Countdown: 4!~

Well here you guys go. Here's poll number 2 As Irina and Hydra will continue to the next round~

“Ow…. Did you really need to go all out like that? I swear if my butt had a health bar it would be zero right now!”

Hydra was rubbing his behind as he looked at Irina pitifully. Although he couldn’t feel pain after all the arrows that pierced that area it had turned completely numb. In response although just removed her gaze and tilted her chin up in with an unhappy expression and spoke.

“Hmph! Serves you right for dropping a lady!”

“You know I didn’t do that on purpose!”

“And that’s why I left you off with only 5 arrows Hehe!”

‘Only? Jesus that alone could have nearly killed me!”

Is what Hydra wanted to say but he opted to keep silent after all Irina was the type to keep shooting him if he kept shooting his mouth. Although he numbed, he still couldn’t hide the happy expression filling his face. As both he, Irina and Pan had already entered into the Imperial city! As Hydra stared at the thick wooden doors that were completely wide open he was bombarded with a street full of liveliness. Much more so than the Beginner’s town that was full of random users rushing or chatting with their friends.

Although there were numerous users around, the sheer amount of Naturals made them look like a drop in the ocean as Naturals were constantly yelling about their products or service across the streets. Nobles were in carriages that only took 1/10 of the entire pathway, as that itself could show the sheer size of the street. The buildings stretched endlessly until the next set of walls that protected the imperial capital. Although the street itself didn’t rush straight down and interwoven itself to the end it, the buildings were nonetheless countless.

Irina and Hydra both had looks of amazement as if they were children growing up in a farming village and had never experienced a true city. Although in the case for Irina it was the case as she had only been to small villages and Beginner’s town which was medium at best. On the other hand although Hydra lived in a large city in the real world, the feeling here was just different. The atmosphere of people happily rushing through the city gave a feeling of belonging. People didn’t just walk with their heads held down ignoring the countless people around them. Instead these people were smiling ear to ear happily chatting and meetings new people.

Such a thing would be nearly impossible to see in the real world. It was a world where people still trusted one another. After all if the humans didn’t band together the only thing that was left for them was extinction! Even after walking down the street being bumped into countless people where they would respond with a gesture of apology they still kept staring at the countless people and numerous shops as they passed them. It was then Hydra realized Irina was just as excited as he was. Seeing a large open area over all the heads of the people, Hydra called out to Irina pointing in its direction.

“Hey let’s check it out over there!”

“Okay!”

Before rushing over Hydra grabbed took Pan and put him on his shoulder as he did Pan cried out happily pawing his face with a little love. As they both rushed towards the open area they realized it was similar to an open market! Numerous stalls were set up all around and without any particular organization behind them. Although this might look ugly and messy, because the stalls were simply and filled with strange objects or items it gave a feeling of uniqueness. To either one of them such a thing wasn’t a bad thing as they decided to be a little adventurous they walked through the market. When Hydra found an interesting stall while Irina was busy looking around he rushed up to the old man standing in front of his shop.

“Hey, can I get three of those with these?”

Hydra pointed towards the blank white masks that the old man was selling and then pointed to himself, Pan and Irina who still hadn’t noticed Hydra had gone off. Although she was still walking she was walking at a snail's pace in which would be easy for Hydra to catch up. Naturally this area was busy but not nearly as filled as the main street was so there was no worries of getting separated! The old man calmly looked at Hydra and Irina and gave a mischievous smile before nodding.

“One sec, that will be 1 silver each 3 in total!”

“Alright here you go!”

Hydra passed the three silver over to the man and in return as the old man wrote a slight rune on top of the masks they changed their appearance! As hydra put one of the masks on himself, and one on Pan, they moved a bit before adjusting to fit onto their faces. As Hydra was walking to return to Irina’s side she was looking around, she called out to him.

“Aren’t these so interesting? I have never seen such an interesting place like this! All the small objects are so fascinating! Hey Hydra what do you think?”

