Chapter 161: The Gamer's Preparations

Nothing went as the group expected. At first, the mission seemed easy enough as they harvest experience points easily through raining down the [AoE] skills down the [Rift]. Indeed, even with some monsters being much more resilient, it wasn't much of a problem as the elites were still able to take these down. But things got complicated once they entered the cave, an area which couldn't; be reached by their skills.

This is proven by the return of Quinn and his allies who have finally reached the boss of that area. It was a monster which they have still failed to identify, wielding what seemed to be limitless chains that required Quinn to continually use one of the strongest skill at his disposal.

Due to Julia being disabled, there was nobody to heal him from the recoil that the skill usage brought. It wasn't only [Primal Slash] that he used. It was a synchronized usage of that skill and [Heavenly slash]. This inevitably destroyed his body little by little and, it seemed like the enemy leader knew this all along.

"So it was an intelligent monster after all." Sylph said, feeling a headache form as she talked with the excavating team. This happened late in the afternoon; after all of their equipment were cleaned and they were properly purified.

"What else do you have for me?"

"There were a lot of other stuff inside that cave. Crystals surrounded the walls of the latter part and there were some areas with the same violet glowing stuff coming out of the ground." Eerie explained, having the best eyesight among the group members.

"I see, at least you came back in one piece. Well, most of you that is."

Upon arrival, Quinn was immediately squirming on the ground from the amount of pain he was in. It wasn't normal and, as soon as his armor was taken off, they saw how his whole arm was turning to a dark color, with the veins looking like they were about to burst open. His whole body was also full of cold sweat with his body temperature dropping rapidly.

Sylph was able to hold these effects back using a spell that was only known to the members of the Windsprite household. Through it, she destroyed some of the negative mana that was pouring onto Quinn although, not completely.

"That fight probably dealt a huge blow to Quinn." Sylph mentioned; with his teammates knowing exactly what she meant.

All of Quinn's weapons shattered. It wasn't only the ones he picked up on the battlefield. Even his real weapon, the one forged by Zeke, got broken because of the fight. His pride also got stepped on as they retreated. Then, there was also the fact that his whole arm was broken to such a degree that, the conventional healing techniques they knew of couldn't heal it anymore.

"His arm probably got to that state because of the skill. What did he call it again?"

"Synchronous casting ma'am. He made use of a move called [Primal Slash] and [Heavenly Slash]." Julia said in reply.

"Yeah that. As you told me, [Primal Slash] somehow gets its effects from [Primal State]. Not even considering the other skill he used, that one is already dangerous in itself. I should know because I was once part of Glade's inner circle."

"Unlike other skills which makes use of mana in order to activate, [Primal State] comes at the price of the caster's life. Even if we do say that Quinn's skill only derives for it, the fact still remains that it was the original source and, using it five consecutive times within the same day… I'm just glad that this is all that happened to him."

Quinn wasn't much of a problem. They knew that he could be cured but, another one popper up which was definitely a source of concern from the group. Merlin came to Amare, telling her to look at an area to which she followed after excusing herself from Sylph and the expedition group.

"So does that mean we need to call mister Zeke back here?" Mordred asked.

"Not necessarily. Knowing him, I'm sure he left something for us back in the cave which would prove useful at a situation such as this." Sylph said, with Amare finally coming back. A worried expression was written all over her face meaning, whatever it was that she checked, it didn't turn for the good.

"We've got reports on the first area that we just cleared. The monsters have come back and are repopulating it."

"Are they coming from the cave?" Sylph asked, already having insight that this would be the case.

"Yes, and it seems that there are also other caves down the rift. I've found another one and, it's also supplying more monsters."

"Well, I expected this much at least. That just means that we need to deal with the caves first in order to completely eradicate the monsters." Sylph was walking around in circles, thinking of what the next course of action should be.

The boss monsters were probably the ones supplying the monsters outside; serving as both guards and decoys. But more than that, they also served as a message for the elites. It was that, they had a steady supply of monsters and that even if these get taken down, more monsters were waiting for them inside.

