Chapter 615: The Vampire Wife and the Assassin |
Next Challenge: The Archipelago of Horror
Your island is part of an archipelago with three other islands. At the end of the one-month time limit, all four islands will draw together and become a single island. However, one of those four islands is made up of people who were formerly imprisoned in your world. You should prepare yourselves, because when they arrive, they may not be as peaceful as you are.
May the strongest survive, and may the true survivors be forged.
Good luck.
The notification had appeared before Charlie. Some people were horrified.
“Why is this happening to us?” someone asked.
But Charlie ignored them and headed into the forest.
I’m going to be trapped in this place for three months. I need to find Master Luke.
The notification said this would be Stage 1 of the event’s three stages. By the fifth day, Charlie had begun to realize Luke might not be there. She stepped into the wooden house she had claimed for herself on the third day. She needed a fixed place, somewhere Luke could find if he arrived and asked about her. But every day, Charlie still went out into the forest searching for him.
“Hey, are you okay?” a voice called from outside. “My name’s Matthew, or just Matt. I’m the guy you saved three nights ago.”
Charlie ignored him and sat down in the chair, thinking about what to do next.
“Look... Sarah, Mr. Scott, and I made food. We’ve got plenty of meat from the beasts. Can I give you a plate?”
“No. Stay away from my house,” she said.
Charlie did not need food. Blood sustained her. She liked eating, yes, but only with Luke. Those were the things she wanted to share with him.
“Your name’s Charlie, right?” the man said, still standing outside. “Look, Charlie... me and everyone else, we’re really grateful you’ve been helping us. We just want to thank you.”
She kept ignoring him.
“And we promise we’ll do whatever we can to help find that Luke you keep looking for.”
Charlie stood. They really might be able to help with that. She opened the door.
Matthew was standing there, holding a plate. “You opened it. I put a little of everything on there.”
Charlie took the plate.
“You know, Charlie... I’m not really the type to believe in fate. But you saved my life, and—”
The door closed in his face.
“Thanks for the food.”
She set the plate inside a cabinet. She was not going to eat it.
“I just wanted to say thank you,” Matthew said through the door. “Charlie was my grandmother’s name. Well, Charlotte, actually.”
“Okay. Bye.”
And Matthew finally walked away from the house. Charlie jumped out through the window and headed into the forest, searching for Luke in other villages.
For the next twenty-five days, that became her routine. She crossed the entire island looking for him and never found him. She learned that the survivors had armed themselves, gotten better at fighting the beasts, and gained levels. But they were still far too weak.
[The four islands will soon connect...]
The message appeared while she stood near the riverbank at the base of the mountain. Other people were there too. A small army had formed, men and women carrying weapons.
“The only way we don’t get slaughtered by the prisoners is this,” one man muttered to himself.
Most of them were nervous. There had to be close to three hundred people gathered there. But if the island with the prisoners had also received a thousand people, and if most of them had not killed each other yet, then it was very likely there were even more of them over there.
[The Island Guardian is now available to be challenged. Good luck.]
Then the dome vanished. The four islands had joined into one. At each shoreline stood armed people, every group tense and ready. No one knew which island held the true enemy.
Then all of them shouted at once and charged. The four armies rushed toward each other. The moment the islands fully connected, the ground trembled. Water erupted from the mountain like a volcano, and a tsunami came crashing down like an avalanche, slamming into everyone. Charlie drove her sword into the earth and held her ground.
The force of the water was immense. She saw people getting swept away, and from the top of the volcano, something glowing blue burst free. She knew at once. That was the Guardian.
Charlie took off running, searching for Luke. The force of the flood began to weaken, though the water still stood a little below her waist. But it had brought more with it: crocodiles and beast-fish dragged inland by the surge. She cut them down as they came.
“You’re one of them. You have to be!” a figure shouted behind her.
Charlie did not even need to turn. With vampiric reflexes, she slipped past the attacks with ease. More people arrived, raised their bows, and fired at her. The reason was obvious. She was wearing her usual full black armor. To them, she looked like a threat. And she was going to be one.
