Bzzz Bzzz Bzzz
"Huh?"
A 1-ter-tall being with a silver body, a goblin-like appearance, and a hunched back frowned as suddenly, his storage necklace trembled.
With a simple tap, the necklace shone, and suddenly, a small red marble appeared in his hand, vibrating nonstop.
The mont he realized what it was, his expression turned solemn.
Then suddenly,
Flicker
Another being, 4 ters tall with a thin green body, similar to that of a mantis, with two long legs and hands that ended with blades, appeared in front of him.
A similar marble was in his arms, and he stared at the silver goblin with his yellow eyes.
"What do we do?"
The Mantis-like being questioned, his voice indicating the urgency of the matter.
"…"
The Silver Goblin, however, remained silent, sothing the mantis didn't like.
"Nixgut! We do not have ti!"
He shouted, and Nixgut, the Goblin, stared at him and narrowed his purple eyes.
"He hasn't reported for weeks, and now, after all this ti, he tries to call us to a dinsion he had never reported before. This stinks of a trap."
"We went to that world he was in before. They told us he suddenly disappeared together with their Leader."
The Mantis-like being muttered, even he was doubtful.
"He was clearly captured, and now the enemy is trying to find his accomplices. If the enemy is actively calling us, then it must an he is prepared to face us."
Nixgut spoke with certainty.
"The enemy was told to be a Protector."
The Mantis-like being retorted.
"Zharak, do you not see it?
What Protector is capable of teleporting a Transcendent? That being clearly has a helper. If we go there, it will be no different than running to our own death."
"Well…"
Zharak, the Mantis-like being, lowered his head.
"If we go, we might die—a probable death.
But if we don't…"
Zharak stared at his artifact, which was still ringing, and said,
"Then they will not let us go—a certain death."
"…"
Nixgut turned silent.
"Don't forget, they have the artifact as well. They must know that the artifact was activated. If we do not go, it would an that we abandoned the mission and…
Abandoning their mission in the middle is nothing different than a death sentence. I wouldn't be surprised if they are already aler-"
Before Zharak could even complete his words,
Bzzz Bzzz
Another artifact buzzed, and the instant they realized which one it was, the two stared at each other, fear evident in their eyes.
Slowly, they activated the artifact, and a voice Nixgut would recognize was heard.
[Why hasn't the Call Artifact stopped buzzing yet?]
It was a simple question, yet both Zharak and Nixgut gulped.
"W-We were about to leave. It is j-just that it was a-activated later than we expected. The d-dinsions were different tha-"
Nixgut tried to reason, but…
[Are you planning on abandoning the mission?]
"No, NO! Of course not!"
Zharak raised his voice, desperately showing that he had no desire to do such a thing.
"I-It is just that t-this might be a trap they have carefully s-se-"
[If it is a trap, go and fall into it. The two of you are Transcendents. If you are afraid of a Protector, then you might as well lose your life in that trap.]
The voice countered.
Then, in a tone much heavier than before, it continued,
[Activate the Call Artifact if you think you are not strong enough. I will send reinforcents.
Now move.
And if you return without that boy, do not bother returning.
Try and run away. I would like to see how far your capabilities reach.]
The artifact then stopped shining.
The line was cut.
Zharak and Nixgut stared at each other, both cursing the ti when they took the mission. In the end, they just sighed as they prepared to teleport to the dinsion they were summoned to.
Both of them took out their Spatial Artifact and,
Flicker Flicker
They disappeared.
"You are here."
As they reappeared in a world they had never been to, they heard a voice.
It was Marlik.
"So it was you."
Zharak narrowed his eyes.
He seed to know who Marlik was. After all, there were only a handful of Transcendent Stage rcenaries, and the three of them were quite popular.
Yes, before they t, Zharak and Nixgut didn't know the rcenary they were in contact with was Marlik.
They had simply given out a mission that required a Transcendent. It didn't matter which Transcendent took it, and usually, to prevent any information leak, it is generally preferred that whenever a mission has to be divided into two missions, unless necessary, the two parties shouldn't know about each other.
Not that it was much of a big deal. The one who hired them wasn't the kind to care about such matters, but they still kept it professional and hid their identities from each other.
"Why did you call us here? Did you fail the mission?"
Nixgut questioned, seeming more worried about the mission.
At the sa ti, he also noticed that Marlik was oddly silent. For a blabbermouth who would never shut up, this was strange.
Just as he expected, sothing was wrong.
"Marlik, what is happening?"
Nixgut questioned as he narrowed his eyes.
Zharak was the sa. He sensed the strangeness in Marlik's behavior as well.
"My Lord wishes to talk to you."
Marlik finally spoke up. His voice was the sa as before, but his tone was much different than before.
"Your Lord…?"
As people who knew Marlik for a long ti, both Nixgut and Zharak found this strange.
Marlik was extrely arrogant.
He called himself a King, after all!
Even if he called soone a Lord, he had never once shown this much respect to anyone before. Even when they did missions together with him, and it required them to show respect to the ones who gave them missions, he was never… this subdued.
Right now, he seed no different than a loyal subordinate who would even give his life away for his master.
Sothing that Marlik could never do.
If the two of them hadn't sensed that vile energy oozing out of him, they would have never believed he was the sa man they knew.
"Submit to my Lord, and you will live."
"Huh…?"
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