Chapter 111: Challenge

Alex opened up his UI and had a look, "I have more health because I increased my strength attribute… Now, It seems like today is the best day for me. I'll have to complete this challenge today… And I'll have the perfect weapon made for me." Alex was excited. He went through the shop to find Hades. A small smile fell on Alex's face as he slowly approached to press it. 

But a sudden thought stopped Alex, He looked at his clothes and sighed, "I got so excited to forget that I'm all sweaty. Damn, it's starting to get the cold cause of that. I need to take a shower and wear something good." Alex walked to the bathroom and took a short bath. "Should I go in style?" Alex smiled. He then walked to his room and wore a light suit and pants. "It's surprisingly light and easy to move around… And it also looks good. I guess this will be the best thing to wear… Well, I did bath every day and forgot to wash my tracks so this is the only thing I have…" Alex thought back to the bucket filled with his sweaty clothes from the last few days. 

Alex shook his head and walked to the living room. He looked outside and took a deep breath, "I'm nervous." He said as he pressed on the Hades Icon. 

[Would Player Like to Start the Hades Challenge?]

A prompt Came in front of Alex. He took another deep breath and pressed yes. After pressing Yes, Alex felt like he was falling. He looked around him to notice that he was in the pitch dark. The Sensation of falling also hadn't stopped. Alex felt a bit concerned as he didn't know why he was falling or where he would land. 'Is this it?' Ale was confused. 

He had no idea what was happening. After a few seconds, Alex heard a voice, "Hades, The weapon made to kill the devils. One of the most powerful creations of The God Of Weapons. Many contenders challenged the tomb of Hades but non came out with the prize… The blessed Heroes entered with justice in their minds but came out with only one work in their mouths, MURDER! Do you want to challenge the tomb of Hades?" The voice was deep and gravely. It sounded like the man who spoke was an old man. 

Alex thought through everything he heard, a slight sense of fear entered his mind, "Am I going over my head? It did say that any levels could join but this says that anyone who had joined before lost their own heroism and became creatures who only had murder in their mind… Ho.. How does a man change from a challenge? Should I do this now?" Alex had many questions running through his mind. The words of the old man went to his mind and Alex couldn't shake off the crept out feeling from the words.

He looked at the darkness in front of him and took a deep breath, "I… I want to challenge the tombs of Hades." Alex spoke. He wanted to get stronger. So he had to take risks if he would have backed down from this fight… He wouldn't have been a true fighter. 

"Hmmm… A new Challenger has arrived to challenge the tomb of Hades. This time, a blessed one. Boy, If you are sure of yourself, I will tell you the rules…" Alex heard the voice and nodded. He looked curious about the rules. The voice continued, "The rules… Don't exist. SURVIVE!" Alex was flabbergasted when he heard the voice roar. His eyes opened wide as he felt like he was falling down at an even faster pace. 

After a few seconds, Alex slammed into the ground but he didn't feel any pain. He looked around and it was still pitch black. However, Alex could see the ground around him for two meters. After that, everything was pitch dark. It felt like he was in thick fog but the fog was only pure darkness.

Alex slowly walked around, He didn't know what to do. He thought back to the voice telling him to survive and quickly equipped his dagger. But this time, as soon as the dagger appeared in his hands, it disappeared. Alex looked at his empty hands in shock and tried to equip the dagger once more but the same thing happened. He couldn't use the dagger. It would forcefully un-equip the dagger from him. 

Alex sighed and walked around, his hands in front of him, assuming a fighting stance. 'At least I know a lot of close hands to hand combat because of Midnight… I'm not defenseless cause I can't use my reaper's strike ability.' He said to himself. 

Alex felt some energy in front of him. He couldn't explain the feeling, but it felt like something was calling for him. And It seemed to be calling wildly. Alex didn't know what was happening. "I can't control my body!" Alex screamed as he ran towards the source of the sound. After a long time running, Alex slowly realized that his vision seemed to be getting clearer. The darkness around him was dissipating and Alex could he. He looked in front of himself, towards the source of that energy, and saw a huge pyramid. 

"Alex? Son… You're here son! I was looking for you for so long. Where were you?!" The cries of a woman entered Alex's mind. He saw a beautiful woman in front of him, tears in her eyes as she ran towards Alex. It seemed like she was running to give him a hug. Alex froze, He didn't understand what was happening, but he felt a sudden burst of emotion. Tears fell from his eyes as Alex looked at the woman. She ran to Alex and tightly hugged him. "Why… Why am I crying? What's happening? Who are you?" Alex asked the woman. 

The woman looked at Alex and shook her head with a small smile, Tears falling down her face. She put her palms on Alex's face and smiled, "Did you forget your own mother?"

Alex looked at the woman in disbelief and walked backward. "W..what?" He softly spoke. He had no idea who the woman in front of him was but he felt such a warm connection to her to not be able to refute her words. He just stood there in disbelief as tears fell down his face. The same words, repeating in his mind, 'Why am I crying?' 'Why am I crying?' 'Why am I crying?' 'Why am I crying?'

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"SHIT!" Midnight swore as she jumped back. A deep cut in her hands. She ran forward in full force and punched the reaper in the neck, killing it instantly. "What the fuck Oj? What's happening?" She looked distressed. Oj punched a reaper in the stomach and kneaded its head. He jumped to Midnight and started to heal her wounds, "I have no clue what's happening. Ryan sounded really stressed and told us to come here as quick as we could… Who could have known that two A rank gates came at the same time, next to each other? That also right next to the hotel? We don't even have enough time to help the people here retreat!" Oj healed Midnight's' would and jumped back to the front line.

Midnight jumped back and took a deep breath. She then sang a soft tune. As the reapers heard her voice, they slowed down and were entranced. Oj took this opportunity and took down five more reapers. "They're weak, but it feels like an entire army is coming out of that gate… And to top it all off, They seem to be aiming for the hotel… What's happening?" Midnight was confused. 

Oj nodded, He ran back to where Midnight was standing and spoke, "The questions we should be asking is where are reinforcements? We had more awakeneds here in the hotel, but most of the rooms are empty…" before Midnight could speak, A voice came from behind the two, "Reinforcements are coming soon. I can't be of much help here but I can take down some of these damn reapers! I tried to get the non awakeneds out of the hotel but I couldn't get them all out… It seems like evacuating them all at once will be a problem so we have to not let these reapers close to the hotel at any costs!" Imani walked up to the two. 

Oj nodded and took down another reaper attacking them, "That's going to be a pain considering two gates appeared next to each other out of nowhere. And it's summoning an entire army!" Oj seemed to be angry. 

Imani nodded as she ran forward, killing the reapers. Midnight and Oj looked at each other and followed behind Imani, taking down the reapers. As the three fought, they noticed that the reapers were starting to miss the attacks more. And suddenly, they were starting to attack each other, killing one another. Oj smiled as he took a deep breath, "He's finally here."