Chapter 31: A Mission from Above

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to pray to You!” I said in a panicked voice.

*DING!*

No, it’s okay, Claire. I’ve been waiting for ages for one of you to call me. I’m sorry for your loss, by the way. I can’t help poor guy Gerry. Once you die, you die. No exceptions, No respawn.

“Who are you talking to Claire?” Dianne asked. “Wait, did you just pray to God?”

“Yeah, I did.” I replied. “He said it’s okay and He was waiting for us to call Him.”

“What else did He say?” Eric asked.

I gave them a dismissive wave and continued talking to God. Why were you waiting?

Before that, Is Miguel with you?

No. Miguel left Camp Aguinaldo alone and we’re currently looking for him. Do you know where he is?

I was going to ask that too. Somehow, I can’t talk to him and I can’t locate him either.

Is he alive?

Yes, he is still alive. I can see his status on my screen right now, but I can’t see him on my map. I think I have an idea what’s going on with him.

What do you mean? What’s going on?

Just a few days ago, he gained the attention of a dark god when he got rid of the dark mana inside you. Last time I talked to him, I told him that he fucked up really bad.

Who is this dark god?

The Dark Lord. Well, I know it sounds lame, but that’s what he calls himself.

Voldemort?

Hahaha! Funny. Miguel asked me that too. And no, he’s not You-Know-Who. He’s the He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named-Because-His-Name-Is-Probably-Stupid.

What does he want with Miguel? Is that why he’s been acting weird lately?

Since the Dark Lord’s domain are lies and falsehoods, he probably wants Miguel to be his servant. I don’t know what he’s doing to him, but it’s not good. If I had to guess, the Dark Lord will try to convert him into a lich and he somehow found a way to cut my connection with Miguel. Most of his followers are liches and necromancers, by the way. Really, really bad guys.

A lich?

Obviously, you don’t want Miguel to be a lich. Trust me. He’ll be the most powerful lich in existence and he’ll be one of the Dark Lord’s puppets. Liches are magic users who turned to dark magic to achieve immortality. Just imagine him being a walking dried mummy who can raise undead creatures.

Shit. Miguel’s in deep trouble. But why the hell didn’t he say anything to us? What the fuck is he thinking?

I don’t really like to directly intervene with mortal affairs as much as possible. It’s one of my rules. If you can’t handle it, I’ll have no choice, but send my agent. By the way, you are near to an infested dungeon, so you should expect undead monsters on the way.

Tell us what to do, we’ll find him.

Quest: A Mission from God

Miguel, the former leader of Boston Tea Party, gained the attention of the Dark Lord, the god of falsehoods and the undead. Whatever he’s planning on him, it won’t be good. Find Miguel before it’s too late.

Difficulty: C

Rewards: EXP and Five (5) Gold Coins.

“A mission from God?” Eric asked. “What the hell’s going on?”

I want you to find him. Earlier, you saw a writing on the wall, right? That’s Miguel’s mother. He’s probably looking for her, but with his situation, I don’t think he will. The sign she was talking about was a red smiley face. Just follow them.

“Claire!” Dianne screamed at me. “What’s going on? What did God say?”

“Miguel’s in trouble. The Dark Lord’s trying to convert him into a lich, so he can be his puppet.” I explained. “God said we should follow red smiley faces. That’s the sign.”

“What’s a lich?” Dianne asked.

“Undead mages. Basically, they’re zombies, but they can do magic and they’re smart.” Richard answered. “But why did God want us to rescue Miguel?”

“He gained God’s attention when the apocalypse began and gave him a unique skill that makes him learn any skill with just doing it.” Melissa shrugged.

“I know what you’re thinking Richard. Don’t try to call God’s attention. He’ll smite us if you do it. He doesn’t like favors and Miguel always wished he didn’t.” Eric said.

“Did God say how Miguel gained the Dark Lord’s attention?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “Remember when I was bitten by a zombie and Miguel cured me? That was when he met him.”

“You were bitten by a zombie? Is that why your eyes looked like that?” Mark pointed out the color of my eyes.

“No. My eyes became like this after Miguel cured me.”

“If I remember it correctly, there was a black smoke coming out from your body.” Dianne said. “Was it the Dark Lord?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” I shrugged. “Anyway, we should accept the quest.”

“We have lots of time to grieve for Sir Gerry after this one. I’ve already lost a friend, but I don’t want to lose another.” Beth wiped her face. “I’m in.”

