief sighs followed and soon everyone had fallen asleep.

Seth used breakfast time in the morning to explain his plan. He briefed them on the place and enemy they were probably to face. From his , Seth knew the way and the changes in terrain that happened in Deltan.

The city, which was almost a deserted desert ghost town when he came there and was later flooded, was now a huge swamp biome after the trees tried to take over the area.

The plan was easy to understand. They would look for a safe place at the edge of the swamp. There Duhu would stay back with Lynri and the others and wait for Seth and Puffles to return.

He didn't want to take them with him into the swamp. He still remembered being surrounded by snakes. This would make it too hard to protect the priestess. It was better for Duhu to stay with them in a relatively safe place until Seth was done.

The tiger man agreed to protect them until the blacksmith returned. He even promised to bring them out of the forest, if Seth failed to return.

After breakfast, they saddled up on the Ivicer and traveled straight south from their current position, which would lead them right into Deltan.

They were quicker than Seth had even expected. I was thanks to the magnitude of destruction the fire had reached. They could travel the longed part of their journey over ashen plains. Even when they reached the edge of the forest, it was clear that the flora had a hard time reviving the scorched earth.

The travel speed slowed a little when the giant ivicer had to weave through trees and shrubbery. Flying up was impossible because the thick canopy of branches and leaves would have ripped them out of their saddle.

The changes in terrain became quite obvious once they reached the swamplands. These had been grassy plains before where Seth had met the fairies for the first time. Later it had turned into a giant lake where he saved Fin and her people from drowning.

Most of the water was gone, but the place was turned into muddy wetlands covered in sparse and crooked-looking trees and grasses. This was as close as Seth was ready to get with all of them together.

They found a slightly more dry, elevated hill that was fortified by a small group of trees. It was the tiger man who had chosen this place.

"Watch your step." Duhu reminded as they dismounted the centipede.

As a dimensional traveler, the tijaahk had his fair share of experiences with all kinds of terrains. He was well equipped for fight and survival in any circumstances. It was one of the reasons Seth felt assured when leaving these people with him.

"Hey, don't you dare not to come back! You promised me a life in Delta. You have to keep it!" Lynri demanded harshly, but she couldn't hide the worry in her voice. Wedan and Ethan also looked wary.

"Don't worry about me. You have seen what I can do. You have seen what Puff can do. Worry about them. " he said with a confident grin and said his goodbyes.

On Puffles back he flew all the way until the ruins of the city became visible. The flooded city was still flooded with the top halves of high risers and skyscrapers peeking out of the murky sludge that filled the street canyons.

The only big difference was that the top halves were covered in vegetation. Trees and all kinds of plants, bushes, and vines and found their way to repopulate the deserted city. The once gray and dull modern landscape had turned into sharp, steep cliffs covered in lush green.

If he didn't know that the whole place was probably infested with snakes and monster fish, it would have been a really magnificent sight.

Puffles landed on a clearing on the roof of a rather intact high riser.

~What now?~ the ivicer asked.

"We wait," Seth answered with a smile. He counted on his title to pull the aggro and assemble the prey.

They had barely managed to settle down when swarms of three- and four-meter-long constrictor snakes started flocking filling the water surrounding the building they stood on. The murky water was filled with long winding bodies making it look as if it was boiling

~Ew...~ The ivicer commented and Seth could only agree. This was not a very appetizing sight.

Against Seth's expectation, they did not approach any further. The small snakes made no attempts to climb the building and stayed in the water. He waited for more snakes or bigger ones to appear, but nothing happened.

He had drawn a huge crowd of small fry that did not dare to actually fight...

Maybe he had to draw blood to summon the bigger ones? Like a neglective parent that only came when it heard its bratty child cry and whine. Just that this would not end with just a few tears.

Seth double cast the Fire Rain and flaming balls fell from the sky, striking the water surrounding the building. Of course, the scale was smaller than in the forest as he did not do anything to actively strengthen the magic.

Who would go all out on a bunch of small fries? The fireballs the size of a basketball submerged into the water roiling with bodies and detonated with huge fountains. The whole building was surrounded by several meters' high fountains of water as the kill notification kept coming in.

It was just, even with these quantities, the quality was simply non-existent. It was like being a high-level character in a game and only getting "+1 XP" over and over and over from killing beginner mobs.

He could barely even see a change in his experience bar.

After a few minutes, the water was stained red with blood and burst snakes. Even up here on the roof, they got a whiff of cooked meat. It didn't smell good at all. The yucky soup was made with the stale swamp water and stank like rotten plants and decay.

Seth even had to gag but he kept observing the waters. The light show should have been heard and seen in a wide area, right? This spectacle had to draw attention!