[Bond Level has increased to 5!]
[Tiweaver Class has leveled up to 2!]
[Indra has leveled up to 4!]
A chain of notifications popped up one after another. I was about to check my status when...
"Alan!"
Bob ca running toward and hugged tightly the mont I turned around.
"Thank you, bro... for saving my life," he said, his voice trembling. He was crying, full-on sobbing while squeezing like a teddy bear. I was completely at a loss for words, so I just awkwardly patted his back. That’s when I noticed, his back was already healed, like nothing had happened. Only the large X-shaped holes on the back of his shirt remained.
"I’m your friend, Bob. Of course I’d save you."
He finally let go of the hug and looked at with teary eyes. He sniffled and wiped his nose with his sleeve.
"You’ve saved my life twice now. First in the Lily Town forest, and now here. Honestly, you’re starting to look more like the real main character than ," he joked.
"Well, don’t go saying things that are obviously true," I grinned and gave his shoulder a light punch.
"I saw you go green, dude. Like, very green. Super cool."
"I equipped the Tiweaver class, rember? The SR class I pulled before."
"Ahh, I see. Very interesting," Bob nodded, his eyes gleaming with curiosity.
"Your wound already healed?"
"Oh yeah, Alice healed . And bro... you know what? Her healing felt reallygood," Bob said, his expression slowly transforming into the classic pervert face.
I raised an eyebrow, genuinely curious about what he ant by good.
"Ehem, ehem."
Beltimore appeared from behind Bob, adjusting his glasses like always.
"Good work, Alan and Bob," he said with a serious face.
"I think Alice is the one who actually defeated that beast," I replied, scratching my head.
"No," Beltimore shook his head. "It was both of you who made this possible. You managed to hold off that beast until the magic returned. And I admit that was a truly courageous effort, especially for people with no prior experience like you two."
and Bob smiled awkwardly at the praise.
"I don’t think they’re as inexperienced as they claim," Alice said suddenly.
"Hmm? What do you an, Alice?" Beltimore asked, curious.
Uh oh. Did she find out?
I avoided eye contact imdiately. anwhile, Bob casually walked over to the creature’s corpse, clearly trying to escape the conversation.
"The attack on Lily Town," Alice continued with a playful smile. "You two were the ones who saved the town... weren’t you?"
Beltimore looked at Alice, then turned his gaze toward , clearly waiting for an answer.
This woman is too sharp. I only told that story to Evelyn and her group. I don’t think any of them would’ve told Alice...
"Wh-what are you talking about? Fighting monsters like that? There’s no way we could’ve done that," I stamred.
Alice looked directly into my eyes, as if scanning to see if I was lying.
"Is that so? Then I must’ve been mistaken. My apologies," she said, still smiling.
"It’s fine," I replied, forcing a nervous smile.
Beltimore let out a sigh and then said, "We need to leave this place as soon as possible. Reinforcents will surely arrive soon."
"I just need to take a sample from that Kaoslith first."
Alice walked past and returned to the Kaoslith corpse.
"After Alice gets the sample, we leave," Beltimore said.
I nodded.
I imdiately ran toward Bob, who was already near the corpse.
The large golden sword was still embedded in the creature’s body, glowing faintly.
"How are we supposed to search it if this big thingy is still stuck on its body?" Bob muttered, reaching out to touch the golden sword.
The mont his hand touched it, the sword dissolved into golden dust and vanished into the air.
Now, with the sword gone, we could clearly see the corpse at the center. It was Daria, now with a gaping hole in her chest, and thick black liquid oozing from her body.
I instinctively covered my mouth, feeling my stomach churn at the grueso sight.
Bob, on the other hand, was totally unfazed. He kept examining the corpse, searching for loot or items.
Then I saw it.
Cards, floating above the corpse, slowly materializing. One by one, they shimred into existence, hovering mid-air. I counted three in total.
I reached out and grabbed the first one. It glead with a cobalt blue glow.
[Unlocked Secret Pack: Master of Combo!]
Another secret pack!
It really seed like our equipped title, Secret Admirer, was doing wonders, greatly boosting our chances to unlock rare content. I couldn’t wait to see what was inside.
[Obtained Rare Class Card: Nightwalker!]
"A rare class, cool!" Bob said with a grin.
Nightwalker? What’s that supposed to an? Do we walk in our sleep if we equip it at night?
But then... the last card appeared.
And this one felt wrong.
Far more ominous than any secret pack we’d seen before. The card spun slowly in place, pitch black in color, with small droplets of darkness dripping off it like ink from the void.
It looked like it had crawled straight out of hell.
"Bob... I think this one-"
And as usual, before I could finish my sentence, Bob casually grabbed it.
Did this guy’s sense of danger co broken out of the box?
[Received (II of Wands) card!]
"What is this card?" Bob asked, frowning as he examined it.
The notification stunned . Wait... the II of Wands?
Isn’t that the sa kind of card Daria was holding before she transford? It definitely looked familiar. I needed to inspect it properly once we got back to our room.
We left the corpse and walked back toward the others.
Alice had just finished extracting a piece of the Kaoslith and carefully stored it in the small bag attached to her waist.
Beltimore, on the other hand, was dragging the unconscious man, propping him upright.
"What are you planning to do with him?" I asked.
"I want to bring him back for interrogation," Beltimore replied without looking up. "There’s too much we don’t know."
"Let help," I offered, leaning down to assist.
But just before I could grab the man-
A purple array suddenly lit up beneath both him and the Kaoslith’s remains.
Everyone jumped back on instinct.
From the glowing sigils, robed figures erged, one beside the Kaoslith’s remains, one beside the unconscious man, and even one near Daria’s corpse.
"Tch. They’re trying to retrieve the bodies!" Beltimore cursed.
He snapped his book open, and imdiately, the temperature plumted. Cold mist began to swirl around us.
"Shardstorm Halo."
Dozens of ice shards materialized from the mist, rotating in the air and locking onto their targets.
Just as Beltimore raised his hand to unleash the shards, suddenly,out of nowhere,his arm was pushed down.
A robed figure had appeared beside him.
But this one was different.
He wore a black robe with white linings along the seams, and a smooth, expressionless mask covered his face.
Everyone froze. Even Beltimore.
’How?’ he thought.
’How did this man enter my Frost Zone without freezing?’
This zone was designed to repel intruders, freezing anything not acknowledged by him. And yet... this masked figure walked in like he owned the place.
"Easy, brother," the masked man said, voice muffled and calm. "No need to call winter so early."
Then, just as quickly, he stepped back, casual and unbothered.
Beltimore and Alice were stunned.
"You..." Alice whispered, her eyes wide in disbelief.
"Who are you?!" Beltimore roared, his calm shattered. He swung his arm wildly, the remaining ice shards trembling, then crumbling away into powder.
"Hey... what’s going on?" Bob asked, clearly confused.
I gripped Indra tighter, switched to gun form, and aid at the masked man. Without hesitation, I fired.
Bang!
But just before the bullet could hit its mark—
Clink!
An ice shard deflected it.
Beltimore’s ice shard.
My eyes widened. "What are you doing?! Why are you protecting the enemy?!"
Beltimore did not answer. His eyes were locked on the masked man, full of sothing I couldn’t describe, maybe rage, confusion... or maybe even fear?
The masked figure raised a hand in farewell.
"We’ll et again soon," he said. Then he vanished into the glowing purple array beneath him.
The unconscious robed man, the Kaoslith remains, and even Daria’s corpse were drawn into the array and disappeared with him.
Gone, just like that.
I stood frozen in place, staring at the now-empty space.
What... just happened?
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