“This is my time to shine.” Mark said as he smirked. “All of my skills are effective against undead, according to this book.”

“Yeah, whatever. The gold’s worth it. I mean, five gold? For each of us? Damn.” Richard rubbed his palms. “I’m definitely in.”

Claire Roque accepted the Quest: A Mission from God Dianne Duria accepted the Quest: A Mission from God Eric Reyes accepted the Quest: A Mission from God Melissa Panis accepted the Quest: A Mission from God Elizabeth Uy accepted the Quest: A Mission from God Richard Reyes accepted the Quest: A Mission from God Marco Del Carmen accepted the Quest: A Mission from God

All of us accepted the quest to find Miguel. Now that we know what was happening to him, I couldn’t help but worry about him. I had a feeling that something bad was happening to him at that very moment. I shrugged off the feeling and we decided to rest because it was still dark. Although we were in a hurry, we needed to gather our strength before we set out and it was dangerous at night. We won’t be complacent anymore.

One last thing, don’t hesitate to call me for help.

You’re underestimating us. Don’t worry, we’ll find him.

The next morning, we ate our breakfast early as we finally found the appetite to eat. Like I said, we needed to gather our strength, so we ate a lot and we’ll probably won’t have time to eat lunch. But Melissa made a soup out of boar’s meat and bones and she also made hand-pulled noodles, so we’ll have a meal on the go, just in case. Meanwhile, Dianne prepared her potions after just a few hours of sleep. She also made a couple of paralyzing poisons. I don’t think it would work against undead, but it won’t hurt to be prepared.

Paralysis Poison

Quality: Rank E (Low)

Effect: Renders user completely unable to move or attack for 5 seconds.

A low quality poison made by Dianne Duria.

“Dianne, do you have more of sleeping hebs?” Eric asked.

Dianne handed him a small box of ground herbs.

“Sweet.” Eric said as he shook the box.

Last night, Eric and Richard tried to create a flash grenade by using homemade explosives and it didn’t work. It should work, but somehow, it didn’t. Whenever he tries to light the bomb, a blue screen would appear and say: ‘Error: Advanced weapons technology disabled.’. It’s like the SYSTEM knew the chemistry of explosions and preventing it from happening.

They concluded that smoke bombs still work because it only involves burning of the materials. Eric and Richard was still searching for a loophole and they love to see an explosion. In the past, these brothers should already be in jail for it. Even though they failed at creating a bomb, Eric said that he and Richard created something useful from their failures.

We said our final goodbyes to Sir Gerry’s grave before we left the house. It wasn’t that we’ve already moved on with Gerry’s death. Even though we still felt sad about his death, Beth was right. We lost a friend, but we won’t allow it to happen again and lose another. Besides, crying all day long and blaming ourselves for it won’t bring him back. We will have time to grieve later, after we rescue Miguel.

“Let me bless your weapons first before we go.” Mark said as he held a plastic water bottle.

We piled our weapons on the ground as Mark sprinkled holy water on it. “In the name of Eriton, the god of justice, I bestow the blessing of his holy vengeance. His enemies shall cower at the sight of his fist given form, embodied through these weapons. May the Lord of Justice find us worthy to wield his righteous wrath.”

Steel Long Sword (Enchanted)

Attack Damage [Physical] 18-19

Durability: 43/55

Requirement: 15 STR

Magic Damage [Holy] 2-3

Duration: 6 Hour(s)

A long sword made of steel

.

After Mark said the words from his book, our weapons had a faint white glow to it. Mark told us that the enchantment wasn’t permanent and he would need to bless it every six hours.

“Come on, guys.” I said to them as we stood by the gate. “Let’s find him.”

We went on with our quest to find Miguel. Unlike when we left Camp Aguinaldo, our pace has quickened because of a threat to our friend’s life, my boyfriend’s life. Even though the area was cleared of monsters, we were on a full alert and had our weapons in our hands.

[I found it. I found the red smiley!] – Dianne

We ran towards Dianne and we saw a wall with a smiley drawn with red spray paint.

We didn’t have time to stand and investigate further. As soon as we saw the sign, we went on and continued the search. There were a few left over monsters along the way. Unlike the slow zombies we fought back at the university, the zombies we encountered in Pasig were fast runners.

Fast Zombie Lvl. 14

-251 HP! Critical Hit!

Target Died

As the zombie charged at our group, I slashed my sword and sliced through the zombie’s neck. We stopped for a moment as we took out pieces of clothes from our inventory and spread the zombie guts on it.

