"What the hell...?" Oskar muttered in disbelief, looking at Fog Hunter who was actively squirming on the ground, as if he had been overtaken by a deadly disease capable of killing in seconds.
Fog Hunter's body wriggled and shook, his claws scraping on the ground as if trying to cope with the pain that was developing inside his chest, growing stronger by the moment.
Plague Reaper, the one who had done this to Fog Hunter just watched as his victim wriggled in agony before his imminent death. His face remained the same emotionless and his posture didn't change.
He seemed to be showing that the fact that he had to attack was already too much of an honor for someone like Fog Hunter.
Soon, Fog Hunter stopped moving, his suffering coming to an end. After his death, his skin became considerably paler, and his lean and muscular body dried up a lot, becoming weak and useless.
"Silvana... What the hell was that?" Adam asked in a trembling voice, "It's not like he did anything. All he did was open his mouth and... that black air... What was that?"
Though Silvana was far away in the Citadel and safe, it was only now that she was able to partially regain her senses.
'Fine, calm down, I have to help Adam now. This is indeed a real crisis and I have to stay focused. After all, Adam is in danger not me.' Silvana internally said before taking a deep breath.
Then, she opened her eyes with a calm and confident look, going to help her Phantom.
'Adam, there is nothing strange or unusual about this, for he is a Plague Reaper. That black air, that's his deadly breath. If you or anyone breathes that air, the same thing will happen to you as it did to Fog Hunter.' Silvana explained.
Oddly enough, Adam was not worried at all, even though Silvana had told of something truly horrible.
She literally said that Plague Reaper could kill them with his breath. However, Silvana did it calmly and confidently. Her voice magically helped Adam keep his mind collected.
'It's dangerous, but the radius of this attack is small and he won't be able to repeat it too often. Moreover, you have a trump card against this creepy ability.' Silvana said with a slight smile.
"Agh, even though it's fucked up and we're in the middle of it, we're lucky in some ways."
Osana said suddenly as the corners of her lips went up.
Silvana was addressing Adam, but she was speaking into the general channel so that everyone else could hear her as well. So Osana had no trouble understanding exactly what Silvana was talking about in the last message.
Everyone looked at him puzzled. He looked strange, his fingertips were trembling, sweat came out on his forehead, and there was only fear and uncertainty in his eyes.
"Do you really want to fight that monster?! It's a Plague Reaper! It's a Top-1! Look, the gate is still open, the monsters are still afraid to move, and we can still escape from here!" Oskar exclaimed with a wave of his hand.
Osana frowned, she clearly didn't like Oskar's reaction. Erla and Lero were baffled, and Adam and Katrin glanced around, trying to make a quick decision.
But... They had all forgotten something. In Fume Cathedral, the power was not theirs. The one who sat on the Fume Throne was in charge.
Even though Fume Throne had not yet channeled its energy to its new lord, Plague Reaper had full authority to do what he wanted. Everything that related to Fume Cathedral was under his will.
Click.
Suddenly there was a snap, a simple but ringing echo spreading around.
Everyone abruptly turned their heads toward the throne, only to see Plague Reaper, who had just snapped his fingers.
Crackle.
All of the Fume Armors and Fume Judge looked in his direction, then their gazes traveled towards the gate.
There were three gates in the Fume Cathedral, a massive one in front of the entrance and two side gates on the far end. Next to each gate were Fume Statues.
Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.
At the same moment, everyone felt the ground shake, not like an earthquake, but like the powerful footsteps of massive beings resembling giants.
Then, long shadows fell across the entrances in front of the gate before the Fume Statues began to slowly close the gate.
Perhaps if Adam wanted to, or some monster fast enough, he might be able to run outside in time, but he just stood there and watched as the gate slowly closed.
Crackle.
In a few seconds, all the gates were tightly sealed, showing that this place was now their prison, their cage in which no one was destined to survive.