The carriage stopped at the palace of Atlantis, but the atmosphere around was dire.
Aurora, Aria, and Ruli came out of one carriage, and Aquarius and Zach came out of the other carriage.
Aquitius the seventh and sixth were already waiting for Zach to arrive. Meanwhile, the other players were glaring at Zach.
'Not going to lie, I completely forgot about them…' Zach uttered inwardly.
They had to complete three tasks and get the spell scroll to leave from the Sea Realm. But Zach was the only one who managed to complete one task, while the other players couldn't.
It was Zach's responsibility to send all the players back to the surface, but he needed the scroll for that.
Zach had told all the players that he would come to Atlantis on Wednesday, which was two days ago.
All the players waited for Zach to arrive at Atlantis for two days and nights while Zach was having fun with Ruli.
Naturally, all the players were angry at Zach for wasting their two days. But Zach didn't feel sorry for that. The players needed Zach, and the beggars couldn't be choosers. Even if Zach had come after spending a month in Ribel, they couldn't do anything to Zach.
"You bastard! Do you have any idea how long we have been waiting for you?!" a male played walked forward and yelled.
However, the players were humans, and they couldn't quite understand their circumstances.
"If you wanted to go back that badly, why didn't you win the duel?" Zach scoffed out loud.
"You won because of luck!" the player yelled. "Even I could kill him if the killing was allowed."
Zach shrugged his shoulders and said, "Then shut the fuck up."
"You…!" The player unsheathed his sword and dashed at Zach with the sword aimed at him. His eyes showed no sign of stopping as though he was serious about killing Zach.
"If I kill the champion who won the duel, that makes me the champion, right?!" he sneered loudly and swung his sword.
Of course, Zach was ready to cleave the player's head if he seriously tried to kill Zach, but fortunately, Zach had no need to worry.
Aquitius the seventh came in between and said, "Seize this instant! No one moves in my kingdom without my permission!"
"Fuck off, old man! I will kill you too! You don't have any guards to protect you!" The player glared into Aquitius the seventh's eyes, and his body was incinerated into ashes.
"…"
Everyone was taken aback by that, and there was nothing but silence for a while.
SIGH!
Aquitius the seventh sighed and looked at the party members of the player who had just died. "What was that fool's name?"
"Midas…" a girl replied.
"Who was he to you?" the seventh asked in a calm voice.
"Nothing." the girl shrugged her shoulders and said, "He was just a party leader."
SIGH!
The seventh sighed again and said, "He would have gotten you all killed if you had followed him."
After a brief pause, the seventh uttered, "His parents probably regretted giving birth to him."
"Pff!" For some reason, Zach found that statement funny and ended up laughing, but he managed to cover his mouth in time. However, Aurora, Aria, Aquarius, and Ruli heard him.
"I told them only one thing when they arrived here; that was to not look me in the eyes. Yet, that fool dared to glare at me and even tried to kill me. Why are humans always like this?" the seventh wondered and turned to look at Zach.
Zach and the seventh looked into each other's eyes for a while until the seventh said, "Don't worry. It won't work on you."
"I am kind of jealous of that ability," Zach uttered. "If I had that ability, I wouldn't have to fight or even move from my spot. I would have killed everyone just by looking into their eyes."
"It's not an ability," Aria quipped. "Or rather, it's not him who is killing everyone who looks him in the eyes; it's the power of the Sea inside him. It's protecting its host, and whenever someone glares at him with ill intent, they die."
"Oh." Zach nodded and muttered, "That makes sense."
The seventh looked at Aria and thought, 'As expected of the Queen of death. Her knowledge of the world and its powers are godly.'
"Umm…" a male player walked out of the group and said, "Can I live here for forever?"
Aquitius the seventh raised his brows at the player and responded, "If you want to live here, then you must follow each and every rule of the Sea Realms."
"…!" the player walked back and muttered, "I am good."
The seventh turned to Zach and said, "You can stay as long as you want."
'What's with this disparity in the treatment?!' All the players thought after noticing that the seventh was awfully kind and gentle towards Zach.
Zach shook his head and said, "I have something important to do tomorrow, so I have to leave."
"I see…" the seventh stroked his beard and muttered, "What a shame."
"Now…" Zach glanced back and forth between the seventh and the sixth and asked, "Where is the scroll?"
"You have to come with us and complete the ritual." The seventh clapped his hands, and three flying mattresses stopped in front of Zach.
"Your… umm… girls can come too." The seventh and the sixth got on one mattress and said, "Let's go."
Aria and Ruli hopped on the second mattress, and Aquarius, Aurora, and Zach got on the third mattress.
The mattress took them to an unknown place in the Sea Realm, which looked old and ancient. There were many broken statues of mermaids and other sea creatures half-buried into the sea bed.
Zach glanced around and asked, "What is this place?"
"It's the center of the Sea Realm, where the power of the Sea is the strongest. Sometimes, we come here to offer a sacrifice for prolonging peace in the Sea Realm."
After a brief pause, he the seventh added, "My ancestors called this place a 'devilincross' because we had to sacrifice our most beloved thing in order to maintain peace, and this place is the center of this realm, making it a crossroad. My ancestors hated this place…"
"And so do I…" he muttered in a solemn voice with a distant smile on his face.
***
Total players in the game- 1003436
0 new players logged in.
51 players died.
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Author's Note- Thanks for reading!