Chapter 24: Seth's Findings
Pushing back his arms, Micheal tightened his knees and arms. And in a swift bust, he tore through the air, hurling directly at Louis and the monster.
In a split second, Louis experienced a relief; he had finally gotten someone to do the work for him, now, after this is over, he will take the opportunity to eliminate the reader. A grin curled in his face as a result.
But in the climax of his plan, Louis suddenly saw a notification pop up before him:
[The Demonic Wolf Flegris has been eliminated]
[You have died]
Dazed by the situation, Louis looked ahead only to see Michael's fist plunged into his heart. The demonic wolf laid on the ground: Dead!
"What? What?.... You bastard!"
His body dropped to the ground before he could say anything else.
Micheal on the other hand stared at the holographic screen that appeared before him.
[Killed a Demonic Wolf Flegris. Worth 12 Cores.]
[Killed a Reader. Total points 3]
"Hmm? Didn't he say he had 5? This wouldn't be enough, should I hunt other readers then? No, it's better I find her first."
.....
"So what should we do?" Circe inquired.
Ciel, who was now done lampooning inwards, expressed a brief summary: "Nothing much, let's just kill it and get it over with."
Nodding in affirmation, Circe tightened her grip on her katana.
Ciel realizing regrettably that his secret about his illusion had most likely been revealed, he promptly wrapped his body in a blurry like illusion of the transparent wind.
With a quick dash, Ciel and Circe closed into the monster.
Ciel, with little to no combat experience, opted to act as a diversion.
He immediately made about extra three illusions of himself, which was also the current limit his energy allowed.
The bear-like monster's eyes immediately ignited with an evil light. Without wasting even a second, the massive monster roared, raised his still remaining hand and crashed down on Ciel!
Boom!
The ground trembled!
However, under the monster's paw, countless ethereal shards of glass emerged.
It was an illusion!
At that moment, Circe quickly appeared before the monster. Simultaneously, her sword flashed in the air, cutting deep into the joint of the beast's other leg.
Crimson blood spattered on the lake.
However, without using damage transfer, her physical strength was insignificant and could only deal a small wound on the rather large monster. It quickly reflexed, raising its large paw, it delivered a downward crush. Circe, who was barely landing on her feet, had no choice but to endure the blow.
The ground trembled and crushed. However, in the next moment, Circe materialized in mid air right beside the beast's face.
She had used Glass substitution!
At that moment, Circe, who was now in midair, immediately gave a follow up attack. Her blade slashed at the creature's face!
Blood splattered across the creature's face, as a large red scar appeared in-between its eyes, reaching all the way to its snort.
Ciel, who was still hidden within the illusion, realized that he could do nothing against the monster, and with no alternative, he decided to play a good role as a supporter.
Gritting his teeth, he forced out the last bit of energy from his body, the remaining two clones of himself shattered into illusory glass.
They immediately converged like a vortex, quickly merging and giving the form of a large creature.
In just a few minutes, a large bear-like monster appeared. Its visage bearing an uncanny resemblance to the baron of bane.
The original monster, startled by the sudden emergence, immediately raised its paw to strike at the sudden ganger. And seizing that opportunity, Circe circled around a Tree.
A breath later, her katana slit through the tree, cleaving it all through. With a crack, the baron of bane, suddenly shuddered, blood immediately splattering from its neck.
And in the next moment, it fell heavily into the lake.
Falling on the ground, Ciel gasped, his face pale from weakness.
Taking in countless breaths to stabilize his erratic beating heart, Ciel suddenly saw a message pop up.
[8 cores have been gifted.]
'Hmm?' Ciel stared in silence at the young thorny beauty that approached him.
"Did you give me the cores?" Ciel inquired.
"Yes." Circe answered briefly. "You did most of the work."
"Hmm…." Ciel momentarily found that hard to believe. Furthermore, he now felt even more indebted to her.
"What about you? Do you have enough cores?" Ciel asked,
"Not now,but brother should be bringing some soon."
'Bringing some? Is there some core farm in this place?' Ciel nearly curled up a smile.
However, as he was deep within his thoughts, Ciel suddenly couldn't move his body!
Raising his hands into an inviting hug, Ciel muttered in a loving voice,
"Come give mommy a hug.."
Circe eyes widened at this!
"...…"
Circe quickly grasped the situation. Clenching her fist,
"Bam!
A hand drilled into Ciel's face- instantly snapping him back to his senses.
"What happened?" Circe inquired.
"I don't know, but it seems the monster wasn't the one causing the phenomenon."
Her eyes darting around the ruined lake, Circe couldn't spot anything that could cause the influence.
"Perhaps it's another….." Circe abruptly paused. Her hands immediately parted into a hug, a warm smile curled on her face.
"A hug will clear all and every issue."
Ciel stared blankly at the girl who for some reason looked like a drug junkie. He finally sighed and gave her a knock on the head.
"Ah!" Circe exclaimed upon gaining control over her own body.
'I can't predict when any of us will be affected, so it's better if we move from here. There's a chance the effect is bordered around the lake.' Ciel reflected.
Ciel looked at the sky and cleared his throat.
"I think we should leave this place. Perhaps the effect is…."
"Occurring specifically at the lake!" Circe interrupted.
"Yes." Ciel had a blank expression.
At this moment, every fiber of his being wished to quickly depart from the girl, however, as someone who was indebted to her, Ciel had no choice but to entertain the situation.
After a while, he said:
"Let's leave now."
