Chapter 44 - Yohan

Yohan and Rumi stood among tens of corpses that littered the mountainside. Yohan stared down with killing intent as a faint voice was heard all the while Rumi was carefully looking around their surroundings, making sure there would not be any sneak attacks against the enemies.

"You… killed many of us..." It was from somebody that Yohan had gravely injured earlier. These men, dressed in black cultist robes, are somewhat strong and uses shadow magic but not that it was unmanageable for the two of them. For some unknown reasons even to Yohan, these lot had targeted them and tried to kidnap the two of them.

"Say. What do you guys want to do with us?" Yohan said as he pointed his weapon towards the man.

He wants to intimidate the man but instead, he smiled. "Haha, O' great Knoll. Your Vessel truly is promising!"

"Vessel? What the hell are you talking about?"

"I revere and envy thee, Vessel. You will fulfill our god's needs..." Suddenly, a black vortex exploded in front of the two of them, drawing them in.

"Yohan!" He tried grabbing Rumi's hand and escape but the power of this vortex is just too much for any of Yohan's skills to handle.

Whoosh—!

"Shit… where are we…?" Yohan uttered in confusion. "Rumi… Are you okay…?"

"Yeah, I wasn't damaged…"

"Good…"

The two of them looked ahead and noticed that they are inside an enclosed cave-like location, only that there is no way to entry nor exit, meaning that the only way to come and go from here is through a transportation skill such as teleportation, gates, or simply blasting open an exit. Though they don't know how far up they would have to do it to make an exit. Not only that, commiting self-destruction in-game will lead to a reduction in revival chance, unlike being killed in battle by another player. Even if Rumi killed the two of them by casting [Tidal Surge] in this enclosed space, the system will surely still determine it as an SD.

They saw a person with the same cultist robe as the others previously. "Rumi, be prepared…"

The two brandished their weapons and the previously immobile cultist slowly began moving towards them.

"Shit… Do we have to fight this guy?" Rumi said in annoyance. She doesn't feel an ounce of fear, after all, she have the second best player in the world by her side as her companion. What kind of security can possibly be better than that at the moment?

The cultist began speaking in a calm and soft voice. "O' Great Vessel. I am the head priest of the Cult of Knoll. Please, forgive our transgressions…" The cultist knelt but Yohan still felt uneasy.

"What do you want exactly? What do you mean by Vessel?"

"It is simple, all you have to do is accept the Lord's gift. We are happy to die by your hands. All we want is to fulfill the Lord's wishes. If you feel the need of killing me after all these, so be it. I will be happy to present my head and the remaining cultists'."

"I don't need your heads. All I want is to be out of here immediately."

"Yes, as you wish. But after you've received the lord's gift that is."

"You guys are persistent, huh?"

"Please, just accept his power! That is all we ask of you!" The cultist beg as he remained on his knees, transitioning into prostration.

After a moment of silence, Yohan gave his answer. "All right, I accept—"

As soon as Yohan said that, he felt a change in the atmosphere. He could feel that beneath the hood, this man is… "Smiling!"

Suddenly, a shadowy rift opened behind him. His Sync Rate ramped up like crazy, but a sudden force pulled him in before he could move away.

"Yohan!" Rumi raised her staff, ready to cast any spell needed, "Even if I drown myself here, it's fine… I'll bring these bastards down with me! I can revive anyway…" However, the cultist remained his position, unmoving. But she too can feel the malice leaking from under his hood.

"What did you do?"

Still unmoving, he replied. "He's within the Great Lord Knoll's grace now."

"Is he dead?"

"Quite the opposite, in fact."

"If never came back, I will kill you here...!"

"I'm willing to present my head anytime to the Vessel and his companions for these inconveniences."

…

"Ah! Where am I?!" Yohan looked around as soon as he arrived to the location where he was pulled in. However, everything was dark and there is no light source whatsoever.

