Chapter 82: Guesses

"Alright, if you are ready let's go to the volcano." Miloud learned about Safo's deactivated status and mocked him a bit. But very soon it got serious.

"What are you talking about? You just finished your profession, tell us about it." Luna nodded at Safo's words. They were eager to know about professions. Luna still couldn't decide what to choose.

"It is not a big deal. I'm officially an Assassin now. People can create contracts through me, they will be visible to all assassins. I also can pick any contract. If I finish it by instructions - I will receive a reward. It is pretty simple.

Oh, by the way. I'm much stronger than before." Miloud's proud grin shone in the night.

Miloud pointed to the ground and walked towards Safo. Safo and Luna stood confused, they didn't get the point.

"My footsteps are silent, you have to pay attention to details if you want to be an assassin, Safo." Miloud scolded him.

'When did I say that I want to be an assassin?' Safo didn't dare to ask though.

"I also don't have any scent now. It is perfect for hunting powerful monsters. In Cube 4, we will have to take a trial to win an Aura, and mine will be hidden from the view.

And I received 5 Agility Points, I have 11 in total. It is a huge boost to me. Including that I have to be next to the cheater guy." Miloud gave a minute to receive praise from Luna and Safo, who were jumping in excitement.

"Fine, fine, thank you. Now, can we go?"

"Yes!"

The hot air made breathing harder, it seemed that the lungs had been burning after each inhale. From time to time, 1-2 points of damage decreased the HP. And it made no difference if one wears armor or any other protection.

At the foot of the Runiou Volcano, Safo received a notification that the part of the quest was completed. The tip to find a hidden item came straight after.

[ An enemy who loves to torture lives will be tortured for eternity. The guard that keeps the gates, hates approaching lives. Only a fading life can catch his attention. ]

"What the hell does it mean?" Safo read out loud the notification so Miloud and Luna could help him.

"No clue. It says that Gatekeeper hates life or things that are alive. Let's walk around and kill monsters." Miloud had his guess.

Not having anything better they decided on that plan. So the next four hours the trio walked around the volcano island hunting everything that they saw.

A couple of level 18 fish squirting water jets from their mouth were the most problematic ones. Killing two fish gave them a good amount of EXP and money.

But clearly, it didn't help to finish the quest. Many adventures over the years were on the island hunting monsters, none of them met the so-called Gatekeeper.

"It is not working." Disheartened, Safo sat on the beach playing with the sand.

"Maybe the "Live" that had been mentioned in the hint were we? To think of it, we are trying to gain his attention. But I'm not sure about the first part of the message, though." Luna was thinking about the words in the hint all the time and finally came up with a different idea.

And again without anything better in mind, the trio went closer to the volcano.

Boiling lava was trying to get free from the grasps of the underground, it ripped the ground and couldn't move for a long distance. Very soon it became a grey solid rock only to be ripped by another piece of energetic and motivated lava.

Miloud started to ponder about the message. "We didn't torture our enemies; we had killed them as fast as we could. So we are good with the first part. The next part is saying that the one who keeps the gate hates living beings that approaches it. So we have to get closer to the thing that we want. I think whatever is hidden, it is inside the volcano."

"You might be right. It is a Creator's quest. Maybe the volcano represents the forge of the god, the place to create stuff?!" Luna added her guess to make the image clearer.

"I think it is so. So to "approach" - we have to climb the volcano. Then as the last part says we have to leave. I think only then will we meet the conditions." Miloud finished his brainstorm.

For the third time, nobody had any better guesses. Thus they moved vertically.

In the beginning, it was just a hot environment, then it became a hot surface to walk, and at the end, it was dealing damage to the body.

Safo was fine, he could stop moving and his character's perk would kick in and restore his lost HP. For Miloud and Luna potions were the answer.

After an hour Miloud and Luna were at the throat of the volcano. For Safo, though, it took another hour. He couldn't climb fast due to his fear of heights. Cursing the second Cube for having quests like that, Safo finished his ascension.

"Luna, I hope we won't get chicken meat today." Half jested Safo indicating that the eagle was in bad condition. It struggled to keep itself near its owner.

"Let's leave this place faster, guys." Luna was worried as well.

"Wait, can you use your vision and check the inside of the volcano. Maybe something is there that we must take away from it." Theorized Miloud.

A Minute after, Luna disappointed her teammates, nothing except sizzling lava could be seen in the bottom.

The team decided to leave the place and check their luck. Miloud and Luna used teleport scrolls while Safo spent some time looking around for any more hints.

He recalled the notification message and gave it a read once more. An afflatus suddenly came to Safo but soon his face changed from a smile to a grim expression.

"Are you kidding me?!"

'I can fuc*ing understand the fight, it is fine that I get injured. But this is insane.' Safo thought.

"I can't do it. Fuc* it! I can't!" He started screaming at the volcano with no response.

His palms were sweaty, his knees buckled but he couldn't decide on an act.

A shout of anger mixed with helplessness came out of his mouth, it was an attempt to gather courage.

Safo's body in real life jerked, his clothes were covered in a cold sweat. Even Luna felt his worries. She told Miloud that they had to return to the volcano.

"Maybe when we teleported away from the place the Gatekeeper appeared and Safo is fighting him alone right now. Knowing his phobia, most likely Safo is chained by his fear and can't battle the monster properly. We must hurry." Miloud and Luna were about to leave the village when they heard a familiar voice from behind.

"Stop. No need to run, I got it." Safo slowly walked from the main plaza to them.

Both Luna and Miloud were shocked. Safo looked relaxed as if anything happened. Luna started to doubt herself.

"Are you alright? Luna said that your body was under stress. What happened?"

"I'm fine. I solved the puzzle. After you left I stood there thinking if it really was the right thing to do when it finally clicked. We do not have to "leave" the place to activate it. The gatekeeper hates life, not guests. We have to die in the lava to satisfy the guard. I jumped.”

Miloud and Luna stared at Safo in disbelief. "Are you crazy?" Simultaneously shouted both of them.

"Doesn't matter, I think it is going to work. let's go check." Safo was excited to see the Gatekeeper, he was sure that he didn't sacrifice his life for naught.

"You are brave, I admit that." Miloud was genuinely surprised by Safo's actions.

"You didn't see me crying on the way down. Haha."

The second climb was way easier for Safo, he still feared to fall but the sweet anticipation of a Boss fight was stronger.

...

At the top, they saw nothing. There was no Boss to meet them.

"Shit, did I just burn to crisp just for fun?! So sad." But Safo was more disappointed by the fact that he didn't crack the puzzle.

"Wait a minute. I think the lava level inside the volcano is higher than before. I'm not completely sure, but I think it was different before. Maybe by "Lives" it means multiple sacrifices?" Prospect scared Luna. It meant that they all had to jump and maybe not just once.

"I have an idea," Miloud spoke first. "Safo you jump first. I and Luna will see if something will change if it is truly the answer to our puzzle we will jump after."

"Why me? You jump!" The unpleasant experience made Safo question Miloud's suggestion.

Miloud didn't wait for a second, he just did it. Safo and Luna were on top of the volcano watching how a body smashed onto the boiling magma, caught on fire, and burned to death.

They waited for the magma level to change even for an inch...