The Missing Group

Even in his weary state, Peter made short work of the goblins in the entrance, quickly dispatching them with an attack each. He wanted to investigate the goblins' bodies as he felt something was wrong with them, but he could already hear footsteps approaching them from inside the cave.

Peter gritted his teeth as he peered inside the dark cave and prepared himself for another round of combat.

Henry readied his sword and used the system's scanner when he noticed Peter's reaction, Henry was shocked as he saw ten red dots coming his way and swung his sword towards the cave.

The wave of blue energy engulfed the entire entrance of the cave, the power of the attack so great that the cave walls even shook.

Henry was tense as he watched the attack, and only lowered his guard as he saw the red dots in his map vanish. " It's done." He quickly rushed to the entrance of the cave and looked at the two goblin bodies as the system had also picked up two treasure signatures from their bodies.

Henry thought that the goblins had some type of treasure with them, but, he was surprised to learn that the goblins themselves were the treasures.

-' Soul Marionette - Goblin Variant - Low Grade - Second Level of the Human Realm - A Marionette that can be controlled by implanting a sliver of your soul, the strength of the marionette is dependent on the quality of the body.' Henry was disgusted, even if this was a monster, using its dead body as a marionette was too wicked.

-" What are those goblins?" Peter was suspicious, their reaction was slow even when compared with other monsters of a similar level, and most of all, their bodies showed no signs of life, almost like undead beings.

-" They are marionnetes." Henry was still frozen from the shock, he couldn't imagine how wicked a person must be to use such a method. " They are just a shell, someone is controlling them."

-" Controlling them?" Peter had heard of spells that could entice or even brainwash someone, but, he never saw a spell that turned a dead body into a marionette. " Is this an undead?" Legends about the dark and nefarious necromancers were common in history books, but, to Peter, they were just myths.

-" No... At least I don't think so." Henry gulped as he thought about Peter's daughter, he prayed that they weren't too late and she had turned into something like this, he quickly stashed the two goblins inside his system and continued. " Someone put a piece of their soul in the goblin's dead body, and used it to control it."

-" A piece of his soul?" Peter was interested, he wondered how Henry was knowledgeable about so many things related to souls. " Doesn't this means that ————" Peter swallowed his words as he finally realized the situation his daughter was in and rushed into the cave.

Henry followed Peter inside the cave, affliction took over his face as he entered the cave and saw that the enemies he had killed were various other types of monsters. He wondered how many more marionettes existed in this cave, and how could the owner of them split his soul so many times.

As Peter sped through the cave, the noise returned to grow louder and louder, and not even the Calming Herbs had any effect in lowering it, however, he paid no mind to his body state and continued heading deeper and deeper into the cave.

Henry wasn't fairing any better, and could barely follow Peter, so he threw a bunch more of Calming Herbs and tried his best to endure the pain.

The cave was still filled with soul marionettes of various types, so Henry didn't want to leave Peter alone in facing them all.

-" Breakthrough! Don't mind them!" Peter shouted as he pushed through the mass of marionettes.

They were all pretty weak and didn't pose any danger individually for Peter, but, the sheer size of the group compensated for their weak strength.

Henry took advantage of the path that Peter had created and dashed through the sea of monsters. His sword shone brightly as it was charged with full power, yet, Henry didn't attack as he wanted to first cross through the last row of monsters.

Henry let out a deep breath as he finally passed through the last barrier of the monster, he already could see a big space not far away. " Go! I will hold the monsters back!" Henry shouted as he tightened his grip over the hilt of the sword and swung it.

Henry watched as the sword's aura engulfed the entire monster stampede, he felt nervous that if he couldn't deal with the marionette army, he would be pushed toward the center place of the cave where Peter was currently at.

-" Come on!" Henry lifted his sword again and began to prepare another attack." Let's see if an army of trash marionettes is better than my sword!" Henry threw away his insecurities and placed his hopes in the Star Tainted Sword, after all, the two marionettes that he found at the entrance of the cave were just at the second level.

Henry threw one attack after another, never stopping to even breathe. The walls of the cave trembled so much that pieces of rock even fell from the cave's ceiling.

Peter felt as if his mind was about to split as he rushed into the main room of the cave, there was no more marionette there, but, the power of the noise made it almost impossible for him to keep walking. " Maria! Maria!" He shouted in hopes of hearing a response from his daughter, yet, he heard no other sound other than the mysterious noise.

Peter spit a mouthful of blood and entered the main room after getting no response, his entire body shivered from pain, and each step he took required a few seconds of rest.

His face was dark as he observed the small cells that filled the room, each of the cells had three to four people inside. " Good God! What is happening here!" Peter gritted his teeth as he pushed himself to reach the nearest cell and broke it.

He was relieved to find that the people inside it still had vital signs, but, they never awakened, even when he hit them. " Are they all in a comma?" Peter mustered what was left of his strength and walked to the next cell.

-" Don't tell me that everyone here is in a comma." Peter rested his body on the bars of the second cell and searched around the room for his daughter. " Maria! My dear child!" Peter felt his heart drop as he saw his daughter lying on the floor of one of the cells.

He wobbled as he walked towards her, his whole body was numb, and his vision turning ever darker. " Maria! Daddy is here!" Peter mumbled as he approached the cell where his daughter was, and just as he finally reached the cell, his legs gave out and he dropped to the ground, his mind completely blank.