"I can see my hand though…?" He looked around his own body, and is in fact able to see himself wherever possible despite the surrounding being completely devoid of any light source or any matter at all.

"I don't feel any ground… Am I floating?"

Sync Rate amped up like crazy once more.

[Sync Rate: 180%]

He looked around frantically, "Who's there?! Come out!"

He couldn't see anything at all, but he can feel as if hundreds of pairs of eyes are staring straight into his soul.

"Fuck…"

He can't move from his spot, he simply doesn't know how to. He couldn't feel anything, there is no floor to step on, no wind to feel, there's nothing at all.

"How the hell should I move from my spot? Swim, fly? The fuck is this place?"

His uneasiness grew more and more intense as the seconds go by, it was as if something is approaching him.

"Fuck, my phobia…" He was getting ready to forcibly log himself out if something bad were to appear.

However, all those eyes that have been staring at him suddenly went away, aside from one. "I don't like this…"

[Creating Contract…

Contracting Parties: AbsoluteZero/Knoll]

[Knoll's Conditions:

1. None.]

[AbsoluteZero's Conditions:

1. Knoll will protect AbsoluteZero in desperate times.]

[Exchanges:

1. Dark Sight will be granted to AbsoluteZero.]

[Effective Duration: Forever (Unbreakable).]

[Contract Created! Equalizer Contract is now in full effect, failure to adhere to the imposed conditions will be met with DIVINE JUDGEMENT!]

[Skill Unlocked! Dark Sight!]

[Skill Name: Dark Sight

Rarity: Unique

Mastery: 0%]

Back to Rumi who's still contemplating whether to drown the person in front of her, she stared intently at the man, unmoving from his previous position. He suddenly spoke. "Welcome back, Great Vessel."

Then, the same shadowy rift opened beside her, spitting Yohan back out.

"Yohan!" Rumi rushed by his side as he stumbled around. "Damn, that's disorienting…"

"You alright?!"

"Yeah, nothing happened... You! What was that place?"

The man excitedly answered as he lift his head up. "It is the realm of the Great Knoll, did you meet him? Great Vessel?"

"No, and what was that contract thing?"

He grew even more excited, smiling as he answered. "Haha! You were indeed worthy! I do not know the contents of your contract, I apologize... Now! Since you have Dark Sight, you must figure out to escape from here. Great Vessel, farewell..." The man then immediately vanished, leaving behind a shadowy trail.

"That bastard!" Yohan felt as if a blood vessel was going to pop in his head out of anger.

"Yohan! Your eyes…"

"Huh?"

"Look.." Rumi cast a sphere of water and placed it in front of Yohan, reflecting his face clearly.

"Is this… the Dark Sight he's talking about?" Yohan's eyes had turned very differently. His sclera had became dark purple, his pupils jet black, and there is an ethereal blue, halo-like ring in front of both of his eyes.

"What's that? A skill?"

"Yeah, when I arrived in that place, I got this."

"Where did you exactly came from?"

"Beats me, it's like… a void."

"A void?"

Yohan continued while he placed his weapons back to his inventory. "Yeah, I mean… there's literally nothing in that place, I can't see anything, I can't feel anything, nothing."

"Is that so? I kinda feel jealous now… You and Yuuki got such good skills, and I don't."

"Not like you getting our skills will benefit you anyway. Just focus on improving, then you'll get nice skills too."

Rumi grumbled when hearing that. "Hm… So? What does it do?"

"Dunno. I'm trying to figure it out."

"Maybe you can do what those guys are doing? Teleport using shadow magic?"

"Maybe, let's try. Hold my hand."

"Eh?"

"Come on, I'll leave you if I really could teleport."

"Sigh…" Rumi firmly grabbed onto Yohan's hand after he stood up. After a few second of concentration from Yohan...

Poof—!

The scenery suddenly changed.

"Ah! We really did teleport…" Yohan chuckled.

"Oh, that's kinda cool, huh?"

"I should practice this thing more."

"Yeah, I should, too..."