In a matter of a few minutes, one by one, all the familiar faces started appearing.
"I am here." Mark arrived first, his towering fra walking out of the trees. His eyes imdiately scanned the horizon, locking onto the vortex that had swallowed Lotera. A muscle twitched in his jaw, but he said nothing more. The sheer pressure rolling off him was enough to reassure everyone that he was ready.
Kate wasn’t far behind. She ca with a rush of energy, her crimson-tinged eyes flashing in excitent as she joined the group at Damon’s side.
Her gaze imdiately t Damon’s, only his figure occupying her eyes and the chaos in Lotera just a distant background. Her cheeks turned slightly red at the thought of what they had been doing just a while ago.
She opened her mouth to say sothing when her eyes suddenly darted to the beautiful woman standing right next to Damon, almost clinging to him as if it were her birthright. On the other side was Ellora, who wasn’t any better.
Kate’s face changed. Her brows furrowed, and the flush of warmth that had just been coloring her cheeks twisted into sothing colder. She was about to say sothing when another voice interrupted her.
"Blood God! I need to have a word with you!" Phoenix arrived with Blood Wraith in tow, the brother looking extrely guilty and nervous. "Bro... I am... I am really sorry."
Kate raised a brow. Who was this woman who was speaking the words in her mind?
Damon sighed. He knew it was a mistake to invite the whole group. Thankfully, ira ca to his rescue as she cleared her throat and diverted everyone’s attention to the actual freaking problem.
"What is that thing? Did it just nuke the entire city?"
Just in ti, new dark tendrils lashed out from the vortex, wrapping around entire spires, the last few left in the ruined city, and dragged them skyward before crushing them into black mist. The roar of the storm was so loud now that it felt like the ground itself was trembling beneath their feet.
Damon folded his arms. "That," he said flatly, "is the Abyssal Gate. A tear in the world. It doesn’t belong here, and soon there would be more creatures stepping out of it, which doesn’t belong here either. What you’re looking at is not just an event. It’s a disaster, and it will only slowly continue to spread, taking all of the neighbouring cities along with it. It has the potential to erase the entire kingdom and even this continent if left unchecked."
Phoenix looked dumbfounded. "Erase... the whole continent? That’s... that’s impossible..."
Damon shook his head. "It will happen soon enough if left unchecked. For the next several weeks, maybe months, there will be many quests pertaining to this disaster. There will be contribution leaderboards, reputation points, and at the end of it all, even the city lord position for Lotera should be up for grabs."
Everyone listened silently, ambition filling their eyes. Soon, the whole group arrived, the last one being Sylvara, as she had to take care of so things for the newly recruited mini army of blacksmiths. Nevin also tagged along with her, wanting to take part in the expedition.
"My Lord, shall we start now?" Erin impatiently asked.
"Two more minutes. There is still one more guy we are waiting for." Damon smiled.
As soon as the words ca out of his mouth, a ssage popped up in his system interface. "I am already here." Ghost reached out.
Damon grinned. "You are not going to say hi to everyone?" He purposefully teased him. If there was one person more awkward than him in a social setting, it was this guy. Especially in front of won, the guy was hopeless.
"Dude, how did you manage to gather so many beauties? What the fuck is this group?"
Damon could only bitterly smile. "They sort of found all on their own."
Ghost rolled his eyes. "You lucky bastard."
"How about you stop ogling at my won and look at that big ss over there?"
"Oi. Don’t forget who you are talking to? I am your Big Daddy. This Abyssal Gate is nothing for ."
Damon sneered. "Then how about a friendly wager? Want to see who takes out the most number of demons?"
Ghost’s head snapped toward Damon, his eyes widening beneath the hood. "Demons?" His usually cool, detached voice actually cracked a little. "As in... the real deal? Horns, claws, chewing on bones, and screaming for souls, those demons?"
Damon’s grin widened. "Exactly those. But a special variety of them. These are abyssal demons. They are straight out of the pit. They are a lot more difficult to handle. You wanted excitent, didn’t you?"
Ghost’s jaw tightened, "...You’re joking."
"I am not. Better be careful. Otherwise, you will end up dead a dozen tis."
Ghost scoffed. "It’s alright. This Big Daddy can still take care of those nasties."
"Stop. Just stop." Damon pinched the bridge of his nose. "I regret inviting you already."
"You’ll thank when I save your ass from a demon chewing on it," Ghost shot back smugly.
Damon’s crimson eyes narrowed, a grin curling his lips again. "Try not to get eaten first. The Abyssal demons will rip you apart, piece by piece, until you beg for oblivion."
For a mont, Ghost’s smirk faltered as the howling roar of the vortex echoed across the ridge, shadows writhing like a living tide. Then he forced a chuckle "...Heh. Sounds fun."
Damon laughed. "Alright then. May the best man win."
"Bring it on."
Damon then turned to the rest of the group and gave the green signal. "Let’s go. Everyone is here, and we should be able to get to the outer regions now without getting sucked in."
"Outer regions?" Sylvara asked. "Lotera is just a small city. Are you sure it is safe to go near that?"
Damon shook his head. "It’s not a small city anymore. You will see it when we go there."
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