Chapter 5,
Mud Game
Third Person's POV
Resting on Zephyr's chest, Eljeric's breathing was calmed down after a while and it's almost like he didn't want to leave the warmth he's feeling right now, and he seemed to be gradually falling asleep.
"We will be starting a mini game similar to your previous one. I'll be watching over you here. My name is Sennner Peggy, my ability is called 'A Sinner Should Pay'. It allows me to gain XP, potions, and other boosters whenever I catch bad guys or kill them. Just to tell you not to pick a fight," a guy who appeared said, then laughed after giving the last sentence of his words.
Senner had a hair with the shade of red matching with a gradient color from orange to red in his eyes and about taller than average man. He wears a cloak that covers his whole body making no one see if there's a weapon or anything inside that cloak of his.
He also has his monotone voice that can attract any girls who sees him like a celebrity. He has a straight posture, but moves cleanly and gracefully for a man despite being born in the slums as his back story when he's a kid.
"Never knew him. Maybe a hidden royal family?" Eljeric directed his gaze behind them and saw Lyka spoke there next to Tj.
"It's been bothering me but, are you a noble, Lyka?" Zephyr asked out of the blue.
"Well, yes," she replied in a low voice.
"Well then, you two are—" Before Zephyr could finish, his talking was altered by Lyka.
"The truth is. . ." she paused before speaking once again, "Tj was just a hunter when I first saw him. I admired his skills as a hunter a looked up to him. Because of his accomplishments, my family thought that they could hire him as my bodyguard when I go in and out of our home. Little did my family knows, I was in love with Tj. When my family found out, they accused him for trying to trick me to get our family's fortune all for himself and betray me after accomplishing it. Tj and I left my family and went outside to live ourselves. And here we are right now, still trying to keep our story alive." She smiled bitterly as he played with her fringe.
A loud clap was heard in the room, "Now, everyone, we will be starting the mini game I told you about. Gella!" he called out
A familiar voice came out along with a hologram and said, "Gella here! I'll be explaining the mechanics of the game from here. There are five mud monsters in the mini game arena hidden in the mud. When they sense you, you will be murdered," she laughed cutely but creepy in a sense like it was natural.
"The game will automatically end after the death of all the monsters. In other words, you won't come out until they all die. HintFromGella: Water manipulators, Earth manipulators, fire manipulators, and physical attacks don't work on them. Total disadvantage of the humans." he chuckled, then plastered a cute smile ok her face.
Teleporting to the place Eljeric held Zephyr's and Lyka's hand who were also holding onto Tj's fearing the fact that they might get separated after teleporting.
"What is this place? It's no different from the previous one, isn't it?!" Tj was angered by seeing the place.
Like he said, it was like the previous one. The place is filled with mud, but what's different is that there are small lands that don't have mud on them nor sinking down. Many players can be seen from apart, some in group, but some aren't. The place was also dark and you can barely see in it.
"That is. . ." Lyka pointed at a diamond-shaped magical gem that glows from afar like a star, but something seems to block anything that goes near it. She had her phone's light turned on to prevent herself from seeing a lot of things unintentionally, so that's a way. She might go insane because of the pressure.
"Shhh. . ." Tj hushed us.
"Something's coming," he whispered.
Seeing what it is, shock fell in their faces. It was a mud monster passing by looking for something, or should I say, 'someone'.
Seeing a guy it suddenly approached it, "What the hell?!" as he shouts, he draw more attention and he was engulfed by the mud monster not leaving any traces from where he was from.
"Keep it down or it'll ignore us. Zephyr, keep a small distance from us, your a water manipulator, you'll be targeted," Tj warns us. As expected from a High-level Hunter.
"What do we do?" Lyka asked, worried about what might happen to Zephyr.
"I'm not lying, but even high-level hunters avoid mud monsters for they can't handle them, overlooking the fact that they're very weak," the way Tj said it was like he was ashamed.
As the monster passed by us, it didn't seemed to sense Zephyr who was behind us who was wary that the monster might do something to us.
"We need a plan," Eljeric, who was silent all this time, spoke.
"Monsters should have a core inside them. They are vulnerable when it comes to many swift enemies, specially when hey attack altogether," Eljeric added.
"You know a lot for a kid with an unknown origin, aren't you?" Zephyr gave his comment.
"I just have a strict tutor, that's it." He smiled, "Anyway, from what I know, they're moved using magic. If it doesn't have a core to break, then there should be another one or it may be a living being," he added.
"Is it possible?" Lyka asked.
Eljeric nodded, "if their cores are taken from them, they don't really die, they have to obey the one who holds their core."
"Now for the plan," Zephyr interrupted.
"Zephyr will be the bait since he is being targeted by the monsters and Lyka will be guiding us in the dark. I will be going near the monster to make its slow movent slower and Tj could eliminate them one by one. With that, we might be able to kill them and also, there are also other strong players here," Eljeric's whispered, hearable for everyone.
