"How many have you taken in?"
Several people in an empty warehouse had gathered, speaking to each other. The warehouse had no windows, with light bulbs draping from above.
One of the men told the other, "Seven are coming; twelve are already taken in." The man looked at the kidnapped people with mouths covered in tape.
The man frowned and said, "Why not eight? It should have been eight!"
The other retorted, "How do you expect me to get you eight? Don't you see the outside world? Sentries are still looking for us, and if it weren't for me. You would have been caught long ago."
Others joined in; their arguments were just boasts. They were sentries too, albeit not the powerful ones. From the other side of the warehouse, a voice came and made these sentries' hearts shiver.
"Quiet." The man growled.
He sat at a throne made of stones as if he were the king of the place. Hairs draping over his forehead, long and black. His eyes are yellow in color, with pupils slit like a cat's. A naked chest with tattoos stretched from the guts to the right shoulder. He had olive skin.
"Did I give you permission to speak?" he said, pressing his palm against the armrest; lines appeared on it.
This one was an intiverse. A powerful one. He made the sentries stiff with his voice alone; sweat trickled down from their temples. Their sweat was not from hard work but from fear.
A hard knock came at the giant gate of the warehouse. Upon hearing them, the sentries felt relieved that they wouldn't have to deal with their boss' anger.
One of them rushed to open it and let the van move in; as it did, the driver cursed and said, "Damn the forest, it's so thick and scary. I almost died while being chased by the wild bears."
The warehouse in an abandoned area was relieved from humans; trees had grown thick, and wild bushes were all about, making the place gloomy and perilous. The house of snakes and wild bears, they called the place.
The forest was guarded by sentries to keep the wild animals from entering the cities; no one was allowed to enter it except the sentries.
"How long are we going to bribe the guards? What if they tell somebody about the place?" The man who said it had two of his fingers chopped off. He was always worried about being exposed.
"Don't think too much and take care of the people."
The people in the van were brought out, and the masks on their faces were taken off. Among the seven, two were young kids of age near eleven, and the other five were of ages between eighteen and twenty.
"They are good for experiments," the driver said; he was the only one who was powerless. "What do you think, boss?" He asked the intiverse.
The intiverse gazed at the abducted people and brusquely nodded. The sentries could tell their boss was disappointed at the numbers; usually it would have been fifty, but this time it was only nineteen.
Tears moved down from the cheeks of the kids, their cries muffled by the tapes on their mouths.
"I'll wager, among them, one will become a forced sentry."
These kidnapped people were taken to be experimented on in order for them to become forced sentries; it was only one of the hundred more assorted experiments.
"I better get a thousand Niyen for this." The driver demanded, but it was his delusional thought that they would concur to give him the amount he wants.
Another heavy knock came at the door.
"They must have come." The sentry said as he opened the gate, a dagger moved towards his throat, making a clean cut.
The sentry grabbed his bleeding throat and looked at the person who held the dagger.
He had a medium skin tone, short hair, and blue eyes. He wore a blue jacket over his grey shirt. Black dripping from the dagger.
"You're." He recognised him.
He was the infamous weakest solo leveler.
* * *
"This place is empty." I said, looking at the inside of a warehouse.
The guard stroked his head and confusedly looked at the empty and dark inside.
I glanced at him. "Tell me where they are, or else I will have your head hacked."
Panicked, he shouted, "Trust me, this really is the place; there is no other warehouse around here."
It was an obvious lie; I can see it now. I clicked my tongue and told him, "I will give you one last chance." jabbed my sword at him.
Instead of talking, he pointed his gun at me. His hands were trembling; there was no way a timid human like him had ever killed someone.
"I warned you." I said, treading closer.
He stepped back. "Stop, or else I will shoot." His threat was petty and weak.
"Shoot if you can." I said.
Before he could, my sword deftly moved in the air and soundlessly severed his hand. For a moment he couldn't feel the pain, but his shriek was loud when he saw it plunging to the ground.
He was on his knee, his forehead on the ground, begging to spare his life. They should have enough wits to know what choices they need to make.
Perhaps there was someone more fearful to make him lie over telling the truth.
"Tell me where the place is lest you want the other hand cut off." I said, raising my sword. "I wouldn't let you
He lifted his head, his eyes falling down like an ocean. With a wince of agony on his face, he said, "I will take you."
"Should have from the start." I said.
Bentend emerged from behind the tree trunk. His body quivered. "This place creeps me out."
En route he had seen a snake on the branch of a tree, staring at him with its green eyes and its tongue coming out. Since then he had been cautious of the place.
"Why did you hide?"
He shrugged and said, "Don't want to be a burden, you know. I'm not a strong man like you. But have good wits."
"Your good wits should have located the foes." I said, grabbing the guard's collar and pulling him to his feet. "Now start walking. If you think you fooled us, you will never see the sunshine ever again."
Just as we were able to move, animals emerged from the thick and thorny bushes; they were wild bears.
Their stature was tall, and their fur was brown with black speckles. Their menacing faces, blood dripped from their mouths as they walked towards us.
Petrified by the wild bears, Bentend ran behind me. "Holy! Why did they have to come at this time?!"
One of them roared and charged at me. They were weak; my hand moved towards them and opened wide. Yellowish threads began to emanate from the wild bears, were absorbed within my hand, and my body began to emanate similar yellow energy but much more terrifying than theirs.
They stopped after feeling the intangible energy being emitted from my body. Slowly, they backed away.
I had absorbed their fierce emotions and left them with empty heads. They were now sheep in lions' costumes. It was still only a temporary effect. Emotions are always rewired in the brain.
"We have no time to waste on them." I told Bentend.
With the energy I had absorbed from the wild bears, I used it to enhance my senses. I could sense a powerful force lingering in the deeper part of the forest.
A sentry this powerful? No doubt about it. We had to reach there before the humans were moved out of that warehouse.