“Are you sure this will work?” Richard asked as he tried his best not to vomit.

“I can assure you that it works. It’s a disguise.” Eric replied. “This was Miguel’s idea and it helped us survive back when we were in the university.”

We made a quick job at all those zombies who dared to attack us. I realized that even though these zombies have higher levels compared to the ones we used to fight, they were weak and their flesh was soft. It would be a problem if they were many, but we only encountered one to three at a time. We didn’t even loot them to save time. Suddenly, we heard a familiar scream of the undead from a distance. It was the sound of a disturbed undead horde. A horde of at least a hundred zombies charged at us.

Restless Dead Lvl. 16

“I thought you said this would work?” Richard pointed at the gut cloth.

“I think they were attracted by the sound and not with our smell.” I said to him. “It doesn’t work 100% of the time. I was bitten by a zombie for no reason at all.”

“I’ll take care of this one.” Beth said as her battle axe glowed with yellow light.

You see, Miguel failed to see Beth’s potential. Back when they ‘auditioned’, he thought that Beth’s first skill [Momentum] was useless. That skill enables her to raise her attack power based on the distance she sprinted. Not running or walking, but sprinting. Each stack of [Momentum] would require 10 meters with a maximum stack of 10, a total of 100 meters of sprinting. Though Miguel let her fight in the frontlines, he didn’t consider her to be that valuable since [Momentum] wasn’t even an active skill.

However, when Beth was given a loan of 10 Gold Coins by the AFP, so that she could buy a skill from The Shop. She bought two skill books: [Cleave] and [Whirling Death]. [Cleave] which works like [Power Attack], but it only works with axes and polearms and will always hit multiple enemies at once when they’re in range. Her other skill [Whirling Death] was terrifying to say the least, but it requires a maximum stack of [Momentum]. We killed 17 chimeras on our first mission and most of those kills were from Beth.

We all charged towards the horde as we gave Beth a little room to let her stack [Momentum]. I used [Berserker’s Howl] to boost our damage while Melissa used her skill [Arrow Shower] on the incoming horde. As we got near enough, the rest of us slowed down a bit to let Beth use [Whirling Death].

As Beth got enough [Momentum] stacks, she slowly spun around with her axe until she was fast enough that she was literally a deadly tornado of blades. The zombies around her were annihilated as their bodies were cut in half. Fetid guts and blood splashed everywhere whenever the zombies were caught in Beth’s [Whirling Death].

I looked at Piper and she also fought with alongside with Melissa. She pounced at everyone who dared to get too close at her master. The dire wolf tore their necks and move from one zombie to the next. At least the darn useless mutt had its use.

Meanwhile, the rest of us killed everything that Beth missed with her skill. Eric charged at the enemies to use [Charge Attack] in combination of [Bash] and sent the multiple enemies flying to Beth while his brother, Richard, used his magic to create flaming boulders with the scattered debris of buildings. Since we were too close to the enemies, Dianne switched to her Bolo knife and joined us to kill the enemies with melee weapons. At last, I saw Beth’s spin begin to slow down.

[Eric, go to Beth and use [Taunt]. Mark, when Eric lures the zombies, use your skill.] – Claire

[Got it.] – Mark

[Oh shit. Not again. What if I get bitten by a zombie?] – Eric

[Oh, here comes the whining again.] – Melissa

[Shut up.] – Eric

[Don’t worry, Eric. I’ll take care of it. Besides, if I use [Sinestra’s Blessing] on them, it’ll be over in an instant.] – Mark

[Fine. Here goes nothing.] – Eric

Eric used his [Charge Attack] to quickly cover a short distance between him and Beth. His timing was impeccable as Beth’s spin stopped into a halt when he got there. He cast [Taunt] to lure all the zombies into him.

Debuff: Overheat

Even though Beth’s skill [Whirling Death] was powerful, it has a huge drawback after she uses it. Beth fell down on her knees as her body began to heat up and produced a steam-like smoke. It was called Overheat which was an after-effect of her skill. It will render her unable to move for 10 seconds after she uses [Whirling Death].

[Now, Mark!] – Claire

As I gave Mark my signal, he raised his mace up in the air as he cast [Sinestra’s Blessing]. A sphere made of white light appeared on top of Eric, Beth and the horde. The sphere made a ring of rays of light as it healed Eric and Beth and damages the zombies.

-200 HP!

-200 HP!

