Chapter 50: The Main Quest

[Ding!]

Main Quest triggered!

Save the lives of Evelyn and Elysia!

Time Limit: Right now.

Reward: One hundred Grade B mana stones, ten Grade A mana stones, one Grade S mana stone, 1000 Exp, 20 Stat Points.

Penalty for failure: Death.

Elias was clearly shocked when the system suddenly gave him a Main Quest. And what surprised him even more was that he had to save the lives of the twins.

’There’s no way they’d end up fighting Vladir. I already calculated their power levels against his, and those two girls are clearly superior if they fight together.’

While Elias’s thoughts were spinning, the system suddenly pushed a notification beside his head.

[Warning!]

[Evelyn and Elysia’s lives are already on the line!]

That made it impossible for Elias to think or formulate any kind of plan. He immediately sheathed his sword and said:

"Captain! I’m heading back to camp. Once you’re done here, follow me and bring two or three people with you!"

The captain, who was in the middle of blocking a sword strike from an enemy, shoved his opponent back and cut him down before asking:

"Huh? What’s going on, kid!?"

"No time to explain! I’m going!"

Elias then channeled his mana into the soles of his feet before sprinting with everything he had toward the camp.

His face was already drenched in cold sweat and his heart was pounding out of control. And honestly, who could blame him? Seeing the penalty from that Main Quest was like getting a personal death threat delivered straight to his face.

Elias started feeling guilty that he had actually left those two girls to fight Vladir alone. Once again he had made a mistake. The calculations and plans he had carefully arranged based on his knowledge of the game weren’t going as smoothly as he had hoped.

Sure, he had anticipated that things might change, but even so, the direction those changes were taking wasn’t anything like what he had pictured.

Elias then started channeling more mana into his feet while imagining his body becoming lighter. He pictured the wind Arcana beginning to lift him slightly off the ground.

And sure enough, he could use wind Arcana. A faint green energy began swirling around his body. Even though Elias could pull it off, the effect was still small, and all he could really feel was that his body had become a little lighter.

"No. This isn’t enough. I need to be faster! Faster than this!"

Elias kept running while continuing to focus his mana into both legs. But the speed he was getting was still far from what he needed.

Elias started gritting his teeth. Then he tried to increase the flow of his mana while forcing his wind Affinity to grow.

Something like this was obviously impossible to pull off just by imagining it. Forcing Arcana Affinity to increase, even a genius like Evelyn, Elysia, or Seraphina needed time to master it.

Because he kept forcing his wind Arcana Affinity to grow, pain suddenly shot from his heart straight down to both his legs. His mana flow became unstable, throwing his stride slightly off balance, but he kept pushing through anyway.

[Ding!]

[Wind Arcana Affinity temporarily increased.]

[Wind Arcana effect increased.]

[Warning! Mana circulation is unstable! Your body is taking on an excessive load!]

Elias wiped the blood dripping from the corner of his lip and kept his eyes fixed forward, ignoring the system notifications. He could feel his body getting lighter and lighter even as the pain growing inside him got worse the longer he kept it up.

"I’m not ready to die yet! So please, you two, don’t you dare die on me!"

* * *

A short while earlier, Vladir had been releasing a red energy in his hand. Then, a massive white tiger monster suddenly leaped to Vladir’s side.

When the tiger roared, a powerful shockwave spread in every direction, making the surrounding trees sway violently and sending leaves scattering through the air.

"This is the monster I mentioned earlier. White Dreadclaw, a tiger monster with a Grade B rating that’s notoriously difficult to subdue. And I managed to tame it with ease! It’s already obedient and follows my every command."

Evelyn and Elysia didn’t react at all when they saw the monster. Evelyn even yawned while Vladir started explaining about it. Meanwhile, Elysia just played with her fingers, occasionally blowing dust off her nails.

Vladir was clearly annoyed that the two girls were ignoring him. Sure, he knew it probably felt like some impromptu presentation, but he had hoped they would at least listen a little.

"You two really have no manners toward your elders..."

"Ah? You done? Yawn~... I almost fell asleep."

"I get how you feel, big sis. Listening to his rambling is boring and makes you sleepy. But don’t fall asleep here, I can’t carry you."

"So mean~ But what can we do? Let’s just finish this quickly so we can sleep." Evelyn then coated her sword with a thick white energy. "It’s already getting late."

"Staying up late isn’t good for our beauty." Elysia raised her sword toward the sky before a pillar of pitch-black energy erupted from the blade and pierced through the heavens.

Seeing this, Vladir wrapped his body in his own red energy, then pointed his left hand toward the two girls.

"Go."

*ROAR!

The tiger immediately shot toward the two girls at Vladir’s command.

Seeing the tiger running toward them, Evelyn quickly stomped her foot on the ground, and a mound of earth burst up right beneath the tiger, impaling it and sending the beast flying upward before it crashed down hard.

Even though the earth looked sharp, when it hit the tiger’s hide, it only had the effect of a punch rather than a piercing strike.

"This cat’s still as tough as ever."

Seeing his tiger so easily knocked back by Evelyn, Vladir clenched his jaw, then pointed his hand still dripping with red energy toward the tiger before making a motion like he was crushing something.

*ROAR!

"Get up! Hurry up and finish those two!"

The tiger immediately rose again, its eyes glowing an even deeper red. From this, Evelyn and Elysia could immediately conclude that the tiger was being controlled by Vladir against its will.

Even if ’Maybe’ Evelyn and Elysia didn’t know exactly how he was doing it, they were still going to kill that tiger because right now, it was trying to kill them.

Evelyn then coated her sword with mana and converted it into fire Arcana. Her blade instantly ignited into a blazing flame, and she ran toward the tiger, delivering one powerful slash.

*Whuush!

The energy from her fire-attribute blade shot straight toward the tiger, followed by a wind Arcana that Evelyn unleashed with a single powerful clap of her hands.

*Clap!

The fire-attribute sword energy immediately flared even bigger thanks to being combined with the wind Arcana.

Then, when that energy struck the tiger, a massive explosion erupted with a blazing red flame.

Evelyn then flicked her sword downward to extinguish the fire on her blade before glancing back:

"I held it back."

"Good job, big sis. Leave it to me from here."

Elysia answered like that while still pointing her sword toward the sky. The black energy pillar she had created earlier had now grown bigger and stronger.

Because of that energy, the air around them started going chaotic, trees beginning to sway and leaves scattering everywhere.

"I won’t..."

*Boom!

A wave of energy exploded with every slight movement Elysia made with her sword.

"Let that thing..."

*Boom!

"Happen a second time!"

With that shout, Elysia swung her sword, now completely filled with pitch-black energy, straight at the tiger still engulfed in flames.

*Boom!

* * *