Chapter 144

[Exclusive Quest: Protect the Saintess Aria Skardine (Completed)]

[Exclusive Bond with Aria Skardine activated]

[Affinity towards Trevor increased by 1%]

[Aria Skardine (1%)]

[Title "Holiness" Obtained!]

[Congratulations! Exclusive Passive Skill [Second-Chance] has been learned]

[Holiness: An exclusive title that can only be obtained through Exclusive Quest: Protect the Saintess Aria Skardine. A title that proved your devotion to the Holy Temple and the Saintess. A title that allows the player to be "recognized by NPCs as the savior of the Saintess." Increase the effectiveness of Recovery by 100%. (HP Recovery Items, Stamina Recovery Items, Recovery Spells, Recovery Skills, Lifesteal, Base Regeneration)]

[Second-Chance: Instantly revive the player with full HP and Stamina. All the skills cooldown except for [Second-Chance] will be refreshed. Consume 0 stamina when used. Cooldown 24 hours (The cooldown will be paused when logged out)]

I'm on my knees.

"Finally... everything is over."

I lay down on the ground while Azrael is standing next to me and looking at me with worries.

For the past 6 hours, so many sudden quests appeared before me. I should've been in the Maryoca Kingdom right now, but because of those sudden quests, I'm still inside the Acuria Kingdom. I think that was all because of this quest to protect the saintess. Back then, I thought that this quest would be easy, but turns out so many things and quests were trying to stop me from completing the quest. I fought and ran for 6 hours non-stop, I even have this exhausted debuff on me now.

Aria slowly opens her eyes, and she jolts and stands up while looking around. I tell her that we are in the middle of the road on our way to the Yureon Kingdom. Aria is looking at her hand and I think now she can feel it. The power that has been bestowed to her from Betelgeuse. Aria is looking up to the sky while pressing her hands together. It seems that she's praying or showing her gratitude to Betelgeuse.

She's done praying and I raise my hand.

"Saintess, can I take a minute to rest? My whole body is worn and torn."

Aria is surprised and then she sits next to me. Her hands start glowing and she's pointing her hands at my chest. I can feel a cool breeze all around my body, and it feels so nice. I don't know what's she doing but I won't complain.

[You feel refreshed!]

[Exhausted Debuff has been lifted]

Aria is putting her hands away and then looks at me.

"Are you feeling better, Mister Trevor?"

I sit up and nod.

"Yeah, thank you, Saintess Aria."

Aria smiles and she still staring at her hands and clenches them. I smile and then bow my head at her.

"Congratulation, Saintess Aria. You're now officially the Saintess of Orion."

[Affinity towards Trevor increased by 3%]

[Aria Skardine (4%)]

I can see her hand is trying to touch my shoulder but she's hesitant because she knows, as a Saintess, she's not allowed to touch anyone in her entire life anymore, but then she puts her hand on my shoulder. I lift my head and look at her.

"Saintess?"

Aria is smiling and shaking her head.

"No matter what I will become or what I have become, you are still the person who has saved my life. Your noble heart convinced me that you are the only exception. Even I am now the Saintess, you will always have a special place in my heart."

[Affinity towards Trevor increased by 9%]

[Aria Skardine (13%)]

I raise my eyebrows.

"I'm flattered, Saintess. Thank you."

Aria nods and smiles, then she stands up and looking at Shazjae.

"We need to hurry. I can feel their sufferings. We must save all the people, Mister Trevor."

I stand up and nod.

"Yes. We will."

(At the Maryoca Kingdom.)

Aspen is looking at Diamond and Lothair.

"How are you guys doing? Can you guys still handle them?"

Diamond and Lothair are panting while resting their hands on their knees. They both already have Exhausted Debuff on them. Diamond stands up properly while groaning.

"I don't think we can. We ran out of Stamina Potion. I think it's about time for us to switch with Ivonna and her team. You're done with your task?"

Lothair nods in agreement. Aspen nods with understanding.

"Roger that. You can tell her that now, and we are done with our task, the monsters can't enter the secret tunnel anymore, so that's why we will cover everything until she's here."

Diamond and Lothair nod with understanding.

(At the secret tunnel.)

Chelsea opens her eyes and she sees Grisell is still asleep while Francesca is awake and Ivonna is busy grabbing her stuff and about to leave.

"Where are you going, Ivy?"

Ivonna is surprised to see Chelsea is awake.

"Did I wake you up?"

Chelsea shakes her head while looking at them.

"What's wrong? Where are you guys going?"