As Irina looked over and found Hydra by her side she couldn’t help but burst into laughter as she saw the mask that Hydra was wearing. The current image of the mask that Hydra was wearing resembled Pan! While Pan was wearing a mask that looked exactly like Hydra! In response to Irina’s laughter Hydra titled his head confusedly and cried out softly emitting Pan.

“Aroo?”

Feeling like he was being teased Pan pawed Hydra in discontent! Such a scene drove Irina over the line and she immediately demanded to have the mask that Hydra was wearing!

“Okay! I knew you wanted the one of Pan so I got one of you!”

“Hey! You can wear my beautiful face it’s too good for you!”

“What? Am I supposed to wear my own face?”

“Yup, after all the mask is more handsome than you are!”

Irina smiled in a mischievous manner and ran off while Hydra was dumbstruck. He even stood there for a few seconds before regaining composure he chased after the girl with a [Red Panda mask]. But as if to show he was a rebellious man he wore her face anyways, and when Irina saw that she giggled a little but didn’t say anything more. Instead she only looked in the direction of a stall.

At this particular stall were apples covered in a brown like substance poked with a wooden stick. At this sight she stared in confusion, although she knew that the object was an apple she couldn’t help but find it completely strange to cover it with this brown layer of something? She didn’t expect Hydra to know either as he was just as amazed at everything as she was previously however at this she noticed she was wrong when Hydra spoke up.

“Oh? I can’t believe that they have caramel apples here!”

“What are caramel apples?”

“Why don’t you try one? Here, buy one for Pan I’ll share with him.”

“Okay!”

As Irina skipped over happily towards the stall keeper, she smiled joyfully while ordering two apples. Seeing this Hydra could already tell she was extremely in a good mood and completely forget about him dropping her which was a thankful thing ass he didn’t believe for a second that she had intended to let him off so easily, and only stopped cause they had arrived in the city. When she came bouncing back, she passed a caramel apple to Hydra and focused all her attention on the apple in front of her.

“It won’t bite you, just eat it!”

“If you say so.”

As she took a small reluctant bite into the apple, Hydra could see the instant change from reluctance to pure bliss in a matter of a second. Irina at this point had already immediately taken a second bite and as if the sweetness was bursting out of her cheeks she placed her free hand on her cheek to calm them down. Her eyes were sparkling and fully concentrated on the fascinating apple in front of her. Fully knowing she was in her own world Hydra grabbed his and passed it to Pan to let him grab a bite.

“Pan. In the future when you find a mrs. Pan just give her sweets. You can save your life on numerous occasions from that.”

“Aroo?”

Although confused somehow Pan realized the seriousness in Hydra’s words, but seeing him press the apple in front of him Pan took a bite as well. However instead of reacting like Irina, Pan immediately fully opened its mouth and swallowed the apple whole. After a few chomps and an unknown method of swallowing a full apple that was bigger than his mouth, Hydra looked stood there flabbergasted and couldn’t help but think to himself.

‘How much did you like it to not even enjoy it in pieces?!’

----------------------------------------------------

“Are we here?”

“Yes! There’s no doubt about it! This is the [Temple of the Forgotten Gods].”

“..Wooooow! This… This is truly a breathtaking sight..”

“It’s truly fascinating that’s for sure.”

As Goliath and co stood in front of a giant temple, the area around them was a deep valley. If one didn’t manage to go off a trail that was expected to go no where it would have been impossible to find such a place. However now the [Shadow Lurkers] because of Lockon's [Decipher] ability have reached a temple that was neither big nor small but gave off the impression of ancientness. The valley around had countless waterfalls falling in the lake surroundings the temple. The water vapour caused the birth of rainbows stretching one side of the valley to the other. The building itself was normal and had no extravagance to it and was only set up with pillars on the outside, and a building with four sides. The only extra part of the building was an ivory like staircase that made one feel they sense of walking the stairway to the heavens.

Although the [Shadow Lurkers] thought the sight was beautiful and even forgot to exhale they came here for their own ambitions. Without being hindered for longer than a few seconds they walked straight into the temple, faces full of pride.