Chapter 41: First in Dasmein.
Alseace was focused on creating an icicle in his right hand, and he had been trying for a whole week. He successfully created a dozen icicles, but that wouldn't be enough for him to unlock the Sub-skill of it. He needed to get used to the feeling of creating ice, and that was when he would get the Sub-skill, at least that was what Sierra said.
"I'm beaten... and it's already this late," Alseace sighed as his head started to spin a bit because he hadn't stopped for the past three days. "I should get some rest and do it again as soon as I wake up," Alseace dropped the icicle that was as big as a small bottle of water to the floor.
When he was about to sleep on his bed, he remembered what happened after that incident. The Emissary decided to cover what Carazen did to avoid conflicts and disputes among the big guilds. He heard that the Lost Age, Specter, Notorious, Silver Talon, and the Watervale Guilds decided to band together because they had a sense of responsibility and called themselves The Alliance.
Although the Emissary decided to cover Carazen's deed, they published the reason for his death, and that was by a demon's hand. They wanted people to know what was about to happen and what was coming toward Dasmein. They wanted the people to know that the peace of Dasmein was about to be over and wanted them to prepare for it.
The Vendetta Guild belonged to Carazen, now was taken by the Vice Guildmaster. His name was Lazuli Silverthorn, and he believed that he would become a better Guildmaster than Carazen. That was because The Alliance and the Emissary pressured him and supported him at the same time.
The remaining two guilds, the Onyx, and the Goldenclaw decided to make an alliance with each other, they called themselves the Onyx-Claw. They didn't want to join The Alliance because Lucretia despised Mihangel while Louvenia despised Katya.
Alseace's phone rang and vibrated waking him up from his sleep. He didn't remember that he was asleep, and when he looked at the time, it was already noon. He looked at his phone and it was Renata who called him.
"Finally you picked up the phone," Renata said as she sighed. "Anyway, can we meet up? I found a newly formed vortex in my hometown, and I want to clear it, but I can't do it on my own," Renata explained.
"Okay. I'll be there, just give me the location," Alseace answered.
"Thanks! Let's meet up at the location in an hour?" Renata asked.
"Sure," Alseace nodded his head and hung up the phone. He immediately took a shower and cooked lunch before he left to the location that Renata gave him.
"What do you think?" Renata asked as she looked at the dark orange vortex before her. The location of vortex was hidden inside the basement of Renata's friend's house. "My friend found this when she smelt something bad from her basement, and when she came to check, this thing was on the corner of the basement," Renata explained.
"Have you told Miss Gratya about this?" Alseace asked as he looked at Renata's friend peeking at him from the stairs. She was attracted by the suit and how attractive he looked.
"I did, and she said it's okay as long as I brought you with me. Let's do it, shall we?" Renata tilted her head as she smiled and looked at Alseace.
Alseace nodded his head and created a party together with Renata. Thankfully there were no restrictions or requirements to enter the vortex, so they both entered the vortex as soon as they partied up.
As soon as they entered the vortex, they were welcomed by the strong pungent smell. It made Renata nauseous and couldn't help but vomit because of how strong it was. The place they were teleported to was a valley with thousands of dead bodies scattered around, or at least body parts of them.
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[Forever Rot]
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[Difficulty: Hard]
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[Objective: A curse that struck this world, a curse that has existed for so long that the curse itself has manifested and has its own body. Defeat that curse and bring the world back to how it used to be or the curse will spread wider and put the curse on all the worlds]
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[Failed Condition: Death]
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[Reward: Special Box]
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[Timer: None]
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"Can you wait for me a bit? I need to..." Before Renata could finish her sentence, she started to gag.
"Take your time. I'll check the surroundings," Alseace answered as he looked around.
Alseace looked at the dead bodies and realized he didn't get any EXP from it even though those dead bodies were in the radius of his skill. He kept wandering and wondered why none of them were giving him EXP until he noticed that those dead bodies had been rotten for too long. The bodies no longer resembled a human or animal anymore, and that was why.
"I'm fine now..." Renata said as she covered half of her face with a mask. "By the way, I just realized there's no time limit here," Renata stood next to Alseace and looked at the panel.
"Hmm, I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing," Alseace replied as he walked to the other side of the valley.
(In East Dasmein)
Gratya and Sierra stood in front of a giant vortex in front of them. They weren't alone, Katya, Mihangel, Hunter, Lucretia, Ackerly, Violette, Louvenia, and Lazuli. They were staring at the first black vortex that appeared inside the abandoned mining cave half an hour ago.
