Lv. 5 - First Quest

"FINALLY... FINALLY... THE BODY I WANT. MUAHAHAHAHAHA."

Zen finally realized who this being in front of him was. He was sure that this creature was the source of the sound that brought him here by force. Also... the laugh sent shivers down his spine.

"I can't move again... Damn, do you really like putting people in difficult situations like this?" Of course Zen could only complain in silence.

From the looks of it, the creature has the same form as the previous darkoid. A humanoid one with black tint all over his body. However, he looks stronger with a more muscular body, and the ability to talk.

In addition, there was a rock like a red crystal lodged in the center of his chest, and from the crystal appeared several cracks with red light scattered all over his body. And it looks as if the creature was about to crumble. 

Zen tried to see the creature's name and level info, and again it was something bad.

•Revenant•

??? | ???

Lv. ???

"Again, another damned high-level creature," Zen complained.

The black creature started to get closer to Zen. Zen who was completely unable to move could only curse inside. The moment the creature was right in front of Zen, he began to pay attention to Zen's entire body. And when their eyes met, he said, "BE MY VESSEL!!"

And... STAB!! The creature's hand stabbed Zen right in the heart and red light gradually entered Zen's body. Realizing that its goal had been achieved, the creature kept on showing an evil laugh from the mouth filled with sharp teeth.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit... ouch! Fucking hell… that's painful… you damn creature, get rid of that scary face you bastard!" Zen could only curse at the creature in silence with a face showing his irritation. 

This time Zen's vision began to fade again, and in the darkness a notification window popped up right in front of him.

»Erebus Ordeal«

Don't let the Revenant take over your body.

- Difficulty: ???

- Deadline: ???

- Requirements: Stay alive

- Reward: ???

- Fail Result: Forced deletion of avatar

Zen who saw the mission description was completely shocked by the consequences, as well as curious about what would happen if he succeeded? What prize will he get? And lastly, who is Erebus?

Zen slowly opened his eyes, and what he got, a view like the deep sea and also there was a faint light from above.

"This place is a little strange, I float like I'm underwater, but I can still breathe normally. But this still makes me uneasy."

Of course Zen's words came true, the unease came naturally. From the darkest area, the deepest bottom, long black hands tried to pull Zen down to the bottom.

"How is this? Damn, Arka, think up something..."

Then Zen also remembered about the previous quest's objective. Zen also opened the avatar menu in a hurry to replace the default knife weapon with the Zetsubo katana he just got.

He succeeded, the knife behind his waist disappeared, replaced by a katana hanging from his left waist. Zen also unceremoniously slashed all the hands that tried to pull him from below.

After that Zen was confused because he was still shocked by the sudden attack, where should he go next. So he relied on his instincts to tell him up, in the direction the light was coming from.

Zen tried his best to swim as fast as he could to the top. Meanwhile, the hands chasing him kept multiplying and moving faster. There were even a few that managed to catch Zen's body parts, but It was instantly shattered with a single slash from Zen.

"Just a little bit more…"

Zen stopped suddenly, how could it not be? Dozens of hands held him simultaneously from head to toe, even his hand holding the sword was also restrained.

Trying to fight back, Zen forced his body to twist making all the hands holding him tightly wrapped around his body. But that was only for a while.

When Zen's body spun, simultaneously the sword he was holding also managed to cut off several of the hands that were holding him back. When the hands holding him felt looser, Zen began to continue to swim upwards.

"See? There will always be a way," Zen muttered.

Zen tried to ignore the remaining hands that were still holding his body, and continued to swim upwards. But still, even though he tried to ignore the hands, in the end he had to keep taking care of them.

"He's really persistent," Zen said, gritting his teeth.

In the increasingly difficult situation, Zen started swinging his sword blindly with his expression not showing fear or worry, but on his face was a grin that showed his joy.

''Damn, this makes me excited. Alright Revenant, we'll see how this ends. Did I manage to get free, or did you manage to drag me down there!" Zen shouted without hesitation to himself.

''HAAAAAAAAAAAA...''

....

"...HAAAAAA- hah... hah... hah...'' Zen suddenly found himself lying down, then he quickly got up to stand, ''I'm back?'' Zen glanced around, "No, it looks like it's not over yet, it's still in that dark place. However, it's a little different..."