Charlie caught one man by the throat and hurled him into the archers.
“Get out of my way!”
With one strike, she punched another hard enough to send him flying. Around her, others were killing each other too. When another man tried to attack her, she dodged, twisted, broke his arm with one motion, and impaled him on her sword.
She kept moving. Arrows came at her. One exploded. Charlie did not flinch.
“I was going to let you live. Not anymore.”
Her body ignited with [Flame Aura], and she charged, cutting through them with her sword. After dealing with everyone in her path, she followed the screams. That had to be the Guardian. If Luke was on one of the other three islands, then he would want the Guardian’s treasure too.
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Charlie kept advancing, fighting whoever stood in her way. Then she came across bodies hanging from threads. She heard the sound of a large beast and followed it. When she arrived, she found corpses floating in the river and several people fighting a massive eel. The creature discharged electricity through the water.
Charlie felt the damage hit her. During the day, she was fifty percent weaker.
[Blood Orb activated]
A sphere of blood rose and floated around her. Blood drained from the corpses nearby.
[Blood Orb: 50/50]
Now she had plenty of blood to burn through her vampiric skills. She ran straight at the eel.
[Vampiric Strength I activated]
Her blow sent the monster flying backward. The electricity hit her too, but she ignored it.
Angie would be good here. She’s really resistant to electricity.
“The monster’s hurt. Move in!” a group shouted as they rushed the eel.
Charlie clicked her tongue. She wanted to kill the beast herself. Then suddenly she sensed something coming at her from behind. Charlie dodged. Threads shot out from the forest. But her senses did not lie. She could hear the one controlling them positioned away from the direction the threads were coming from. Lulie flew up above her, and Charlie took off after the hidden attacker.
More threads came. Then mana spheres. She avoided both.
[Blood Teleport activated]
She vanished and reappeared beside Lulie high above, then dropped onto the figure below, sword ready to strike. A magical barrier sprang up. Charlie hacked into it. The figure slipped away the moment it shattered and raised a wand.
Charlie stopped just inches before landing the blow. The other figure stopped too.
“Charlie...?” Anne Grimhart asked.
“Anne?”
The maid had recognized the armor Charlie had worn back during the Midnight Wardens tutorial.
“Well, well. Look who we found. Where’s your master?” Erza Grimhart asked as she appeared behind her, so silent that even Charlie had not noticed her approach.
“So Master Luke wasn’t on your island either?”
“No. I didn’t find the assass—” Erza trailed off, suddenly confused. “Wait. Since when can you talk?”
***
Luke was in the voting room for the event at the citadel. Erza was with him. Part of him wanted to immediately ask about Charlie, since Erza had implied that she had found her.
[The event has progressed considerably for those of you in this region. In response, the 51 has made two choices available. You have one hour to decide and cast your vote. The option with the majority will be chosen.]
Then the options appeared.
The Red and Blue Choice
On the main table are three containers. One holds red tokens, one holds blue tokens, and the third is empty. You must choose the color you want and place that token into the third container. Whichever color receives the most votes will determine the chosen option.
Two more notifications followed immediately.
[Red: Grant everyone the bonus of having cleared the Phase 1 Beacon, but make the remaining phases of the event more difficult.]
[Blue: The phases will continue without the increased difficulty penalty, but the Event will end for everyone at the conclusion of Stage 2.]
[Time Remaining: 59 minutes : 59 seconds]
“Oh, now this I like,” Red Death said. “Red is my color.”
Even within the factions, a quiet argument broke out. Luke remained silent, reading through the options again.
Stage 2 is already a filter. Only the people who clear it get to move on to Stage 3 anyway. So why would the system force this choice on us now?
His eyes stayed on the notifications.
If they choose blue, they avoid the difficulty increase… but in exchange, the event ends at Stage 2 for everyone. That means even the ones capable of going farther get cut off there.
And besides, anyone who failed to earn the right to enter Stage 3 would be sent back to Earth at the end of Stage 2 regardless.
So this choice isn’t here to protect the weak. The system is targeting the strong.
