Chapter 44: Gwennalarch Rhisiart.

"In the end, nobody knows how could the advisor ended up getting that power," Renata said as she rode the horse next to Alseace after they investigated the old man.

"Everything started to like how Carazen did it. I think it doesn't matter how and why since humans tend to be greedy," Alseace answered as he looked at the Demon Fragment in his hand. "This thing is really dangerous and I wonder why we are collecting these in the first place," Alseace pointed out and put the fragment into his trousers pocket.

"Let's ask Miss Gratya once we are back. We have collected more of those than anyone else, so I think she should at least tell us about it," Renata replied as she looked at the city. The corpses and the unbearable pungent smell had disappeared. "By the way, have you opened this box?" Renata asked as she showed a black box that was as big as a Rubik's cube in her hands. It was the [Special Box] that they got from defeating the curse.

"No, I haven't," Alseace answered as he grabbed his box from his backpack.

[Special Box: A box that contains a special ingredient that can be used for forging]

"Let's open it," Alseace looked at Renata and showed his box to her.

They both opened the box and they both made the same expressions. They both furrowed their eyebrows and gently grabbed the item inside the box with their thumbs and index fingers. They both looked at each other and then showed the item to each other.

"We got the same thing," Renata said as she looked at the big marble ball in Alseace's right hand.

[Rotting Orb: An ingredient that contains a powerful curse power. The orb can be used to enchant a weapon or a piece of armor]

"It says Rotting Orb, but it doesn't look and smell like it..." Renata said and sniffed the orb.

"Are you planning on enchanting your rapier with this? I think it would be a great addition," Alseace asked.

"I think so, yeah. What about you? Are you going to put it on your sword?" Renata asked back.

"I'm not sure. I'm going to keep it for now," Alseace answered as he put it back into the box.

Alseace had so many things that he needed to focus on. First, he hadn't mastered all the magic elements, and second of all, he hadn't done anything with his [Poison Art] skill. He thought it would be a great combination between poison and curse, and thought he would put the orb on a dagger.

"Thank you," Renata said as she looked at Alseace.

Alseace was confused and when he looked at Renata, she was smiling gently at him.

"What for?" Alseace asked.

"Everything. You have been giving me a lot of free stuff even though I barely do anything in return. Also, thanks to your high stats, everything went so smoothly," Renata answered as she kept smiling, but her eyes were not. "If I keep doing this, I think I'll grow weaker and dependent on you. I don't want that," Renata said as she lowered her head.

"That's a shame. I still want to be with you though, since we are really good together, but I understand what you mean by that," Alseace nodded his head with understanding.

Renata looked at Alseace and she was flustered when she heard those words from him. Her ears were reddened and she slowly walked her horse right behind Alseace so he wouldn't be able to see her.

"I guess I can stay, but I have a condition and that's to allow me to grow stronger in my own way. So, I only want to enter portals if I'm with you," Renata said as she looked away. "Also, you can take the second reward for yourself. I'm fine with just the first reward," Renata continued.

"That's more than enough, thanks," Alseace said as she looked at Renata over his shoulder, but he only saw her black hair covering her face.

Renata didn't say anything and still hid her face while Alseace looked at the second reward for clearing the second quest. He looked at the third option which was a [Random Unique Skill Scroll], and he wondered if he got lucky like last time. He decided to choose the reward after they left because he barely gained status points ever since he got his [Scavenger] Sub-skill.

Alseace and Renata galloped the horses as they left the city since they were only given 3 days to leave the vortex.

(At the Emissary headquarters in East Dasmein)

2 days had passed and they were all waiting restlessly for Alseace. The black vortex appeared 5 days ago, and they didn't have any more patience to wait for Alseace. But thanks to Sierra who had been waiting in front of the vortex, nobody dared to walk past her.

"Is there anyone else that wants to try?" Sierra asked as she sucked the lollipop into her mouth and stared at Lucretia who fainted right in front of her.

Everyone gulped as they watched Sebastian heal all the burn wounds on Lucretia's body. They were dumbfounded when Lucretia lost to Sierra in [Fire Magic] even though she was the Fire Empress with a unique skill called [Fire Warlock]. A skill that allowed her to unlock all [Fire Magic] secrets that made her fire element the most powerful than anyone else.

They saw how powerful Lucretia was and they started to think that she might be the second-strongest Candidate in Dasmein. She had the ability to manipulate fire, and that made anyone with fire magic couldn't be used against her. But Sierra, she defeated Lucretia with fire magic and made Sierra's body take a fatal blow from it.

