?Master took his squad to a land near their headquarters that was populated by thin but tall mountains. Flowing around the base of these thin mountains were rivers of lava.
If Jack saw the place, he would remember it from the first time he set foot in Liguritudum. That would be the time when he was captured by Master. The Heaven-piercing Tower where Jack was held was not far from this place. Master and his squad were now heading to one of the mountains.
"What are we doing here?" Mistress asked. She had asked several times about where they were going and what they were doing, but Master just ignored her.
This time, Master responded, "Have you ever wondered why I didn't choose to build my guild headquarters in the Dritzuut's region? With my knowledge, I can pick any location I want for the guild headquarters. The region of a country's capital always provided the best terrains for a guild headquarters, but I didn't choose that."
"… Why?" Mistress asked.
"Because I want a location close to this place," Master answered.
Mistress was peeved. That didn't answer the question. "What's so special about this place?" She asked. She didn't disguise her annoyed tone.
Master simply snickered at her tone. It was as if he was irritating her on purpose.
Instead of answering her question, he said, "I never told you why I erased the main quest."
"… Why?" Mistress asked. She knew it was Master who had erased the demonic cult that was to be the main enemy of every player who entered the game. It was also Master who had deleted the starting quests that should have triggered the main quest for every player in the game. She thought it was so that this main quest didn't distract them from their objective. It seemed it was not the case.
"I erased the main quest for a contingency in case we encounter a force we can't beat, like the Allied forces coming our way," Master answered. "I would prefer it didn't come to this. But as someone with my intellect, I had to always prepare for the worst."
Mistress realized then after she thought about the significance of this place. "This… This is the location for the underworld portal in Liguritudum."
"That's correct," Master said. "That underworld portal will be our destination."
"What are we doing there?" Mistress asked. Though she knew their destination, she still didn't understand the point of going there.
"The main quest has the demonic cult striving to liberate the underworld portals. However, that is only the first half of their objective. Their final objective is to open the main portal to the underworld. To do that, they need to use a legendary artifact specifically made for the main quest on one of the still-open portals in the seven main countries. The last half of the demonic cult's objective is to obtain this artifact. An artifact which will transform the underworld portal into a main underworld portal, allowing the massive horde of the underworld to enter this upper world."
"Wait… Are you saying…," Mistress was starting to understand where this conversation was going.
"Hehe. I've erased the demonic cult and the main quest, but I didn't delete the legendary artifact," Master said as he revealed a jagged stone in his hand. The stone gleamed with ominous dark light and hummed with disconcerting buzz.
"That… That is the legendary artifact for the main quest?" Mistress asked.
"This is the Infernal World Crystal," Master answered. "And yes, this is the artifact required to transform the underworld portal. I've not only kept this artifact from deletion, but I also modified it."
"Modified it how?"
"So that it is usable by a player. The original program doesn't allow it to be interactable with a player. This was to keep a player from accidentally triggering the end of the main quest, but that's not the only thing I modified. I also modified it so that the player who uses this artifact to open the main underworld portal will be treated as friendly by the underworld forces that emerge."
"Uh… What about us?" Soundeffect asked. If only the artifact wielder was treated as friendly, wouldn't the underworld forces tear apart everyone aside from Master once they emerged?
"Don't worry. I've set it so that everyone under me will also be considered allies," Master assured him.
"So, the demons will be at our beck and call? Hehe, fascinating," Ronald remarked.
"Not really," Master doused his excitement. "We will only be considered friendlies. We won't be able to command them. I would love for that to happen. Unfortunately, the main system's resistance was too strong when I tried to modify it that way. The best I can do is make them not consider us enemies. That's why I place our guild headquarters near here. With the underworld forces emerging here. The Allied forces would have to go through them to get to us."
"So, we will just sit back and wait until you finish fusing with the divine treasures while they are busy with the underworld force," Sizhad said. He must admit, this was a great plan. He always admired a plan where they could just sit back and let another party fight their enemies.
"But what will happen after that?" Mistress asked. She didn't sound pleased with this plan. "The underworld forces are not something to be taken lightly. They will raze this world to the ground! Even if our enemies are crushed, there will be nothing left for us. Are we to rule over a ruined world? What's the point of that?"
"I have a plan to bring the underworld forces into this world. I have a plan to deal with them," Master said. "You just have to trust me. If you can't. Well, you can try taking your chances out there."
Mistress was unsatisfied with Master's response. But like the others in this group, she was too deep in this already. Might as well follow Master to the end.
Master stored the Infernal World Crystal in his inventory. He no longer spoke. Instead, he cast the first half of the dark portal spell. The oval-shaped portal hung in the air, providing the exit when Master next cast the second half of the spell. No one questioned why he cast the spell.
After several more minutes of trekking, they arrived at a large cave that entered into the largest mountain around that place.
"The underworld portal is inside here," Master informed everyone.