The right to enter the citadel and participate in the vote had only appeared because 51% of the Beacons had been cleared in Phase 1. That meant the individuals in this Sunken Realms region were stronger than average.
I see… it’s trying to balance the difficulty.
If this region was too strong, then the system had only two ways to correct that: cap everyone’s progress with blue, or raise the difficulty of the later phases with red.
In the end, this is a high-stakes bet. And for the people who want to keep going, there’s barely any real choice at all.
Luke narrowed his eyes.
The system is practically pushing the ambitious ones toward red.
“So, Assassin,” Erza murmured under her breath, “which will it be? Red or blue?”
“If most of the people here wanted blue, they wouldn’t have bothered clearing Beacon One in the first place,” he replied.
“True,” she said. “At the same time, the vote was made public between all of us. If it had just been a floating screen, only each individual would know what they picked. But by forcing us to vote in front of each other...”
“It plants grudges.”
“Exactly.”
The two Rhiannons were the first to rise and take their tokens.
“We’ll leave that for the rest of you to decide,” the younger Rhiannon said.
Each of them picked a token. One red. One blue. Then they dropped them into the container. A counter appeared above it.
“Smart move,” Erza said.
One by one, others began to stand and cast their votes.
“Let this be a warning,” Mr. W said. “If you choose the red option, you may be condemning many lives to death. And if you choose the blue option, you will be preventing anyone interested in reaching Stage 3 from claiming its reward.”
Then the members of his order stepped forward to vote. Every one of them chose blue tokens.
“Interesting. Sharp insight,” Erza murmured to herself.
If the event only grants the final reward in Stage 3 to one person, then the ones who know they don’t have the strength to win are using this to sabotage the likely victor by erasing Stage 3 entirely. That’s... actually a clever way to play.
Luke stood and made his choice. He took a red token and cast his vote. A moment later, Erza picked up... a blue token.
Then she returned to her seat.
“A blue token?” he whispered.
“I’m not interested in the Beacons. I won’t have time for them,” she said.
When the voting ended, the results appeared floating above them.
[Red: 67% of votes]
[Blue: 33% of votes]
Red had won.
[Bonus applied: All participants have been credited with clearing Phase 1.]
Then more notifications followed.
[Penalty applied: Sea Guardians have been released into the waters.]
[Penalty applied: Ocean currents designed as Abyssal Zone traps have appeared.]
[Penalty applied: The Stalkers have been released.]
[Penalty applied: Ghost ships will appear more frequently.]
[Penalty applied: The waters have become treacherous.]
[Penalty applied: Future Phase Beacons have become more difficult.]
[Quest “The Thousand Participants” has been completed.]
People began rising from their seats.
[Phase 2 Beacons will become available shortly...]
Luke got up and followed Erza.
“Luke Moon.”
Someone approached him. It was the heroine Serena.
“Serena,” he said, acknowledging her.
Her hand rested on the hilt of the sword at her waist. “Did you happen to find Eleanor?”
“I did.”
“Can you take me to her?”
Luke glanced toward the direction Erza had disappeared. “Give me half an hour. I’ll come back here with her. I’m busy right now.”
Then he kept following Erza.
“Where’s Charlie?” he asked her.
“I took care of her for you, assassin. We got lucky. We were on the same island.”
He wanted to ask about Angie too, but that would reveal too much to Erza.
“Did you find her alone, or with any of my other friends?” he asked instead.
If Angie had been with Charlie, that would tell him enough.
“I found her alone. Or rather, Anne found her,” Erza said. “But I need to ask you a favor, assassin.”
“A favor? A reward for finding Charlie?”
“No. I really need a favor.”
But she did not say what it was. They walked for a while through the city until they reached a more isolated area, a narrow alley.
“We’re being followed,” Erza said.
“Heroine Serena doesn’t seem like the patient type,” Luke replied.
Then suddenly a dark blur shot toward him at full speed and grabbed him.
“Master Luke!”
It was Charlie, still wearing her full black armor. She pulled off the helmet.
“I missed you so much, Master Luke. I caught your scent from far away.”
It was Charlie. Really Charlie. And she was safe.