“Erm… Your Majesty, may I know how much longer will it take before we arrive at Desolate Town?”
Panting as she followed everyone from the back, Cheryl couldn’t hold in her most curious question anymore. She knew that she had the least authority to ask this question among this group of formidable beings. Also, she was only a burden to them and the reason why Rhode was willing to bring her along was just because it was along the way for them. This temptation was huge for her. Only people who personally lived in hell understood how precious peace, hope, and kindness were. Even though she was only an elf who was ill-treated in the Country of Light, compared to the dangers in hell, the malice of the main plane was nothing in comparison…
Cheryl was hesitant about it. After all, this wasn’t her original mission. But now, she couldn’t help but ask because everything before her eyes were too bizarre!
Of course, she had heard more or less about their destination. Desolate Town wasn’t an obscure place in the underworld. But even though their destination was clear, the direction where Rhode’s group was heading to wasn’t ‘clear’ at all. In Cheryl’s eyes, they were heading left, right, straight, and sometimes even backward! There were a few times when Rhode headed back to where he came from without speaking a word and turned the corner that led to another place as though he had taken the wrong route. But despite that, no one raised any objections. They followed his orders completely as though it didn’t concern them. There were several times when Cheryl felt like they were even walking in circles.
Are we really able to reach our destination this way?
“Don’t worry, Miss Cheryl. We will be there when it is time.”
Unlike the worried young elf lady, Rhode sauntered casually, gazing at the pitch-black shadow in the distance with narrowed eyes. That was where Desolate Town stood. If Cheryl walked ahead of the group, she would discover that no matter which direction Rhode took, even if he turned around entirely, the presence of Desolate Town would forever be in front of him.
“This is Bottomless Abyss, Miss Cheryl.”
At this moment, Stefania who walked alongside Cheryl explained with a kind smile.
“Even though this is the highest floor of Bottomless Abyss, this place has no Order, after all. Here, rules in hell don’t apply and one is unable to determine one’s direction by bearing like on the main plane. Be it a city or fortress, its position is moving constantly, which is why we are not searching and are just following it. Besides, time and distance have no meaning here. We can’t be sure of the amount of time we need to reach our destination. All in all, as long as we keep moving, we will reach our destination at the most appropriate time.”
“Is… that so?”
Cheryl, who didn’t have any experience in traveling across planes, turned pale. She widened her eyes speechlessly. This bizarre situation was totally illogical. If she didn’t encounter this herself, she would never believe that such a world existed.
According to Miss Stefania, we will reach our destination at the most appropriate time. In that case, why are we still wandering about? Maybe if we take a break, we will reach our destination after opening our eyes. Does such a strange world truly exist?
Even though Cheryl was dubious, reality quickly overthrew her final doubt.
“We’re here.”
As she puckered her brows and pondered, Rhode suddenly came to a halt and turned to the corner on the left. Upon hearing him, Cheryl turned to where he was facing and widened her eyes in astonishment. A fortress had emerged in the wild, sandy land.
Desolate Town.
Even though one might think that Desolate Town was like those small towns in the main plane, as a matter of fact, it was a huge fortress city made of stone and steel. But it was a pity that this fortress wasn’t as orderly as the demons’ Steel Fortress. Although it was just barely in order, the state of the city walls was a complete mess. Looking from a distance, the fortress looked like a child’s carefree game of block building. No matter how the overall look of the blocks stacked on each other turned out to be, it would be enough as long as it resembled a fortress.
And that was the case for Desolate Town.
“What in the world? Leader, let’s do it.”
Gazing at the chaotic group of devils by the entrance, Mini Bubble Gum raised her spirits instantly. She squinted, clenched her tiny fists, and revealed an excited smile. This reaction of hers was entirely a sign of her about to attack. But…
“Hmm?”
At this moment, she was taken aback. Her expression changed slightly as she stretched out her arm and emanated a pure, white radiance from her hand. But compared to the holy brilliance she usually released in the past, this time the radiance seemed more… dull?
“Leader, there’s a problem…”
“What’s wrong?”
Upon hearing Mini Bubble Gum’s sudden, lowered voice, Rhode stared blankly at her. In fact, he was prepared to send Mini Bubble Gum out to greet the beings ahead. Although Rhode came to Desolate Town to ‘fulfill’ his agreement with Asmodeus, it was an entirely different matter as to how he executed it. But now, the excited and joyous Mini Bubble Gum ‘calmed’ down all of a sudden and this surprised him.
“My power…”
Mini Bubble Gum clenched her fists. Although along with her action, the pure white, sacred radiance grew brighter, it seemed like she had to expend a lot of strength to do it.
“My strength has weakened!”
“… Huh?”
