Munch, munch.
In a dark room, with the only light source being the computer screen, a brown-eyed woman sat on a chair cross-legged with a bag of snacks on her lap.
While munching on the snacks, she looked at the screen and watched a video clip replay over and over again. It showed a black-haired player fighting against Steel-Armed Gorilla.
She then tossed the bag of snacks on top of the table and pulled out files from the chair beside her. She flipped through until she saw the face of the black-haired player. The face was very sickly-looking, as was the malnourished-looking body.
“Jesse Mikael Kraham.” Jonna said, reading off a file. “Is suffering from Humanoid Imperfecta. Inheritable disease that weakens bones and also makes healing factors much slower and weaker.
“Because of his disease, he is at the end of his lifespan. It is a miracle if he survived to his forties.” Jonna closed the files and looked at the video clip with a growing smile.
“Excellent. I didn’t expect myself to be this lucky, hahahaha!” She laughed out loud and made the chair spin around. After spinning around for several seconds, she made it stop and grinned at the computer screen.
“I have to record his progress. This will be proof that my masterpiece is working! He had already shown remarkable progress after reaching 100 stat in Strength. However, how long would it take for his Humanoid Imperfecta to be cured?
“I wonder if it’s powerful enough to cure it. There are still some mysteries about my creation, but this is an excellent start!
“Come on, Ambrose, show me what you’ve got! You might become the progenitor of my creation, which will change the world one day!”
…
Nether Forest, several kilometers from Yatagarasu.
Cerberus, followed by Zahhak and a dozen members of Silver Heart, ventured deep into the forest. Even though its name was forest, it was closer to a jungle with terrain that made moving forward very difficult.
The group soon came across a cliff. They could see a waterfall, which destroyed the rocks below. It looked like there was no way to cross the enormous gap to reach the other side.
As the Silver Heart members began to curse inwardly, thinking that they would have to walk back and take an alternative route, Cerberus suddenly said.
“We have arrived.”
“Huh?” The members of Silver Heart were stunned. There was nothing in here except the cliff with a hundred meter drop to their deaths!
Cerberus looked away from the waterfall and saw a tree stump. It looked like there was a large tree there before it was cut down. He walked to it and kicked it.
The stump suddenly moved to the side as if it were a strange sliding door. There was a hole below the stump with ladders that led deep down into the mountain.
“Whoah!” Many exclamations echoed across the air. They never heard about this during the meeting. It was Cerberus’ way of ensuring that no one would run away with information and try to steal all the rewards for themselves.
Thus, he hid information about the location of the quest.
“We will enter in ten minutes. Prepare yourself!” Cerberus said and went to discuss something with the rest of the Zahhak members.
Ambrose found a rock that resembled a chair a little bit and sat down. The rock chair was quite small still, and it was very uncomfortable to sit on it, but he didn’t care and just sat there for a while. 𝑶𝓋𝐥xt.𝗇t
A little further away, Serenity was speaking with the members of Silver Heart. They were all excited for the quest, but she was not as excited as they were.
She looked behind her and felt her blood freeze. Redheart looked in her direction with her usual beautiful smile, yet her eyes were cold and hard.
At that moment, the bushes rustled, and everyone turned to the source of the sound. Their eyes then widened in shock as a little girl with light green eyes and beautiful black hair walked out of the jungle-like forest.
“A little girl?” Members of Silver Heart looked at each other in shock. They hadn’t seen such a young player before, and they even wondered whether she was an NPC, but her getup was officially the player’s.
“Are you lost, little girl?” Layla crouched in front of the little girl with a gentle smile.
“Haha, she is not lost.” Cerberus walked to them and looked at Andromeda. “She is Zahhak’s tenth member, Andromeda. She will be joining us for this quest.”
“What?!” Layla exclaimed, and so did most of the Silver Heart members. They couldn’t believe that such an innocent-looking girl belonged to the infamous Zahhak!
Serenity’s eyes shook as she looked at the little girl. She obviously didn’t know her, but if she was part of Zahhak, she couldn’t be normal.
“She is a member of Zahhak?” Ambrose looked stunned.
Andromeda looked around, and soon her smile blossomed. All female members of Silver Heart felt their hearts squeeze at the adorableness of the little girl. They wanted to pinch her cheeks badly.
“Hey, stupid uncle!” Andromeda waved her hand excitedly, and everyone turned to the person she was waving at.
“Huh?” Cerberus looked at Ambrose and then back at the little girl. “You know him?”
“Little bit.” Andromeda whispered and lowered her hand with a smile.
“Hmm…” Cerberus glanced at Ambrose before looking at everyone else. “Now that we are all here, let’s get moving!”
They all started lining up at the hole, and Zahhak members were the first ones to start climbing down the ladder. The next were Silver Heart members, while the last one was Ambrose.
After everyone reached the bottom of the ladder, they saw walls made of shining metal, like a man-built facility. However, a certain scene shocked them to the core.
There were hundreds of arc-shaped entrances and hallways shaped like tunnels, going who knows where. They all might lead to the reward, or only one.
Serenity immediately realized why Cerberus asked for help. It would be madness to go through all the hallways with only ten of them. Especially since he wasn’t sure if other people received the same quest as he did.
He was vague about how he got the quest, but he said he got it from a traveler named Nirvana. The traveler’s gender, appearance, and purpose were utter mysteries. However, Cerberus believed he had unlocked some kind of quest line, allowing him to meet the traveler and get this quest.
“Alright.” Cerberus clapped his hands, taking everyone’s attention away from the arc-shaped entrances. After seeing that everyone was focused on him, he spoke loudly. “We had already made reconnaissance and are certain that there will be obstacles in the way.
“Therefore, pair up in teams of two and choose entrance. When someone finds the boss room or the location of the reward, inform us via message. I have already sent my friend request to you all.
“In case someone thinks about stealing the reward for yourself, we Zahhak will hunt you down to the end of the world, making sure that every minute in Martial Online is filled with misery.” Cerberus said with a smile.
Silver Heart members felt their hearts drop to the pit of their stomachs. They now realized that even though Cerberus seemed carefree, he was still the infamous leader of Zahhak. He wasn’t someone to be underestimated!
“Well then, if everyone understood my message, please pair up with someone.” Cerberus said.
Ambrose looked around and watched as Silver Heart members teamed up with each other. Same with Zahhak members. It made him remember his time in middle school, where he was never chosen. Therefore, even during field trips, he had to go with the teacher.
“Serenity, want to pair up with me?” Layla hooked her arm with Serenity and smiled gleefully.
“Uh…” Serenity looked around and then saw a black-haired young man looking around with a frown. She was about to answer something when her eyes froze.
“Hey.”
A hand touched Ambrose’s shoulder. He turned to the side and widened his eyes in surprise.
“Wanna pair up with me?” Cerberus asked with a smile.
“Oh…” Ambrose was surprised but nodded. “Ah, sure.”
“Great.” Cerberus chuckled.
A distance away, Layla shuddered and rubbed her arms. “Why is it so cold suddenly?”
She then happened to catch a glimpse of the silver-haired girl’s face and almost screamed.
Serenity’s face was ice cold, with a dead look in her eyes. If her stare could kill, Cerberus would have died a thousand times by now.
“Heh.” Cerberus glanced back at Serenity and shuddered after seeing her dead-looking expression. She still looked beautiful, but beautiful like Mistress Death, who had come down to the earth to reap lives and souls.
‘That is the Alice I know. Heh.’ Cerberus put his arm around Ambrose’s shoulder like they were good friends. “Shall we go?”
“Sure.” Ambrose awkwardly replied.