Previous timeline, a month before the First Cataclysm.
…
"So, I have to investigate this place called Drake town, which is supposedly haunted by ghosts?" I spoke as I looked at Lucia with a bright expression and she looked at me as if a mother was looking at her non-biological child going to school. That is… she wasn't really interested in what I was doing at all.
"Yes, you will be leaving in an hour. Make sure to collect all the information from there as precisely as you can," she spoke before moving into the car, which then drove off, leaving me standing on my own.
I honestly did not mind her cold attitude, because she was still my saviour from that hellish facility and I doubt I could ever repay her. I then happily looked at the details of my next mission, provided on my tab.
[Communication from the Drake town, located in the mountainous region of Kunlun, has been cut off and even the S-ranks sent for investigation haven't returned for more than a week now. Report shows that there dwell monsters that were not on the database and those monsters become heavily active during the night.
There is also a report of some survivors being seen during daytime, but they don't seem to be escaping the town for some reason. Their status is still unknown whether they're alive or dead.
Difficulty: At least S-Grade
Mission objective: Find survivors and interrogate what happened there. Report back to headquarters about everything that had transpired there.
Reward: 5 A-Grade mana cores]
I then sigh before turning to Cristine, who was as aloof as she always was. She turned to me before speaking,"you got another suicidal mission, huh? How many times has it been now… I sometimes really pity you, you know?"
Confused at her words, I looked at her before asking,"what do you mean by that Miss Cristine?"
"Well.. Nothing really. Just… do whatever you think is right," she spoke before vanishing from there and I just stood there wondering what she meant by that.
I then shook my head before looking at the empty road around me and the cold night that emanated an eerie atmosphere. Vanishing from there, I then began moving towards my destination.
It was kind of a long journey and took about 2 days travelling towards that area of the country and when I finally reached there; I found myself standing in front of the main gate of the town filled with dark miasma.
Since I was at a mountain and it was still 30 mins before sunrise, the dark atmosphere around me gave me an uncanny feeling but I kind of ignored it? Well, I tried looking around to find something to start from, but outside the town, all there was, was pure forest and a lonely road that reached the main highway.
"Hmmm… this doesn't seem like a good start to me," I said as I moved inside the town while keeping my surroundings in check. Currently, my power level is the base S-Rank of an average S-Ranked System user, so I should be able to handle the monsters, but being extra cautious wouldn't hurt, I suppose?
Within the town, I looked at the desolate apartments and those empty streets. There were some vehicles left there but dead or alive, there was not even a single soul in sight in that place. I could only look around as I searched random houses and shops in the hope of finding something, anything.
The sun came, and before I knew it, it went out too. All day I was continuously searching for something and taking notes, but even after so long, I still couldn't find anything. Though I guess it was fine because even if I could not find anything during the day, I believe something would surely come up during the night.
And looking at those things coming towards me, I guess I was right. I then took out some artefacts filled with UV-light in them along with Light Magic traces and threw them at them. Those creatures were as black as charcoal and I just wanted to see how they looked in the light, but before I could take a proper look…
-Scratch!!!!!!
All of them died in an instant, making me dumbfounded a little at what just happened. I mean, if it was this easy, people wouldn't have gone missing, would they?
'I guess something else must have been there that should have been much much stronger than these,' I thought as I nodded before moving towards the area from where more of them kept emerging.
I kept using my artefacts as I had brought a lot of them with me and before I knew it, I reached a certain broken building from where more of those monsters were coming out. I just looked at those monsters and then I realised something… they were all at least S-Grade now, with some of them even SS-Grade… which confused me, because if they were this strong, my handmade artefact would have not been able to kill them.
'Hmmm… interesting,' I thought as I moved inside, killing more of them from where they came. I reached inside that building and soon I found a small portal through which they were coming from.
Just out of curiosity, I threw an artefact at that portal and well… that portal… vanished as well? Ummm… am I doing this the wrong way or something?
After the portal closed, I found that the area had turned quiet… empty? There were walls around me with a single door leading outside; I checked those walls for a few days before leaving.
I checked that whole apartment, and finally after trying for some time, I found something that should help me find out what exactly is going on in this cursed place… fresh footprints…
They came from near the basement of this place, and I, following those footprints, went downstairs slowly and slowly before reaching the bottom…
There was a black monster standing there… and in front of him was a little girl standing with her eyes closed… and honestly, I felt like the girl was far more dangerous than the monster….
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