Henry was strangely excited as he kept attacking, the feeling of overpowering such a large group of monsters was something addicting.

-' Star Tainted Sword - Middle-Grade - Is currently in critical levels of energy, the system suggests for Host to stop using it or the treasure will eventually break.' Henry was jolted from his frenzy as he heard the system.

-" Low level of energy?" Henry looked at the sword in his hand and noticed a few cracks in it. " Maybe I went a bit overboard." Henry smiled as he saw the destruction he had caused,

What was previously a small corridor inside the cave had turned into a big space, the ground was completely destroyed and filled with a mush of bone and blood. " Winner! Star Tainted Sword!" Henry smiled as he caressed the blade. " I hope Peter is done." Henry turned and walked deeper into the cave, he wanted to leave as soon as possible as it looked like the ceiling of the place he fought would cave in any moment now.

-" Did you find her?" Henry froze as he entered the main room of the cave and saw the situation there. " Peter!" He quickly rushed to aid Peter, but, his body stopped as the mysterious noise rang like thunder in his ears. " Fuck! This again." Henry was about to throw a few more stalks of Calming Herbs in his mouth, however, the system voice stopped him.

-' Host soul is currently receiving critical levels of damage, Calming Herb won't have any effect.' Henry gulped as he heard the system, he was about to ask for help from the system again when he remembered about his metal door.

Yet, to Henry's despair, the metal door had no effect on the sound and his head continued to ache. " Don't tell me that this only works in physical attacks." Henry defeatedly stored the metal door in the system inventory again and observed the room. " Where the hell is this coming from?"

Henry found a suspicious candelabrum hanging on the cave ceiling and smiled. " Found it!" He took out another Star Tainted Sword as the one he was wielding had to recharge and prepared an attack.

The wave of energy shook the entire ceiling of the cave, but, Henry knew that his attack had failed as he continued to hear the dammed sound. " What I do now?" Henry used the Star Tainted Sword a walking stick and went in the direction of the candelabrum. " It's too high..." Henry could barely continue standing up, so jumping that high was truly an impossible task. " Peter! Wake up! I need your help," Henry bit his lips as he saw that Peter was truly passed out, the only furniture in the room was a small throne made of stone and the metal cells, and they were all too heavy for Henry to drag in his current situation.

-" Let's go, I can do this." Henry didn't want to fail now that he had reached so far. " How high is even this ceiling?" Henry tried his best to encourage himself and took distance from the candelabrum.

His eyes flashed with resolve, and the pain he felt as he ran almost made him lose his mind, but, failing now wasn't an option for him.

Henry jumped as he got close to the candelabrum, he tried his best to extend his arm, yet, his jump was too low, and he fell down to his knees. " Fuck! I just need to touch it!" Henry wobbled as he got up and prepared to run once again.

-" It's now or never!" Henry bit his lips as he ran, he could feel his body giving up and knew that this was his last chance.

Blood poured off Henry's nose as he speed up in the direction of the candelabrum, and jumped once again. He threw his arm up as he looked at the candelabrum in the ceiling, just a few inches separated the tip of his finger from the dammed candelabrum.

Henry shouted madly as he gazed at the ceiling, and the moment he felt the cold feeling of the metal that the candelabrum, he instantly ordered the system to get the treasure.

Henry coughed blood as he smashed on the ground, his face looked so pale that he resembled a corpse, but, he had a victorious smile. -" Thank you, System" Henry sighed in relief as he finally stopped hearing the soul-wrenching noise.

He instantly took out a few potions and drank them, he had brought a lot of them as he wanted to use them in the leveling process from the system. " There are so many people here..." Henry breathed slowly as he looked around the room and went to help Peter.

Henry made him drink a few potions and threw two Calming Herbs in his mouth. " Hey! Wake up! We need to deal with this!" Henry was nervous, after all, he had no idea what to do now and only calmed down after Peter began to wake up.

-" Maria!" Peter shouted as he jolted awake, the pain that he felt previously slowly waning. " What happened? Did the noise stop?"

-" I already dealt with it." Henry smiled as he slashed the bars of another cell. "Did you find your daughter? And what we will do with all these people?" Henry felt a lot better after some rest and began to gather the unconscious people near the center of the room.

Peter was astonished as he looked around the room, he couldn't believe that Henry had saved him once again. " Sigh... I did find my daughter." Peter tore the bars of the cell where his daughter was and held her body. " Thank you once again, Henry. This wouldn't be possible without you." Peter caressed his daughter's head, he never thought that he would be able to hold her like this.

-" Giver her some of the Calming Herb and some potions, this will help her situation." Henry pointed to a small stack of items on the ground next to Peter and continued to organize the victims.

-" You don't have to worry about bringing them all back." Peter smiled as he saw how Henry went around the room placing all the unconscious people near each other.

-" Don't tell me that you are thinking of leaving them here?" Henry was confused, he didn't think that Peter was someone so selfish.

-" I'm not the only one searching for a family member that went missing. " Peter took out a small crystal of his spatial ring and continued. " Most of them returned to the city, but there are some of them nearby." Peter crushed the crystal with his face full of emotions. Today the woes of everyone who had a family member or companion that went missing would end.