Chapter 24: Chapter 20 – Let’s Get Started [End of Arc 1]

"Madam Tachibana, it seems that the [Frosthood] Guild has moved according to your predictions." Standing behind Tachibana, who's flipping through a folder, a maid holds a tablet out for her viewing. "August Hunter led one of the newest Awakeners to Eryland. The Awakener in question is completely unknown, though it appears that her class may be 'Succubus.' The city has been thrashed because of Luck and Malison's fight with her. They were both defeated."

 

Tachibana seemed uninterested in the topic until she heard the results. "Both of them? What kind of monster did they send to my city? Defeating those two isn't hard for someone like us, but for that group to have someone this powerful again... this is troubling." There's some concern in her voice, but Tachibana doesn't express more than that. In her eyes, this is nothing to stress over. If she wished, she could handle half of the Frosthood Guild if she could find out where they were staying.

 

"Tell Tabitha that we'll be sending those kids to the forsaken place soon. There's no point pampering them anymore. If we keep them in that city any longer, Genevieve will actually kill them." Tachibana stands up and walks across the room, leaving the maid to sit in her place. 

 

Tachibana looks down at the door for a while, lost in thought. "I considered bringing those girls in on my own, but that won't be necessary. Tabitha can't get them to the level I want them at alone. Have that man go with her." 

 

---

 

Genevieve beat the ever-living hell out of the two of us. Malison got the worst of it since I'd already been stabbed and butchered during the fight. Surprisingly, there were far fewer casualties than I'd initially expected. I'm somewhat relieved.

 

I'm lying in a hospital bed, tied tightly by many restraints. Malison is in a different from across from me. The nurse said that it's better if the two of us aren't in the same place. Whatever the hell that's supposed to mean.

 

They've kept us in this hospital for a week now. That's actually how long it's taken for the two of us to recover. Malison's injuries weren't as bad as mine, but apparently, the two of us were injected with some sort of poison during the fight. It must've been the mysterious fluids that her blade was made from. At first, I assumed that it was just sexual fluids, but I was wrong. Sexual fluids were probably the medium between her and the creation of her poison.

 

I hear chattering on the other side of my door. The nurses sure know how to annoy me. I think I can get out of my restraints with my own abilities by now. 

 

Then the door flies open, "Mr. Windrow, we understand that you're in a hurry, but please! You can't enter without permission!" One of the nurses tries to stop the smoker who just entered. The room already begins to reek of tobacco.

 

The man who enters is old. Neat platinum blonde hair, which is a display of aging, connects to a neatly trimmed beard of matching color. The tip of the beard pokes out perfectly, not enough to distract a person. In short, this man is handsome. Yellow eyes, a scar beneath his left eye that seems to narrowly rises up on both eyes of his face. He was lucky that they weren't a few centimeters closer. 

 

He has a black tuxedo suit thrown over his shoulders as if he couldn't bother to put it on fully. The button-down he wore was accustomed to his muscular build below. He easily stretched further than six feet and predictably, he ends up standing over my bed with a cigarette so massive that he has to hold it down with his teeth, easily showcasing a wide grin.

 

It was of secondary importance, but Malison is held over this man's shoulder too. She seems unconscious. This alarms me a bit.

 

"You must be Luck, right brat?!" The man's voice must be naturally loud since it feels like he's yelling at me. The pressure in his voice is similar to the harsh pressure from Genevieve's words a week ago. Thankfully, his words were softer and didn't make me feel like gravity was fighting against me.

 

"I'm Forrest Windrow! You and this brat are going on a trip, now!" The restraints that hold me have snapped apart as I'm taken up by my head. I'm surprised that my neck hasn't snapped from how careless this man is with my body. 

 

Oblivious to the world around him, Forrest leaps through the roof of the hospital. Crashing through each floor, he finally reaches the ceiling where he stops in the air. "We're going on a field trip!" The man is rather enthusiastic, despite his age. I can tell that he's at least in his 40s. Now, why is he kidnapping us? Judging by how the nurses knew him, I think I can assume I won't die with him. At least, not intentionally. 

 

Before I know it, we're flying off away from the hospital, towards wherever this man wants us to go. I'm in no position to run. I think if I tried, he'd just end up catching me sooner or later. I'm better off seeing how this all turns out. It beats being tied up for a week. Though I must admit, I've undergone quite the revelation in a week's time.

 

---

 

"We're going to [Shoyca]?" Malison has a look of pure disbelief. Oh, right! She wasn't knocked out by Forrest or anything, it turns out, she's just a really deep sleeper! He waltz into her room and snatched her up, and that's when the nurses became alarmed!

 

"Ms. Tachibana needs the two of you to become stronger," Tabitha begins, "and in order for you to become stronger you'll need to level up. The best place to level up is in the most dangerous place on the planet. Shoyca!" 

 

"Do you mind explaining what Shoyca is?" I'm a bit clueless, even with my memories. This body must've never left the city.

 

Forrest takes Tabitha's place in explaining. He's much more relaxed now than he was when he kidnapped me. I think I prefer this laid-back version of him. "Shoyca wasn't originally of this world. You were probably only 4 or 5 years old when it appeared. At the time of the world's change, a new island appeared in between Europe and Asia. They now go by different names. At the time its appearance became known globally. Two continents being split apart doesn't happen every day, after all."

