Myriad, I need you. Code red.

<What is it?>

Hit a little snag in this investigation. We haven’t found Foast yet but he is, with little doubt in my mind, being controlled by something powerful.

<What makes you so sure?>

He ate a village.

<What?>

Yeah, Abel’s confirmed that everyone within it is either dead or gone which, let’s be real, means everyone’s dead. We’re lacking in information right now and we’ll do our best to solve it, but there’s a different issue here too that needs to be addressed.

<A bigger issue than the shifter being under a demon’s control and eating an entire village of people?>

Yes. We don’t know what’s got him, nor the overall power and range of it, but what we do know is who we are as the group that’s following him. I personally didn’t have the power to control Foast which means whatever’s doing it is likely more powerful than me in that regard and not just all of the second tiers among us, including myself there’s two third tiers potentially available to become victims too and while there’s only so much harm I could do, Abel is a different matter.

<…I don’t believe that should be an issue for either of you.> Myriad said after a moment’s thought. <Abel’s mental structure’s alienness has made significantly more sense ever since you found out she has outsider blood in her and your mental structure is incomparable to anything this universe has seen or likely will ever see again, all the more so since her mental structure imprinted on your mind as well, only increasing its alienness. Frankly, even if the odds are low, if she is taken over, I don’t believe for a second you would be.>

You are aware that her being taken over is the bigger problem, right? I don’t want to have to try and fight both Foast and Abel at once; I will literally die.

<Then test it out yourself and see how you do against her.>

Not exactly a guarantee, given I failed with Foast too.

<But still better than nothing.>

Fair.

“Okay, Abel, now that we know this, I need to test something on you.”

“Hmm? What?”

“If Foast is being controlled, then that means there’s a chance you and everyone else with us can be controlled too. It’s not a guarantee but since I can do a similar thing, I’d like you to allow me to try and take over your mind. If I can, then that’ll mean you’ll have to leave after showing us the way.”

“What-”

“Abel,” he said firmly. “Fighting Foast will be dangerous enough, if we end up having to fight you too then I don’t want to imagine what the death toll is going to look like. If you can’t let me test at least this much, then we’ll have to split here anyway because I can’t accept that sort of risk.”

“Augh! Fine, do it then!”

“Thank you.”

With permission given, he made his way into her head, trying to merge at the deepest level he could and feeling it barely not work when he tried to take control from her. Her mental structure really was alien in its nature in a way that almost felt greasy, able to be touched but not clung to and left him to scrunch his brow while her own look grew smug.

“Can’t do it then, huh?” she laughed. “Well, don’t worry about that. I wouldn’t have lasted a day back home if I were that easy to handle.”

“You know, I haven’t specifically brought this up to you before but you do realize your home was a post-apocalyptic hellscape, right?”

“Seems like a pretty heavy judgement to make there. It’s a big multiverse, I’m sure there’s plenty of universes like mine.”

“So here’s the thing, I’m actually getting lessons from the grey about the broader multiverse and I can guarantee there aren’t.”

“Huh, neat. Doesn’t matter though. Since you can’t control me, that means I get to help save the perv’s sorry butt.”

“Yeah, yeah you do,” he sighed. “But, on the very real chance that whatever demon is better at mind control than me, do me a favour and try to fight it off just hard enough that you won’t end up killing me, okay?”

“Ha, what do you take me for? Nothing’s getting control of me, it’s the other weaklings with us that need to worry.”

“Oh, trust me here, I’m already worried. Okay, this is going to be a nightmare but let’s go back. We need to talk to the rest of them and while we’re doing that, we need to keep tracking Foast.”

“Alright, the nature of what we’re dealing with has likely been determined after that investigation and is going to affect our plans going forward,” Ben addressed the adventurers once they were in the sky. “Foast is being controlled and considering he’s known for a skill that can specifically be used in combat scenarios, that should indicate the level of seriousness encountering him should imply. I’ll start with the biggest issue here. When we find him, none of you will be helping to fight the shifter. Not only because of the risk he poses but what it implies as well. I’ve personally gone up against a demon able to exert control over people in the past and it was horrific to try and survive so unless any of you think you have some innate resistance to mind control of all types, not just dark magic, speak now and then we can test to confirm it.”

He waited a beat but none spoke up, at least on that matter, though a different one was broached before he could continue.

“If he is being controlled, what should we do if not fight?” Wosh asked. “As dangerous as anything with that sort of mind-controlling power might be, it can’t be ignored and we can’t leave the shifter to repeat whatever happened there.”