She thought immediately of Zeke, of how the gamer probably had the answers required but, he wasn't available at the moment. Sylph knew that he would also be busy with his own mission and didn't want to disturb him. Hence, she took matters into her own hands; thinking of what was needed to be done.

"Ma'am, the [AoE] group have almost run out of mana. We only have a single flask of large mana potion left for each." Kaguya said.

With this, Sylph finally thought of their next course of action. She looked at the [Minimap] and, judging by the number of enemies appearing below the rift, the monsters still weren't as many as they were before the attacks began. Hence, Sylph opened her [Voice Chat] in order to give the command.

"That would be all for now. We'll head back and continue the mission tomorrow." Sylph uttered, deciding that this was the best course of action. The sun was about to set and, no good would come from simply thinking of a solution when they were all spent.

As they teleported, Sylph couldn't help but think of Zeke once again. She thought that, if he was with them, everything would be solved. But at the same time, she was also thinking of the things he was doing on her homeland of Elysium.

…

…

…

"Are we all set?" Zeke asked, standing on top of a tall tree within the forest of Elysium. It was the best place for them to hide. They embedded crystals that released a small amount of [Cloud of Dreams] within the whole area, making it difficult for the soldiers to find their way throughout the thick expanse of trees.

"Yes master, all the barrier crystals have been scattered on the shores of the continent. We've also placed teleportation markers on all towns and villages as you've instructed." Heron floated just beside him, flapping her wings which she thought needed some stretching.

"That's good. Thank you Heron." Zeke said, grinning at the [Dragon Morpher] who blushed just a bit.

"What about Morpheus? How was the mission assigned to him?"

"He's still gathering intel master. He already infiltrated the capital and, will give us updates as soon as he gathers some useful information."

There were a lot of things that needed to be prepared. Although Zeke already had things planned, he decided to take things up a notch. An example of this is the barrier which he would set up over the whole continent. It will be the same as the barrier in the Demon Continent which, wouldn't be penetrated by [Chaos Black Flames] nor any attack at the level of a [Count] or [Countess]. Yet he still needed to find the dragons because even though he could protect the continent from outside, he couldn't do much when it came to fights that would occur within the barrier.

"How about the [Chaos Dragons]? Have you pinned down their whereabouts?" He asked, looking at the beautiful sunset before them.

"Apparently, they are kept as troops by some generals and the [Count] himself."

"You mean the other Zeke?" He said in jest.

"I'd rather not think that someone of your standing would go so low as bow down to one who is inferior to you… master." Zeke laughed after hearing Heron say this.

"So how many [Chaos Dragons] does he have exactly?"

"Three of the ten within this Continent master."

"Ohh that's actually a good number. Horizon would have something to chew on." The gamer said in reply, referring to his own [Conjured Chaos Dragon].

"Anyway, I think that's enough chit chat for now. We still have a lot of work to do." He finally said, with the sun's light finally fading as the sky got filled by a star-filled night.

Zeke went down the tree which was followed by Heron. Within the forest, there were actually a lot of soldiers that have lost their way. These were from different [Fortresses] as, every route within the Continent of Elysium inevitably runs through this area. Thus, elves need to pass here in order to go wherever it is that they need to go.

As mentioned, the ones trapped by Zeke were only the low-ranking soldiers. This meant that even if they went missing, no alarm would be raised – a fact proven because no General came looking for them yet. Zeke however, knew that some information can be extracted from them and, seeing as there were already around 200 soldiers lost within the forest, he decided that it was time to meet them head on.

"Do you need assistance master?" Heron offered, seeing the gamer beginning to stretching out his body.

"Nah I'm good. Besides, I need to train my stealth abilities from time to time right."

With this, both of them went their way. Heron flew up the mountain and into the night sky. Zeke on the other hand remained there, walking slowly as he locked down all the enemies that were within the area. Disappearing into the shadows like a phantom of the night.