The scariest part was that the fireball that Sierra had created was unable to be extinguished or manipulated by Lucretia. She got hit by it and all her fire resistance equipment and skill were unable to block it and that was why she fainted and took fatal damage.

"You're too young to fight me. You think you're the only one who can manipulate fire?" Sierra asked as she looked at Lucretia. "All you have to do is to wait patiently, and yet you guys are so eager to die? Are you guys deaf that you ignore my warning that all of you'll die without me?" Sierra looked at Mihangel and the others.

They all silently looked down at the ground and didn't dare to look at Sierra, and the one who was still in shock was Estian. He saw something that he shouldn't have seen, and the way Sierra stared at him once he saw it, made him realize how powerful Sierra was. He found a secret behind her power and why her values could change over time and how she could change them as she pleased.

"Sierra! I mean... Miss Red!" Gratya shouted as she walked through the tunnel with a phone in her right hand. "Alseace just cleared the vortex, and now he's on their way here with Renata," Gratya informed.

"Good, give me the phone. I'll tell him everything on his way here," Sierra said as she walked past Lucretia who had just woken up after Sebastian healed her. "You better be in your prime or you'll die immediately in there," Sierra glanced at Lucretia and then went into the tunnel.

4 hours had passed, and Alseace came to the abandoned mining cave with Renata. They both saw dozens of Agents protecting the entrance and then they saw Gratya and Sierra standing near the entrance.

"You're finally here. Everyone is already on edge waiting for you," Sierra said as she sighed and walked in front of Alseace.

"If I knew there's a black vortex, I wouldn't enter the vortex that Renata showed me," Alseace answered.

When they arrived at the site where the black vortex was, there were at least 200 A-Rank Candidates. They were all there because they were going to enter a vortex that didn't have a maximum or a minimum amount of Candidate. Almost all of the A-Rank Candidates were summoned to enter the vortex, and there were a total of 700 A-Rank Candidates.

"This will be the biggest raid in Dasmein," Sierra said as she stood in front of the vortex and looked at how it grew bigger since the first time she saw it.

"The biggest?" Renata asked and looked at Sierra with a confused look.

"Because we don't know if we're going to survive or not. Just pray and hope that we can clear this calamity," Sierra answered with a smirk.

Gratya, Renata, and Alseace had no idea if Sierra was joking or not because no matter how strong she was, it would be hard to clear a black vortex. Alseace remembered clearly how hard it was to clear a dark red vortex and he was lucky that he got resurrected.

"Alright, everyone! Group up and decide who's the group leader! We are entering the portal in an hour!" Sierra said and her voice echoed throughout the whole cave.

Everyone was forming a group and when Alseace wanted to form a group with Gratya, Renata, and the rest of the Agents, Sierra pulled him away. She dragged him away from the others and that made them look at her with confused looks.

"You're going to party up with me," Sierra said as she kept dragging Alseace away. "We should be far enough from the others. Let's form a party," Sierra looked at Alseace.

"I, Alseace LaRoze..." Alseace said.

"I, Gwennalarch Rhisiart..." Sierra said.

"We are forming a party and God as our witness," Alseace and Sierra said at the same time, but Alseace was surprised when Sierra gave her full name.

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Party's Panel

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1. Alseace LaRoze (Lv.6)

2. Gwennalarch Rhisiart (Lv.738)

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"You know what I'm about to say, right?" Sierra asked as she gave a cold stare at Alseace.

"Yes, your secret is safe with me and I'll take it to the grave," Alseace answered as he nodded his head with understanding.

Gratya approached Estian who was on the side on his own. She then said, "We are counting on you, Estian. I know that I should be the one who stays, but looking at the current situation, you're the only one who can handle Dasmein with your power."

"Don't worry about me. Worry about yourself, Gratya. I don't know exactly what kind of enemy you're going to face, but it's..." Estian paused and kept staring at the vortex. "The value that I see right now, it's 400,000 points," Estian continued and looked at Gratya.

"Worry about the people of Dasmein, Estian. They're going to need you," Gratya gently smiled at Estian.

Estian put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it up. "Please don't smile at me like that, you have never, not even once smiled at me. So don't do that, and just come back," Estian said as he looked down and puffed the smoke.

Gratya hummed and nodded with understanding.

"Everyone ready?" Sierra asked with a serious expression and walked in between the Guildmasters. "If you're ready, let's head in," Sierra continued and her eyes were set on the vortex.