"Mia!" Liam shouted but no one was there in the hall. The golden armoured man, Mia and the princess in the cage, all three of them had completely disappeared without any trace. Only an unsettling feeling lingered behind. What was happening?
Liam stared at the empty space for a moment before quickly rushing over to Shen Yue. her condition wasn't all that great. He pulled her onto his lap and gave her a little water from the canister that contained the milky way pond water.
Shen Yue winced in pain as the water that was akin to an elixir slowly dribbled down her throat drop by drop. A couple of seconds later her eyes flickered and some colour returned to her skin.
Liam then immediately gave her a health potion. With that, she slowly recovered and flashed her eyes open anxiously. "Ian! Josh!" She sat up straight in a panic.
"It's fine. I am here. You are safe." Liam hugged her tightly, as a strange glint flashed past his face. What was happening around them? This was just a kingdom quest. Why did it turn out like this?
Shen Yue stared at him and then sighed in relief. "Liam, you are here." She looked around and there weren't any enemies. She once again let out another sigh and smiled sweetly. Everything was fine.
Hmmm? Suddenly the smile on her face disappeared. There was something wrong. Ian and Josh! She immediately informed Liam about what had happened and about how the two had killed themselves. She also repeated the words of the enchantress to him.
"Could it be true?"
Liam pulled up the system interface and it still showed that the status of those two players as dead. "I am afraid that's a very real possibility." He nodded gravely.
He still had a lot of unanswered questions in his mind and several frightening theories about the future but for now, this was more important. He picked up Shen Yue and jumped onto Luna as the three of them got the hell out of there.
Understanding the situation, Luna as well rushed to the nearest graveyard at the top of her speed. She blurred in and out and they were at the destination in a minute.
However, just as they reached the place, they saw both Ian and Josh respawn. At this point, they had probably died a few times so they had lost some items on their person including their weapons.
But that did not stop the duo. They dashed towards the nearby tree and repeatedly banged their heads on the huge trunk. Blood spilt from the injury and their health was dropping by the second. Without caring about it any of it, the duo continued to kill themselves.
Observing this, Liam frowned. "So even death did not remove the skill's effect? Just how powerful is this skill?" He walked over to the duo and then carefully pulled them back.
But the two of them were in no state to respond to him. They did not even seem to recognize him. They had blank eyes and were acting like drones whose only purpose was to die.
Hmmm. Liam saw the situation and immediately summoned two barbarian soul minions. The two big guys held Ian and Josh down, preventing them from doing anything else.
Liam then shoved a health potion down each of their throats and finally, the endless dying cycle stopped as the two remained captive. But the situation was still far from resolved. This was just a temporary solution.
Liam sighed and pulled up his system interface. He then called Alex. Only divine affinity players could probably deal with something like this. Both priests and paladins had [Cleanse] skill and he hoped that using the skill would suffice.
And there was also the other reason why he wanted to meet with Alex.
"How many people do you need?" A reply instantly chimed in. Crimson Abyss was now so far above every other guild that Alex was able to respond quickly.
Liam stared at the message for a moment and then shook his head. "Bring your group." He marked the location where he was previously farming the beast horde and asked the team to get there as soon as possible.
There were still several confusing thoughts in his mind and he needed to settle everything. For that, he needed his group.
While the others made their way to the location, Liam and Shen Yue also arrived at the spot along with Luna and the two bat mounts they had originally used. Ian and Josh were still held as captive as the group landed on the elevated rocky space.
Roar! Their presence didn't go unnoticed as the beast horde underneath them continued to charge forward and some of them climbed the rocky path to reach Liam and the group.
But before anything could attack, a huge shield pushed them back and Alex jumped on the top to stand next to Liam and Shen Yue. The group of core guild players along with her also dove in as they quickly handled the few beasts that had made their way to them.
When they had a minute, Alex finally turned to look at Liam. The man was unusually very silent and still without jumping into action and she did not like it.
"What happened to them?" She asked pointing to Ian and Josh who were being held captive by the soul minions. "Did they do something to betray us?"
"No. No. Alex." Shen Yue immediately intervened and explained before there was a misunderstanding. She filled Alex in on everything that happened.
"Some sort of curse huh? Let me try." Alex cracked her knuckles and then tried the [Cleanse] skill. The two guys were instantly covered with a divine aura and soon, the blank look from their eyes disappeared.
"Woo! That's about it. I think the Cleanse worked. They should be fine." Alex grinned.
Just like she said, the two guys immediately recovered from their stupor and looked around, having no idea of what just happened.
All they could see was that some of their clothing and items were missing and they were in an entirely different place with all their team members and a shit load of beasts around them.
Their levels had also dropped? Fuck! The duo looked around in a daze.
While Shen Yue filled them both in on what had happened, Alex walked over to Liam. "What's up his ass? Why is he standing like this?" Liam seemed to be in a particularly bad mood but she had something to talk to him so she walked over anyways.
