บท 98: First Encounter

...

Meanwhile, somewhere located between the middle and the end section of Amaharpe's walls, the guild Blue Oasis were sweeping away the monsters in their area. However, they did not manage to rack up as many points as the other guilds due to unexpected guests in their section.

But, since it was the first wave, the leader of the guild Asgard did not pay it much attention. On the other hand, Niflheim relied much more on his natural instincts to perceive things. Right now, there was something wrong with this picture to him.

"The random parties in our section seem to possess above average gear and are not as chaotic in their movements as the other sections, according to scout reports." Niflheim furrowed his brows.

Each guild had a few members posing as a "random party" in order to monitor the movements and progress of the other guilds.

"It may just be that we are unlucky." Niflheim released a small sigh. He tried to convince himself, but he was unable to shake this foreboding feeling.

"Is something wrong Captain Niflheim?" Vanter asked.

"No, nothing at all. Prepare for the next wave. Also, tell everyone to stay on their toes. Just because the first wave was easy, does not mean that the next wave will be the same." Niflheim said.

"Yes, Captain!" Vanter immediately left to carry out Niflheim's orders.

The first wave had ended successfully with no casualties on their side. However, this was only the beginning.

...

Standing on the air above the clouds far above the capital city of Amaharpe were five individuals. They were the same five who had just sent off the different groups into the Chaotic Dogma Realm.

Grrrrrrrrrrooooowwwllll...

The sound a low growl echoed throughout the skies. Although the players could not see the individuals in the sky, that low growl resembled a thunderous noise.

"Your protective barrier has fallen at last. You shall return to me what is rightfully mine!" The voice which spoke sounded deep and had a constant ringing noise lingering just after each word was spoken.

"Little bird, have you come to play again?" Zendai had a small smile on his face as he addressed the entity as little bird.

When it heard that name, the clouds in the skies above Amaharpe started to darken and the clouds turned gray. It was as though a thunderstorm was getting ready to descend down upon the city.

"Still up to your light shows I see. Come, I'll entertain you, little bird." Zendai held the palm of his hand up. However, just as he was about to take action, someone next to him grabbed his wrist and stopped him from doing so.

"We still need you at full strength. You've already used up a large portion of your mana while opening the portal much earlier than it was originally intended to be. Although your mana pool is nearly boundless, it was still no small amount. Let me handle this." The person who spoke was a woman.

She had long flowing pink hair that fell down to her ankles, sparkling eyes that had no irises in them, but rather looking into her eyes was like staring directly into space and seeing the countless stars engulfed in darkness. Her ears were slightly pointed which indicated that she was a part of the Trephasia race.

She was extremely beautiful, however, she was not as pure and dazzling as Tererestiaa. But, there was an aura of charming maturity that Tererestiaa did not possess.

She removed the cloak she was wearing and underneath was a pure black skintight battle suit. The instant she removed her cloak, bright pink magic symbols began to form all over it. Her head was then covered by a dark visor which left only the bottom part of her face visible. Her hair wrapped itself neatly into a long ponytail.

"It's you! Hateful!" The moment the woman donned that appearance, the "little bird" seemed to grow even angrier and more furious. The lightning bolts became more intense. However, whenever it was about to strike any of the individuals that stood in the air, it was blocked by an invisible barrier.

"Be careful, Nova." Zendai cautioned her. Although he was confident in her strength, that "little bird" was still a legendary existence. Dealing with it alone would not be easy, but they could not afford to divert their power away from their main task.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine!" Pink glowing patterns began to appear behind Nova. She kicked off the air and shot further into the skies. There, she saw a huge bird that resembled a roc. The size of the bird made Nova look like a mere insect by comparison.

"I'm flattered that you remembered me. But, it seems as though I did not properly teach you a lesson last time if you're back for more, Kinljrin." Nova vanished from the spot she was in.

The huge bird who was known by the name Kinljrin felt an overwhelming force slam into its large body. Luckily, its defenses were sturdy and it was not gravely injured, however, the space behind it ripped open forming a spatial rift as a result of the blow.

Kinljrin was sucked into the spatial rift as Nova followed after it. Once Nova entered the spatial rift, it closed behind her. The moment it closed, a loud sound that resembled an explosion followed by a thunderclap rang throughout the skies.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The sound was finally able to catch up to Nova's movements and it caused the clouds in the sky to swirl and form a large wind vortex. It disappeared a few seconds later.

"Will she be alright?" Terminus had a worried look on his face. He knew how powerful Nova was, but Kinljrin was nothing to scoff at.

"She will have to be. We cannot afford to lose anyone else if we want to stand a chance. Let's continue on our way. Gear should have reached "that" place by now. We must not be late at arriving at our own location." Zendai said as he continued on his way.

"Besides, she is the most fierce Trephasia I've ever met." Zendai said in a voice full of confidence.

Nova was unlike most Trephasia who pursued magic or archery. She liked to fight using her fist, which was considered a very barbaric action by the Trephasia race.

The other four, including Terminus, followed next to Zendai.

...