"If it go wrong, plan B. We have to go in separate places. Lyka with Tj to protect her and I will go with Zephyr to protect him," they nodded in agreement.
"Well then, I'm off," Zephyr smiled stating his words loud and clear for other players to hear, and the same with the mud monsters.
"Zephyr, lift us!" Eljeric called out.
As Zephyr lifted Eljeric and Tj, they came attacking the one that dared to came after Zephyr. Trusting Eljeric, Zephyr didn't mind if any mud monster come to attack him and focused in lifting the two for them to be able to walk on water since he knew that Eljeric will not let such things like Zephyr being killed happen.
Before he could be eaten, Eljeric jumped into him hugging him making the monster near move slower and Tj came cutting it into pieces, but he felt no core inside.
"Eljeric, this is bad, it has no core!" Tj shouts as he came closer to Eljeric to hand him a phone call.
"This is bad, seems like two more are attracted. The other was not killed, it was only torn into pieces by you attack!" Lyka immediately informed us about what's happening.
"The core might be the gem!" Eljeric came into his conclusion.
"Take Lyka and follow us," Zephyr said.
Using Eljeric's pendant, the two were able to go near the core faster than average speed by making Eljeric's time inside his radius faster than fast.
His pendant itself is a power that can bend the rule of this world. It has a total of eight needles with different sizes and weights. Whenever Eljeric slows down time, the two of the pendant's needle that moves at a normal speed stops, and whenever he speed up, it's needle moves swiftly. When he stops the time, two unmoving needles will start to make at a normal speed and lastly, whenever he comes back in time, which is nearly impossible except for an ability, his clock would start to move backwards and ticking can be heard although the whole radius.
"How do we get through such barrier?" Zephyr's voice was calm and assured.
"We'll only get hurt if we force our way here. We need another plan, and quick," Eljeric pointed at someone who's fighting not from far away.
"We shouldn't forget that they're also our enemy," Eljeric added.
"Eljeric, hurry!" They diverted their attention to Tj who was carrying Lyka in bridal style while being chased by mud monsters with the number of three.
"We need to hurry, they'll die there," Zephyr's voice was calm and collected, but he seems to be a bit bothered by them dieing because of just some weak mud.
Thinking of something, Eljeric came up with a plan. He touched the barrier and didn't minded the electrical feeling that's making him numb and makes his skin burn dead.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing?!" Zephyr shouts at Eljeric worriedly as he was filled with shock.
Eljeric was trying to break the barrier by absorbing it's time with his pendant. Not long, the barrier slowly dispersed I to bits of pieces into the air.
Putting his gauntlets on, Eljeric gave his finishing blow into the crystal and it broke into pieces, but one thing shocked them more, nothing happened to the monsters.
*Ding*
Hearing a sound, Eljeric opened his phone real quick.
[You have received a gift box!]
Seeing the notification, he tapped the 'gift box' that was colored magenta and it directed to a link.
On there, there were choices. It says, "A Deck of Cards," "Fountain Pen," and "Book of Sealed Time". Pictures were also embedded near the names. Eljeric just pushed the Deck of Cards and cards came out of nowhere and dropped in his hand.
"Tj!" Zephyr came calling out to Tj taking back Eljeric to reality.
Right now, he needs to prioritize the two who are being chased by the monsters. Without him realizing, his the cards he was holding was nowhere to be found and it was surrounding him floating around.
"You should try to use your card in the best way, if possible." Words repeats in his head. It was from his great older brother who gave him clues up until now. He giving off annoying lines about things and such are seen useless by Eljeric, but not at this point. It was indeed, helpful.
Drawing his right hand out, Eljeric pointed it at the mud monsters which is now three because she was drawn there by Zephyr who was a target.
The cards surrounded Eljeric and he chose the King with the symbol of Red heart and he felt magic surging inside him.
"Disappear," unconsciously and unintentionally, Eljeric said those words with a scary look in his face and the monsters disappeared without a trace and the muddy place became a crystal clear water and the place brightened up and the sky also lit up in the process.
"That one was a close call," Tj pants as he put down Lyka in a small land and he sit near her.
The place the two were sitting were only fit for three, so Eljeric don't have a space to sit on, but instead, he sat on Zephyr's lap and dived right into a deep slumber as they took a small rest here. Zephyr smiled seeing his dear boyfriend's face all happy and innocent like a child's. Well, he is for now.
Eljeric's true form was sealed because of the pendant. It's because his body could not take the power and it sealed his age. Sooner or later, If he managed to get stronger, he might be able to come back to his natural form. But right now, those things won't matter.
Zephyr smiled once again, with satisfaction. He patted Eljeric's head and gave a soft kiss in his forehead.
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