Chapter 13 - 11 : What Lies Underneath

" Captain, our scouts reported getting ambushed a couple of yards away from us." A level 4 Paladin garbed in black colored Mid tier Mortal class full body equipment while unconsciously releasing a mighty aura like a mountain, disclosed to a Level 4 Berserker.

Looking carefully at him, one would notice that the armor compliments his boots, gauntlets and helmet, seeming as if they were all forged from the same material. The armor was graced with red stripes, entwining at certain points giving it an artistic touch and an impressive design. It was actually the custom set equipment for Paladins, easily accessible in high class NPC stores in Towns at Black Rock city. (AN : Riverdale and Black Rock Town are both under Black Rock City).

Even though the set equipment is said to be easily accessible, that however is on the condition that a player has the required funds. At a whooping 15 silver coins, the set equipment has only been seen in the hands of big guilds, adventurer groups and few highly skilled solo players.

Despite it's high price, the armor was well worth it's weight in silver as it also came with a weapon of the player's choice, though it was the same rank as the set equipment. But even so, Mid tier Mortal Class equipment are not so common with most players still using Low tier Mortal class weapons or even their novice weapons such, the Black Crimson Set equipment was the dream of every Paladin at this stage of the game.

"Who were the ambushers?" The Berserker furrowed his brows.

"From their offline messages, they claimed it was Sinland."

"Hehe." All of a sudden, the surrounding temperature dropped a notch with all the players close-by feeling a creepy chill crawling in their bones with a hint of blood aura in the air.

"Those little kids think they can play with me, hehe."

"Oi, Little Song, what's wrong?" A Level 5 Ranger walked over. Ignoring his high level and awesome equipment, one would notice that he didn't exude any aura whatsoever. Apart from his slightly above average looks, if you were to dump him in a crowd of people, you might not even notice him.

"Hmmph. It's nothing; just a bunch of little kids who are eager to meet their grandfather." Upon seeing the youth, fear flashed by his eyes but Little Song managed to hide it while he reined in his aura.

"A bunch of kids you say? Send me their approximate locations, I'll handle it." The youth replied as if the tribulation being faced by his guild-mates was a walk in the park for him a problem.

Licking his lips while walking away, he continued "It's been a while since I've had some fun."

Despite his carefree manner, none of the members of East Crow guild dared chastise him. This was because he was Dream Tiger, the current 3rd strongest and the player with the most potential in entire East Crow Guild.

"A storm is coming…"

…

"So the monster we really ought to kill is a goblin?" Staring at the 5 meter goblin statue, Fudo asked with a weird look on his face.

Despite having a high reproduction rate, most goblins are known to be weak in nature. With a short stature, a little above average vitality and a physique not so better than an average adult, goblins are one of the creatures hunted even by the local hunting squads as practice targets. But that is simply on the condition that it's a single one. In a group of 5, it isn't impossible for a Level 3 goblin to take down a Level 4 player.

Looking at the beehive like structure, Sato said "Looking at this structure, I'm pretty sure that it's a horde. If that's the case then the mission goal should most likely be a boss type monster."

"Supposing you're right, that means we would have to battle a horde of at least 50 goblins between Level 3-4, consisting of a bunch of close combat and possibly long range goblins and finally face a boss with a possible Level of 5 or 6. Why does this feel more like dungeon than a mission? And here I was thinking my luck was awesome. This feels more like suicide mission than an adventure. Uwaaaa! I want compensation,this isn't the adventure I was expecting. Dreamland!!! " (An: Dreamland Corporation are the makers of Infinite Realm.)

Ignoring Fudo's ludicrous conducts, Sato began heading towards the closest tunnel in the beehive structure. Due to the poor lighting in the area, the depths of the tunnel couldn't be made out; only a grim atmosphere with an eerie silence could be seen.

"Where are you going?" Fudo walked up to Sato.

With his back facing Fudo, Sato replied "Rather than standing here without a goal, we might as well explore the area and scout the structures for our next visit."

"Next visit?" Puzzled, Fudo inquired.

"You don't actually think we can complete this mission now do you?" This time, Sato faced Fudo. "There's most likely a mob down there. Recalling the fact that we have neither a healer class player with us nor an ample amount of potions or consumables for a mob, we pretty much can't complete the mission any time soon, but that doesn't mean we should just leave empty handed. Next best thing left to do is to scout the area. Who knows, we might find a duck carrying a leek." (AN : Japanese proverb on being lucky)

"Alright. So which tunnel do we start with?" Fudo stared at the dozens of tunnel entrances excavated on the wall. "Rock-paper-scissors, musical chairs or we pick a number?"

" Whatever pleases you." Sato sighed while trying to recall how he ended up with such a guy as a friend.

Eventually, Fudo decided on tunnel entrance at the right side of the lowest level of the wall which was also the tunnel Sato initially headed to. Walking towards the tunnel, they noticed that at the lower center of the wall was a terribly drawn mural. Due to it's not so big size and the the thickness of the drawing being light, they didn't notice it initially. The mural was painted on the wall with a dark theme and there were some irregular patterns also sketched besides it looking like a weird language of sorts.

One of the figures painted on the mural was a hooded creep who held a grimoire with a huge dark coloured ball, that seemed like the darker version of the sun, behind him. In the 'dark sun', a figure could be faintly seen, however none of its features could be made out.

Fudo pointed at the figure on the mural and asked, "Hey Sato, don't you think this dude looks a lot like the cursed servant we saw?"

"Kinda, however that guy didn't have any hood on. They might be the same but they might be different." Sato replied.

"Doesn't that mean that if we keep exploring we might encounter another one?" Fudo asked nervously.

" Nope." Sato smiled, " This one might be way stronger."

Fudo's face twitched.

Sato then said, "Looking at the style of the mural, I'm guessing that whoever made this was trying to say that the figure in the 'dark sun' is an extremely powerful being probably even a god and that hooded figure is most likely an emissary of his or even his incarnation."

" It doesn't make sense for a god's incarnation to be dealing with weak goblins so it's most likely an emissary or something." Fudo pointed out.

" Precisely, but even so, the emissary shouldn't be so weak. Probably between level 10-15 or maybe more. It's even possible for the [Cursed servant] to have been an assistant or even a relation to it. "

" For such a high levelled creature to be here, this is so unfair." Fudo cried out.

"Is it possible for that choker we got earlier to be related to this 'dark sun'?"

"I've already considered that however the difference is quite large." After which Sato brought out the choker once again from his inventory.

[[ Dedicated choker : Low Tier Mortal Rank

A choker with dedicated in the image of a deity.

Durability : 12 ]]

Sato then said "Apart from being a ranked accessory, there's nothing special about it."

"I think it's better we find an appraiser back in town. I get the feeling this stuff ain't simple." Fudo suggested.

"I also get that feeling but before we can do that, we have to be done here first." Sato then sighed, " This mission's waters run quite deep. I doubt it's as simple as it stated. Most likely once we investigate deeper we might receive a new mission or even a quest."

In Infinite Realm, players can receive missions or quests. The difference being that most quests are usually difficult and time-bound and take a lot of time and energy to complete. But that doesn't mean that a time-bound and difficult mission doesn't exist. Even with that, quests are gladly accepted since they give a considerable amount of rewards even better than most missions.

" I hope not. I've just started and haven't explored enough yet. I don't have the time to be running around looking for clues."

While they were studying the murals, Sato heard light and indistinct footsteps.

*tap, tap*

" Hmm, someone's coming."