[Quest Has Been Issued]
A system notification suddenly appeared in his line of sight.
āPerfect timing,ā Gustav said internally as he proceeded to check out the quest.
"Hey, do you mind untying me?"
A voice was heard from behind just as Gustav was checking out the quest.
Gustav turned around to see.
It was Falco who had spoken. He had regained consciousness.
Gustav slowly walked back towards him after changing his clothes and squatted in front of him.
"Youāll have to stay here, the way you are," Gustav said.
"Hey, no fair, I saved you earlier," Falco said while trying to sit up.
It was proving difficult for him since he was tied up. He could only wriggle around like a worm.
"You put me in danger first... If I didnāt mention Angy, maybe my eyes wouldnāt be intact by now. From the looks of things, youāre not in charge," Gustav said while proceeding to stand up.
"Yo, the guy has woken up," E.E approached from the side after seeing the wriggling Falco.
"Yeah, are you ready?" Gustav asked.
"Hmm, " E.E nodded in response, "Are we leaving him here?" He proceeded to ask.
"Yes," Gustav said with an unbothered expression while turning around to start walking forward.
"Hey! Hey! Donāt leave me here, hmph! hmph!" Falco shouted out as he struggled to free himself.
Gustav ignored him and kept walking forward.
Falco turned to stare at E.E with a pleading expression.
E.E smiled wryly and turned around, "I donāt want him to rip my head off. You have business with him, not me,"
E.E kept walking forward and caught up with Gustav.
"Erm, I donāt know what you got with him, but is it okay to leave him like that?" E.E asked while walking beside Gustav.
"Heāll be fine. Heās almost as strong as I am," Gustav replied with a dismissive look.
"Oh, he is? Alright then," E.E decided to overlook it, but he was a little surprised.
āThat weak-looking guy is almost as strong as he is?ā E.E felt this was why they say never judge a book by its cover.
Falco stared at Gustav and E.Esās back as they got further and further away.
"This is all your fault. Why are you so petty?" Falco shouted out.
"Shut up, you weak idiot, always going soft, ptoi!" Falco still replied himself and spat out. However, his voice sounded quite different.
"Always going hard, and guess what? You lost, and he knocked you out again!" Falco voiced out with a burst of light laughter.
"You little..."
Step! Step! Step!
"Huh?" Falco heard the footsteps and raised his head to stare at who was approaching.
"Put him on, let me speak to him,"
The person approaching happened to be Gustav.
"Hmm?" Falco wondered what Gustav was playing at, āI thought he already left, so why did he come back?ā Falco wondered.
"Let me speak to him if you want to be freed," Gustav demanded once again and squatted in front of Falco.
"Hmm, alright," Falco said and closed his eyes.
Zwwoooonn!
When next he opened them, they became pitch black.
"You bastard, letās go again! Fight me like a man this time! Cheater!" Falcoās alter ego shouted out the moment he gained total control of Falcoās body.
"I will not accept such defeat! Youāll never defeat me in a fair fight! Cheater! Wimp! Pussy!"
Gustav stared at him and patiently waited for him to finish shouting out all manner of vulgar words before replying.
"Okay," Gustav stated.
"Huh?" Falcoās alter ego was confused by Gustavās reply.
"I said okay. Iāll fight you fairly," Gustav added.
"What? No cheating this time..." Before Falcoās alter ego could complete his statement, Gustav spoke again.
"Iāll fight you fairly," Gustav stated while staring into Falcoās eyes.
āSuch confidence... He would have lost the last time if not for that meddling idiot. Where does this confidence come from?ā Falcoās alter ego wondered, however in the next second, he scoffed.
"Who are you trying to scare with that confident expression, this time you..." Falcoās alter ego was once again interrupted by Gustav.
"Iāll fight you again on one condition," Gustav stated.
"What condition is that?" Falco asked with a suspicious look.
Smirk!
A mischievous smirk suddenly appeared on Gustavās face.
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In a particular part of the ruins, a handsome-looking man in prison wears walked silently across the passageways.
He had long yellow braided hair that reached his lower back and sharp slanted eyes.
His movement was like that of a shadow. One step he took covered several feet.
"Thereās another battle going on there... Candidates facing one another," He muttered with a confounded look.
"I must find out what is responsible for this. However, taking one of them hostage is not an option... Revealing myself to whoever is responsible wonāt grant me any gains," He said to himself as he arrived at an intersection.
He placed his back against the wall and turned his face to the right to observe what was happening.
"I must keep observing for now,"
-------------------------
In another part of the ruins, two young girls were conversing with each other.
One with silver and pink colored hair and the other with long white hair.
"Are you saying I attacked Gustav?" The girl with white hair asked with a crestfallen look.
