Final Messiah System

David stepped forward, raising his sword from his inventory as he continued to hold Mary's hand.

His breath began to shorten and he felt an unnatural cold grip surrounding him.

He looked at Mary, and her face was completely pale as she looked frozen in place with terror.

"Good, we can leave it to the others for now and leave while we can-" Aelwenna was then interrupted as Antonio blared out.

"I also received some signals around here, from the other groups as well, they should be nearby but for some reason they have not reported back to base."

"Alright then, we get these kids back and then we investigate on our own. We likely found out the cause of the disturbances."

Aelwenna's voice suddenly became so serious, gone was her tired and nonchalant demeanor, now it felt as if she was an actual Paladin.

"Well, you're right but… why didn't this appear sooner? Why didn't the others find out where this was fast enough? It was close by but it only spiked and revealed itself recently."

The orb flew away from the group, scanning the strange fleshy surroundings with its red pulses, finding nothing.

"And I don't sense demons anywhere here at all. It's as if they all went missing."

Aelwenna carefully grabbed the hilt of her blade. "That means nothing, they could be masked. What matters now is that we get these kids out right this instant Antonio, please."

David stepped forward while the Paladin was arguing with the floating orb in the air, surveying the surroundings while he held Mary close by.

There was one feeling that felt more horrific than the cold grasp of fear that grappled him as of this moment, and that was the feeling of familiarity.

It was as if everything around him was something he'd seen beforehand, a view he had witnessed once before but he can't understand why.

"What is this place, where is everyone?"

"Mission Added: Find the missing patrols within the area. Finding all will gain you 30 Levels."

David's eyes widened. That was huge, but right now, he couldn't really do that could he? Especially since what was out there was of concern to someone in A Rank.

But 30 Levels, that was a lot, it was enough to max out a few of his Attributes and more, could he really give that up? Please she could still protect them couldn't she?

He then took a deep breath and spoke again. "I think we have to find out at least where the others are, confirm their location and all that."

The orb glowed with approval. "Correct, I have spoken to the other Scribes and Priests, they have lost contact with their teams as well, and I'm picking up interference on all angles, it would be hard to set up the gate out."

Aelwenna scowled at both of them. "And that's why we're not moving from this place. We stay here grouped up, monitoring the situation. When we're out, we send more capable people in. Does everyone understand?"

Mary nodded along. "That sounds okay-"

"No…" David stood up towards Aelwenna, determined to get what he wanted and needed.

"We need to use this time to find out what happened as much as possible…"

"Are you actually stupid-"

"Somebody has to, if no one else will…" He repeated the words from his dream, staring defiantly back at Aelwenna.

At that, the Paladin's eyes narrowed even more, they glowed a sort of green as he saw she held her breath.

"…Fine, but we stay together alright?"

Aelwenna relented, giving a sigh of annoyance as she shook her head.

Mary turned to David, her eyes wide with fear. "A-Are you sure? We can stay here far away from that and be… safe" 

He gave her a reassuring smile, hugging her tight as he took a deep breath trying to even assure himself.

"It will be fine, I promise okay? I'll protect you, and Aelwenna will be here to protect us too." He raised his pinky finger up.

"…Promise… alright, I-I think we can do it." She then made a pinky promise with him, smiling back as she held his hand again.

David breathed a sigh of relief looking at the hellish pits ahead and took in a big breath. "Alright, we're ready."