Chapter 48: Through the Dark

Currently, Max was situated far from the battlefield, unable to actively watch the fight. The seniors had advised him to avoid getting noticed by the Boss.

He sat alone in a massive hall that was in poor condition. Judging by the broken chairs scattered everywhere, this place must have been some kind of conference room. Although his instructions were to not make any loud noise, he was allowed to freely walk around the hall. Since sitting still was boring, Max simply paced around the room.

He thought of checking his iStorage for more items, such as weapons or books, but ultimately decided against it. Even though the seniors hadn't questioned him about the noise he made earlier, they must have noticed and simply ignored it. If he tried to do something similar now and accidentally blew something up, it would put their Quest in jeopardy. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to endure the boredom.

He waited for around an hour and a half before he heard the sound of multiple footsteps. The party entered the conference room in a relatively fresh state, though they had clearly struggled to kill the Boss Zombie Monster.

With Level 1 of the Quest concluded, they now had to move to Level 2. From this point on, Max would have to actively participate in the battles, or at the very least, provide support.

"Max, you ready?" Adrien asked.

"Yep." Max nodded, standing up from his broken chair.

As everyone gathered around, Max quickly joined them. Adrien then retrieved a jagged black crystal the size of a fist, extending it toward the center of the party.

He looked at everyone and gave a nod. Soon after, everyone extended their hands and placed them on the black Crystal. Seeing this, Max followed suit, guessing that this was the ritual required to transport to the next Level.

Just as he had guessed, the black crystal crumbled at his touch. A bright black light erupted from the broken fragments, engulfing him and the others. Max's consciousness went completely blank before it finally returned.

---

Max quickly observed his surroundings. In the next second, a foul odor assaulted his nose. Taking a quick look, he realized they were standing amidst yet another desolate world.

Similar to the previous world, this place also looked post-apocalyptic. The only difference was how mundane this world appeared. There were no towering buildings everywhere. Instead, there were only small huts made of hay and mud walls.

Clearly, this world did not possess advanced weapons like the Level 1 world. However, one thing was absolutely clear; this world was not destroyed by war, but by some kind of disease.

"Max, stay close to Ewan. He will protect you," Adrien instructed. "We only need your support during the Boss fight, so just wait until then."

"Yeah, no problem," Max replied. "Do we have to face similar waves of monsters?" he asked curiously.

"No, we don't have to face monster waves," Adrien explained. "However, our objective is to reach the Temple of Neri, where the Boss Priest resides. We need to cross a total distance of 20 kilometers from here and pass through 13 villages affected by a deadly disease."

"Do I need to take the [Rings] Elixir now?" Max asked.

"No, not right now. We will need that once we reach the Temple, so wait." Adrien nodded his head and began to move forward.

Max nodded in understanding and walked as well. Meanwhile, Ewan, the Battle Mage, followed closely behind him.

Looking up at the sky to check the time, Max noticed that the sun was about to set. They still had to travel 20 kilometers and cross 13 disease-infected villages where they would be attacked and afflicted by poison. With night about to descend, shouldn't they rest for the night and start their Quest early in the morning? It would naturally be much easier to cross that distance during the day.

However, these were merely his own speculations, so he did not voice his suggestions. He doubted that the seniors hadn't already thought of these things. If they still decided to travel right away, it meant they had a valid reason for doing so. Thus, Max simply kept quiet and maintained a short distance behind the leading party.

As usual, Adrien took the vanguard at the front, with Leon on his left and Katerina taking her place on the right. Candice walked in the center, while Harold brought up the rear, covering the entire area to support everyone with his ranger skills.

A few feet away from this main group, Max walked with Ewan. Ewan was the vice-leader of the party and widely considered its second strongest member. Max was not afraid of anything happening to him, and the main reason for that was Ewan; his skills were completely on par with Adrien's. His skill to materialize any weapon out of Mana was incredibly strong. He could create arrows, blades, swords, and shields. In fact, he could possibly create any weapon out of sheer will.

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It was a great class, but its only disadvantage was the overall amount of Mana used. Every materialization consumed a certain amount of Mana.

I should ask him what kind of Mana Channeling technique he uses, Max thought.

The sheer number of weapons Ewan could create without expending all his Mana was astonishing. Max knew he had to ask and learn the same technique for himself.

The party walked for fifteen minutes before they encountered their first village. Although the sun had set, the lingering light still provided a clear view, and Max saw Zombie Monsters moving along their path.

As they drew closer, Max could clearly see what kind of Zombie Monsters this world had. It was a stark contrast to his previous world, where zombies moved at enormous speeds and ferociously bit down on people.