“You’re correct, but it won’t be ignored and we won’t just leave him until we can figure something out. Both myself and Abel are resistant to mental attacks due to our unique mental structures and while there is always a risk that it still might not be enough depending on what we’re up against, the two of us are unfortunately not only the best options here but potentially the best options on the planet. That’s not to say that you’ll all be doing nothing of course, but how much you might contribute is going to be directly related to the situation we find him in. How we’ll handle finding him on the road is going to be different from if he’s in a town but either way, your main jobs will be to protect both yourselves as well as anyone else around while hopefully drawing as little attention as possible.”

The absolute worst scenario he could think of would be if they too managed to get taken over in a crowded town or city and helped rain down havoc on innocent civilians around them, or worse, focused on strengthening Foast. What power the shifter had was influenced heavily by what he’d kill, eating them wasn’t a necessity but it still meant that he would get both the form and the skills of any person he murdered.

Which I suppose means the worst possible scenario would be any of these guys getting killed by Foast and then him claiming their skills too but I can at least hope whatever demon has control of him can see the sense of not putting all of its eggs in one basket. If Foast ends up claiming a soul with a skill on it that would get him freed, then that would be bad for it too.

…Man, I already don’t want to be absorbed into Myriad when I die, I really hope I don’t get forced into Foast’s soul instead, even if getting my mind skill might be exactly the thing to break him from this. I am not that self-sacrificing.

Speaking to them all only a little longer, taking and answering questions from any who had them, with the sun now set he gave them the order to try and get what rest they could before moving to where Thera sat at the front, Abel already asleep on her thighs.

“You know, she must trust you if she’s fallen asleep on you twice by this point,” he pointed out quietly, not wanting a loud conversation to disturb the others, even with the sounds of the wind being loud enough to cover most of it as they flew. “But are you sure you don’t need to go down for a rest too? Without her, we’re flying a bit blind anyway.”

“She told me she was far enough ahead that a ten-minute nap would be fine. I’ll just wake her when that passes and as for me, well, I’ll take us down in another couple hours to have a short sleep. I’m more concerned about you. This is what? Day three you’ve been awake now? You need some proper rest.”

“I feel fine.”

“Ben-”

“No, like, I’m being completely serious. I feel super fine, I’m not remotely tired.”

He hadn’t been since reaching the third tier, even if he’d still forced himself to sleep for the sake of it but now, in a time where every hour counted, he was beginning to wonder just how much he needed by that point in general. There was no telling what aspects of his mind might have changed in ways he hadn’t discovered yet but he was growing more and more confident that his sleeping requirements was one of them, leaving Thera to glance at him before shaking her head.

“Fine, but if you do feel tired, you make sure you take a nap. I don’t want to find out this is from adrenaline or stress and that you’re going to collapse as soon as it wears off, especially if I’m not going to be around to help you.”

“You mad about that?”

“How can I be?” she groaned. “It’s not like I was able to do anything the last time we dealt with a mind controller, I’m just worried. What if you end up needing help and there’s no one else around?”

“Then I’ll call you,” he told her, flickering the bind between them for effect. “You feel that then come running my way. I’ll only do it if I think you’ll be safe.”

“You can also do it if you’re not sure, you know.”

“Ha, but then I’d be stuck fighting you a second time and I’m not sure I have the strength to overcome your infinite mana once more. Much safer for me to try and just not die. Besides, maybe it will be easier than either of us are expecting. The only reason the last demon was so hard was because he was a prophet and could tell that I could break his connection to anything that got too close before I could try. So long as we aren’t dealing with another time mage, I might be able to free Foast instantly. Hell, if it tries to get me, I might even be able to fry its brain with the unrestrained might of my own mind. There’s a chance this could be super easy.”

“Do you really believe that’s going to happen?”

“Not really, but since it’s possible, it’s nice to hope,” he groaned. “The fact that this thing is controlling someone I couldn’t is stressing me out and making me worried about how I’ll stack up.”

“Mmh, it would be embarrassing if the world’s newest mind god immediately met someone better,” she tried to tease to lighten the mood. “Already finding someone more powerful than you?”

“Hey now, I’m not a god of mind control.”

“Just a contender for it.”

“I mean, whatever the demon has, it’s almost certainly a contender for it too. I can’t be the best at everything.”

“Uh-huh, and how do you really feel?”

“It’s eating me up inside,” he said as he slumped down. “I’ve been through too much for anything on this world or any other to still be better at mind skills than me at this point, third tier or not. Whenever we find this thing, I’m going to have to dissect its brain for purely research purposes but also mostly to figure out what the hell it’s doing to be better at this than me.”

“So long as it dies in the end.”

“Don’t worry, one way or another it will. We’ll make sure of that.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep