Chapter 66 - An Unforeseen Occurrence (4)

[You're the first ones to defeat the last gatekeeper, 'Betty'!]

[You've cleared it as a party of four!]

- Betty blindly obeyed the Great Demon of Deception, but in the end, she was just used as a throwaway card. Even still, she won't hate her. Betty will be reborn again, and she will protect this place until the end.

[You've received an achievement for being the first to defeat Betty!]

[The vitality of surviving players has gone up by 6!]

But thanks to the Abyss’s buff, the message Hyun got was slightly different.

[Your vitality has gone up by 8!]

Soon, Betty's body started to become blurry; then it finally became a black smoke and disappeared.

Now that Mayday's soul wasn't there, she'd definitely died.

There were some items left behind where she died.

—A high-ranking monster's leather and the nucleus of a monster.

They decided to put all items that needed to be processed in Hyun's inventory.

Hyun's eyes shone after discovering one item.

The Robes of the Praying Priest.

There was an item with that name in his inventory.

Hyun got excited after opening the information window.

'These stats…?'

Many thoughts were starting to appear in his mind, but he decided to check it later.

He would make a decision later, after looking at it in more detail.

"Oof, I almost died," Ain said while sighing in relief.

She had less than 10% of her HP left.

They were lucky that they were able to stun her at the last moment.

There were a lot of dangerous moments, but incredibly, the plan ended up succeeding.

'You're really amazing, Hyun.'

Hyun had «Disassimilated» from her.

She thought while looking at him… That it was the same as before.

—He always found a solution whenever she thought there was no way to win.

The thought of using skill points during such a situation and making a foothold in the air to run were all things she would've never thought of.

He had probably never stepped on air in Asrian Online. Even though it was his first try doing it, he had managed to do it perfectly.

'I won't be able to catch up easily, right?'

She used to think that, thanks to «Assimilation», she'd soon be able to catch up to him.

But that seemed distant.

'I'm glad I stayed with him.'

Hyun's voice stopped Ain’s thoughts.

"Ain, let's move. If we stay here, you'll end up dying because of the heat."

"Ugh, you're right!"

Ain was receiving damage from the heat of the lava.

They began moving immediately.

Even though the fight had ended, they still had more work to do.

[You've explored 99.9% of the dungeon!]

As the level of the lava sea fell, the floor of the underground city became visible.

Hyun and Ain walked through the road that appeared when the lava split.

Soon, the door that led to the end appeared in front of them.

That was the only way out of this area.

"There won't be any more fights."

As Hyun approached the door, it automatically opened.

[You've explored 100% of the dungeon!]

[It is an astonishing achievement! You've managed to clear the Evil's Seed Dungeon in 4 hours, 21 minutes, and 35 seconds!]

[If you report to the Knight Commander, you'll be able to get the highest reward!]

Slam! The moment she crossed the door, it closed.

But neither Hyun nor Ain looked back.

They were overwhelmed by the sight in front of them.

"How pretty…" Ain mumbled.

In a relatively narrow room, there was a purple jewel that had an incredible presence.

There were torches on both sides of the one-meter-big jewel that reminded them of a cake.

"Is that jewel the Evil's Seed?"

"That's unexpected… I thought that the phrase ‘Evil's Seed’ referred to a person."

Hyun thought of Louise while looking at the shining jewel for a while.

Then he shook his head.

"Maybe I was wrong."

"Hmm… If it's purple, is it then an amethyst? But it looks like a diamond."

As if she was possessed, Ain walked toward the giant jewel and touched it.

At that moment…

Everything that surrounded them scattered away and disappeared.

Hyun shouted in surprise.

"Huh? Ain? Where are you?!"

Hyun tried to grab Ain's hands, which were disappearing, but there was only air.

"Wait, is this… A video?"

For a moment, he thought that an accident had occurred, but soon, he discovered that there was the scene of an event being reproduced in front of him.

After learning about his mistake, Hyun felt relieved.

'I see. If you touch the jewel, a video is reproduced.'

Some quests showed you the game's story in such ways.

Hyun focused his attention on what was happening in front of him.

The video was made with a technique that made it seem as if someone had filmed the scene.

From that, Hyun knew that it was something that had happened in the past.

'This place…'

Hyun's eyes widened at the sight of a familiar place.

There were countless light pillars that went from the ground to the sky all over the world.

Even though it was a place so beautiful that one may think that it wasn't real, Hyun was used to this scenery.

—The Heavens.

In Asra, he was free to enter and leave that place as he wished.

Hyun felt a little bit melancholic at the video's scenery.

'The quality of the video… Is a little bit bad.'

The video was shaky at times.

It was a bit disappointing for a game like Asrian, which was made with a very sophisticated virtual reality technology.

Suddenly…

The video closed in on a familiar face.

—A girl with a pitiful atmosphere.

He couldn't understand why, but that face seemed familiar.

Only after thinking for a while, he learned why.

'Louise… Is that Louise?'

The reason why he didn't identify Louise immediately was that her height and appearance were different from what he remembered.

In that video, she seemed to be around seven years old.

Surprisingly, there was a pair of wings made of tens of crystal pieces on Louise’s back.

It was a pair of brilliant and transparent wings that were proof of an angel.

That's right, the Louise that appeared in that video was an angel.

Not only that, but she had transparent wings that were exclusive to Royal class Angels, the category under the Archangel.