These Zombies moved slowly, and their appearance was entirely different. A black substance gushed from their mouths, and they let out strange sounds at regular intervals. Combined with the fog covering the village, these Zombies and their eerie cries painted a horrifying scene.

As soon as they stepped into the monsters' detection range, the wailing sounds intensified, echoing from every direction.

"Is everyone ready?" Adrien whispered, glancing over his shoulder.

Instinctively, Max slowed his steps to maintain his distance. The moment the team crossed the village's first hut, the battle commenced. The monsters quickened their pace, attempting to attack the team while a black substance and noxious gas continuously seeped from their mouths as they moved.

Surprisingly, they did not attempt to bite. Instead, they tried to hug the team members.

It was a very strange sight to witness. Not long ago, monsters would attack viciously and try to bite them, yet now, these creatures were trying to hug them in order to spread disease and inflict poison. However, the team did not let the Zombie Monsters draw near. They swiftly swung their weapons, slaying the creatures before they could even step within two feet of them.

Although the team slaughtered every monster in their path, they did not stand in place to kill everything. They continuously pushed forward, leaving the slower monsters behind. Max was initially confused by this, but he soon realized that zombies were pouring out from every shaded corner. Their numbers were simply too high.

Even though the slow-moving monsters were easy to kill, if the party stayed in a single spot, the disease would spread through the gathered gas of the fallen enemies. It was not as if the zombies trying to inflict the disease disappeared after being cut down. The fallen bodies still exuded the black substance and gas-like breath until they disintegrated.

They even ignored the loot that dropped, as moving continuously was the only way to survive this battle. Max thought of picking up some loot, but he restrained himself. What if he contracted the disease from it?

The only good thing he could think of was that the distance to cross the village was very short. Within ten minutes, they crossed the area and moved away from it. Once they left the monsters' detection range, the pursuit stopped.

The team quickly moved for another five minutes before taking a rest. They drank some red potions to cleanse the infection from their bodies, just in case anything had entered. Max also drank one vial. He did not feel anything after drinking it, but he guessed that it did its job. After taking a few minutes of rest, the team moved forward, crossing from one village to another.

The process remained the same; Max walked behind the team while Ewan protected him. The further they crossed the distance toward the Temple, the larger the villages became. Furthermore, the Zombies attacking them now came in groups, making their strange sounds.

Max started to feel dread the further he advanced. The only hope he held was the potion he drank after crossing every village. He could only breathe a sigh of relief after drinking the potion. He did not want to become like these people. It was truly horrifying to witness how this world was affected by this strange disease.

After crossing eight villages, the team decided to take an extensive rest. The reason being, the upcoming villages would be relatively big, and the amount of monsters that would attack them would increase manifold. Not only that, but all five of these villages were situated at a close range. If they crossed one village, they would not have the luxury to rest. The Zombie Monsters from the previous village would follow them, and they would also get detected by the monsters in the next village.

Therefore, the only way for them to cross was to push through all five villages in one go without any rest. Hearing this for the first time, Max felt his heart sink in a little dread.

"So, you all have done this on the previous attempt, right?" Max asked.

Since they had failed at the Level 2 Boss stage, they must have already crossed these villages when they attempted it the first time.

Hearing this, the team remained silent. They did not say anything, nor did they even nod their heads.

Noticing this, Max understood. These people had either never come this far, or they had failed at this exact stage.

"You all ready?" Adrien stood up, brought out a different type of potion, and distributed it to everyone.

Max took it and gulped it down. He didn't know what this new potion did, but he was ready to do this. Since he had already committed, backing down now would put a dent in his name and his family's name.

"Okay everyone, let's do it," Adrien said and moved.

Everyone moved forward with long strides. Max stayed at the same distance, matching their speed as he walked. As they walked, he saw the village ahead of him in the dim moonlight; the activities were in great numbers.

It was not like an empty path where they would only be attacked at a slow pace once their team was detected. It was different now. The zombies already roamed the main path they had to cross.

As they neared the village, the team's speed increased. The zombies finally detected them and started walking toward them, making sounds.

Sword aura flew toward the group, cutting them in half. Adrien had already started his action, immediately slaying the monsters and opening the path.

Soon, arrows and lightning danced on the path, shattering the monsters.

Seeing this with agitation, Max saw the amount of monsters standing further down the path when the lightning gave enough visibility. It was definitely going to be hard to clear all those on the path.

This is going to be another failure for the Seniors. Max could not help but think of failure.