Chapter 333 The Ring

"Let's find the ring and get outta here." Chan-Yeol ordered.

"Yes, sir!" The adventuring group shouted. They began to look around. Chan-Yeol pulled the holo map up, moving over to a wall.

"It says it's right here?" Chan-Yeol asked.

"Yes, sir. It seems to be in the wall." The Support answered. Chan-Yeol sighed and looked around.

"Whitney, take the wall down." Chan-Yeol motioned. A slim man nodded and wandered over. Chan-Yeol stepped off to the side and watched as Whitney began to bend the earth to his will.

"Strange." Support commented. Chan-Yeol looked at the map as Support continued. "The ring… It's moving, sir." Chan-Yeol watched the ring slowly move around. The wall went down and Chan-Yeol and the others noticed a path. It was rough like someone had blasted their way in here. Debris was scattered all around as Chan-Yeol moved in.

"It's moving further away from you." Support spoke.

"Did a goblin get their hands on the ring?" A female adventurer asked.

"Could be the case." Support answered.

"Someone blew their way into here recently." Whitney pointed at the debris. "It's fresh."

"Come on, let's follow it." Chan-Yeol led the way forward. They followed the blinking and slowly moving ring for awhile until the ring finally stopped. The holo map was quickly updating the new map areas as Chan-Yeol and the group of adventurers under him moved through it.

"It's up ahead, sir." Support alerted them.

"On your toes, everyone." Chan-Yeol told them. The group nodded as they came to an end. White fox ears immediately caught Chan-Yeol's attention. XI Lee Seng stood with their back to Chan-Yeol. They seemed to be staring at something.

"A black suit with gold lines across its chest and white lines along its legs and back area. The lines looked like nano coding." The hysterical woman, Lisa's voice echoed in his head. XI's ears twitched and they turned. "His eyes were… Those eyes… They looked dead."

"What the hell is that?" Whitney asked. XI Lee Seng's dead eyes stared at the group. They turned to reveal the ring swirling in gold, silver and black energy.

"Lee Seng?" Chan-Yeol called out.

'Who's this?' XI asked. 'I don't know this one… He looks… familiar.' XI watched as Chan-Yeol took a step forward.

"Lee Seng, are you alright?" Chan-Yeol asked. XI had ascertained that Chan-Yeol wasn't trying to harm them. XI pulled the cosmic energy and the ring disappeared.

"The ring's gone yet he's in front of you. What happened?" Support asked. Chan-Yeol ignored support.

"Let's get you back upside, Lee Seng. You were gone for hours."

"Who are you?" XI asked. Chan-Yeol stopped.

"You don't remember me?" Chan-Yeol asked. "I'm your older brother's secretary. I'm apart of Penumbra. Akio asked me to find your ring, but I guess you found your way to it first. How did you even get in here?"

"Hmm, if he's someone you know, I should know about you, but I don't. I wonder why?" XI tapped their chin.

"W-who are you referring to?" An adventurer asked. "Who's he referring to?" They looked at the others but they all shrugged. Chan-Yeol took another step forward and XI raised their hand.

"Stay there." XI told them. "I don't know you. You obviously know him, but I do not know you. I know about his friends, Akio, Akali, the Numbers, but I do not know you."

"What do you mean? Did you hit your head, Lee Seng?" Chan-Yeol asked. XI shook their head.

"I'm fine. He's… healing. He'll be fine."

"Who's he?"

"He's sleeping with his Fox. I must use this time to get questions answered. I only came back for the thing because he lost it. I have unfinished business. I must figure out why Failed Ones are possessing the monsters here." XI turned.

"Lee Seng!" Chan-Yeol rushed forward. XI turned and shot a beam of cosmic energy out. Chan-Yeol dodged out of the way, body shimmering as he jumped forward trying to snatch XI. XI began to blink when Chan-Yeol grabbed XI and pinned them onto the ground.

"What're you doing?" Chan-Yeol asked. The dead eyes looked at him.

'Why does his eyes look like he's passed out?' Chan-Yeol wondered. XI shot Chan-Yeol upwards, releasing his grip on him and quickly blinked onto his feet to the side.

