Chapter 23

"Divine is the one who breaks the cycle of hatred and violence."

-unknown

***

"Do NOT approach the camp until Saint Limen activates his pulse!"

Klaren gestured to a pale, beautiful man with green eyes and unkempt medium length white hair.

"This ability of his is the greatest equalizer we can ever have. But it affects allies too." Klaren continued.

"I have a question."

A black haired woman with dark brown eyes lifted her hand up.

"Wouldn't it be fine even if Priam and David were there? Without being able to use aura and abilities, they're harmless, no?"

"I can tell you've never met them. Maybe we'd be able to kill Priam if he was completely alone. But not without losing half the guild."

"Even if they're disabled?"

"Yes. You see this scar?"

Klaren put his index finger on the scar that decorated his face diagonally, from the left side of his jaw, across his nose and just by the left eye, up to the right side of his forehead.

"From the king himself, when we were both Awakened. It never went away."

The mysterious woman went silent.

"So, the pulse's range is fifty meters. Limen will sneak in with my help and once I get back to you guys and leave him in the camp, you, Bella, will send the telepathic message."

Klaren once again spoke to the woman.

A short silence happened.

"Then, kill everyone."

People nodded.

"Thank you for helping us, Limen." Klaren looked into the deep, almond green eyes of his strongest ally.

"No, I thank you for your efforts in saving people like us." Replied the 94th ranked player.

Klaren nodded with a slight smile.

"Let's go." He said, concluding the short and simple strategy talk.

Dozens of players got up and started exiting the stone room.

***

Night time, Rinea.

Four players flew low over the dark sea in the dead night. They were flying towards the mysterious island.

They went towards the darkest part of the island.

[You are the first player to enter this area!]

[You have leveled up!]

[Discover more untouched areas for a new title!]

Sadly, right after the sparring match with Levent, Eliyah relayed the bad news. They were wanted here now too.

"Lead the way, Thomas." Max said to the archer. They previously agreed on the course of action with the knowledge that Thomas had night vision.

Thomas produced a small, faint green glow on his back so that the group can follow him with their eyes in the dark.

The trees and leaved around them were barely visible, even with the small light.

Rain poured on the squad through the leaves and giant plants.

This definitely helped with stealth, as it concealed their sounds, but they didn't really need it.

"The mine is right below the giant tree, right?" asked Thomas.

"Yeah." Max answered.

"Well I think I see a giant tree up there on that cliff."

No one else could see it because only Thomas had night vision.

"What's that?" Said Eliyah, with a frown.

As they treaded silently through the wet leaves, vines and plants, the squad saw weak light ahead in the dark forest.

They slowly walked nearer and nearer.

Looking through the bushes, the squad saw an eight meter tall, grey wall that took up an entire clearing. A few armored knights were on them, according to Thomas, who not only had Night Vision, but could also zoom with his own eyes, though it was limited.

There was strong light from glowing crystals embedded in the walls, so they retreated into the forest.

The squad slowly navigated their way around the illuminated clearing.

They followed the wide path that cut through the forest, from the fortress, to what they assumed were the mines after going around the fortress.

It was tense. They were all worried and on edge.

Violence was very possible. They didn't know if the mines were occupied at night as well.

If they were...

Blood would be spilled.

"I got a notification." Manuel whispered.

"What does it say?" Max asked.

"The item is reacting to something nearby."

"It's definitely in the mines then." Eliyah added.

Heavy exhalations came from the players.

They were on edge.

Fear.

Something that stopped them from riding the wave of the ascending players. That kept them on this floor for this long.

They all used to be cowards.

Now, as they act against their fears, they prove their developed bravery. Like they have for months now.

***

Four knights clad in silver-like armor stood at a large opening in the cliff.

Max and the squad looked at the guards with both focus and worry.

"Hey...what if it's atop the cliff?" Eliyah asked.

"Hmm. It doesn't look like a climbable cliff to me. Maybe no one ever went there and found something." Manuel responded with a questioning expression.

"I'll take a look." Max said.

"You fine alone?" Thomas asked immediately after.

"Of course. Stay here, be back in a two minutes."

The vertical cliff was two hundred meters tall. Max flew up from the trees in silence.

It was pitch dark so he wasn't seen.

The player flew up and up into the night sky.

He softly landed on soft soil.

It wasn't a big space. It was about 5 meters in width and length. The trunk wasn't as wide as someone would have guessed by judging the large body of red leaves above Max.

Max approached the tree. He couldn't see well so he used an illuminating item from his Inventory.

The place lit up and Max circled the area.

Then, he saw something.

There was a stone slab placed right in front of the tree.

"I fucking knew it. There had to be something here."

With an animalistic expression, he grabbed the stone slab and inspected it.

"Huh?"

There was absolutely nothing on it. On both sides.

'Do I break it?' Max thought to himself.

Just as he was about to strike the rock with his aura enhanced fist, he noticed something in his peripheral vision.

Right where the slab was, there was a piece of paper.

"How did I miss that?" He whispered, angrily.

He, for some reason, picked up the slab in such a rush of excitement that he didn't even register that there was something right under it.

Max put the slab in his Inventory just in case and approached the piece of paper.

He noticed writing on it.

The player looked closer and realized that this writing is...

'Virtonian?!'

Max inspected the writing.

"From here I begin my conquest of this new world. "

-Vlatile Ri Emicia

"Emicia?!" Max said in surprise, almost too loudly.

Emicia was the last name of the Imperial Family. The Imperial Family of the Virtonis Empire.

"Huh...So they all came from..."

Max put the piece of paper in his Inventory.

He looked around to see if there was anything else.

He looked up at the tree casually.

He saw some fruits on it. Fruits he had never seen before.

They looked...very tasty. Very appetizing.

Max felt a weird urge to eat those fruits.

'Now that I think about it, I'm pretty hungry.'

Max stared at the cyan fruits hanging from the branches of the large tree.

"Ugh!" He called out.

[You are fighting off a mind attack!]

[Your enhanced mind attack resistance and Awakened aura are fighting off the attack!]

[You are losing a large amount of aura!]

Max went down on his knees. He grabbed his head.

But the pain didn't just come from there.

It came from his chest too. His soul core.

In fact, his entire body was hurting.

'I must not scream...'

He drew one of his swords and bit hard on the handle.

He was fighting two battles at once.

The pain, and the urge to scream.

He held, endured.

"Kgh..."

His eyes were reddening. His hands dug into the soil and his legs were shaking uncontrollably.

But he held.

After a short time, that felt much longer to the player, it was over.

[You have resisted.]

The pain was gone.

The player got up, sweaty and breathing heavily and checked his aura.

It was at 50 percent.

"Shit..."

He drank an aura potion but it wouldn't help much.

It still took a while to regenerate aura, even with a solid potion.

It would take at least 20 minutes.

He will have to fight more thoughtfully. He didn't intend to wait that long.