"This is the first black vortex in Dasmein, what are we going to do with it?" Violette asked as she stood next to Katya and stared at the vortex in front of her.
"Do we really have a choice? I mean we do, and the option is either we let this break or we enter and perhaps die trying," Katya answered as she sighed and her arms crossed.
Lucretia stared at Sierra standing in front of the vortex for quite a while and didn't say a single word. She then approached her and said, "How long are you going to stare at it? How long for you to identify the vortex?"
"I'm not staring at it and I already identified the vortex," Sierra answered as she turned around to look at Lucretia. "I'm thinking how long your world can survive if an outbreak happens," Sierra continued.
Everyone looked at Sierra with worried expressions and they were curious about what she saw from the portal.
"What do you mean by that? Do you think we can't clear this vortex?" Lucretia asked with her eyebrows furrowed.
"No, you can't," Sierra answered without hesitation.
"You're the strongest Candidate that Dasmein has. Even you can't do it?" Hunter asked with his eyebrows raised.
Mihangel had been staring at Sierra and he was suspicious about Sierra ever since she became well-known. He wondered who she was, and why she had been acting so mysterious and suspicious even though she had the power.
"No, I believe she doesn't want to help us in the first place," Mihangel said as he kept staring at Sierra with a cold expression. "She gave us a warning, she gave us knowledge, and yet she had been hiding all of that from us for decades. She's hiding something from us," Mihangel pointed out and looked at the others.
"So I'm not the only one who thinks like that," Louvenia said as she looked at Sierra with suspicion. "I never like her ever since she showed herself. This woman is so full of herself, and always think she's one above us all," Louvenia continued and showed her annoyed and irritated expressions to Sierra.
"What did you just say?" Katya asked as she turned around and looked at Louvenia. "If you think you're better, show me," Katya clenched her fists and cracked them.
Louvenia raised her left eyebrow and cracked her fists and neck. "You want to fight? So be it," Louvenia said and removed her blazer.
Both of them covered their bodies with dark blue Aura and stared at each other with killing intent. Before they could do anything, Gratya pulled Katya toward her while Violette stood in front of Louvenia.
"Do you want to know the reason why I don't enter a vortex? Then I'll tell you why," Sierra said. "If I enter a vortex, God will take this opportunity and make me one of his goddamn puppets. With that being said, the difficulty of the portal or the vortex I entered, it would become a lot harder," Sierra answered as she fixed her gloves.
They all heard what she said and then they saw Sierra's nose start to bleed. They were surprised that the bleeding was so bad that it kept dripping so quickly. She then collapsed and fainted as soon as she said that.
Gratya and Katya approached Sierra and tried to stop the bleeding while the others watched in the distance.
"What happened to her?" Hunter asked.
"We don't know, but this happened to her three times now. But she will be fine afterward," Gratya answered as she carried Sierra in her arms. "Right now, let's wait for her to gain consciousness," Gratya said as she looked at Katya trying to stop the nosebleed.
They patiently waited for Sierra to wake up while they were talking about what they would do if an outbreak happened. Suddenly Sierra opened her eyes and looked at Gratya sitting next to her while holding her hand.
"Gratya," Sierra said quietly as she shook Gratya's hand.
"Sierra!" Gratya shouted.
Everyone looked at Sierra and immediately approached her since they didn't want to waste their time doing nothing. They gathered around Sierra and watched her sit up as she groaned in pain.
"I could see on your faces. You want to try and clear it?" Sierra asked as she looked at Mihangel and the others. "If so, then you're going to need every S-Rank Candidate and bring them here," Sierra said.
"Didn't you say that it's impossible?" Mihangel asked.
"Not if I join the raid," Sierra answered as she looked at Mihangel.
Mihangel and the others were surprised, and they were glad that she finally decided to help. But then they remembered what she said about the consequences of her entering the vortex.
"You think I was bluffing and made it all up, so I'll show you," Sierra said as she massaged her nape because she lost a lot of blood and made her neck stiff. "But I'm going to need someone to back me up," Sierra looked at Gratya.
Mihangel and the others were curious if there was anyone that could back her up.
"I need Alseace," Sierra said.
"But Alseace just entered a vortex an hour ago. I'm not sure how long it will take for him to clear it," Gratya answered.
"Doesn't matter. We aren't going in if Alseace isn't here with us," Sierra said as she stood up. "We will wait,"