EXPEDITION OF CHAOS

For nearly a week straight Lynne kept on a very simple, boring, astoundingly painful routine: fight, rest, fight, rest, piss, rest, rest, fight, rest some more, and then pass out due to lack of rest.

Naturally, he couldn’t manage to even land a hit on the flammable youth. One time he got relatively close to it, but then his footing slipped up and he planted his face onto the earth in a rather memorable fashion.

Still, Lynne could easily excuse his failures: the youth was too freakish! Each time Lynne would improve, so would the youth! It felt as if this projection was mimicking him, as if to constantly remind him that there’s always a higher heaven. In the end, Lynne grew numb to it. He had lost too many times. He had been beaten at least fifteen times every day. He had nearly even lost a concept of ‘victory’. Or pride.

On the sixth day, he was battling the youth for the endlessth time, his expression completely deadpan. He could clearly feel himself growing stronger, but what’s the point without any gratification? If everyone is growing stronger, nobody is!

“Go away…” Lynne finally shouted when his Mana reserves ran out. Sighing with his eyes tearing up, he planted himself onto the ground, nearly howling like a wolf at the sky. “Am I really that pathetic?! Shit, I managed to forge two Soul Weapons, I’m following these freaking Origin Laws, what else do I need to do?! Which ass do I need to kiss just to win once?! Just once!!”

“Hur hur, you’re still too weak,” a mocking laughter woke him up; he slanted his head sideways and saw that Eternal Spirit coming towards him. “Train and you’ll eventually succeed.”

“Blegh, no shit! Even if fly trained for ten thousand years it’d learn it’s not healthy to eat shit!”

“….”

“What are you doing here? I’m not in a good mood.”

“You don’t say.”

“Yeah, I’ll damn well say it! Who the hell is that dude?” Lynne finally unleashed the frustration that had been building up for nearly a week. “He’s a freak! He’s absolute freak! Forget freak… he’s… he’s freakingly freakishly freakish! Can you change the difficulty?”

“Hm? You want to fight someone stronger?”

“Stronger? Screw your stronger! I can barely look at the earth with dignity! Let me fight some five year old kid so I can regain some of my soul!”

“Ho ho,” the Spirit laughed cheekily. “Unfortunately, Iglis is the weakest of the recorded intents here.”

“WHAT?!! HE’S THE WEAKEST?!!” Lynne collapsed, his eyebrows slanting, look of ethereal sadness overcoming his features. “What do they say, huh? A fool and his money are easily parted, right? More like A Lynne and his pride are easily destroyed! I am all bark and no bite… ah, I’m barking up the wrong tree…”

“Can you stop quoting random idioms?”

“Idioms? What’s that? Oh, you mean idiots? Wait, some idiots already said those words? Damn, they beat me…”

“… the time’s run out,” the Spirit ignore Lynne as it spoke. “In a few hours, everyone will be ejected from the sect’s domain. Ah, for the last time as well… you have already bound the dimension, so when I transport you out, we will reside inside your Soul. Don’t disappoint me.”

“Ah, well, I’ve already disappointed my mother and my sister’s grandma, what’s another name going to change? Today, if they hugged, they’d make a ring large enough to choke a star; tomorrow, with you, they’d have another fragrance of a fart.”

“…” good lord, what have I done…?

After recovering his Mana completely, Lynne took a deep breath before he felt a surge of warmth envelop his body. The very next moment, he felt space around him distort, forcing him to close his eyes; at the same time, he felt grueling pain invade his Soul. As he inspected it with Soul Force, he saw a small, thumb-sized bead lingering on within the shades of his soul. He immediately understood it was the sect’s secret dimension and paid it no more heed.

After a few moments, the spacial distortion ended and Lynne opened his eyes. Ah, familiar place… I missed you so… Around him were plazas, pavilions, buildings and other structures, just as he remembered the first layer of the sect’s grounds to be. However, there wasn’t anyone here. It was clear everyone ventured deeper in to seek lucky chances, but Lynne didn’t care. He simply sat down and waited.

**

During the seven days Lynne spent in the secret dimension of the sect, the rest of those who came in with him were thrown into a complete chaos. On the first day, nearly one hundred people perished. It wasn’t uncommon for people to die in great numbers within the sect’s grounds, but it was usually towards the latter days, when they were robbed. However, that number kept increasing as each day passed. One thousand, five thousand, ten thousand… on the seventh day, nearly half of those who entered have died, their bodies either never found, or found in complete pieces.

Everyone was utterly terrified, as they had no idea what was happening. Was it something within the sect’s grounds? Was it someone who entered alongside them? The lack of knowledge led to lack of courage which led to demented paranoia. On the sixth day, nearly everyone began infighting. People stopped exploring, and under the guise of robbing began murdering everyone they suspected. From the shadows, those responsible for the initial stretch of murders, merely observed and laughed. Their job was simply to dwindle down the numbers and entice confusion and fear. After all, the real cake was placed outside.

“Lady Fen’er,” a dark-clad youth with pale face, narrow eyes and slender build spoke in a hoarse voice, observing from the shadows. “He he, we really made it big this time, huh?”

