Chapter 42: Manifestation.
Alseace and Renata had traveled through the valley and they saw a town that belonged in the middle ages. The town was destroyed and the weird part was the buildings were rotten like the bodies that they found.
"What kind of curse that even devour buildings? Is this perhaps a result of a demonic power as well?" Renata asked as she walked into town and looked at the rotten dead bodies scattered on the road.
"I don't know, but what I'm afraid of is if the curse can affect us as well. Looking at how there's no time limit and the failed condition, I think because we might die from it as well," Alseace answered as he started to cover his nose and mouth with a mask.
Renata was dumbfounded at how she didn't realize it, and that she might realize it later when it was already too late. She then looked at Alseace and asked if there was a way to clear it as fast as they could. Alseace wasn't sure, but it might take days to find the curse, and not to mention how hard it would be to kill it.
"We don't even have a healer that can give us protection from curses. Are we going to die here?" Renata started to get scared and worried.
"If we don't hurry, we might die and we have been exposed to these dead bodies. We might only have a little time," Alseace answered as he looked at the melted bodies. "I might have an idea, and I'm not sure if it would work though," Alseace said as he looked at Renata.
"Tell me," Renata said.
Alseace grabbed Renata's left hand and activated the [Shadow Movement] skill. He was teleported to the shadow world, and to his surprise, Renata got dragged into the shadow world with him.
"Where are we? What kind of skill is this?" Renata asked.
Alseace removed his mask and realized there was no pungent smell in the shadow world. He believed if there was no smell, that meant the curse wouldn't affect them in the shadow world.
"Yes, I got this skill from the black wyvern back then. Let's move and we have to find the curse," Alseace answered as he started moving in the dark.
Renata followed him for half an hour, and she was already exhausted and out of breath. She was confused as to how her stamina got drained really fast even though she had a decent stamina point. Knowing that Renata couldn't walk anymore, Alseace decided to carry her on the back.
"How did you have so much stamina? Are you really fine?" Renata asked as she caught her breath. "I'll walk on my own after I replenished my stamina," Renata said as she awkwardly put her hands on Alseace's shoulders.
"I'm fine carrying you like this, just rest for now," Alseace answered as he kept walking in the dark. "I'm going to run now, so hang on tight," Alseace locked Renata's thighs to his waist and started running.
Alseace had been running in the shadow world for 8 hours and that was the limit of Alseace's stamina. Renata was in disbelief and baffled at how he could run nonstop for 8 hours straight. She started to speculate on how many stamina points Alseace had, and she was almost right about it.
"Where the hell are we? There's nothing else but a dry land..." Renata asked as she looked at her surroundings which were vast dry land.
"I don't think we are on a land, this whole place might be used to be a lake," Alseace answered as he grabbed an MRE from his backpack. "Let's eat and continue our journey normally since there are no dead bodies here," Alseace said.
They had rested for half an hour and decided to continue their journey. They saw a big hill in the distance and hoped they would see something and a destination to go to.
After they traveled for 2 days straight with not a single monster or demon that could be seen, they were wondering if they had taken the wrong path. But on the 3rd day, they found dry grass and dry trees after spending 2 days of nothingness.
Once they followed the dead grass, they saw a big city with walls surrounding it in the distance. There was a giant castle in the middle, and they could feel and see something eerie about that city.
"The gate is open, but I don't sense anything around," Renata said as she followed Alseace from behind.
"Me neither, but don't let your guard down," Alseace replied and walked through the gate.
As soon as they entered the city, a notification appeared in front of them that surprised both of them.
[You have been inflicted by the Curse: Rot]
[You have 7 Hours 00 Minutes 00 Seconds before you die from the curse]
[You will lose 14% of your power every hour]
"Did you get this notification as well?" Renata asked as she looked at the countdown.
"Yes, we have 7 hours and I also feel something ominous from that building over there," Alseace pointed at the building that looked like a cathedral. "We can't waste time here, let's go straight there and check it out," Alseace said as he unsheathed his sword and staff.
Renata cautiously walked behind Alseace, but then she realized something when she looked at Alseace's back. She never thought she would hide on someone's back and seek protection like that. She thought that it might be because it felt comfortable and she felt safe when Alseace was with her.
"No, I can't..." Renata mumbled to herself as she shook her head repeatedly.
"What's wrong? Did something happen?" Alseace asked as he looked at Renata over his right shoulder.
"It's nothing!" Renata answered immediately and she looked panicked and flustered.
