They circled around the area close to the motel for a few minutes but found nothing. In the end, they had to start expanding their search range.
"Should we split up so we can find the artifact quickly?" Sonya asked with an irritated face because she was bored.
"No." Rodney shook his head. "There's a monster guarding that artifact pieces."
After hearing Rodney's words, Sonya's eyes widened. It turned out that not only she, but Asqa also looked shocked.
"You said it's an easy Quest!" Sonya said.
"This is easy when we do it together," Rodney replied. "Because of that, splitting up isn't a good idea."
Sonya and Asqa sighed. In that case, they could only keep looking until they found the pieces. What they didn't know was when they would find them.
"Don't worry. We will complete this Quest before the deadline," Mona said in a reassuring tone.
Sonya sighed her. "Alright."
So they continued their search. They walked through narrow alleys, broken streets, and destroyed buildings.
The night was getting late. Yet, they still haven't found anything.
But Sonya was at the peak of boredom, and Asqa was already getting sleepy. But turns out, not long after they finally found one of the pieces.
However, just as Rodney had said earlier, there was a monster guarding the artifact piece.
"That's it," Rodney said. "Get ready to fight."
"Are those monsters strong?" Asqa asked in a worried tone.
"With our current Level the monsters shouldn't be a problem," Rodney answered her question.
"But you know that something is wrong with this apocalypse, right?" Sonya mentioned the problem they were facing.
Rodney drew his katana sword. "That's why I said 'shouldn't'. There is still a possibility that it will be harder to kill."
The Regressors also readied their weapons. Sonya and Asqa also got ready.
"Don't worry, Asqa. I will protect you," Sonya said to Asqa with a smile. 'If I can't do it, Clyde would kill me when he finds out you're dead.'
Even though she felt sorry for Asqa, Sonya's biggest motivation to continue protecting the girl was because she was afraid of Clyde.
"Uhm." Asqa nodded. She tried to put on a smile as best she could. But Sonya still couldn't ignore the look in her frightened eyes.
'She still can't adjust to this situation,' Sonya thought. 'Well, I can't blame her. But she had to steel herself quickly if she want to survive longer. Neither I nor even Clyde can protect her forever.'
"Are you ready?" Rodney asked.
The Regressors only nodded but their eyes showed a clear look of readiness.
"Yeah," Sonya answered while creating an arrow in her bow.
While Asqa only gave a small nod in response.
"Let's go!"
On cue from Rodney, they dashed toward the monster.
The monster was a humanoid shape nearly three meters tall. Its body is muscular and gray. When the monster noticed their presence, its eyes flashed red.
"Sonya!" Rodney shouted.
Sonya, who already understood her assignment, pulled her bowstring and aimed.
*SYYUUTTT!*
The arrow shot through the wind in high paint towards the monster's eye.
*JRAATTT!*
Sonya's arrow pierced and shattered the side of the monster's face.
Sonya and the others were dumbfounded.
"What the hell? Why is the damage that big?" Reed asked with wide eyes.
"Are... everything back to the proper settings?" Asqa muttered doubtfully.
"Maybe you're right. Otherwise, how could I destroy that face with a single arrow?" Sonya said.
"Grrhhh..."
The monster let out a disturbing growl. But it was different from what they heard from the zombie BOSS that they fought earlier this afternoon, it sounded like a groaning pain from a dying monster.
The monster was also moving unsteadily. As if no longer strong enough to hold the weight of the body.
"Well," Mona said with a grin. "If that's true, let's finish this Quest as soon as possible and take another Quest."
They all happily agreed to Mona's words. They lunged at the monster and attacked it fiercely.
Nobody said that they needed some kind of special strategy to defeat the monster.
Because they already know that the monsters are no stronger than them.
~~~
In that white room, Luccio sighed languidly looking at the monitor screen floating in front of him.
"They already know that everything has returned to its original setting," Luccio muttered.
He actually still wanted to watch those humans suffer.
However, they have very limited funds to be able to manipulate the settings of this Selection Stage.
Luccio turned towards Agatha who was still entangled with her chains on the wall.
Even though Agatha's Tokens still had quite a lot left, Luccio wasn't that cruel to use all of her Tokens.
Agatha was still moaning against the wall. Her saliva dripped onto the floor. Her saliva is mixed with thick blood that comes out of her mouth and internal organs.
Agatha's eyes were bloodshot. And her whole body suffered immeasurable pain because of the chains that tore her skin and flesh.
Under Agatha's body, there was a pool of thick blood that came from the wound that was opened by the chains that wrapped around her body.
If Agatha was just an ordinary human, she would have died a few hours ago from loss of blood.
"Hey, are you still awake?" Luccio asked.
Agatha tried hard to lift her face which looked so miserable.
"Senior," Agatha said hoarsely. She tried to squeeze her voice from her nearly crushed throat. "Please forgive me. I have made a mistake. Forgive me, Senior."
Luccio nodded as if approving. "Good. You've finally learned something."
After hearing Agatha's pitiful-sounding words, Luccio stretched his hand towards her.
A few green vortexes appeared around Agatha's body which was entangled by the chains against the wall.
Then the chains broke away from Agatha's body with a disturbing sound as they were ripped out after being buried for such a long time in her flesh.
After the chains were completely removed, Agatha's body fell limply into a pool of her blood.
The chains entered into the greenish vortexes, then the vortexes disappeared.
~~~
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