Mantle of the Gods [LitRPG / Slow Burn / FTB Harem]

Gesai and Miel stayed in the SUV.

We didn't know if anyone was watching us, but having just the four of us head towards the pavilion was going to be conspicuous enough. Miel hadn't told us where she'd gotten the return stones; she'd just handed them to us and gotten into the car.

I felt out of place amongst all the families and laughing children. Knowing why we were here made it that much worse because it felt like I was aiming a target at these unsuspecting people. The screams of Mundane fleeing Mive ran through my mind.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and barely had time to react when a ball sailed for my head.

My hands snapped up, and I caught the white and black speckled ball inches from my nose.

"Sorry!" An Anubis boy that couldn't be older than ten ran up to me. "That was a good catch! You must be an Adventurer!"

"I'm…" My mind fumbled for words.

"He's just a student." Aelin took the ball out of my hands and knelt in front of the child so she could be on eye level with him. "Here." She offered him the ball. "Try to keep it on the field."

"Okay!" He smiled at us. "I'm Kopsho Bakui! I'm going to be an Adventurer some day!" He waved at us, then he ran back to the field where his friends were waiting.

"Kids make you nervous?" Oz elbowed me in the ribs.

I glared at the raven-haired woman while Aelin stood up. "I wasn't sure what to say. I've never really been around many people younger than me before."

"Just treat them like you would any other person." Aelin smirked. "They might need things explained more, but they're just like you or me. Only with less experience and a lot more energy."

We watched the group of kids kick the ball around for a few minutes. They were having a blast, completely unaware that less than fifty feet away was a gateway to who knew what type of evil.

I decided that we'd delayed long enough, then headed for the pavilion.

"How are you so good with kids?" Oz looked at Aelin. "Joy is a pest, always getting into my stuff or blaming me for something she breaks." The brown woman scoffed. "I was glad that the Dispatchers put me up in their bunks."

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

The short blonde shrugged. "Mom worked with a group of ladies, and sometimes they'd need someone to watch their kids while they worked." There was something about the memory that made her happy while clouding her face at the same time. "They kept me busy ever since mom..." She wiped a tear from her eye before it fell. "Anyway. Once I was done at the diner, I would watch someone's kids, and that was usually where I slept for the night."

"I didn't know." I knew that most of the backstories of my teammates were sad, but it still surprised me just how hard some of their lives had been before they got their Mantle.

"It's okay." The cloud vanished from her face, and a big smile replaced it. "Plenty of practice for mine!" She smirked as she looked at me. "This doesn't mean I'm going to be your live-in nanny."

"I'm sure Ether will figure something out." I really wanted to change the subject, so I walked into the pavilion.

There were the regular picnic tables inside the building that closely resembled a pole barn. The main difference was that there were stairs on the north end that led down almost an entire level, so that anyone who went there would be completely out of sight from the rest of the park.

At the bottom of that level was a concrete room. A pipe stuck out of the eastern wall. The faucet attached to it dripped and left a sulfur smell filling the air. Each of the three walls was decorated with a landscape that almost looked like a zoo. There were all types of animals scattered all over the walls.

"What are we looking for?" I looked over at Jenne. "Because I don't see a door here."

Oz walked along the walls, rapping them with her knuckles. Once she made the entire circle, she shook her head. "It's solid."

The golden woman took out the coin and turned it over in her hand, then idly played with it as she looked around.

"Here!" She pointed at the reptile section. Jenne hurried over to it and kneeled down.

At the bottom of the picture was a bronze cobra that was reared back and had its mouth wide open like it was about to strike. I watched Jenne run her finger over the picture's mouth.

"It's a slot." The other Caster put the coin up to the hole in the picture's mouth. She turned to me. "It fits."

"Are we supposed to stick the coin in there?" Oz looked confused. "I've never heard of a door with a lock like that."

"It's not common." Jenne pulled the coin back. "Basically, the coin acts as a key to the lock. The reason why it's not used is because of how easy they are to break by someone with high Magic." She sighed. "But if they have an energy breaker built into this, then that would shut down the gate once someone broke the lock."

"What are you waiting for?" Aelin pointed at the hole. "This is what we came for!"

"We don't know what's on the other side of this." Jenne patted her right skirt pocket. We had put the return stones, which were the size of marbles, in our pockets. Our CBs could be jammed, and if we couldn't take the stones out, then they weren't much use to us. So we needed to keep them on our person.

I nodded. "We've prepared as much as we can. Let's do this."

Jenne pushed the coin into the slot in the wall.

A blinding light covered us as soon as it was all the way in.