Frostnova and Quest

"This is… Chernobog?" I muttered as I looked at the ruin before me. No buildings dared to stand tall with the exception of a tower in the centre of the city. The city was filled with rubbles, skeletons and an endless inferno that raged in several neighbourhoods.

"Their leader must be in that tower," Rimuru said as he pointed towards a modern glass building that dominated the city at its heart. If anywhere, that was the most obvious location for a headquarters due to its view of the entire city.

"Hey, I hear fighting in that direction," Rimuru added as he pointed to a pile of ruins that led underground. I looked at the other groupchat members, who nodded in return to my gaze.

"Let's check it out," I muttered as I pulled out my rifle. I was extremely low on ammo, but it could still deal quite a punch.

After we slowly trekked the cragged streets of Chernobog, we managed to reach the hole. Several Reunion corpses could be seen lying around. I decided to ignore it and head down as the others paid their respect to the dead.

"It's cold down here," I shuddered as the temperature became unnaturally cold the further I went down. The deeper I tried to move, the colder it was, until it suddenly ceased becoming colder and… a voice.

"Frostnova!" A familiar voice shouted deep beneath the rubbles. It was the Dokutah! I turned around to see the other groupchat members realise the same thing. Without a second to spare, I rushed towards the source of the voice.

"Who?" An unfamiliar voice asked as I emerged from an entrance to the room the Dokutah was presumably in. I could see Amiya, Blaze, the Dokutah holding a white-haired woman, and an unknown woman with a crossbow pointed in my direction.

"Wait! She's friendly," Amiya quickly stopped the grey-haired woman that held the crossbow. I gave her a nod of appreciation. When the rest of the gang entered a few seconds later, Rimuru was quick to rush towards the Dokutah, who was holding a white-haired woman in his arms.

"Rimuru!" I shouted in surprise as he consumed the woman in the Dokutah's arms. I could sense the room becoming tense, but before anyone could speak up, Rimuru spoke.

"I wanted her to end the same way her brothers and sisters did," Rimuru explained with a sad tone. I wasn't sure if the woman was dead, but I had a feeling that Rimuru had something planned.

"You didn't have to rush to her like that," The grey-haired woman added sarcastically as she stared at Rimuru with a disapproving look. Amiya and Blaze were silent, with the former visibly pained. The Dokutah's expression was hidden, but his silence told me all I needed.

"Perhaps, another time," The Dokutah silently uttered after a few seconds of silence as he got up from the ground to face us.

"Kal'tsit didn't tell me about you guys in the pre-planning," The Dokutah said in a monotonous tone.

"We came on our own accord. Our goal is to get rid of the Reunion presence in Lungmen. No payments are needed. Chernobog just happened to be where we chased them to," I replied as I looked around the room. There were signs of a massive fight here.

"I see…" The Dokutah nodded thoughtfully.

"Rimuru, could you use your arts to heal us?" Amiya asked as she pointed out the injuries she and the other members of Rhodes Island had. Likely from the fight with the white-haired girl.

"Sure," Rimuru nodded as he hovered his hand over a frostbitten part of Blaze's body. A green glow emits from his hand as the injuries revert to normal. Is this a new healing spell that he learned? One that doesn't require the consumption of the patient?

"Thank you. Someone will come and take us to the landship soon," Amiya said with a calming tone.

"As business partners, I think I should tell you this. We plan to terminate our contract with Lungmen and deal with the Chernobog problem on our own," Amiya suddenly said. I looked at her with eyes wide open.

"What prompted you to terminate the contract?" I asked. Rhodes Island had a lot to benefit from a business relationship with Lungmen. For them to terminate it, something really bad must've happened.

"Lungmen- no, Chief Wei Yenwu ordered the indiscriminate massacre of all infected individuals in the slums of Lungmen. It's something that violates Rhodes Island's ideals. As for whether or not you want to continue your contract with us, I'll find a way to convince Kal'tsit if you wish to terminate it," Amiya answered. This was the first time I'd seen her angry like that.

I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw Rimuru barely holding it together. I could tell that he was also angry knowing his morals. It would be a good idea to keep him away from Wei Yenwu. Although what Amiya said made me dislike this guy, he was still the leader of the country. We don't want to be on the wrong side of the law, and I'm sure he knew that too.

"Where do you guys plan to go after this?" Amiya asked. I could see that she wants us to join her.

"Reunion's headquarters in Chernobog," Rimuru immediately replied.

"Do wait for us. It's not a good idea to rush into enemy territory alone," The Dokutah said.

"Don't worry about it. We'll go ahead, and you can catch up with us later," I said as I waved them goodbye. With Rimuru and Zhongli, we weren't likely to encounter much danger. Plus, we'll only be scouting for the most part.

After we waved Rhodes Island goodbye, we continued on our journey of checking out Chernobog. It seemed dystopian. A city that was probably lively, was now haunted with men dressed in white.

As we decided to rest in a building nearby, a ring could be heard from all of our pockets. What did the system want this time?

[System: Quest Completed!

Rewards: 10,000,000 LMD(added to Ark Holding's bank account), 300 GC points each

]

"Wait, what? That's it?" I asked in surprise when I checked the notification. We didn't do much yet, and surely, there were at least a few Reunion soldiers in the Lungmen slums. Yet, how did we complete the quest already?

"No matter. With the quest complete, we can return to our worlds," Zhongli stated as he sipped his tea.

"Clukay, I wish to remain in this world for a little longer," Rimuru added with determination in his eyes. I knew why. He hated both Reunion and Lungmen, but he knew. It was only a few that lacked morals. He was after the leaders of both, who were the source of all of this.

"Sure," I replied. I wasn't in a position to reject him, I didn't own the world after all.

"I too, wish to stay. I want to observe this world a little longer," Zhongli said.

"I… I need to return home. To make sure my family is alright," Jinwoo shyly said, seeing as everyone else decided to stay.

"Don't worry about it," I replied. Family was above all else.

"Thank you, 50 points for teleportation back to my world…" Jinwoo muttered as we watched him. We were curious as to how it worked.

As we watched Jinwoo move his fingers around the phone, a bright light similar to the one that blinded me when I first met them appeared. After we recovered from the light, Jinwoo disappeared as another notification rang from our phones.

[Jinwoo: I'm back!]

[Clu: Congrats, how is it?]

[Jinwoo: I was blinded for a moment, and then I returned back to the same hospital bed I disappeared in, with the same hospital gown. It's almost like no time had passed at all]

[Zhongli: I'm interested in the mechanics of this]

After we chatted a little, it was time for us to move on.

With one of us gone, there were only three of us left here. Personally, I didn't want to face Reunion anymore without the pressure of a death game, but out of respect for Rimuru, I decided to tag along.

Plus, I had a few questions for their leader, Talulah.