1631 Hope
"He's taking long." Keman raised a brow
"Loves exploring, that brat. He stayed in God's Eye for a thousand years after all. Hahahaha!" Aridam burst into a fit of laughter but no one laughed along with him. It didn't matter to the man, he laughed without any awkwardness.
Aphosis glanced at Equilius for a moment before turning his gaze back to the forbidden region in the form of a horizontal '8' — the symbol of infinity.
Even though his gut feeling told him that something was off, his rationality suppressed the irrational message.
There's no logic in Equilius sabotaging Varian. And it's not like he could even if wanted under their perception.
Yami, on the other hand, had a big smile on her face. "Don't worry about it. He's an adventurer at heart. His track record makes it clear."
If she was a normal person instead of a divine being, she'd be sweating due to the immense anticipation.
While the divine rankers were having a small talk about topics that would alter the trajectory of the entire alliance, Varian was facing a tentacle rain.
The sky cracked and the ground split. Everything in sight was enveloped by an infesting red mist, the mist of death.
"Hurry! Hurry up!"
The adults took the children and ran for it. Most of them were powerful celestials who would've wrecked kingdoms. But here, they were powerless to even survive.
If the handful of divine rankers in the group did not take it all on themselves and ensured their safety, most people would have not survived.
The divine rankers themselves were having a tough time warding off the parasitic tentacles.
Most of them managed it but a few…
"Arghhh!"
The orc who was laughing and chatting with Varian a few hours ago was pierced by the tentacle.
His body bulged as intense red energy flooded his being. The eyes of this orc who looked friendly changed. The curious and easy going light was gone, leaving a blank gaze. The gaze of a drone in the hive.
"Surrender to the truth!"
His form expanded to touch the sky and he punched down, red mist covering his fist as it landed with tremendous force.
A red shockwave swept the land, sending tremors that could be felt even in a long, long distance.
The physical destruction was less of a concern as the red mist began to corrupt and infest other Undead who were unlucky enough to be in the vicinity.
Varian had already fled to a considerable distance and shouldn't have had a problem. But being a living being, these things affected him more than he'd like.
Even worse, the death energy that pervaded every inch of purgatory was still intensely trying to convert him into an Undead.
Facing these two forces, he quickly fell into a bad infection.
Once more, the nightmare repeated. Parasites were borne out of his arms, legs and abdomen, tearing away his flesh and blood, sucking away his life force and draining his aura.
It was as scary as it was dangerous.
And as the power range of these invading creatures was incredibly high, Varian struggled to find a way out.
The attackers had either mid rank 1 or maybe even high rank 1…
"Konstant!"
An arm built out of aura grabbed him from behind and pulled him with an incredible force.
The infesting energy inside him shook and tried to resist but Klynster forced his own power inside, neutralizing it.
Varian crashed to the ground, in the middle of the divine rankers.
Beams, spheres and seeds of death energy blasted the sky, inflicting on the tentacles a great deal of damage.
However, they were outnumbered badly.
"What to do…what to do…"
"How did they even get our location? This rarely happened!"
"Argh, fuck! Fuck it all!"
Unlike the disturbed colleagues, Klynster remained incredibly calm, a thing that did not escape Varian's attention and it drew his appreciation.
"I'll distract them away. You lot can leave." The woman whose revealed her past life to be a scammer stepped forward and said with a resolute expression.
"No! Juie, you're not going!" An elven undead in the group shouted in despair.
"Someone has to go." Her expression did not waver in the slightest.
She knew what was ahead. Once she took that step, her fate was sealed. She knew it, but was ready for it anyway.
The elf gritted his teeth and spoke words that would prick the most.
"What about your dream? You wanted to repent for your sins! You scammed people, pushed them into poverty, even led to deaths! If you go die like this, you're just a coward who wants to give up!"
The woman's back trembled and she lowered her head. With a desolate chuckle, she stepped forward.
"Everyone in our camp dreamed of leaving this hell. But how many succeeded? Zero. It's a good dream to have, but this is our reality."
With a kick to the ground, she shot into the sky and before Varian could even react, she exploded.
The violent shockwaves swept away the parasitic creatures and a beam of red energy that emanated from her shot them into a distant land.
The force was so intense that Varian was knocked out in an instant.
When he came to his senses, he found himself in a cave.
Walking out, he saw they were now in a shelter similar to the one they previously were at.
The Undead were arranging things in a hurry, strengthening stealth of the shelter as much as they could.
Varian found at least 20% of the people were missing. Despite the best efforts of the divine rankers, a lot of them died.
"Haaa~"
Klynster, seated on a small rock, sighed with a tired expression. The group of divine rankers gathered around, their terrible mood evident on their faces.
Varian silently sat with the group and looked at them with a complicated expression.
He was saved twice.
"I will take you out of this place." His words caused every Undead in the shelter to freeze in their tracks and violently jerk their head toward his direction.
Klynster's eyes shook, his body trembling violently. The divine rankers looked at him with intense fear and hope.
Varian sighed under his breath. "I might have a way."