"Sir!" The adventuring group shouted. They began to act as XI waved their hands. The group slammed into an invisible wall.

"Stay there." XI ordered. Chan-Yeol landed on his feet, body shimmering as he looked at XI. "I don't want to hurt anymore humans. It'll be more tragedy on his part. You, Chan-Yeol. I don't know you and I wish to not hurt you."

"We're just here to help, Lee Seng. Let's go home." Chan-Yeol told him.

"Home? The Lab?" XI asked.

"You want to go to the lab? Not that home, to Akio's home." Chan-Yeol told him. XI shook their head.

"I want to figure out why the Failed Ones are possessing goblins. Possessing monsters. If you don't want to take me to the Lab to figure things out there, myself, I will continue searching. I don't have much time left. He's stirring as we speak." XI rambled.

"Who's he? Why don't you want to go home? What do you mean when you speak about Failed Ones possessing goblins?" Chan-Yeol asked.

"The dark energy that surrounds the goblins." XI answered the second-half of the question. "You've seen them. They're a nuisance aren't they? A Failed One works with the monsters. They're doing this for a reason. I must know. I must find the answer so he can understand. So he can bond with me."

'Why is he avoiding my questions? He's only answering stuff that's not about him.' Chan-Yeol noticed.

"Can I help you find this Failed One? The dark energy you're talking about is corruption. The Corrupted Goblins, right? I've seen many in my time here. Why do you want to fight those things? You're skilled enough in power to fight them, but you lack experience in fighting."

"He may lack the experience, but I am much more powerful than him, Chan-Yeol." XI told him as a matter of fact. "He and I may look the same but the eye can play tricks on you."

"… You're not Lee Seng?" Chan-Yeol asked. XI noticed Chan-Yeol's body language shifted to being cautious. He was more alert now.

"He's the host. I'm the so-called 'parasite' if you will. The Protocol." XI spoke.

'Protocol? Kato didn't tell me anything about the Protocol. Does Lee Seng have one in him?'

"Protocol? You're the Protocol?" Chan-Yeol asked like he fully knew the secret. XI couldn't tell if Chan-Yeol knew or not. Their eyes moved over to the group. They raised their left hand in a sweep as black, silver and gold cosmic energy blocked their view. Chan-Yeol watched as the large energy separated the others from seeing anything.

"Are yo—" Support cut out.

"Hello?" Chan-Yeol asked. He tapped the earbud in his ear and said hello a couple more times with no luck. "What did you do?"

"You speak of the Protocol so openly. It's a secret that not many people know about. I've cut your connection with the outside world to understand the truth." XI took a step forward. "How do you know he has a Protocol?"

'I am speaking to the Protocol… Shit, Akio didn't inform me of anything of this!' Chan-Yeol steadied himself. He needed to figure out how to solve this fast before the Protocol possessing Lee Seng did something bad.

"He's asleep then?" Chan-Yeol asked. "Lee Seng's not in control right now?"

"No, he is not. I thought I already told you. He is healing so I took over and now I search for answers about the so-called 'corruption' you speak of on those goblins. He wants to know what he is and I do, too." XI answered.

"And that corruption… Has something to do with him and you?"

"Yes. Chan-Yeol, he may have not come across you as much in his recent memories. I do not know you but you know his brother, so I will go on a… How do you say 'go on a limb' and trust you to keep quiet about this." Chan-Yeol gulped.

"I need to take you and him back. People are worried. The Creator has been alerted about this and—"

"Shhhh." XI raised their finger up to their lips and hushed Chan-Yeol from continuing. They slowly removed their finger and shook their head. "If he and I go back to the Creator, the Fox will be mad. He and the Fox do not trust the Creator. I have my doubts about him, too, but I have questions that I want answered. If he doesn't want to go to the Creator for answers, I will not force him to go."

"Why did you say you were willing to go to the Lab then?"

"I'm willing. He isn't. The Fox, on the other hand, knows he doesn't want to go."

"Who's the Fox? Why do you talk about three… separate people?"