Eternal Elysium

"Annoying."

I muttered as my sword thrust forward, hitting the low-rank beast.

The fight felt like it was never ending, even though only ten minutes had passed.

The only saving grace was that the monsters were not of very high rank. But still, it doesn't mean they were easy to deal with; rather, it was still a fight filled with undeniable efforts.

The monsters present in dead zones were larger compared to the ones I had seen and fought in the safe zones. And very quick at that; even when I struck the first monster, I was surprised by its speed, so much so that I used [Static] unconsciously.

By the time I had realized my actions, I was already moving for the next monster.

And to tell the truth, I was fighting the wrong way. Something I should avoid.

The battles here will be prolonged and won't stop even if I kill all the monsters in my immediate vicinity.

That was the kind of place this was.

Even if I could recover my essence faster than anyone else, I could still get tired and, in the worst case, injured as well.

This was the reason I wanted to avoid such a flamboyant fighting style—to be a fighter at the front and kill the majority of monsters by myself.

But it was necessary right now.

'They seem to think I am mental for some weird reason? But why, though? I don't remember doing anything bad.'

So, seeing their growing distrust, I had decided to show off a little, and it seems to have worked pretty well.

I sighed and looked at the final monster left standing there.

A low-rank monster at least 2 or 3 meters tall.

It raised its hand and was ready to strike me but then stopped as I moved away from it.

And then—

Quuuak!!

It fell on the ground as I stepped forward, stabbing it in its throat.

Monsters falling and dying one after another in such attacks was truly surprising to look at, but I knew it was because I kept using the crystal sword enchantment. A deadly power that made it potent for killing any adversaries one were to face.

"Looks like we are done here."

I said and turned to look back.

Summer and Chris were staring at me, while Enzo was taking the monsters' shards out of them.

"What is it?'

I asked, raising my brow, and placed the sword back.

"Captain, have we met before?"

I blinked, my lips curling up in a smile.

"Chris, did you hit your head? Of course we met yesterday, remember?"

"What?! No, I remember that! What I mean to—"

Chris, flustered, started to shout. Seeing this, Summer sighed and shook her head before moving forward, her hands crossed over her chest.

"Ugh, Captain, are you that masked guy? The one we met in Atlas? Uh, Chris, what was his name again? Roper? Raser, something…?"

Summer tilted her and started reciting the names one by one, which made my mind go numb.

Chris' face started to turn pale as he heard his sister speak. He kept his mouth shut and avoided my gaze.

Maybe he knew I was mad.

"It's Reaper."

Enzo said, with a small voice, his lips curled up into a teasing smile.

I stared at him for a moment, my fist clenched tightly.

Should I hit him?

"Yes, but I would prefer to not be called that." I said, as my voice trembled.

"Oh, but you introduced yourself like you didn't know us?" Summer asked, her voice cold.

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I frowned and tilted my head to the side.

"Because I really don't know any of you. And to tell the truth, I am sure none of you even care for that, now do you?"

I said, closing my eyes.

"All three of you are here for a reason. And that is to face the punishment for your crimes. I can see you don't want to be here, and it's alright. You can go back and spend the rest of your life either in prison or running away from the Temple. The choice is yours."

Summer remained silent and bit her lips before nodding silently.

"I am not complaining."

She said, walking away.

I chuckled and then again turned to see the piles of monsters we had killed.

And there were several of them, maybe even more than we had previously expected.

"Let's continue."

"Alright."

Chris nodded eagerly.

Enzo ignored the drama that happened just now. I was actually left confused by them a lot of the time by now. My first impression of them was surely not the best, but now they at least are reasonable enough to talk with.

That was more than enough for now.

As our journey continued, the paths became even trickier, and the footing unstable. The place was filled with uncertain ground that seemed to shift at every move we made.

I frowned.

"When did you all arrive here?"

"Three days ago… The Temple sent us here as early as possible according to them."

"Oh, really?" I didn't hide my surprise and replied to Enzo.

They had been here for less time than I imagined.

"From how you all have taken care of yourselves, I thought you'd have been here for a lot longer than that."

Enzo grinned and shook his head.

"No, we are just good at keeping ourselves alive. Captain, rather, I am more impressed by you. I have heard about your work. You were the reason Temple started an all-out war against the gangs in Atlas; I heard such rumors."

"Ah, I also heard you killed almost twenty awakeneds all by yourself in one night!!"

