Chapter 132 - Heading Into The Dark (2)

'Her fighting style is closer to Ain’s.'

Whoosh-!

Louise's toes drew a line.

A kick that rebounded off the ground…

The wyvern’s head was cut off by the wind pressure.

Particles of light rose from the stump.

The pressure of the wind was sharper than any knife.

Every time the black wind blew, holes appeared in the stomachs of the monsters, and their limbs were torn off.

Hyun thought it was good that blood didn't come out of the monsters.

The gruesome sight wouldn't be good for young Louise's feelings.

'There's no better way to enjoy controlling than this!'

With Louise’s power, they could probably try to hunt a named monster, but Hyun shook his head.

There was no need to put a body he still wasn't used to in danger. For the moment, it was better to cool the head down while facing those weak monsters.

Finally, after defeating the last enemy, the field that had been full of monster cries fell silent. They could only hear the sound of the wind.

Hyun checked his experience bar.

「It increased by 10%.」

「Is that good…?」

「Considering that we've hunted for just 20 minutes… it’s good.」

Hunting with Louise was what he did at the end of the day.

Being able to gain experience at such speeds at level 200 was exciting by itself.

The moment he imbued Demonic Energy into the wind, he became so fast that he felt like he was doing some very dangerous acrobatics.

When he ran between the monsters while feeling the wind, he felt as if his stress was being relieved.

'I should make a decision…'

After meeting Truth, Hyun had begun wondering about changing to the Heavens.

But the more he thought about it, the more doubts he started to have.

Although being part of the Heavens was clearly tempting, there were lots of things he had to give up at that point.

The biggest penalty was that he would lose all of his Demonic Energy.

He didn't even want to imagine what it would be like to play as a Shadow Linker without Demonic Energy until he reached level 200…

But leaving those reasons aside, many things were bothering him.

'Ugh…!'

Even then…

Hyun could feel his heart throbbing.

It was something he only felt while «Assimilating» to Louise, and it was getting worse.

At first, he’d wondered if he was imagining things or if Louise had gotten a disease.

But a few days before, he’d discovered the reason behind why he was feeling that.

[The connection with the Darkness has gotten weaker!]

[Be careful, if the connection gets cut, the other person will be devoured by the Darkness!]

'This explains a lot.'

Although it was only two lines, they answered numerous doubts Hyun had.

It was clear that Darkness had been planted into her subconsciousness.

That was probably why that word had appeared as soon as he’d completed the job ascension quest by being recognized by her.

But more than that, the name of the job was Shadow Linker.

Link meant that it connected two targets. It probably referred to himself and Louise.

'My tendency probably influences Louise.'

Louise's weird symptoms had begun after his meeting with Truth when she’d changed his tendency to neutral.

The heart-throbbing pain was definitely caused because the connection with the Darkness had weakened.

'Will Louise die if she gets devoured by the Darkness?'

Hyun suddenly imagined something chilling and trembled.

At the same time, he remembered what had happened on Iluna.

Louise had been exposed to the sun for a short while when the eclipse’s shadow was chasing them.

What he’d felt while being covered in the light… The system didn't protect Louise, so he didn't want to imagine her pain.

The pain he'd been feeling was very similar to the one he felt back then.

Then maybe the Shadow Linker had the role of restraining the Darkness implanted into her.

If ‘Link’ referred to Louise's lifeline, that meant her life once again depended on his decision.

—His decision of whether he was going to choose the Heavens or the Abyss.

If he assumed that, then everything made sense.

"Oof… Then things will get entangled once again."

Hyun, who had «Disassimilated», burst into a bleak laugh.

He wasn't blaming Louise. He felt refreshed.

"What are you talking about?"

"You."

"Me…?"

"No, never mind. I guess it doesn't matter if you don't know."

Maybe he'd been walking the path of the Abyss since the moment he’d met Louise.

From the first moment he picked forces, or even since his tendency had been reset, Louise had been the decisive factor behind his decisions, but he didn't feel resentful toward her because of that.

After learning «Assimilation», he had been enjoying the Support-type job.

'Well, since I reached the top in the Heavens once, I'll have to do it in the Abyss as well.'

It wasn't a deliberate choice, but the Shadow Linker was a job with very high growth potential.

Normally, to be able to wield more than a hundred thousand Demonic Energy, you needed to complete the 3rd or even 4th job ascension.

It was also far superior to his old character when it was around the same level.

If he knew how to grow the character as part of the Abyss, he wouldn't even need to worry about it so much.

'No, the faction isn't important.'

Until then, he'd walked an unknown path, but he was sure he'd picked the fastest route possible.

'My skills are more important!'

He was sorry for Truth. She'd even said she was fond of him, but he would still stand on the opposing side.

He felt more relaxed after coming to that decision.

Louise looked confused after seeing that Hyun was laughing alone.

"Did something funny happen…?"

"Louise…"

"Hmm?"

"Let me borrow your body for a bit."

Hyun used «Assimilation» on Louise and activated «Pray».

Ten minutes after he closed his eyes…

He could feel his heart-throbbing pain calm down.

[Your tendency has gotten closer to the Abyss! (Current: -1)]

[You've chosen the Abyss!]

[The connection with the Darkness has been reestablished!]

