Fattening up (3)

As the piece of roasted monster meat travelled down his mouth and made contact with his taste buds, Evan's eyes widened in bliss. Chewing intensely, he felt the amazing flavour seep out of the meat and stream down his throat.

Gulping, Evan swallowed the piece of meat. Licking his lips vigorously, his face reflected the inner shock he was experiencing.

'How is this so good?!'

Grinning, Destin was satisfied with the human's reaction as he growled, "Delicious, isn't it?"

"Very," Evan unconsciously responded, continuing to lick his lips even after the remnant flavour from the meat was gone. Seeing Evan lick his lips in wonder, Destin chuckled as he offered, "You can receive this quality of meat if you just listen to my every command and join me in torturing your fellow human."

Opening his mouth to respond, Evan almost agreed after remembering the heavenly taste of the meat. Unfortunately, as soon as the zombie mentioned that one of the conditions was helping to torture Astrid, Evan's desire for the food plummeted.

If he were to accept, Evan would feel sick to his stomach. Not to mention being extremely disgusted at himself and being unable to look back at his reflection in a mirror, proud of the choice he made.

"I'm afraid that will not be possible," Evan sighed as he closed his eyes regretfully.

"What a very interesting human you are. Most people from your race wouldn't hesitate to give up on their teammates if they could live out their final days in comfort and luxury."

Rubbing his chin awkwardly again, two sparks of curiosity blazed in Destin's eyes as his interest towards Evan spiked. Taking out another piece of meat from the storage ring, the zombie leader once again walked toward Astrid and ordered her to roast the food.

Complying after another threat, a tiny blue flame was ignited in Astrid's palm. Once again, a tantalizing smell spread across the room, which evoked the desire in a person to ravenously feast on the meat being cooked.

Repeating the process, Evan was force-fed another slice of monster meat, this time one of lesser quality as his eyes showcased a fiery determination to endure his current plight.

***

WHOOSH-! WHOOSH-! WHOOSH-!

In an area with rampant ruination, large piles of rubble littered the ground. Structures of magnificent architecture that once stood tall and proud now became nothing more than small markers of destruction.

With the twilight glow bathing the area in a fiery glow, a shadow streaked across the landscape.

The shadow was a hooded figure who was seen flickering, with its body phasing in and out of existence every few seconds. Their gait resembled that of a leopard as they ghosted across the ground silently, without any noise, travelling to their intended destination.

The figure stood tall at a height of six feet and eight inches, with the only discernable thing about their features being two piercing crimson-red eyes, which the hood failed to obscure.

They had a lean and athletic build which rippled with power, causing anyone to be extremely apprehensive when the cloaked figure stared at them.

Stopping for a moment, the figure sniffed a few times in the air before resuming their journey.

As their body flickered continuously, the distance the figure travelled increased with each passing moment. Continuing to journey for a few more minutes, the figure finally stopped and crouched down, inspecting the ground.

Wiping the grey dust from the ground, it revealed a set of footprints which headed off in a western direction.

Gazing toward the left, the figure's crimson eyes glinted sharply as they changed direction and began travelling again, searching for more footprints which would provide a clue to its target's whereabouts.

***

Back in the cell surrounded by darkness, Evan reflected on his recent experiences of being a captive of a zombie leader.

With his hands bound once again, he heaved a tired sigh as his brain began whizzing, trying to come up with a plan which would help him escape from this prison.

'What are the things I have on me which would help me escape? Well, I have two martial arts of extremely high quality. However, I'm restricted by my current rank so I can't display the full extent of their might. I have the azure ball in my brain, but from what I have deciphered so far from the first level, it only provides knowledge. Which is very useful, however, it won't be able to aid me in my current predicament.'

Stumped as he didn't have an immediate thing which could help him, Evan's forehead creased deep in thought as a frown emerged on his face.

'Let me have a look inside my storage ring.'

Evan was very perplexed as to why Destin didn't confiscate his storage ring, but right now, he didn't care. Instead, he was thanking his lucky stars, wherever they were and in whatever small quantity they existed.

'I should have a bout of good luck after all I've been through. It's the least I deserve!'

With his hands bound behind his back, many would think it was impossible for Evan to have a look at the contents of his storage ring. He, however, just smirked and used his mental energy to move his consciousness into the ring.

After discovering the existence of the azure ball, Evan found to his great surprise that he possessed stronger mental energy than what a normal human possesses.

Every human had mental energy. It just depended on how strong their mental energy was. That was the difference between a warrior or normal human and a mage or scholar.

A warrior and a normal human possessed dormant mental energy, which was equivalent to having no mental energy at all. Mages and scholars were born with stronger mental energy, causing said mental energy to awaken from its dormant state.

So, after Evan dived into the azure ball, he discovered that his mental energy was strengthened, activating it from its quiescent slumber.

Perusing the contents of his storage ring, his consciousness stopped at a silver medallion engraved with the number one.

'Wasn't that the medallion which Andre gave me proving that I am a rank 1 mercenary?'

Straining his mind, trying to recall the conversation he had with Andre after he passed the assessment to become a mercenary, Evan's curiosity was piqued.

'I remember that after Andre gave me the silver medallion, he didn't mention anything about its uses. I just shrugged it off as a useless piece of metal, but I have a feeling there is more than meets the eye with this medallion.'