Chapter 174: The Call For Help
It was dark, sunless, and eerily quiet.
Somewhere in this godforsaken place, three figures slowly woke up from their deep, dreamless sleep.
"My neck..." Noel sat up in a hurry and touched his neck.
He almost could hear the sound of his neck breaking.
He then looked around, trying to make sense of his surroundings.
The ground below him was hard and cold. It was dark all around him.
Then, he saw two of his friends waking up-Renee and Jake looked confused and disoriented.
"What's this place?"
"We are at the doorsteps of the Dark World."
They heard a voice, and when they turned to the voice, they saw Yuri sitting on the ground, holding her legs close to her chest with a look of sadness in her eyes.
"The Dark World?" Noel frowned and then saw a door in the distance.
The door happened to be the only place that emitted light in this wretched place. It looked like a golden portal with edges made out of dark stone.
"It's where the dead go." Yuri said. "For two hours, you'll spend in the world of the dead before you return to the world of the living without any memories."
"Then what the fuck are we waiting for?" Noel stood up with a scoff. "Renee, Jake, stand the fuck up!"
However, they weren't moving and instead wore looks of despair on their faces. They had realized something Noel hadn't.
"Hahahaha!" Yuri started laughing so hard that tears began to fly out of her eyes.
"What's so funny, bitch?" Noel asked venomously. "If you had succeeded, all of us would still be alive, but you worthless fuck can't do anything right!"
"It's funny that you still haven't realized it." Yuri giggled. "There's no second time for us. We don't have the power of the system yet. Yes, we can use it, but it's basically just a placeholder."
"So?" Noel frowned.NewW novels updates at novelhall.com
"Those without the power of the system can't respawn!" Yuri shouted and laughed. "This is the last time we'll be inside the Mortal Online. Once we have experienced the Dark World, we will never be able to return to this game!"
"What..." Noel whispered in surprise, having to take a step back in shock.
"It's over, Noel." Jake, with a disheartened expression, stood up and started walking towards the glowing door.
"You're planning to give up just like this?" Noel scoffed. "Cowards!"
"That's enough, Noel." Renee followed after Jake, her voice filled with disappointment. "We should have never listened to you."
"Fine, give up like a bunch of sissies!" Noel screamed and sat down, not planning to move an inch. "I ain't leaving like this!"
"Childish." Yuri stood up and also headed towards the door. "We deserved this. We should have known better than to try to kill him."
As he watched his friends and Yuri leave, Noel pressed his teeth together in frustration.
They soon left through the golden door, but Noel didn't follow after him.
Terry gritted his teeth hatefully and turned to look back at the forest. He was praying for
Adam's safety.
Bertha looked in boredom towards the forest.
She, in her prime, reached a powerful Royal Prince rank, but she was way past her prime.
In a month, she would reach her sixties, and that's why she used her makeup to cover most of
her wrinkles.
She was perhaps only as strong as Grandeur in her current state, and she didn't want to risk her life, knowing that this floor during the night was extremely dangerous for someone of
Grandeur rank.
She was only the teacher of the institute because of her vast knowledge in Herbology, one of
the few that truly mastered it.
'Even if I go help them, they're already dead by the minor boss.' Bertha thought with a scoff. 'Doesn't matter just how much of a genius that S-ranker is, they're no match for that tree.'
...
BANG, BANG, BANG!
It had been a couple of hours since the fight started.
Adam, with his beautiful wings, clashed against the tree monster, their battle raging on.
The underground cave looked destroyed, the ceiling about to fall apart any moment now, and the ground had been flipped upside down.
Crimson blood flowed down Adam's face, caused by several wounds he'd received during this
fight.
The tree monster also looked injured, with long, sword-made scratches running down its bark, and most of its "branch-arms" had been cut down.
At the beginning of the second phase, it had around twelve arms, but now only six.
Its health had also dropped down to 28%.
The wings flapped and carried Adam to the air, then he turned his sword into a reverse grip and started spinning like a spiral, but so fast that it looked like a whirlwind of blades. The tree monster screamed and lashed its hundreds of roots down towards him, but then Adam flashed past the roots, his sword already slicing through the bark.
With just a split second, he appeared behind the tree monster and left behind an enormous slash wound on its bark that immediately started bursting with that brownish liquid.
It was his strongest attack so far.
The tree monster's health immediately dropped below twenty percent.
The tree monster's eyes, hidden behind the thick layer of branches and leaves, glowed with
fury.
Its wood body started to burn from the inside out.
The third and final phase of the battle was about to begin.