Outside of the mysterious woman's imaginary Dark World. The fight inside the erected barrier by various guilds to contain the leakage of Chaos Miasma against the artifact-wielding monsters was intensely transpiring, and because of the monsters' ranks that were ranging from A- to S+, casualties were something that couldn't be avoided in any way.
At this moment, the terror attack was trending and quickly became known to every habitant of the Human Domain. Various media companies wanted a statement from the Obelisk Organization regarding the true motive behind the attack, or was it simply to spread terror?
The Obelisk Organization, although it was the higher-ups who had the idea of the probable reason, as well as the identity of the perpetrators, behind the horrible tragedy, they had only spoken and promised to the player civilians, especially the citizens of Alastor, that they would find the culprit or the group that was responsible for the deaths of thousands of people, which was still currently happening at this moment.
"Truly amusing! It seems the others weren't much compared to the five of you."
The mysterious woman spoke, amused by the students' will to live as they were standing in front of her.
Han Jiho, Anya Amasawa, and Samantha quickly recovered from their shattered ribs. With more power from the woman in the grey hood, their bodies would certainly have split apart.
Standing with their respective Personal Weapons in their hands, Jiho firmly spoke, seemingly feeling a lingering pain in his abdomen.
"...Why are you doing this?"
The mysterious woman, whose face was seemingly covered by darkness, glanced at Samantha for a moment without answering Jiho's question.
That sudden glance made the four of them look at Samantha with bewildered expressions as though they had understood the woman's intention with that simple action.
Letting out a sigh of mental exhaustion, Samantha, without looking at them, spoke in a perplexed manner.
"...I don't know the exact details, but I think this is happening because of something that my father did."
"It's not what you think because it is the truth."
At that moment, as though the woman was playing with them until they lose their will out of horror, the voice of the woman came from behind, causing the five of them to reflexively turn their bodies around and defend what was coming.
As elusive as she was, the woman, whose dark scythe this time was floating in the air with her, following her like a pet's owner, instead of being held, disappeared again.
Glancing around and trying to find the woman's location, Jiho addressed Samantha's previous words.
"I don't know what your father did or when did that happen, but the most important thing right now is to subjugate her.
"I'll never forgive what she's done to numerous innocent people."
"Hoh... Aren't you a brave young man?"
The woman openly showed herself, but this time, with numerous students was encapsulated by darkness. It was the Skill: Dark Prison (A+), allowing her to capture any people that were weaker than the skill's rank, but the higher or closer to the rank of the skill's rank, the harder it would be to successfully execute the skill.
But the students trapped at this moment were low ranks, and it would only probably be Samantha who ranked higher than everyone except the perpetrator, although she wasn't safe either unless the entity in her head triggered something to help her, but for some reason, the entity in question was silent and seemingly certain that Samantha wouldn't die in here.
Still conscious, the students, either male or female, had terrifying expressions painted on their faces. Some of them had tattered clothes, some were crying, and some had minor wounds on their faces, which were caused by infrastructure debris due to the shockwave's impact when the high-tech modified weaponry hit the largest artifact museum of Alastor.
After a moment, what was screened to Jiho, Anya, Samantha, Rumia, and Elizabeth was something that they became conscious about for the first time in their lives.
The woman, now holding the dark scythe, pointed her weapon just below the female student's neck, who was involuntarily kneeling and covered with darkness. She then slowly cut the student's head, causing the blood to gush out of her neck.
Thud-!
It was emotionally excruciating and caused mental and physical repulsion to whoever was seeing it. The woman, however, had an unwavering expression. She was also looking at Samantha's eyes while she was slowly beheading the female student that the five of them didn't recognize.
"..."
Jiho, who couldn't contain himself because of the atrocious act of the woman, lunged forward wielding his golden lightning sword — the one he received when he defeated the strengthened Karas on the Tower of Growth's tenth floor.
Without worrying about the incoming attack, the woman let the dark scythe float again midair and follow her similar to before. Then, the moment when Jiho was about to reach her, she managed to grab the neck of another student that Samantha and the others didn't know, placing it in front of her.
It then caused Jiho to stop his movement because he would certainly hit the terrified student, someone who just wanted to go home from this supposed relaxing school trip that turned into hell.
The woman didn't mind Jiho's act and didn't even look at him, but rather at Samantha.
It was as though the woman was telling Samantha something with every action she was committing the moment she dragged those students in front of them.
Samantha tried to understand as hard as she could, but she couldn't fathom the subtle meanings of beheading someone in front of them and using a person as a shield to stop the momentum of the attacker. It left her stunned for a moment as though she was in her own world.
'Dad... what did you do for this woman to resent you so much...?'
Samantha lamented inwardly, looking at Jiho who was less than two meters away from the mysterious woman.
She then clenched the sword in her right hand before proceeding to join Jiho.
Feeling an epiphany of true sacrifice, with reluctance, Samantha thrust her sword towards the mysterious woman, who was still holding the student by the back of the neck.
Everyone, including the unidentified woman, looked at Samantha in shock.
It was because Samantha stabbed through the student's body to pierce the figure behind.
***
With a stunned expression, the woman seethed as she threw the bleeding student into Dark Prison, including the other captives.
