Chapter 34: Dark Interference

"How did he… Whatever!", she lunges at the reaper like a falcon swooping down on its prey.

But before she could get close, Kenneth is tackled by Luther—who, even though he had never seen Kenneth before, instinctively felt danger upon setting eyes on him and attacked reflexively—the player crashes through two bookshelves from the impact of the dragon man.

He turns, still breathing heavily, and nervously questions his companions, "He was a bad guy, right?"

"THE LIZARD MAN KILLED THE CREEPY GUY!" exclaims Noah.

"What just happened?!"

Joseph runs to Luther and pulls his arm to get his attention, "ARE YOU CRAZY?! You can't just punch every strange person you see!"

"But… Sorry! I—"

Alice intervenes, "NO! Don't apologize!" she points her sword at the hole Kenneth made in the shelves, "That bastard deserved it!"

"What are you talking about?!" questions Joseph.

Crack crack crack

The sound of bones cracking and footsteps echo. Kenneth returns to the room, his body completely contorted, his torso twisted to the right, his left arm broken, one of his legs unusable—being dragged on the floor—but despite all these injuries, he still maintains a smile on his face while staring directly at Alice, as if he had met an old friend on the street.

Noah is startled by the reaper's inhuman appearance and clings to Luther's leg—who is just as tense.

Horrified, Joseph murmurs, "What in God's name is that?"

Kenneth suddenly takes a deep breath, with much difficulty due to his current state. Then with a sudden movement, he dislocates his neck to the side. He tries to breathe again, now more easily. "Inhale Asked… to watch," he points at Alice, "but… it hurts… IT HURTS!"

The smile on his face grows larger, completely deforming his face. His pupils turn black, consuming his eyes entirely. He falls to his knees on the ground, holding his stomach, with black saliva dripping from his mouth.

Kenneth vomits a black liquid. This action lasts several seconds. The entire group remains paralyzed, unsure of what to do; after all, would attacking him be safe? Could this be some sort of test?

Then, after vomiting a large dark puddle, Kenneth collapses—his body now much thinner than a few seconds ago—he remains completely still. Apparently dead.

"… That wasn't Kenneth…" says Alice, horrified.

"You knew that guy?"

Blop blop blop

The goo starts to bubble as if it were boiling. Luther instinctively uses his tail to pull Alice and Joseph away from it. Then a hand emerges, followed by a head, and in the blink of an eye, a Whisper emerges from the goo. It had a shape similar to Kenneth, but its body was entirely dark, and its eyes were white scribbles.

"It's a Whisper!"

Upon hearing this, Noah's mood changes completely, and he looks at the creature with a bright gaze. "A monster?! Finally!" He lets go of Luther's leg and leaps with a spinning jump with his gigantic sword. Falling like a mortar on the enemy while shouting the name of his attack: "SUPER ULTRA MEGA BLASTER CRASH SERIES: SMASHING SMASH!"

Noah's charge ends with a massive shockwave that easily splits the Whisper in half and destroys the room's floor. But the child doesn't stop and swings his sword at the remaining parts of the creature, "TAKE THIS! ULTIMATE SLASH!"

During his blind assault, Noah's arm is grabbed by another Whisper emerging from the black puddle. He looks down and sees yet another creature grabbing his foot. "GET OUT!" the child shouts as he throws his sword at the shadow beings.

Luther assesses the situation, "There are more!" He wraps his tail around Noah's waist and pulls him away from the Whispers' reach. "Is this part of the test?"

Alice responds by twirling her sword in her hand, "No! Kenneth is a Whisper Tamer; somehow, he managed to summon some here."

"So their existence is limited." Joseph draws his sword and grips it with both hands. "Unless he has infinite mana, right?"

"One way to find out."

During the dialogue, seven Whispers fully emerged. All immediately advance on the group. Luther takes advantage of his resilient physique to charge with his two arms in front, pushing three like a train. He continues running, plowing through everything in his path until nothing remains of his opponents.

N0X also advances with his daggers towards a Whisper that wasn't caught in the charge. The skeleton crouches and, in a fraction of a second, slices both arms off the creature with a spinning jump. Before it can process the attack, he finishes it off with a vertical slash, spinning so fast he looks like a saw.

A Whisper tries to attack N0X during his assault, leaping with joined hands—preparing a vertical blow—but Alice appears between them and effortlessly blocks the attack. The repelled impact explodes the upper part of its body.

[Alice's Stamina: 180/190]

"No EXP?"

Lastly, Joseph advances on the remaining two. He softly touches his sword's blade to them—without inflicting any damage. The Whispers look at each other, confused. "Justice Seek," says the swordsman as he sheaths his sword. Suddenly, the two Whispers have their torsos pierced by an invisible blade, hitting their vital points and executing them instantly.

But victory was far off. More Whispers begin to emerge from the puddle, this time with greater frequency.

"More?" Noah kicks the ground, "IT'S NOT FAIR!"

"How much mana does that guy have?"

The group witnesses an immense mass with dozens of arms and legs. Growling at them. They all can feel the violence in its being.

A message appears before them.

The floor dissolves, followed by the walls. They all fall into a white void.

…

Alice awakens in the white field. Breathing heavily. She looks around, searching for the group… But soon she notices something strange about that place; the sky was dark.

THE SKY WAS DARK. THE SKY WAS DARK. THE SKY WAS DARK. THE SKY WAS DARK. THE SKY WAS DARK. THE SKY WAS DARK. THE SKY WAS DARK. THE SKY WAS DARK. THE SKY WAS DARK. THE SKY WAS DARK.

…

Alice is teleported back to the Hillcrest crater—literally thrown out of the sword—Fedora emits grunts, "GLOB?!"

"What the… I'm out of the Dungeon?!" She runs and tries to grab Purgathory to return. But she receives the following message:

"No! Take me back!"

"No… NO!" she collapses to her knees, exhausted. "GODDAMMIT KENNETH!" she punches the ground.

"Glob?"

"He crashed me out…" she looks around, finding no one "ONLY ME! Why? WHY?!"

Fedora leaves her head and shouts "Glob!" trying to lead her somewhere. Alice remains in place, hopelessness in her eyes. The slime returns, "GLOB!"

"What?" she responds, disheartened.

The swordswoman looks at her companion and sees a poster pinned to the ground by a knife. She immediately crawls to it and pulls it from the ground. What's written on that poster makes Alice lose her breath for a moment:

"Prove yourself worthy of being an Angel, and you and your family will be worthy of Ascending to Aerion."

And a little below, a message in ink says: "You're welcome, Ken ;D"