Secrets of the Universe

Frowning his eyebrows, Eden asked, "I'm guessing you have found a way, right, Heath?"

The person he addressed was the strongest bounty hunter on the island. Despite his strength, it would come as a shock to know that he was within the same age bracket as River and Sea.

This young man was already at [Realm-3 Stage-4]

Eden remembered doubting his strength when he had first arrived two years ago, but his doubts were silenced when they took a joint bounty mission together.

He, personally, got to see the strength Heath and he had to admit it was one or two levels above himself.

Just in a span of two years, Heath had managed to establish a bounty team, that was the strongest on the island. Even the average member on the team was as strong as Eden.

This, itself, was worthy of respect, and it was also what inspired Eden to recruit Jake.

A voice at the other side of the large table smirked at Eden, "What do you think?"

"Heh, he is always with a plan, Alyssa," sighed Eden.

Alyssa was the second strongest among them. She led her own Dominant Bounty Hunters, that was the main rivals of his own team.

Getting the pleasantries over with, Heath slid papers that were inscribed with something to the leaders, "True, I have a plan. I will not lie, it will be difficult. After, we are talking about a forbidden town that was locked up by the strongest man to ever walk the southern soil."

"Quit playing around. If you came up with a plan, tell us your condition," hissed Eden.

Alyssa's words added to the issue on ground, "Hush, only one team can get the [Queen Spriteheart], don't you know? The method of sneaking into the city is priceless."

The three teams were once again reminded that they were competition to each other's eye.

They knew that once they entered the city. Just for a shot at survival, friends would start killing each other.

However, they weren't annoyed. As bounty hunters, they were used to such intense missions. For now, they would continue to act cordial. It was a subtle agreement made by the three teams. 

.............

The argument went on and on, but Jake's concentration was nowhere to be found.

'The [Queen Spriteheart]......' sighed Jake.

Perhaps, the toughest obstacle in their way to secure the mystical object was the location of the said item.

Jake knew that this was the first time the bounty was issued. The item was important enough to be wanted by various people.

Yet, all those who took the mission died.

Why was that?

Well, it was because the item was in the most dangerous place possible. 

It was held by a variant undead known as the Banshee Queen, in her heart!

This Banshee Queen had another title, The Ruler of the Weeping Town.

She was the cream of the top, belonging to the variant of a variant Undead species.

Not just that, she had been alive for many decades and was probably over a hundred years old.

Not much was known about her origin, but her heritage was rich. She was born as a queen of the banshees, a variant species of the phantoms. The very reasons for the wails the bounty hunters hear every night.

However, what was more worrying about the mission to Jake was how the [Queen Spriteheart] related to the Banshee Queen.

Well, it was her heart!

The most important piece of her, located inside her body!

It was almost suicidal to think that they would be hunting for her heart, as to do that they would need to kill the Banshee. Yet, even that wasn't the worst thing that could happen to them.

The worst was them being surrounded by multiple undeads following the orders of the queen!

That was how dangerous the mission was!

First, they would need to silently invade the town.

Then they would have to evade the undeads. Finally, they would have to kill the queen under the nose of her subjects and take her heart.

'Hmmmmm...this will be certainly interesting,' smiled Jake.

He couldn't understand how they would be to do all that. 

Just the weakest undeads, the Ghosts, were on par with [Realm 2] warriors. The average undeads were the phantoms and banshees, equivalent to [Realm 3] warriors in terms of strength. The strongest ones were the variants of the undeads like the Banshee Queen.

......…..

As the conversation reached its peak, Jake focused back.

"....We are going to employ the method theorized five years ago?" asked Eden.

"Yes, while I might not have been present at that time, I have heard of it and know it is our best shot at a smooth infiltration," explained Heath.

"Did you also know that it was only theorized? Those that tried that method died, without even knowing!" retorted Alyssa.

Her black eyes tried to understand what game heath was playing.

Still acting confident, Heath confided, "Yes, I know about the one thousand(1000) deaths. The problem, however, did not lie in the method, but the execution of it."

He knew that the others would still be skeptical. Hence, he made sure he fully explained.

"Hear me out for a second," pleaded Heath.

He brought out an old map of what looked like the previous weeping town and pointed at a particular location, "Look."

Not finding anything useful, the others hissed, "It is a map, alright? I know what it is---"

"No, not the map, per se. What exactly am I pointing at?" repeated Heath.

Eden tried to understand from Heath's perspective, "You talking about the gates?!"

As soon as he said that, Heath snapped his fingers in approval, "Yes, the walls, the gates, the border."

He continued, "That was the plan those dead bounty hunters took five years ago. The walls were made by Caelein of the Astral Sect. They were fortified with a complicated array, that prohibited undeads from leaving and humans from entering!"

"The dead hunters' method was to pierce through the array, quite simple, in my opinion. However, can just anyone pierce through an Array made by Legend Caelein? An array that worked efficiently for many decades. It's not possible!"

"So, what is your plan?" asked a curious Eden.

"Arrays aren't exactly perfect. This might sound contradictory to what I said, but it is not. My plan is not to pierce the array, but to settle for the gaps on imperfection on it. We will fond a hole in the array!"