'Just up to here…'

After he got the message, Hyun «Disassimilated».

Using «Pray» while being Assimilated into Louise changed his tendency too fast.

If his tendency got into the three digits, things would get bothersome, so that much was okay.

Ting-!

[A new main quest has been generated!]

Then he saw a message he hadn't seen for a while.

* * *

At the same time…

Riinngg-!

Robert, who’d been taking a nap, woke up because of a sudden alarm.

"W-what…?!"

Robert stood up from his chair while wiping away his saliva; then he began looking at the system log.

The alarm that just rang did it only when something important happened.

Mary and Robert were in charge of checking if Asrian's world was stable.

In the beginning, Robert had dripped a cold sweat while trying to figure out the cause, but he had gotten used to it.

He knew where he had to check first.

"Haha, I knew it!"

In just five minutes, Robert figured out the trigger that’d made the variable diverge.

Hyun…

More than 50% of the times that alarm rang, it was because of Hyun. That time was no different.

Robert had become his fan at a certain point.

He was proud that—thanks to being a developer—he was the only one able to watch all of Hyun’s gameplay.

"It seems like he's finally chosen the Abyss… Well, I guess that, considering what he's gone through until now, it was the obvious choice."

Surprisingly, Hyun always picked the best route whenever he was at a crossroads.

He knew he was a player of Asra, the previous game… Yet, even under the new variables that had been added to Asrian, he continued to make the best possible decisions.

Robert took a closer look at Hyun's recent activity.

What had happened until then, the quests he was doing, and what was probably going to happen!

"Deception, Darkness, and Truth…"

He could see at first glance that, once again, Hyun had gotten involved with surprisingly important beings.

"Woah, it seems like another big-scale quest is about to start. To think that he would drag out Darkness at this point…"

Although it seemed like he was trying to do a ridiculously difficult quest, he couldn't laugh at it.

That was because Hyun was at the center of it!

"I’ll reserve some time so that I don’t miss it."

Robert was still bothered by the fact that he hadn't been able to see Hyun's role in Iluna's Quest live.

The main reason was that he had to prepare for the festival and the important presentation… But he was definitely going to monitor the quest live that time.

"Good!"

Robert smiled after putting an alarm that would ring once Hyun reached a certain place.

Mary tilted her head while looking at Robert, who was talking alone.

"Robert, didn't you say you had a meeting today?"

"Hmm…?"

"You said you had an important meeting with someone at lunch."

"Meeting…? Oh yeah!"

He’d been so busy analyzing Hyun's gameplay that he’d almost forgotten.

Robert checked his phone and frowned. He was supposed to meet someone important that day.

"Damn it. I missed two calls from Director Steven!"

"Ah, so the meeting was with Director Steven!"

"Yes. Mari, please take care of my office for a moment!"

"Just go. Don't worry, it's not like we're doing anything."

Chairman Kwon Dae Ho was particularly interested in the meeting with Steven and would also participate in it, so Robert had no other choice but to pay attention.

Robert headed somewhere hurriedly while calling the number back.

He had no clue how the day’s meeting would develop.

* * *

Hyun sat on the sofa in the private room, staring at the air.

He was like that because, after changing his tendency back to the Abyss, he had received a quest.

<Main Quest: In search of Darkness> (Difficulty: ?)

- Go and search the Ruins of Darkness that are somewhere Underground. The key to freeing Louise is in that place.

- There aren't many people who know how to move in the Underground… Without the help of someone who can guide you, you might wander around the Underground forever.

'Finally, another main quest!'

Hyun thought that he was starting to understand how main quests worked.

If you followed the commands, you would naturally get involved in a big incident. Your reward would depend on how much influence you exercised over the world.

It could be that you received nothing, or it could be that you received more experience than an entire week of hunting would give.

The first time he’d met and saved Louise, he had gone up 25 levels!

Basically, the rewards were decided based on the actions of the user.

"Then choosing the Abyss was the correct decision."

Hyun decided to follow the main quest for a while.

By doing that, he would be able to obtain stats, skill points, and Demonic Energy!

The rewards of the main quests he had done until then had exceeded his expectations, and there would probably be many of them left in the future as well.

Basically, following the main quest was the fastest way to grow your character.

'Search the Ruins of Darkness?'

First, Hyun tried to analyze the quest’s description.

Once again, he used the Interloop to search for information.

Darkness, Dark, Underground, Ruins, etc… He used many keywords but couldn't find anything useful.

'I won't be able to use this.'

He had discovered a while ago that he couldn't rely only on the information from the Interloop.

In Asra Online, there was usually a hint in the quest's description, so Hyun took some time to read it sentence by sentence.

‘Follow an Underground guide and search for the Ruins of Darkness…’

‘By “Underground”, they’re probably referring to the Symmetrical World.’

And he could only think of one person who could guide him through the Symmetrical World…

'Rutia.'

He shook his head after thinking of that weird priestess.

'No, I don't even know where that person is. How am I even supposed to find her?'

Hyun had returned to the place where the Twilight Temple was located.

But the place had been covered by a thick forest.

It was as if everything that had happened that day was a dream.

'I won't be able to find her.'

He had to find someone else.

'Someone who knows the Underground… Who are they referring to? I'm sure that, if I think a little bit more carefully, I'll be able to think of someone.'

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