As Zen said, the visible difference was that the light mist that enveloped the area had dissipated, and the reddish glow in the sky also seemed brighter. And in other words, this place was much brighter than before.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

The sound of applause rang out, Zen looked for the source of the sound. But he found nothing around him.

''Over here.''

Once again a mysterious voice appeared, this time it sounded like a man's voice with a slightly heavy, but gentle tone. Zen also turned his head in the direction the voice came from, namely from behind him.

And there he found a man who looked to be in his mid-20s, with long black hair tied behind his back, red eyes like the light of the sky, then a luxurious set of medieval nobility.

"Congratulations, looks like you made it," he said with a soft clapping, and a suspicious smile appeared on his face.

"Who are you? And why do you speak as if you know what happened to me?"

"A player like you should be able to see info on every existence that comes from this world."

"Ahh… that...."

•???•

{God of Darkness}

"An NPC? W-wait, you're a GOD?!" Zen's eyes widened in shock at what he was seeing now.

"Correct. I'm the God of Darkness, Erebus."

•Erebus•

{God of Darkness}

"So you gave me the quest earlier right?" asked Zen to confirm.

"Wait, let's change places first. It's not comfortable talking here."

Ignoring Zen's words, Erebus snapped his fingers. Instantly, from a dark and sinister place, it turned into a vast, bright white place. The floor was like a sea of ​​water. A table with cups and teapots appeared, then several weird-looking cookies.

"Huh? Where is this again?" said Zen with his eyes looking in all directions, again.

"Still in the same place, you know the name of this place before right? I am the God of Darkness, in other words this place is my domain. So I can change it as I like," said Erebus arrogantly, "Well, although there are some limitations," Erebus continued in a vague manner.

"How practical..."

"Haha," laughed Erebus awkwardly at Zen's response. "Come here, these tea and cookies have just arrived from a friend of mine."

"...." Zen was silent, not only because of Erebus' words, however, this man named Erebus who has the title of God of Darkness looks suspicious.

"Hm...? Why are you silent? Come here, I won't bite." said Erebus jokingly.

"You think I'm a kid, huh? I was just making sure you weren't dangerous," Zen said in a slightly cold tone.

"Come on, I just wanted to talk."

"Then explain to me everything that happened."

"Alright alright...."

Then they began to chat casually quietly. Zen was told that the reason Erebus gave the quest earlier was just for fun, but the consequences were real even though there was no such quest.

Erebus also continued with matters relating to the Revenant, which is a special collection of souls from various beings who have a high desire for life, and they also try to devour each other, until the realization of one Revenant.

When only one soul is left, the Revenant will start looking for a suitable body and seize it.

"So the creature wants to take over my body? Then what happens if I fail?" asked Zen seriously, with a biscuit in one hand.

"As I told you from the quest. You will lose control and the system will remove your access to your avatar. Then as a vessel for the Revenant, your avatar will be controlled by them and settle their regrets in the world. Or it could be a threat to the world itself. "

"Huh... thank God I didn't need to create a new avatar, and no trouble was created," said Zen with a short sigh. "Then, what happened to Revenant now?," Zen continued.

"Because he failed to take your body, then he will be trapped in your body. And try to take over when the opportunity arises."

"Well, I guess I can't just breathe easy," Zen thought.

Putting the situation aside, Zen prefers to continue chatting with Erebus. Zen was starting to notice a little that Erebus was an NPC with a pretty laid back nature, and not to forget about his ability to respond to chats, it was at an extraordinary level.

You could say that Zen is quite curious about how this game's A.I works, but he realizes that peeling it off will not be easy.

....

"Okay, I think that's enough for now," said Erebus ending by putting down the empty cup.

"Can you send me back?"

"Sure. But before that, accept this...."

»Erebus Ordeal - Complete«

Don't let the Revenant take over your body.

- Reward: Class Revenant

"Eh...?!" Zen was surprised to see what he got.

"See you later, Zen," Erebus waved his hand.

"W-wait, what is this-" Zen still didn't have time to finish his sentence and his existence had already disappeared.

"Hmm… that young man sure reminds me of… who is it again..." For a moment Erebus' words stopped. "Oh, it has been a while isn't it? Quite a familiar presence …"

Realizing what he was saying, Erebus immediately stopped. He started walking in a certain direction with a strange smile on his face.

"I think I'd better keep quiet, for now."