Mark told us earlier that this skill of his would not only heal his allies, but it will deal two times the amount of damage when used against undead and demi-monsters. Each time the rays of light hit the zombies, dark mists came out of their bodies as it vanished. The zombies, then fell down on the ground. Mark continued to cast [Sinestra’s Blessing] again and again until all the zombies around them were killed.

Level up!

“Mark!” Eric shouted. “Mark!”

“What?” Mark asked as we rushed towards Eric. “What’s wrong?”

“Look!” Eric panicked as he showed us a bite wound on his right shoulder. His shoulder guard was melted off yesterday by the slime spit. “What now?”

Melissa looked at Eric with widened eyes. She immediately embraced Eric and cried. “I’m so sorry!”

“I-I don’t want to die.” Eric shook his head as he wept. “I don’t want to die!”

I couldn’t believe it. Eric was bitten by a zombie and it will only take a few hours before he turned into one. At that moment, the only one we knew who could cure the disease was Miguel, but the problem was, he wasn’t here.

Mark sighed as he cast [Sinestra’s Blessing] on him. “I told you not to worry, didn’t I?”

“Fuck you!” Eric cursed as she hugged Melissa.

“Mark, I don’t think healing spells would work to cure the disease.” I said. “I’ve been bitten before and Miguel was clear that heal won’t remove whatever’s causing the infection.”

“I know that.” Mark rolled his eyes as he took out a bottle of holy water from his body bag and gave it to Eric. “Here, drink it.”

“It’s actually a curse. It’s called Necrosis Curse. Drinking holy water can easily remove it.” Mark added.

Eric quickly gulped down the contents of the whole bottle. “Are you sure that’s it?”

“Of course, I’m sure.” Mark nodded. “One of the symptoms is extreme pain of joints. Do you feel pain in your joints?”

“No.” Eric shook his head and let out a deep sigh. “I guess not.”

“Then you’re okay.” Mark helped Eric stand up. “Although, I could use a kiss on the lips as a reward.”

“Sorry man, I already got a girlfriend.” Eric wrapped his arms around Melissa’s waist.

“Well, I don’t mind a little competition.” Mark teased.

“That’s enough, guys.” Beth stood up and stretched her arms. “We’ve wasted enough time. We might not be able to catch up to Miguel.”

“Come on guys.” Dianne said.

As the others finally caught up with their breaths, we continued jogging on our way while Dianne went to her usual scouting business. She told us that the horde we fought seemed to be the last horde and the area was almost clear. As we followed the red smiley clues, we passed by another bridge. Dianne said that we already passed Pasig and we were currently in Taytay, Rizal province.

Since there were more roads and grassland in the area, Dianne couldn’t do her building hopping style of scouting. We were no longer in the city and there were still a lot of zombies, particularly, Restless Dead zombies, but not as many as we were at the university. We didn’t mind killing them as we needed all the EXP points we could get. It was starting to get dark, but we didn’t stop because Eric and Richard prepared a bunch of torches for us to use during the night. A risky move, but time was against us and we were afraid not to make it in time to save Miguel.

Half an hour later since we passed by the bridge. I noticed that Dianne suddenly stopped her usual direction pointing.

[Dianne, are you there?] – Claire

We waited for a couple of seconds, but she didn’t respond.

[Dianne, where are you?] – Claire

[Is everything okay?] – Melissa

[Dianne! Do you hear us?] – Beth

We kept on trying to contact her for a few minutes, but she wasn’t responding. We feared for the worse.

[Would you guys please shut up? I’m trying to talk to someone here, please.] – Dianne

[Tell us where you are.] – Claire

[Just follow the highway. I’m near a gas station.] – Dianne

[Who the hell are talking to?] – Eric

[Dianne, remember the rule that none of us will talk with survivors alone? What the fuck is wrong with you?!] – Melissa

[Shut up! Just hurry!] – Dianne

As we saw a sign of a gas station, we sprinted towards it while ignoring the zombies. When we reached Dianne, we saw her talking to someone in the small store in the gas station.

“Goddammit, Dianne. Don’t do that again!” I said as I scolded her. “Who is it anyway?”

The person she was talking to wasn’t a local. I can easily tell with her blonde hair and fair skin. The blonde woman looked strangely familiar. As I stared at her, she reminded me of a certain person that I hated more than Miguel. Yeah, there was one person that I hated more than him. While my hatred for Miguel was for ‘passion’, my hatred for this particular person was pure and with zeal.

“Guys!” Dianne excitedly stood up. “She’s Daria Swann!”