Chris added, "I could see his eyes sparkling in admiration."

This made my head feel even heavier than before. At the corner of my vision, I saw Summer glancing in our way; her interest was surely raised by now as well.

I looked down at their expectation for a reply. I hoped a monster might come up and save me from further embarrassment, but that didn't seem to happen.

I might just enjoy the fame if I did not get embarrassed every time.

I turned to look at them with a grin and said, showing a proud face.

"To tell the truth, it's not as good as people say. People exaggerate stories when speaking of them. In the end even those gang members were just a bunch of awakeneds."

"Are we not also just a bunch of awakeneds…?" Chris muttered under his breath.

"...."

I stayed silent and didn't answer at once.

From not so far, I could hear Summer giggling.

She was starting to get on my nerves…

"Yes, we are just another bunch of awakeneds, that's why there is no difference, Chris. We all in the end are the same; I was just lucky that it happened." I said softly.

Chris nodded.

His gaze filled with thoughts, as he didn't speak any further.

Killing someone, huh. I stopped thinking about it long ago. And I don't really care about that very much either. One could even say I enjoyed killing monsters of all kinds just out of spite.

Thinking of such, my lips curled up into a smile.

"He is acting weird again." Summer mumbled and stopped. Her eyes widened in surprise as she said, looking down.

"Huh? But a road was here just yesterday?"

I looked at her in confusion and then saw the ground ahead seemed to have cracked open like a large maw. I moved closer to look at it. It wasn't that deep that I couldn't see the bottom, but it was still wide enough that it was impossible to cross it.

"Does the terrain often change here?" I asked and looked at Enzo examining the area.

He kneeled on the ground and touched the sand falling inside the maw.

"The terrain does change once in a while, but this change is way too big. Even if we consider it due to Summer's blasts yesterday, she can't split the ground like this."

"I see."

Is it a creature of beyond then? Something came digging out of the ground like a mole? That's certainly a possibility.

"Let's leave this place first; we can discuss it later."

Safety is the top priority right now.

Summer was the first to nod, as she turned around and swiftly moved ahead.

Chris frowned and followed her.

"Sis, wait! Don't move alone!"

I gave the maw a final look before following them.

After a thirty-minute walk, we had finally found an alternative route and reached the other site.

"Here."

"Thank you."

I took the hot bowl in my hand from Enzo, who was passing everyone their food.

We were resting near a place surrounded by towering rocks. It was a place guarded from all sides. which made it possible for us to relax after a long time.

No one could tell what time it was, as the sky was the same as always.

"None of you talked about our real mission, right?" I asked, without thinking much.

Chris blinked, pointing at himself as I looked at him.

The question, in a way, was directed at him, as he seems to have a loose mouth in this group.

"No, no. Captain, why will I do that?"

"Because you had asked about it even though I said to not talk about it last night."

I answered back, refuting all his excuses.

"But what is your plan for that?" Summer asked.

I pursed my lips, my eyes moving from one place to another.

"Have you heard any strange rumors?" I asked, hoping for any kind of clue.

Enzo shook his head, his voice a little rough as he said.

"We didn't hear any rumors regarding missing soldiers. Captain, to tell the truth, we weren't even aware of soldiers vanishing before you told us."

I nodded.

The case was much more serious than I had imagined. Soldiers go missing, and no one finds it or even remembers it.

I gulped, feeling chills run down my spine just from thinking about it.

What would happen if one of us were to go missing? Will we not remember that person as well?

"After today's mission you all need to do a separate task as well." I said in a serious voice and kept my words as precise as possible.

"First of all, don't be alone; we don't know who might go missing next. So, always move in pairs or be with someone at least. Try to blend in with other people and gather information, but be subtle; don't let them know our motives here."

Just as those words were about to be settled in everyone's heart, about the danger the base held.

Something unexpected happened.

Enzo's eyes turned to look at the ground. We followed his gaze and felt the gravel bounce.

Summer's eyes sharpened as she whispered.

"...Isn't being here more dangerous right now?"

True to her words, the land started to shake wildly. My eyes widened as from down below a thumping sound came out.

I had thought the maw was made by a beast, maybe a high-ranking one, something close to reaching the avenger rank like the serpent I had faced in the ruins.

But a slight possibility had never entered my mind. That maybe it was not a single creature of beyond but—

Thump!

Thump!

Many of them.