Chapter 44 :

Episode 10 : A Calling (4)

"Sinful.." I mumbled out the word that HwanGi-ssi has said to me.

"Tsk. Why did he sound like ‘her’?!" I kicked a rock that was on the ground. It then bounced off the tree and dropped into the area of bloody corpses. 

I leaned on the tree behind me, crossing my arms. Subconsciously, I murmured. "Ain't it fun to toy with me?"

I looked up to the sky-blue sky with clouds randomly shaping itself from its own movement. 

In that moment of time, I narrowed my eyes, saying. "If only I had all my memories."

"Now, my memories are like 50,000 puzzle pieces waiting to be solved into a full picture. How long will it take to complete it? How would I even know?!" I grumbled to myself.

‘Master, you're talking to yourself again.’ Lucifer spoke inside my head.

"I became frustrated again." I sighed, rubbing my forehead to relieve myself.

‘Are you alright, Master?’

"Yeah, I'm fine." 

‘You aren't worried about your memories..’

"If only I didn't stupidly sign the so-called ‘Amnesty Contract’, then I wouldn't be here right now." I sighed, turning around to punch the tree to release my feeling of regret. 

‘But you haven't given up which is why you're my master.’

I chuckled as I shook my head. "I never noticed how nice it is when being called Captain, Sensei, and Master."

‘Because you obviously hate the title, ‘Satan’ that has been given to you.’

[Hidden Skill, ‘Simulation’ has activated.]

In that moment, my eyes widened from what I foresaw from my skill's prediction.

"Angels, again? They're really.. irritating me." I growled with my boundless resentment showing through my expression. 

With no time to waste, I quickly ran to where everyone was.

———

Meanwhile..

Mirai explained with her eyes locking onto Alaine's eyes. "That's the ‘Mist Of Deepest Fear’. A curse that traps a person inside the mist, forcing them to live in their worst nightmare."

Now that Alaine had thought about it, she became aware of Mirai missing the entire time..

But Alaine's mind was filled with rescuing HwanGi that she completely ignored that, thus she exclaimed. "I don't care! We need to get HwanGi out of here!"

Mirai scowled while grumbling. "If you go in, you'll only get yourself trapped inside!"

Raiden joined in, standing behind Mirai. "She is right. You'll only make it difficult for us by setting foot inside that mist."

Alaine looked at them, like eyes with lost hopes. She turned to look at the mist, stretching her arm into the mist.

Stuck inside the mist, her arm became numb upon entrance. The sensation of being frozen, like ice covering every inch of her arm, caused Alaine to shiver immensely.

Alaine perceived the icy-cold sensation escalating throughout her arm, almost outspreading to her shoulders.

Fortunately, Mirai pulled out Alaine's arm before it was too late. Then she bawled. "What are you doing?! You might have frozen to death!"

Alaine touched her arm, she couldn't feel the sensation of her touch. "It's cold.."

"Rai, get Captain!" Mirai swiftly supported Alaine, letting her sit down to rest.

"Right." Raiden was about to run to his Captain but..

"..." After arriving, I laid my eyes on the mist before looking back at my comrades and Alaine.

"Sensei! HwanGi is inside." Raiden called out to me, running toward me.

‘This will eat up all my time to find monsters to level up. If I don't level up, I'll get punished by the Stage's failure.’ 

I stroked my chin which indicated how much I was thinking within this situation. "Raiden, find monsters for me when I'm gone."

Raiden nodded like a teacher's pet before speaking. "Sensei, are you really going inside?"

"How else am I supposed to get him out of here?" After I shrugged, I heard voices from somewhere.

"How about using your strings?!" Alaine bawled, grabbing Mirai's arm.

I walked up to them, telling Alaine. "Mirai can't do that."

"Why!? Why can't she?!" 

"Her strings will rip apart from the coldness within that mist." 

"Then.. how are we going to save him..?"

"Not we. But me. I'll go in." 

After saying what I wanted, I got a bit closer to the mist, slowly setting my foot inside mist.

"Cold as usual." I entered without any hesitation blocking my way. 

"Wait! Don't go in by yourself!" Alaine being tackled down by Mirai, exclaimed with all her might. 

"Why are you so persistent?!" Mirai grumbled, struggling to apprehend Alaine.

Raiden crouched down to tell Alaine. "Sensei can save HwanGi. So no need to worry and please stop giving us a hard time." 

Alaine gritted her teeth with her clenched fists, she smacked the ground with all the strength she got. 

"I just want to be useful.." With how low Alaine's voice was, Raiden couldn't hear her response.

On the other hand, Mirai could easily hear Alaine's response. 

Mirai lowered her head closer to Alaine's ear to whisper something in her ear.

Alaine after getting the message, calmed herself. A few teardrops falling to the ground could be seen.

———

Upon entering the mist, I looked around to find where HwanGi-ssi was.

"This will get more annoying.." I scowled while walking through the mist.

‘I need to get him quick before the stage finishes.’

I thought. ‘Luckily for my comrades, they just became players, so the stage they are currently in won't affect them until the next stage begins.’

‘But as for Master, you need to level up before the Stage's time limit ends.’ Lucifer mentioned to me.

"Yep, because I did level up once but once isn't enough for this stage."

I opened the Stage's description.

[Stage #8 : Hunt Monsters.]

+

Stage Information: As time passes, monsters will arise from the darkness to devour humans as their meals. Thus, it is time for humans to be the hunter and hunt those monsters.

Stage Task: Kill monsters to level up.

Time Limit: 120 hours.

Reward: 500 coins, 5 medium HP potions and 5 medium MP potions.

Failure: ???

[Currently, there are 27 hours remaining.] 

+

Even though I had 27 hours left, my skill predicted that something would happen after a few hours. 

And from what I learned, nothing good ever occurs whenever I foresee future events.

"I need to be fast."

With every step I took, my eyes became more observant of my surroundings.

Then, a figure appeared to my right side, so naturally, my attention was directed to that direction. 

"Motherfucker.." I cursed when its appearance became clearer.

Illuminating with blue and purple lights, wings from pure holy feathers, and hair of gold with the angelic halo on top..

Before I could even let the mist enclose me into its hallucination, I slashed the supposed angelic lady which was the figure I saw.

"Showing ‘her’ was a big mistake, Mist of Deepest Fear." I grasped my katana tightly, causing my hand to shake a little from the grip.

[Hidden Skill, ‘Simulation’ has subdued the ‘Illusion of Nightmare’.]

"Me, having a fear? Then I wouldn't be titled ‘Satan’, would I?"