"Alright."
After that, they both stood up and left the lake.
....
[You have killed a reader. Total points 3.]
"Not worth much."
"Plea. P..p. Please!"
"Crack!
Swiping away the notification, Micheal clenched his hand and the sound of neck breaking echoed across the forest.
"Thud!
"I wonder if this is enough?"
Throwing away the lifeless body of a reader, Michael had an icy cold stare adorning his face.
His lips suddenly patted, a soft whispery voice emanated.
"A hug is always the right…." he suddenly paused.
For a moment, he had lost control over his body. Clenching his gauntlet worm fist, Micheal unsure about the occurrence, realized the possibility that his sister was in trouble. And with that idea, he quickly dashed through the forest, leaving dust in his wake.
...…
Opening his eyes,the surrounding darkness made it hard to discern any features. Then with a snap that echoed through the darkness, a small fireball appeared atop a small finger, quickly illuminating the room.
The blonde haired Seth, glanced around, the small fire burning on his fingers acting as his guide.
Illuminating the surroundings, Seth realized he was something of a cave- a dark cove whose walls were made from stacked ancient bricks. Furthermore, before him were three great doors: the one on the left was seemingly made from a strange blood red coral, with Strange symbols and inscriptions scattered around its surface.
On the right, a black door whose edges glistered with a silver tint. Subsequently, the door had a strange symbol in the middle; A big eye with strange threads that intertwined beneath it to form a complicated description.
Finally, in the middle of the room was a door made from brown wood-its body and state extremely plain with nothing outstanding when compelled to the rest.
Seth raised a brow at this, "Doesn't this have significance in mysticism?"
Before the breaking of the world, mysticism was simply a collection of practices that heavily depended on superstitions rather than actual facts. Making use of tarot cards, astrology, and other symbols, the humans of the past would claim to be able to foresee the future or tap into extraordinary powers. However, after the breaking of the world, mysticism experienced a significant boost in its cultural presence. Unlike before, it became something that helped explain certain events that occurred within scenes, since most of the books drew inspiration from mystical constructs.
And Seth, who fancied knowledge over brute strength, naturally developed an attraction towards the arcane. Thankfully the library had a course dedicated to its study.
Gazing with focus, Seth quickly dissected the relevant information about the doors.
'The door at the left, it's made from coral. Does that signify the room on the other side has some significance to the purity of things, calmness and positivity? As for the door on the right. It seems to correlate to the attribute of mysteries and secrets, while also the search for knowledge. And lastly, the door in the middle. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with mysticism. It's simply too plain.'
Though this was Seth's deduction, he also knew he had to consider the possibility that the three doors was simply a made up construct created by the creator of the novel, and in truth died not hold any meaning.
Nonetheless, from the three doors, Seth was inclined to investigate the door on the left. The door made from blood red coral.
Reaching to the designated door, Seth reached out and pulled the round door knob which was also made from coral. The door creaked in protest, opening up, Seth quickly previewed the inside.
A round ancient dome, a glass circle ceiling which allowed the faint sunlight to pierce into the surroundings, illuminating it in the golden radiance. Not just that, four great pillars stood adjacent to each other, their surface holding large bold inscriptions of wheats, trees, and the machinery of man.
Furthermore, scattered around the dome were countless white bones, stick torches, swords, and the occasional books.
Seth grasped knowledge from the surroundings; The scene of which the simulation is modeled from had a relation to adventuring fiction. And Placing his finger over his lips, Seth crouched down and picked up a small book with a brown cover.
"Bam!
The door immediately shut at his back. Startling him in the process.
Suppressing such emotions, he opened up the book which was covered in dust and dirt. Opening up, seth quickly frowned his brows. The writing was simply gibberish. It was obvious the author didn't try to invent an actual language.
However, Seth wasn't going to be deterred by this. He immediately tapped the middle of his forehead, when suddenly his eyes sparkled like the cacophony of starlight, multiple constellations interwoven within his gaze. In that moment, the gibberish he once saw in the book, quickly rearranged into a readable text.
"We are the last ones. The world has drawn closer to its end. The bombs do nothing, it has finally happened…. The world has gone beautiful."
....
Tapping the middle of his forehead, Seth eyes returned to its natural color -his brows knitted as he pondered an issue.
'It seems like this scene has relevance to the end of the world. Apocalypse fiction perhaps. Nonetheless, If that's the Case, I reckon the possibility that the world is the main problem rather than the creatures within it.' Seth recalled the instructor's words regarding the special terrin of the world.
'The clues don't point to some monster, no, if anything it regards the world as the problem itself. So what exactly does the world do to people on it?" Seth's mind immediately churned with multiple scenarios. Ranging from the possibility that the world was some kind of monster, the very ground having a specialty, or the natural forces being a catalyst to the danger of the scene.
As Seth stood in the middle of the ancient dome bathed by sunlight, he couldn't help but wonder what the other three doors led to- were there other clues within them, or simply something the creator of the scene added for worthless purposes. After all, it has been discovered that certain scenes may have laws that are completely maddening, simply because of the bad creativity of its Creator.
Turning back, Seth realized there was only a single door in-between the wall. "So each door leads to a different place not interconnected by space." He concluded.
Leaning to the ground, Seth picked up the broadsword that suddenly appeared before him.
"They give us our weapons?" Seth realized that the sword was the exact one he chose in the armory. 'They perhaps recorded the data into the system.' he speculated.
Weekly Power Status
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