When they stepped foot into the garden in front of the cathedral, they felt mixed feelings of grief, anger, fear, and desperation. It was so faint, and yet it made them a bit worried about who or what was powerful enough to inflict those feelings on them.
"Are you ready?" Alseace asked as his eyes were focused on the closed steel door into the cathedral.
Renata nodded her head, and they both proceeded to walk to the cathedral.
The ominous and the mixed feelings they felt, they were getting stronger and stronger that it made Renata difficult to breathe. On the other hand, Alseace was fine and wasn't bothered by it. He then slowly pushed the steel door open and it was surprisingly heavier than it looked.
As soon as the door was open, they saw black veins wrap the benches, the podium, the walls, the pillars, and the ceiling. The smell was so bad that they had to cover their noses because they could see hundreds of people sitting on those benches with their whole bodies rotted out.
"These feelings, they came from these people?" Renata asked as she hugged herself to comfort herself.
"If these are their feelings, we should be able to feel the others when we arrived in this world. I think it's more than that," Alseace answered and looked at the center of the hall that was covered in the black gooey, and stringy substance. "I can feel something over there, so be ready," Alseace said.
Renata readied her stance as she looked at the dead bodies, afraid of them coming back to life and attacking her. Suddenly they heard a cry, a baby and it gave Renata a chill down her spine. When she tried to find the source of the cry, she realized it came from the center of the hall.
A baby crawled out from the blackness of veins-like substance and the baby was red as a newborn baby. Renata covered her mouth and couldn't believe what she saw.
"Is that baby the manifestation of the curse itself?" Renata asked.
Alseace pointed his staff at the baby and said, "Close your eyes if you don't want to see it. There's only one safest way to find out."
Renata looked away as she covered her ears and closed her eyes.
Alseace cast 5 Fire Arrows around his staff and then shot them toward the baby. But before they could hit the baby, the black substance protected the baby. The veins-like substance started to form around the baby and created a cocoon to protect the baby. The veins-like substance started to move like fingers and it raised up into the ceiling which was 20 meters high.
The substance swung down at them, and Alseace immediately cut them all off. Renata immediately cut the other substance that tried to do a sneak attack from behind. They were instantly surrounded by it, and they had nowhere else to go.
"Can you handle them? I'll try to kill that baby," Alseace asked as he looked around and the substance started to make a birdcage so they couldn't leave.
"Yes," Renata answered with confidence.
Alseace cast Earth Shatter around the cocoon, and when the cocoon stuck in between the ground, he cast Earth Spikes around the cocoon. To his surprise, the cocoon was strong enough to shatter the spikes. He then used Wind Cutter, Water Bullet, Fire Ball, and Water Blast, but none of them were effective enough to break the substance.
"Your magic isn't strong enough against it?" Renata asked as she dodged and cut off the substance that tried to pierce her.
"It's because my elements ranks are too low for this. Let me try one more," Alseace said as he created a waterball above his staff.
Alseace already knew the process and he created a sharp icicle with his staff. Suddenly a notification appeared in front of him.
[You have unlocked a Sub-Skill of [Magic]!]
[You have learned[Ice Magic (F)]!]
"Finally..." Alseace said as he dodged the substance from all directions.
Alseace immediately created a big and sharp icicle and immediately shot it right into the cocoon with the help of his Wind Magic. The Wind Magic made the icicle travel as fast as the speed of sound. The wind barrier broke around the icicle and it pierced through the cocoon.
They heard the scream and cry of the baby and it hurt Renata's heart hearing that. The substance slowly wobbled and fell to the ground as it turned into some kind of liquid. The liquid slowly evaporated as the baby's scream and cry slowly faded away.
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[You have achieved the objective of [Forever Rot], and prevented the curse from growing stronger and devouring the other worlds]
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[Each party member has been given a [Special Box] as the reward]
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[The Curse: Rot from your body has been lifted]
"That was easy for a high-rank vortex ..." Renata said as she caught her breath.
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[The Mastermind]
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[Difficulty: Hard]
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[Objective: The Curse: Rot has been destroyed, but every curse has its own origin. Find the Mastermind who brought the Curse: Rot to that world and defeat them. As long as the Mastermind is alive, the curse will come back again]
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[Failed Condition: The Mastermind created a new curse on the world, a stronger one that might be unstoppable]
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[Reward: Unique Optional Box]
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[Timer: 24 Hours 00 Minutes 00 Seconds]
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"You were saying?" Alseace glanced at Renata.
"Sorry..." Renata grimaced as she looked at Alseace.