Moving through the city, Zack and Emma saw that the streets were as crowded as they were in Trishapat. This meant that the place was quite big for a 'hidden' city.
[ The members of the Henson family have a water drop as their family symbol. Let's look around for anyone with that symbol. ]
[ I already knew that Zack. Why are you telling that again? ]
[ Just in case you forgot. ]
The duo didn't bother to put up a disguise or go around while hiding since they already knew that acting suspiciously was not going to get them anywhere.
There were a few open restaurants in the place too so Zack and Emma could see the people eating food.
However, there was one very odd thing about the place.
No matter how much they roamed around, Zack and Emma would always end up seeing restaurants and happy people casually eating.
They had been walking for ten minutes and still didn't see any palace in the distance.
[ Emma, I think we are trapped in some kind of mental loop that will keep on running until and unless we break it. ]
[ Great, why can't things be simple for once. ] The pink-haired woman sighed before she started scanning the area again.
If what Zack had said was true, then there was definitely a way to break the loop.
[ Zack, started acting crazy. Throw fire around too. ] Emma suddenly interrupted as the black-haired boy didn't question her.
He instead raised his right hand and shot blue flames towards the nearest building.
"Stop right there!" A voice suddenly sounded from the building as the person wearing a blue coat shot out.
On his chest was a single drop of water flying while a mysterious aura surrounded his body. And Zack very well recognized the aura.
It was something that many players had feared due to the boosts it gave.
"He is a young master and a powerful one at that," Zack muttered as he remembered the details about the aura.
Anyone with the young master aura could not be defeated as long as he was fighting with a group of people cheering him on. Every person's cheers added one level to the person which meant if a crowd cheered him on, things would become very difficult for the enemy.
However, Zack knew the counter to the young master's aura.
"Emma, when you see a young master, what do you do?"
"You bow and salute them hoping that they don't pick on you?"
"Wrong answer," Zack then looked at the person running towards them as he retraced his flames. "When you meet young masters, you face slap them. And I guess that the way to break the loop is to defeat this guy right here."
"Weird but ok."
"Almost everything in my life is based on weird," Zack replied before shooting another wave of blue fire at the man as the people screamed behind him.
Suddenly, the aura around the man thickened as he flicked his finger forward and a tsunami-sized water wave was summoned in front of him.
The tsunami-sized wave crashed with the blue flames and it was soon clear who the winner was. Due to the level gap that continued to widen between Zack and the man, the waves immediately distinguished the flames.
"You dare come to this place while perfectly knowing that I am the protector of this city? Shame on you." The man raised his mouth and spat at Zack's feet as the latter smiled.
"I guess you are the local protector wanna be since nobody knows your name in the entire kingdom. Damn, you must love to pretend."
The man paused momentarily after hearing Zack's reply. Looking at it, his name was only known inside the city.
"Well now, you know my name and have just seen a show of my greatness. More importantly, why did you come here?"
"Bruh, you never told me your name. As for why? I am just bored."
Once again, the man couldn't think of anything to say.
'I wonder if this is a joke that Zack is playing on me.' To Emma, the entire thing looked horribly scripted. The man would speak a line and Zack would refute him the next second.
It was as though both of them had been given lines beforehand and had been asked to perform them.
"Looks like you came prepared. Just go to the residence." The man said a few moments later before clapping his hands.
Suddenly, the entire city vanished in front of them. Instead, they were surrounded with weirdly shaped trees in the dark night.
"How did you manage to… face-slap him that soon?" Emma suddenly asked as Zack shrugged.
"I just read a whole lot of novels before. You learn things from them."
Looking forward in the night, they could see a small castle-like structure dimly glowing in the dark night. That was the Henson family residence that they had come to find.
'Now I know why all the information that we had was very little. Most likely, the people never got through the test or they got through it and didn't want to continue.' Zack thought with a sigh before he and Emma walked towards the castle.
Instead of a noble family residence, the castle looked like something people made for war. But after what happened to the Henson family, the castle seemed like good preparation.
"Zack, have you ever watched a horror movie from between 2010 to 2020?"
"Mia made me watch a few of those movies with her. Well, most of them were very cringe."
"Despite that, I think the game developers got their inspiration from there. This house and place give the complete vibes of many of those movies."
"Then I guess we are only lacking background music then."
The duo smiled at their own bad jokes as they reached the entrance of the castle. The gates had no visible bell or anything like that.
This meant that the residents of the place were not expecting any sorts of visitors.
So what did they do?
They knocked on the door.
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