"Are you saying you donāt remember?" The silver and pink-haired girl asked in response.
"I only remember... Bits and pieces. Oh my God, I did attack him. Heās never going to trust me now," The white-haired girl voiced out as her eyes turned watery.
The girls conversing were obviously Angy and Maltida. Maltida seemed to have regained consciousness but couldnāt remember everything that happened when she was mind-controlled.
"Itās alright, Gustav knows that you didnāt mean it," Angy placed her hand on Maltidaās shoulder while comforting her.
Maltida brightened a little after hearing that, but she still felt down knowing that she fought with him. She was worried about Glade at the moment, but she couldnāt come up with any way of dealing with that rock existence due to its mind control power.
"What is more important at the moment is, do you remember the location of the place you fell under the creatureās mind control?" Angy asked.
"Hmm, yes, I remember the location... And I also remember that It wasnāt a person, it was a rock," Maltida said with a look of contemplation.
"A rock?" Angy was surprised by this discovery.
"You must be delusional. I guess that mind control effect is still there," Angy sighed while speaking.
"No, Iām serious, it was truly a rock... It looked strange and has some weird drawings all over it... Glade and I thought it was just a normal rock at first, but the moment it opened its eyes, we figured out how wrong we were. We couldnāt resist its voice, it was so compelling, and our bodies would do exactly as the creature instructed," Maltida explained lengthily with a look of fear on her face.
"Calm down... Are you telling me the truth? Did everything youāre saying right now truly happen?" Angy asked while holding tighter onto Maltidaās shoulders.
"Yes, it wasnāt just Glade and I... I remember many others being under its mind control too," Maltida added.
"Then, why did it want Gustav and I?" Angy asked.
"It could see our memories, so it checked for participants with abilities that would be useful for it... It saw your abilities as well as Gustavās from our memories," Maltida paused for a brief moment before continuing, "It wanted to control you due to your speed so you could gather many grand stones for him while it wanted Gustav because..." Maltida paused at this point.
"Because?" Angy asked with a look of urgency as she noticed the look of fear on Maltidaās face increasing.
"A strong mixed-breed is needed as a sacrifice as well as a gargantuan amount of grandstones for its freedom... It wants to use Gustav as the sacrifice after noticing that he is the strongest among the participants," Maltida revealed.
Angy stepped backwards twice with a look of fear on her face.
"Sacrifice? That means it wants to kill Gustav?" Her face turned dark as she asked.
"Y... Yes, Gustav will die if he faces the rock being," Maltida voiced out.
Hiss!
Angyās face turned darker after hearing that. She stared at the ground as an aura of rage started to gather around her.
"Lead the way," She demanded while turning around.
"What? You canāt go there, you wonāt be able to do anything. It will make no difference," Maltida said with a dissuasive expression.
Only she and Glade understood the horrors of being mind-controlled by the rock. They were also able to see inside of his mind as he searched their memories, and all she recalled was darkness.
"Did I stutter? Lead the way! Thereās no way Iām letting him face that thing by himself," Angy voiced out.
"Oh, alright," Maltida answered and started moving. āLooks like sheās sure that Gustav would have figured out the location... I hope he truly has because even with him there, we hardly stand a chance of defeating the rock. If he isnāt there, our chances are zero,ā Maltida prayed internally.
---------------
In another part of the ruins, two youngsters stood in front of a large hole.
They were like a grain of sand before it.
These two were E.E and Falco.
"Why do we have to pass this place when that bastard is going in from the front?" Falcoās alter ego stared at the land after the large hole and voiced out.
The land was thousands of feet ahead. The hole looked uncrossable.
"Stop sulking, man, or are you afraid of falling in?" E.E asked while chuckling.
"Hmph! Afraid of this, donāt make me laugh. This is nothing," Falcoās alter ego replied while folding his arms with an arrogant expression displayed on his face.
"Alright then, this is all part of the plan so letās do our best to work according to it," E.E said while sinking into the vortex he conjured on the ground.
Swooonn!
He appeared on the other side, thousands of feet away.
"Hmph, show off!" Falcoās alter ego voiced out before dashing towards the wall.
"I can perform better," He voiced out while dashing across the wall towards the direction of the other side.
-----------------------
In another part of the ruins, a group of participants with purplish glowing eyes could be seen moving across a passageway.
They were about thirty of them, and when they got to the end of the passageway, they turned left at an intersection heading towards a dead end.
Hiding within the group, a youngster with green hair and pale white skin looked around the place.
āLooks like I was right... Time to end this,ā He said internally as they arrived at the dead end.
Zwwwoooonnnn!
A pair of purplish eyes appeared within the hole on the wall.