“So-so,” Lady Fen’er appeared to be in her mid twenties, and was an absolute beauty. Her body curved right at every corner, and her plump chest couldn’t be hidden even underneath plate armor. She had extremely pale skin, almost as if she had never seen sun, and blue eyes which seemed to contain the stars themselves. Her expression was of indifference and coldness, as if nothing in the world could shake her. “Father will be displeased though. We killed too many.”

“Ah, true,” another youth replied; he was quite average, both in stature and appearance, which made him one of the best assassins in the order of Lords of Zen. “Alas, what can we do? They are all just idiots.”

“He he,” the youth who spoke first licked his lips in a vicious manner as he spoke; he was called Lymor, and was known as one of the Three Beasts of Zen. Coincidentally, Lady Fen’er was also one of the three. “It’s not enough! We were too cautious… I couldn’t fully enjoy them. He he.”

“Another time,” Lady Fen’er added, vicious glint flashing in her eyes. “Let us wait. The realm should eject us soon. He he, I wonder what their expressions will be once we leave this place.”

“Indeed...”

“He he, I can’t wait…”

**

Six hours after Lynne left the secret realm, the world began shaking slightly, and Lynne realized it was time for departure. He quickly got up onto his feet and looked around; he had been trying to send mental messages to the bird, but he’s gotten no reply. Although he was slightly worried, it was only slightly; after all, the bird was probably with Thalia. Who could do anything to them?

As the world shook one last time, Lynne once again felt space deform around him as he was sent packing. Moving through a spacial tunnel, it was much faster than when he was entering, and just a short ten minutes later he found himself outside. However, the moment he opened his eyes, his heart froze, and he felt death whisper to his soul.

Sky was bloated in black; countless figures wearing black robes hovered in the sky, looking down at the plaza where the teleportation array was located. Lynne shivered as he immediately recognized them; he then quickly scanned his surroundings and felt even more terrified. Over half people didn’t come out!!

It was well established that by the end of the week, everyone alive inside would be immediately ejected! What did this mean then?

Death!

Massacre!

Someone slaughtered half of those who entered!

Just as Lynne realized it, everyone else did; some others also encountered black-clad figures before, so it wasn’t hard to connect the dots. Suddenly, a group of black-clad figures stationed atop the teleportation plaza flew up into the sky. There were twenty in total, and they joined the sea of others.

“Lady Fen’er,” one of the men bowed respectfully as he spoke to a peerless beauty. “I suspect everything went according to the plan?”

“Of course,” Lady Fen’er replied coldly. “Go on, I can’t be bothered. Kill them, capture them, I don’t care. Young Lord is expecting a great harvest and we can’t disappoint him.”

“Naturally,” the man still respectfully bowed; after all, this was Lord Princess! Her status was only beneath the Lord’s and Young Lord’s! “Children,” he then turned towards the dumbfounded mass of people who stared at the sky. “It is my pleasure to inform you that you should be honored; you have been selected to become our Young Lord’s sacrifice!” Screw your honored mother!! Lynne cursed inwardly, crazily scanning the crowd; he finally located Anna, Elynal and the monkey. There you are! Wait, where the hell is Thalia? And the bird?!

“Don’t be afraid, it will all be over soon.” he spoke calmly, with a smile, as if he was giving them gold and jewelry instead of death sentence. “Men, go. Kill.”

“KILL!!!”

“KILL!!!” the sea of black-clad people shouted atop of their lungs.

“Master Jin, will you be participating?” Lady Fen’er joined an elderly-looking man who appeared more like a scholar than a Magus.

“Ho ho, it’s best I left it to youths to gain some experience,” the elderly man replied with a kind smile. “If I were to join, it’d be too quick.”

“Ha ha, indeed,” Lady Fen’er laughed coldly. “It’s best we let them suffer a bit. They’ve looked down on us for far too long.”

Lynne, naturally, couldn’t be bothered about the fat, ugly old man and the peerless beauty chatting merrily in the distant sky. The bird was missing! That was his escape plan. The Thalia was missing! That was his backup escape plan! He quickly realized that he had no time to make a backup of a backup plan, so he had to improvise. Shit, I can’t join them, they’re too far away. What to do? What the hell to do? Yo, Eternal Whatever, can you hear me? Can you send that weakest freak to help me out here? I’m about to die! You could have at least warned me there were freaking devils waiting to kill me outside!

Naturally, there was no reply. As Lynne began sweating, the sea in the sky descended like rain; one black-clad figure after another dove in quick fashion, slashing out with countless arrays and arcs of light. As if finally woken from the stupor, everyone around him roared atop of their lungs as they began unleashing their magic as well. It quickly turned into a war. War? Screw war!! 90% of black-clad women are drop-dead ugly! What the hell would I fight for? What spoils? What honor? Just let me escape!

Lynne spotted a black-clad figure attacking him from the side. He had no desire to fight, yet he had to; it was no longer a matter of coercing others with words. It was about surviving to bed ten thousand mature maidens, swim in heavenly river of gold and drink godly wine! He definitely knew he won’t be going to heaven, so the only thing awaiting him in death was a barbecue. In which he was the main course.

Without another option, he quickly drew out his Chakrams and summoned Aqua Blade and one hundred blazing Elemental Blades. You want to kill this grandpa? Fine, I’ll screw your ear out you eternal virgin!