-Vol 6: Dusk of An Era-

-Doom Fest(2)-

“Are you serious? What the fuck is this?” Clut shouted, looking at the lump of flesh that remained somewhat the same even after eating no less than a thousand attacks from him in the past half an hour. The only change that happened was that it only shrunk a little, and rhythmical pumping had stopped a lot.

“That’s why I said to wait for others to come here first… but you didn’t listen to me.” Still, outside the barrier, Adam said, munching on a hotdog that he brought out of his storage of the system. Clut gave him a glare, suppressing the urge the go and beat him for his casual attitude. Then his eyes landed on the thing he was holding, “is that a hotdog? You are eating a fucking hotdog while sitting so close to this… this grotesque thing? And you have got more, give me one.”

“No. And, are you born under the star of Hypocricy or something? How can you change your color so quickly?” Adam shouted, showing his middle finger to Clut. Then he took a huge mouthful of his hotdog, making extra sure that this man sees it as he did so. in response, CLut showed his middle finger to him and turned around to focus on the matter at hand.

“Any idea of how I can take this thing down?” Clut asked, without looking back.

“No idea. I don’t even know what that thing is. Munch... munch… you still have time, dispel that barrier and come back. I will give you a hotdog to eat.” Adam advised out of his goodwill. He was pretty paranoid about everything related to the system, and this time was no different. He could still remember the mission he received a few months ago, to defeat some 5th or 8th servant of something, he could still feel the tremors in his heart when that hand appeared out of the crack, a few hours of this mission appeared.

If just a hand could do something like this to the whole world, what could that being have achieved if it had crossed over successfully? And the system wanted them to stop something of that caliber… he would be mad to accept and accept it on face value. Good thing was that it didn’t happen to be a compulsory mission, or else he would have to do it even if he didn’t want to.

The punishments for failing or not involving in the clearance of a compulsory mission were pretty heavy. At best, he would lose access to his system for a while, and at worse, he would die, and his soul would be scattered into the air, eliminating any and all chance to reincarnate… even if he had a skill for that. Adam would rather lose his access to the system by involving with the mission minimally than to die a horrible death.

BOOM!! Boom!!

Suddenly the heartbeat-like sound coming from the ball of flesh intensified, creating formless ripples in the air itself. Clut and Adam stopped their bickering and observed the thing which has started to glow red, with veins glowing purple. The heartbeat sound continued to sound louder and louder until the ground itself started to shake and crack.

“What the fuck…?” Clut and Adam both shouted, observing the ball of flesh that was undergoing a change. It started to shrink, again and again, decreasing in mass. On the contrary, the sound intensified and increased volume.

“Clut, come out. It dangerous in there.” Adam shouted from the outside. But Clut only stood there soulless after his initial outburst. He stood transfixed, staring at the ball of flesh with glazed eyes, as if he saw the secrets of creation in there. He didn’t even move a muscle, and if not for the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest, Adam would have thought he had passed away.

“Clut, you asshole, come out, dammit!!” Adam threw the hotdog in his hand aside and ran towards the barrier, banging his hands on it. Except for some ripples on them, nothing changed. Getting worried, he swirled his spike around as it slowly enveloped in a purple glow, then with all the force in his hand, he slammed the pointy end to the barrier.

Boom!! Crack!!

His work was rewarded as a crack formed on the barrier, but it quickly mended itself, and everything returned to normal. Now Adam became worried, he could tell what’s happening in there, that lump of flesh must have done something to bewitch his friend. Like CLut said before, there’s nothing they had seen in these years after getting the system. They had seen monsters that could easily bring ruin to a party of ten Level 100 hunters to a monster that could wipe out a city in a matter of hours. They had seen abilities that never seen before and even possessed a few like that… they were more aware of the world than those so-called Elders’ Council.

And that’s’ why he was behaving frantically, trying to wake his friend up from whatever bewitchment he had fallen into. That’s because he knew if he didn’t wake him up, that lump of flesh might try something next, now that it had trapped Clut in a trance. For some reason, this reminded him of the plant Rafflesia, which would emanate a very sweet smell to attract and then trap its prey.

“Clut, you bastard, either you wake up or I am so going to fuck your sister… I mean it,” shouted Adam as loudly as he can, banging his poles on the pink walls frantically.

“He isn’t going to wake up on his own anymore…” a quite and feminine voice resounded behind Adam, making him startle and jump to his side and stood defensively towards the direction of the sound. There he saw, a young woman, probably around 17 or 18, in a pretty frilly dress stood, holding a rolled-up paper on her hands.

On closer inspection, Adam realized she wasn’t actually holding it, rather it was floating just above her open palm.

“Who are you?” he asked, narrowing his eyes and still in his defensive position. Even if it’s a young girl, probably half of his age, he still had no intention of taking his guard down. Not especially when she also had the qualification to be here, meaning she too possesses a system. Changing your own destiny and snatch it back from fate’s hand, it’s not a thing that could be done by just anyone.

“You don’t have to be that defensive around me. This mission has forbidden everyone who is participating from killing each other or else they would face severe punishments and possible long term curses… besides, I don’t have a hobby of just randomly going around and killing whomever I see,” though her voice was monotonous and cold, she was unusually talkative.

Adam relaxed a little… just a little after hearing her.

“So, you said, he couldn’t wake up on his own, what do you mean?” Adam asked, looking at the newly arrived girl, arguably very beautiful but more in a cute way than sexy. She was, after all, only 18 or 17.

“That lump of flesh has done something, causing your friend to have a unique kind of hallucination. His mind, or more like conscious and subconscious, both were trapped in a mare where they couldn’t differentiate between reality and illusion.” The girl took a break, allowing Adam to sink in what she revealed, before continuing, “at the same time, the lump of flesh is slowly planting a seed of its own thought… remember the word ‘thought’ inside his head.”

“What?”