〈System Alert: You have entered the «Chaotic Dogma Realm»!〉

〈System Alert: Warning! Time Remaining: 23 hours 59 minutes and 59 seconds until realm closure!〉

The moment Izroth was transported out of the room, he felt as though his body was floating throughout a plane where matter did not exist, only energy. The feeling resembled being shackled and bound for countless years and then suddenly being released of those bindings.

Although it only lasted a few seconds, it felt as if it lasted for minutes.

When Izroth and his party rematerialized, they found themselves in a dark and damp cave. There were small cracks within the cave itself that light peeked in through. Thanks to the Five Cycles Pill, everyone had a much easier time adapting to their new environment.

'Quite a strange place to start.'

Izroth sensed that everyone had made it through successfully and there were no issues in sight.

"So this is the Chaotic Dogma Realm... It certainly lives up to its name." Halls moved closer to the front of the group. It was dark, damp, creepy, and there was this strange chilly wind that blew by every few moments.

"We are in the Chaotic Dogma Realm, but my guess is that we transported somewhere into an underground cave. The question is, how far are we from the surface?" The first thing that Zi Yi did when she finished rematerializing was to examine their current location.

Due to the fact that they were receiving a source of what appeared to be sunlight, she speculated that they should not be located too far underground. However, they were in an unknown realm and so that source of light could be from anything.

Psssssssssssssssssssssssssssssh!

Out of nowhere, the ground within the cave began to spew out hot steam. It was followed by a sudden tremor that made it feel as if the entire cave was going to collapse on top of the party. A few seconds later, the tremors stopped and the steam subsided.

"I recommend we find the exit before we're crushed to death." Zi Yi suggested. How unlucky would they be if they were all crushed to death before the quest had even begun? The would probably set a world record for fastest failed SS-ranked quest!

Izroth nodded his head in agreement. "Halls and I will take the lead and Guan Yu will guard the rear. As for you three, you can stay in between us." Izroth believed that this was the best formation available given their current situation.

Everyone moved into place, except for Luna. She stood still with her brows furrowed as if she was troubled by something.

"Big sis Luna, is something wrong?" Guan Yu asked when he noticed Luna's facial expression and that she did not move.

Izroth was also curious as Luna was usually the first one to react when he spoke.

"Our message system is blocked. We can't make contact with anyone through it." Luna frowned. All of the other functions were working properly. Every time she tried to access the message system, she received a "Restricted" system alert.

Out of curiosity, Luna tapped the logout button. She was not worried that it would actually log her out since it always asked for confirmation before doing so.

〈System Alert: Warning! You are attempting to logout while within the «Chaotic Dogma Realm»! Doing so will result in an immediate wipe of your character. Do you still wish to continue?〉

"It appears that if we attempt to logout while inside of the Chaotic Dogma Realm, the system will consider it a forfeit of the quest and immediately proceed with an existence wipe." Luna explained.

Luna obviously declined before she moved to her position near the center of the group.

Once everyone heard what Luna had to say, they opened up their own character interface. It turned out that it was the same for every last one of them.

"Tch... So this is a one-way trip all the way huh?" Guan Yu said in a displeased tone.

"Brother, I'm just glad I went before I logged on today." Halls said as a sense of relief could be heard within the tone of his voice.

'It must be a way to prevent us from communicating anything outside of this realm unless we are willing to lose all of our progress to do so. However, would anyone be willing to make that sacrifice willingly?'

"Since it's already like this then we can only keep moving forward and locate the exit to this cave. Let's move." Izroth and Halls started to move towards a large crack on the side of the cave walls. It seemed to be the only way in and out of their current location.

The rest of the party followed behind Izroth and Halls. As they were walking, Valentine's eyes were constantly shifting from one place to another.

When Zi Yi noticed his Valentine's stranger than usual behavior, she asked, "Do you see something?"

Valentine rested his index finger and thumb on his chin as he observed the cave as he and the party were walking.

"It's... I could be wrong, but these rocks appeared to have been formed by magic. It was very faint, but I could have sworn I saw a few magic sequences form when we experienced the tremors. Of course, I don't have any absolute proof so..." Valentine was intrigued by the ghost-like magic sequence.

"Maybe I should go back and check it out." Valentine began to drool from his mouth as a large grin appeared on his face.

"Don't even think about it, magic freak!" Zi Yi instantly voiced her objection. This guy was really ready to risk his character's permanent wipe just for a peek at some magic sequences.

Valentine pouted and whined, "But-" Before he could even complain, the tremors began once again. This time, however, it was much more intense and felt closer than before.

"?!" Izroth did not realize it at first due to how chaotic the vibrations in this place was. He believed that it was just another small tremor, but it turned out that they were actually being followed by something.

'It's blending in almost perfectly with the earth.'

Izroth unsheathed his Blade of Lightning. "Prepare." After Izroth said that single word, everyone put their guards up. However, Valentine was a little late in doing so since he did not participate in the dungeon runs with them.

Izroth knew that they were getting ready to see exactly how dangerous the creatures within the Chaotic Dogma Realm could be.