 

Then, Tabitha steps in to explain again, "Shoyca is also the largest gate in existence. The entire island itself is a gate unlike any other: a gate that produces gates. On that island,  four [War Dungeons] have appeared. And each time, humanity has failed to suppress them. The [S-Ranks] refuse to step foot on that island. Even when it's requested globally, there are too many risks when sending each country's strongest into the unknown. The deeper you go into the island, the more dangerous it becomes."

 

Malison steps into this lecture too, this is fun. "Shoyca is dangerous for a lone reason. The inhabitants of that island are all dungeon monsters. Because we've failed to suppress too many [War Dungeons], mankind has been invaded by armies of dungeons nonstop."

 

"The continents that were once Europe and Asia have no choice but to constantly fend off monsters, which they've been able to do well in recent years. Because of the repeated appearance of those dungeons, though, monsters have begun to inhabit and open the gates of other dungeons which usually wouldn't let monsters out. Going there is like wishing for death."

 

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With the information they're stuffing me with, I'm amazed at my own ability to comprehend everything. "So, Ms. Tachibana is sending us on a suicide mission in hopes that we get stronger?" I dumb down the discussion with an obvious question. Tabitha and Forrest share glances with each other before giving me the most horrifying smiles I've ever seen, save for the monster that first took my life.

 

---

 

We're onboard a jet. I'm sitting with Tabitha and Malison is sitting with Forrest. I've found some new things about Tabitha. She is indeed Zaiden's older sister, she enjoys playing with my hair, and she is an unquestionable sadist.

 

Another fun fact I've learned is that in Shoyca, there are 'rulers' of different locations. The safest place on the island is the airport where a human settlement has been made. Using barriers powered by various Awakeners, they've been able to at least create a stronghold which makes it easier for humans to go in and out. 

 

With that in mind, Awakeners are responsible for their own entry. They can't always be protected by the monsters who can fly. Defenses have been set up, sure, but in the end, it's your own responsibility to arrive safely. 

 

That brings me to another one of my fun realizations! Forrest, an [A-Rank] Awakener, can unleash invisible attacks from a distance. He says that it's one of the many skills he's unlocked in 10 years. I wonder what other skills he has... He claims to have [S-Rank] potential, but I don't know about that. The [S-Ranks] that I've seen are all monsters. For instance, Alice held control over causality and could practically stop time! Toy, assuming that she too had the power of an [S-Rank], displayed incredible feat strengths. Ms. Tachibana's ability to control a person is incredible too! All of these people are practically monsters who barely use more than a single skill! Imagine what it'd be like if they used the rest of the skills in their arsenal!

 

I should stop doing these comparisons. They're bad for my health. If I keep thinking of the power of those at the top, I won't be able to make comparisons of those closer in power to me. What if I have to fight a [C-Rank] someday? I've been so busy thinking of the impossible gap between myself and those around me that I haven't considered the possibility that I'll need to seriously fight humans of a similar level to myself.

 

I need to start thinking more realistically.

 

---

 

It's been a week since the group's arrival in Shoyca. It's been seven days since the group's arrival in Shoyca.

 

The island is massive. Shoyca is one massive island with contradicting terrains. It'd be more fitting to call it a country or continent of its own! Yes, the notion that Shoyca is merely an island is foolish! There is every type of terrain here!

 

A terrain of grass!

 

A terrain of water!

 

A terrain of ice!

 

A terrain of sand!

 

"What the fuck...?" Tabitha is staring forward in awe, the light from flames connecting with half of her face. Closer to her are Forrest and several other Awakeners who have all stopped and looked at the mass of fire that engulfed the open field of monster carcasses.

 

"You guys brought real monsters, didn't you?" One of the Awakeners in a suit, with a clipboard in hand, cannot begin to describe the magnificence before him. The air has shifted and contorted unnaturally, the reflection of the group visible in the sky from many different angles.

 

Explosions sound off at many different points around the island. A scene that has been thought of as impossible. Certainly, from the map, it would not seem like something massive. But put this into perspective, please.

 

— Two teenage girls arrive on an island and in the span of a week go on an unmatched rampage, only seen several times by the strongest Awakeners.

 

Standing on top of a pile of corpses are not two teenage girls, though. There are two bodies of pure black, concealed by unrealistic darkness. At the bottom, crouches with two daggers at hand, are blue sockets that are meant to be eyes. Standing over that, though, is a taller figure with red sockets glancing around at the view created as well.

 

✦ You've achieved [Corruption 10]... ✦
✦ You crazy bastard, how did this happen? ✦
✦ Due to achieving [Corruption 10], you will receive [The Red Mother's Blessing]... ✦
✦ Your growth has been multiplied accordingly. ✦
✦ In accordance with my orders, you will be given a special title: [The Anomaly]. ✦
✦ Artemis and Apollo's [Durability Negation] have been applied to you. ✦

 

Lastly, a terrain of blood. Two Awakeners, in the span of one week, have done something unimaginably. The eradication of a [War Dungeon]!

 

How did this happen indeed...

 

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