64 64 - Nes

After accepting the mission, Noah began to wonder what he could do to leave the group and be able to explore the Fortress alone. As the system had said, he just didn't see the illusions left by the deities because he was the descendant of Lucifer, that is to say that other humans would still see the illusions and most likely would start walking in circles without getting to the place, or maybe there would be something else that would prevent them from moving towards the totem.

Besides, Noah didn't want to have to explain to them what it was, much less having to deal with their curiosity and the possible lack of awareness when going out and telling other people about what they saw, possibly even telling the government agent that was waiting for them outside the Fortress.

'Think Noah... What can you do to get away from the group without arousing suspicion...' Noah began to demand from himself mentally a solution. He knew he couldn't just walk away from the group without bothering to explain anything to anyone; he needed a plausible reason. After all, the group needed to trust him so he could join, and him disappearing into the Fortress without any reason would not be very reliable.

Suddenly he had an idea. Noah knew that Marcel believed he had a high rank Blessing. It had been obvious from the way Marcel started treating Noah after he proved that his magic was very powerful. While before Noah proved himself Marcel was shouting at him, making him do nothing while he had to watch and learn how to work with Jasper, after Noah proved he was a powerful wizard, Marcel started to treat him with respect and giving the due value that a valued Blessed deserved in a true team.

Knowing this, Noah took advantage of some information he saw on the television in Maggy's hospital room when he visited her a few years ago.

"Guys, sorry for just letting you know now, but I need to fulfill the mission that my master assigned to me," Noah said with a little regret in his voice, as if he really felt bad for not having told it so far.

Momentarily the people in the group stopped and stared at him for any show of hostility, ready to attack Noah at any moment. In a world where people receive Blessings from gods, the "good" gods were not the only ones who granted Blessings. Even if it was taboo, there were still people who worshipped gods of darkness, who demanded sacrifices.

Marcel, who was the leader of the group, asked Noah, "What do you mean by your master's mission?" He spoke with a body expression that said he was ready to attack Noah at any moment, despite not wanting to lose such a powerful member.

Noah didn't think they would react that way, so much so that he was surprised for a few seconds trying to understand why the people became so hostile. When he realized the mess it had caused, Noah gave a light laugh to lighten the mood, a laugh he simulated because he didn't feel like laughing, and explained what he meant. "Easy, easy people. My master is not a god of darkness, or a worshiper of some god of death, nothing like that. My master is actually my trainer, he said that for me to improve my training I need to hunt some groups alone in every Fortress that I invade. Jasper knows that this is not the first Fortress that I have done this," Noah said as he pointed at Jasper.

Jasper remembered that Noah stayed for the first hour in the goblin Fortress alone. He had supposed it was only because Noah had been excluded from the group and he didn't want to cause fights, but hearing Noah's explanation now, he understood that this could have really been the case, since Noah just needed to prove his ability to the group in the other Fortress and they would have gladly accepted him. He just didn't know that Noah had actually gone alone to the other Fortress to get monsters' Exp alone.

"Yes, that is true. In the Fortress where we met, he also spent a few hours alone. With his strength I doubt that anything bad could happen." Jasper agreed with Noah and caused the 13 pairs of eyes to deviate from him and become less tense.

Marcel finally understood what Noah was saying. Among the group, he was the only blessed Rank B, so he quickly remembered that Noah was also very powerful. That description of his Blessing in the app saying it was Rank F was probably forged by someone. With Noah's strength today, combined with his age, he clearly had the talent to receive the guidance of a good teacher, since even he himself had already received guidance from a few high-ranking teachers throughout his career. It was also not strange for Marcel that Noah had also received some strange mission from his master, since Marcel had also received strange missions to improve himself before.

"Okay, since it was a mission given by your master, I know how important this is for your future development. Just be careful not to get hurt. We will kill the monsters that are in the area around here and we will expand the radius over time. Can you get back in less than an hour and a half?" Marcel asked. Since they would have to kill many monsters before going to fight the Boss, they could kill monsters where they found it most comfortable, so the position itself was not that important.

Noah thought this was perfect, as he could just go to where the totem was and come back here to kill monsters and get free Exp points.

After separating from the group, Noah started looking at the small radar that was in the window that appeared after he accepted the mission. This little radar was like sonar that showed the direction the statue was in every few seconds. Noah didn't know how far he was from the totem pole; he just knew the direction the totem was in.

The walk through the forest was tiring. His eyes were already getting tired because of the red filter that the light caused in this place, and because he was following a direction that was probably covered by countless illusions, Noah did not find any group of monsters to get free Exp. He had to walk a very long distance until he finally realized that when the point where he indicated the location of the totem on the radar was starting to flash more intensely, it could only mean that he was getting closer.

Noah was slowing down and starting to be more careful as time went on until he finally started to see something from afar. In the distance he could see that there was a tree much larger than the others around it.

Even though it was a much larger tree, Noah believed that they were trees of the same species, since the tree had red leaves just like the others. But what caught Noah's eye was not even the size of the tree, but rather that on top of it was a nest.

If it were a normal bird's nest, the size would not be larger than a few centimeters, but even looking at several meters, Noah saw that the nest was giant, at least by his standards. Even Angry Birds were not big enough to occupy a nest of that size, despite the fact that these birds were almost as big as a human.

'What's in that nest? I never heard of any other monsters besides the Angry Birds and the Blue Boars... Wait a second; I also never heard of any giant and powerful birds like the one that scared us until Lilith scared him. But even so, might it exist within this Fortress? Perhaps it is related to this nest?' Noah wondered mentally as he started looking around the trees for support points for him to use when climbing that nest. The mission's radar was pointing exactly at that nest, so at least the objective of his mission was there. It wouldn't be a meaningless climb.

On the other hand, Noah was excited. Since in the other Fortress he had received a good dagger, that giant nest could also contain a treasure proportional to its size. Just thinking that he could find something very precious there made Noah cheer up and with some sounds of *Bhaarfff* he began to teleport through the crooks of the smallest trees until he began to teleport through the branches of the larger trees and reached the giant nest.

As he climbed the nest, the first thing Noah saw was the totem for which he had come looking. This cheered him up a lot, since the mission to get the wing would be completed easily, but something else he saw made the hairs on Noah's entire body stand on end.

-----

Please read author notes ↓↓↓