<Rumia, Elizabeth! If you have any potions remaining, quickly heal the student! Don't reserve it just for us!>
Samantha telepathically tell them, who was watching her with puzzlement from afar.
<Anya, assist the others! Check their conditions and try to attack if you find an opening, but for now, let me and Jiho handle this!>
Samantha followed a firm command.
"Keuk-!"
Reflexively blocking the attack with her sword from the woman, Samantha was sent flying.
Bam-!
It was still a kick that didn't match the power of the woman's rank.
"I thought you were different, but you are just the same as your father!"
The woman screamed, infuriated.
'Someone is interfering with the Dark World from the outside.'
The woman had guessed because of her weakening power for some reason. Although she didn't mean to kill these talented students instantly, she felt that her simple attacks had less power than what it was supposed to have.
Jiho, who seemed to regain his sense of reason, ending his reverie due to Samantha's unexpected action, started to attack.
And just as expected, they were like toys who couldn't even do anything. Their attacks were seemingly automatically blocked by the floating dark scythe.
This time, the three of them didn't speak anymore as the two, Jiho and Samantha, proceeded to fight with their lives on the line.
'Please, suffer for me-!'
The woman inwardly muttered as the cuts through Samantha and Jiho's skins were increasing in number.
"Can't use any skills, right? What a shame."
The woman mocked them. The imaginary Dark World allowed her to be the only one to use skill, given the condition that she was engaged in combat in a given amount of time.
But, there was something she didn't anticipate. Samantha was a player who was soon-to-be not bound by the System, but it didn't mean that at this moment, her Stigma: Breaker of Impossibility, was nullified.
Surprised, a vertical illusory sword appeared from the woman's feet, which she managed to dodge.
She looked at Samantha in disbelief as she asked while keeping her cool and parrying the coordinated attacks of Samantha and Jiho.
"You... What are you?"
"DIEEE-!"
Before Samantha could say something, out of nowhere, Leon von Obreyon suddenly appeared. It caused the battle's momentum to be disrupted for a moment but wasn't enough to fully distract them.
"...Screaming while doing a surprise attack?
"You are a fool just like Draxian, your arrogant father."
Slash-! Slash!
With two swings, Leon's hands were cut off as the scream of agony reverberated throughout the imaginary Dark World.
***
[Your Attribute: Nihility has concealed your surroundings!]
[Activating the Skill: Reinforcing Chaos]
[You are injecting Chaos to the manifestation of the Skill: Sphere of Darkness!]
Russell, almost touching the shadow that resembled the perpetrator's physique, felt the Chaos that was leaving his body.
This time, the shadow's defense mechanism wasn't being activated due to his Attribute: Nihility. It seemed as though he was now hidden from its sight. In other words, as long as he didn't make contact with it, it wouldn't notice, at least that's what Russell thought so far.
'This Attribute is really a mystery.'
Russell thought as he glanced to where his younger sister, Amelie, and Ken were. They were resting for a moment since they couldn't do anything against the battle that was still happening within the erected enormous barrier.
After some time, a System message rang in Russell's ears.
[Due to the effects of Chaos, the manifestation of the Skill: Sphere of Darkness will be weakened!]
[The skill user's overall stats will temporarily be reduced by 80%!]
[Your Chaos Power Stat will be gradually consumed in this process!]
"F*ck it-!"
Russell cursed as he continually injected Chaos towards the seemingly inanimate shadow.
[Your Chaos Power has been reduced by 1]
[...reduced by 1]
***
"...Artorious, do you think it's time to settle this?"
Draxian seriously spoke as he looked at Artorious, sitting at the end of the long table inside the conference room where the confidential meetings were usually held.
Clasping his hands together, with his usual emotionless voice, Artorious responded to Draxian's question.
"...It's not as simple as you think.
"...I can't locate my daughter. It's the same with your son and their daughters."
Artorious alternatively glanced to Eliana, Elizabeth's mother; Rosalin, Rumia's mother; and Makoto, Anya's father.
"F*ck this! It's probably Zebel's doing!"
Smashing the table, Rumia stood up and looked at Artorious with blazing eyes.
"...Zebel..."
Artorious muttered the familiar name, silencing everyone in the room.
"I don't care what you all will do, but I'm saving my daughter!"
The formality of the meeting had been destroyed as Rosalin vanished from her spot in rage.
"...They won't kill them until we arrive, but torturing them is entirely possible."
Artorious said in a cold tone as he nodded to the remaining ones.
Moments later, after discussing some significant things, they prepared to confront the past that should have been buried through the sands of time, for eternity.
***
"...You are becoming less human, aren't you?"
The woman, whose name was Zebel, spoke to Leon, who recovered his hands without using the highest-grade Health Potion.
Leon's eyes didn't depict that of a human anymore. It was more like a dragon's.
Without responding to Zebel, Leon took out another sword from his Dimensional Inventory and proceeded to do offensive, together with Jiho and Samantha.
"HAAA-!"
At that moment, the three of them stopped as they froze in fear because of Zebel's one ordinary action.
She had taken off the hood she was wearing even before the terror attack began.
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