Ivonna is pointing at the ceiling.

"It's our turn to take care of Shazjae. Kingstar and the others will come here and take care of the tunnel. If my prediction is right, Kingstar will clear all the sections of the tunnel today. Aspen and the others already destroy all the entrances of the tunnels, so the monsters can't get leave from the Maryoca Kingdom now."

Chelsea is humming with understanding, and then she stands up.

"Can I go with you guys? I'm so sick of the tunnel and I can't tell if it's morning, noon, afternoon, evening, or night in here, and it's stressing me out."

Ivonna and Francesca are looking at each other. Ivonna then looks at Chelsea.

"Sure, you can come with us. I will tell Kingstar about it since you're from the Aarus Empire's faction."

Chelsea nods. Francesca looks at Ivonna.

"Is Emma and the others already at the surface?"

Ivonna nods.

"Everyone is already in their position and they're waiting for us now."

Francesca walks toward Grisell who's still asleep, and then pinches her cheeks and stretches them out.

"Wake up little piggy! It's time to work!"

Grisell opens her eyes and she starts to feel the pain. She's screaming in pain.

"Ah! I'w awake! Sthop itch! (I'm awake! Stop it!)"

Ivonna and Chelsea are chuckling at Grisell who's trying so hard to removes Francesca's hands from her cheeks, but her strength is not high enough to stop Francesca from doing it.

The four of them are leaving the tunnel with all her team, and Kingstar with his men are waiting for them at the exit. Ivonna then tells him the situation inside the tunnel and about Chelsea going to join her in handling Shazjae. Kingstar understands and is ready to enter the tunnel. One of the players from Ivonna's team opens a portal for Kingstar so they can just get into the last checkpoint without having them walk there, then Kingstar and his man enter the portal. Queenstar and the rest of them are entering the different tunnels.

Ivonna and the others are walking into the battlefield. Chelsea is trying to calm herself down and try to look at Shazjae. Michael and the others are watching Aspen fighting the monsters together with Diamond and Lothair while waiting for their turn. Emma then looks back and sees Ivonna and the others, she waves and calls them. Ivonna nods and then looks at Shazjae.

[Shazjae (Extrateresstrial Boss World Event)

Level: 100.000

HP: 91.937.291

STA: 77.000.000

ATK: 900.000-1.100.000

DEF: 240.000

MDEF: 350.000]

"He barely loses his HP even though he was taking damage every second for almost a day now. I'm glad that our objective is not to kill him."

Francesca is crossing her arms and tilts her head.

"That's what confused me. If our objective is not to kill him, then what happens when the timer goes off? Is he just miraculously disappears? No way, right? So what's going to happen then?"

Ivonna shakes her head.

"I don't know, but there must be a reason why there's a timer for the invasion. Maybe something good will happens when the timer goes off? That's the only thinkable answer for that."

The three of them are just shrugging and nodding in an agreement.

Ivonna approaches Michael and the others. Michael tells Ivonna that everyone is ready in their position. The team that will aggro Shazjae is lead by Sigryd. Right now they're getting a briefing with Ken for explaining what kind of attacks that Shazjae does and how to avoid them, and when to take the aggro, etc. Ivonna then waves at Diamond. Diamond and Lothair are running toward her as fast as they can.

Diamond is catching his breath while looking at Ivonna.

"Is it time? Are you ready to switch?"

Ivonna nods.

"Yes."

Diamond sighs with relief and then nods.

"Thank God... Okay, there's one thing that I want to point out. Don't ever hit its tail, because as soon as you hit it, it will whip its tail like almost immediately. We accidentally hit it, and half of our team got wiped in a second. Well, you can survive the attack if you have 700 thousand HP."

Diamond is laughing nervously and raises his eyebrows.

"I think that's the only thing that you need to be cautious about."

Ivonna nods.

"Thank you. You both can rest now."

Lothair chuckles and nods.

"That's what we are planning to do."

Ivonna then walks to the front while grabbing her shield and lance. She then turns around and looks at thousands of players in front of her. She's nervously fixing her hands on her shield and lance while moving her shoulders.

"It's time."

They all nod and everyone is nervous to be near that humongous thing in front of them. Ivonna nods while taking a deep breath and exhales deeply.

"I have nothing to say but one thing. May the Betelgeuse bless us."

Everyone starts to shout.

"May the Betelgeuse bless us!"

Ivonna turns around and starts running towards the horde of monsters. Thousands of players are following her from behind into the battlefield.