Upon hearing her response, Rhode was in disbelief. He extended his arm quickly and opened the system interface, searching for her name in the name list and looking at her attributes. But there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with them; her level and attributes remained the same. Could it be due to her entering the abyss? What kind of joke was this? Mini Bubble Gum was always healthy and active and now, her power had suddenly weakened?
“What exactly is going on?”
In an instant, Rhode was bewildered. He felt like the situation was too unusual. Even though it was possible for players to feel weak and burnout after playing a game for too long, Mini Bubble Gum didn’t seem like she was in one. This little fella was more eager than everyone else and had no lack of initiatives. Could it be that they had fallen into some unknown trap?
At this thought, Rhode ran through his power immediately. Everything was as per usual. As for the rest…
“Everyone, check your power too!”
Upon hearing Rhode’s command, everyone began experimenting. It was apparent that they also felt like the situation was too bizarre. After a few moments, Rhode received their answers.
“No issues with me.”
Celestina lifted her head and said proudly.
“Me too… Master, my strength is fine.”
Celia glanced at Mini Bubble Gum worriedly and answered. Lesa who was standing beside her didn’t say a word as she simply nodded. It was apparent that everything was fine with her too. Then, Stefania and Cheryl also responded.
“I’m fine too, Your Majesty Rhode.”
“M-Me too, Your Majesty. Even though they are running a little disorderly… there isn’t a problem with my strength.”
What is this strange occurrence…
After hearing their responses, Rhode turned to Mini Bubble Gum with an odd look. If Celia, Lesa, and the rest were affected, perhaps he would suspect that there was a problem with his system interface that possibly led to issues with the card system and Phantom Guardians. However, Lesa was fine and even though she wasn’t a Phantom Guardian, she was still a projection based on the same system. In fact, Rhode wasn’t surprised that everything went well with Stefania too because it would truly be strange if a plane merchant like her couldn’t handle such situations. On the other hand, an elf mage in the Peak Master Stage like Cheryl also wasn’t affected. This meant that his group of formidable beings couldn’t possibly be affected by some seal traps. If not, it didn’t make sense for Cheryl to escape, while Mini Bubble Gum fell for it. Moreover, Mini Bubble Gum was a cleric who was more sensitive to any negative effects. At this moment, before Rhode figured out the situation, he heard another bothersome answer.
“Rhode, my strength seems to be weakening too…”
“… What’s going on?”
Gazing at Canary, Rhode was completely speechless.
“In other words… both of your strengths are declining?”
“Rather than declining… it is more like a part of them has disappeared…”
Mini Bubble Gum puckered her brows and clenched her fists.
“How should I put it? I can easily crush a group of devils with one punch. But now, I may need to gather more strength to do the same. As for the BOSSES… Urgh, Leader, it may perhaps be too tough for me alone, especially the high-level ones.”
“Me too. Even though there aren’t many problems with my high-level spells, some of my low-level spells have been weakened.”
“Weakened?”
Rhode’s expression turned odd. Of course, he knew that players would ‘give up’ some low-level skills due to the lack of skill points. But when one reached his or Canary’s level, the skill points were allocated accordingly based on their experience. They couldn’t possibly be canceled or weakened at all.
“No, perhaps I should say that… the skills are weakened, but I don’t know where they’ve gone to…”
Perhaps due to the fact that others were present, Canary didn’t clarify the situation. However, Rhode understood what she meant because they were currently using the player system. The usage of skills including magic and spiritual spells was the same. But the problem was that these spells had to be within their specializations. The damage of skills was in accordance to their mastery level. Take Canary, for instance. She was a mage specializing in fire and wind, so the highest mastery level of her ‘fireball’ spell could reach Grade SSS. The ultimate damage of her ‘fireball’ spell was based on the mastery level of Grade SSS and her attribute values. These skills needed skill points to increase mastery levels. Rhode also experienced the same thing when he started leveling up. To any top player, it was essential to master the technique of not wasting skill points. At level 85, which was the level cap, they knew thoroughly about their attributes and skill point allocation.
But now, according to Canary, it seemed like her ‘fireball’ spell that was supposed to be Grade SSS was lowered to Grade AAA for no apparent reason. The skill points that were used to strengthen its mastery seemed to have disappeared without a trace.
After scanning through both of their attributes, Rhode confirmed that all their skills were lowered by one to two levels on average. Fortunately, they were powerful to begin with and Mini Bubble Gum could still defeat a group of devils with three punches.
However, although it didn’t affect them much, Rhode puckered his brows in doubt because the situation was too weird. He had never seen mastery levels of skills dropping all of a sudden, be it in the game or reality. For this to happen all of a sudden, it made him somewhat concerned.
“Seems like we need another plan.”
Although they could still continue with their initial plan, Rhode felt the urgency to change his plans as it was simply too peculiar.