He wasn't expecting to see Louise like that.

'She's an Angel? But I don't remember that name among the list of Royal Angels…'

Hyun frowned while trying to remember.

In Asra, there wasn't anyone called Louise, so maybe that meant that the world was different from before.

But Hyun saw something else that surprised him even more.

The Heaven's area where Louise was started to become crimson.

And then… the Sun turned off.

No, more than turning off, it started to emit black energy.

The Abyss had devoured an important part of the Heavens.

Suddenly, the most sinister creature in existence was standing in front of Louise.

—A being with giant horns and a pair of wings that were redder than the blood.

'A demon…?'

The moment the demon turned her face around, its face flashed past the screen.

Hyun didn't miss that moment.

'That's Keidrial!'

Even though her face appeared for only a few seconds, Hyun recognized it.

She was the one that had made him choose the Support job.

She was one of the demons with the highest rank in the Abyss, so there was no way he wouldn't remember her face.

Keidrial approached Louise. The little Louise recoiled and was pale.

Maybe her legs were loose, but Louise slumped down.

'This isn't good…'

Hyun didn't notice that his heart was beating faster than when he was facing Mayday.

—That's how focused he was on the video.

Keidrial extended her hands and grabbed Louise's little head.

Intense, dark energy entered her.

'Ugh…!'

Kyaaaaaa-!

An eardrum-piercing scream echoed through the place where light and darkness were mixed together.

It was more horrifying because it didn't sound like a human's scream.

Keidrial looked down at Louise, who was in pain.

But that lasted only for a few moments.

Louise's wings, which were made of crystals, drooped.

When Keidrial withdrew her hands, Louise's eyes were out of focus, and from her body, black energy that resembled that of a demon’s emerged.

'Is Louise… Okay?'

Paf- A portal opened from behind.

Keidrial dragged Louise and disappeared after entering the portal.

The crimson-dyed Heavens returned to white, and the event video ended.

"…"

Even after the video ended, Hyun kept staring blankly at the air for a while.

"Hyun."

"…"

"Are you okay?"

He came back to his senses only after Ain had called out to him many times.

"Huh…? Yes, I'm okay."

"Did you see the video? I couldn't understand what was happening," Ain asked him with narrow eyes.

"Hyun, it seems like you know something."

"Yes, but I'm not sure…" Hyun said while shooking his head.

"I'll tell you once I organize my thoughts."

The big jewel Ain touched had turned black.

On top of the jewel that had lost its shine, there was an old necklace.

Hyun frowned.

"Wait, why is this here…"

"You know it?"

"Probably…"

Usually, he wouldn't have known what it was, but after looking at footage related to Louise, he immediately recognized it.

He approached it and grabbed it.

After looking at it closely, he became sure of it.

That's right… That was the necklace she had worn.

It was the necklace she cherished so much.

'It's definitely that.'

He was sure she wouldn't throw away an item she cared so much about.

Then why was that necklace there?

He opened the information window after picking it up.

[Shabby Necklace]

- It's a necklace that has an evil pattern. You shouldn't expect it to have a special effect. Maybe you could sell the gold decorations it has and receive some money?

Even though it didn't mention Louise's name, Hyun was sure the necklace belonged to her.

Then, he suddenly got a system message.

[The main quest, 'In Search of Louise,' has been updated!]

Hyun rapidly opened his status window.

There were two new lines in the main quest he'd received before.

- You've obtained an item that's registered somewhere.

- Maybe it could become a hint?

'A hint…?'

The new sentences that were added weren't very helpful.

'What's going on…'

'Hyun, it seems like you like that necklace?'

Hyun was thinking, he heard Ain's voice.

"Me?"

"You're holding it tight even now."

Hyun had been standing still for a while with the necklace clutched in his hand.

Ain was thinking about something deeply while looking at Hyun.

A teleportation circle appeared on the floor.

[In 10 seconds, you'll be teleported to the dungeon's entrance. To cancel it, please move more than a meter.]

As the countdown approached 0, many thoughts crossed Hyun's mind.

* * *

"Did you guys really find the 'Evil's Seed' in just one day? That's incredible! Even if it were me, I wouldn't have been able to reach the dungeon's end in one day!"

[The Knight's Commander's affection rate has increased a lot!]

[If you have his trust, all the other people in the Empire will trust you, too!]

[You've obtained rewards!]

- Heaven's Medal of Honor x 10

- Bonus skill points + 10

"Haha, if you have no requests, come to see me! You're always more than welcome!"

Hyun and Ain, who had finished their work, walked the long corridor and left the top floor.

Even while giving the report about the quest, Hyun was still thinking about the footage related to Louise.

What was the meaning of the things he saw?

What was Louise's relationship with the demons?

What was the use of the necklace?

Lots of thoughts were lingering around his head.

He felt that his head would be a mess for the entire day.

He couldn't forget the sight of Louise screaming because of pain.

The thing that made Hyun come back to his senses was a sudden question Ain asked him.

"Aren't you going to try the cloth?"

"Huh…? What?"

"The item that the boss dropped," Ain answered.

Hyun had a habit of examining in detail if he got a useful item while playing.

But even though they'd obtained an item after defeating a level 235 boss, he hadn't checked it yet.

That was something weird for Hyun to do.

"Oh yeah, the item."

After hearing Ain's words, Hyun remembered the new item.

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