Chapter 126 :

Episode 26 : What One Yearns For (8)

[What a great performance you all did.]

Eve praised the three participants while she was lowering down the cloud she was laying on.

Upon getting on ground level, Eve shifted her gaze on Mirai, Alaine and Mya. Not once letting her eyes leave Mya, Eve focusly stared at the child.

‘Was it my doing that she changed her mind?’ Eve thought while recalling the reward she gave to Mya.

Raising her hand, Alaine asked Eve. "Hey, miss! Can we have our break now?"

[Break? Did I say there was a break after Phase 2?]

"What? Then??"

Afterwards, Eve grinned deviously as she snapped her fingers to create some sort of sound wave, reverberating all over the place.

When the sound wave passed through everything, the objects and area that it touched, were turned to something else.

With the field of flowers now being covered by that of clean and luxurious tiles while the once peaceful sky was masked away with a dome structure.

"A dome house???" Alaine gasped as she was dumbfounded by this unexpected change.

In a matter of seconds, there were some kind of pillars being materialized in thin air with an altar in between the two pillars. From what it seemed, 12 pillars were built in the far distance with 6 in the north and 6 in the south.

"..Look, over there!" Mya said as she pointed her finger at the center of the dome house.

Sooner or later, there were 4 more pillars that had risen from the ground in the middle of the dome house, along with that, these pillars appeared to be surrounding the center altar that had mounted up from the dirt.

In due course, this place was completely done with construction. This new area appearing all beautiful and majestic, was filled with tons of negativity instead of a flowery feel.

Even though there were dozens of flower decorations around the place, including the pillars, it wasn't at all mageficent when the ambience didn't fit the interior.

And not only that, it looked like the construction wasn't nearly finished yet, since a tree had sprouted from the center pillars, growing as tall as to entirely reach the top of the dome.

Everyone who was watching this sight unfold, were somewhat nervous and astounded at the same time.

"Woah.." Stunned, Mya admired until she realized how the tree wasn't an ordinary tree.

Whatever it was, Mirai, Alaine and Mya weren't feeling so good about this place nor what to come from Phase 3.

[There will be no break for this one. Instead, you should be using your time wisely for this phase.]

Out of the sudden, Eve had spoken to everyone after making the cloud float toward the big tree, staying there while she watched the three participants below.

As it wasn't over yet, Eve had clapped her hand to form an orb with one fifth of her power within it. Soon after, Eve had plunged the orb straight at the tree, making the tree absorb the orb like water.

…And then, after a few seconds, a system message was showcased to everyone.

[Phase 3 : Flower Crafts.]

"Craft..? What?" Confused, Alaine stared at those words again and again.

Not long after the system message, another one had popped up in everyone's point of views.

[Special Event Boss has been spawned.]

..It brought chills to everybody's spines.

"A boss!?! I didn't know there was a boss?! Yeah sure, there were insect monsters, but a boss?!" Alaine grumbled as she was too bewildered by the message.

Including Mya who had turned somewhat pale by just sighting this message, had remembered the scenery where she had encountered and been trapped within the Nature Dragon unexpectedly in Stage #10.

"... It's okay.." Mya told herself while clasping onto her amulet.

Along with Alaine and Mya, Mirai was feeling perplexed with her slightly fazed expression. Despite being shocked, Mirai was using her head to understand the situation around her.

‘Altars.. and the Phase is flower crafts. Which means that someone must craft these objects.’ Mirai thought while flapping her fan.

Unknowingly, She didn't realize that she was acting like JoonChul who overthink multiple times, although Mirai didn't get enough time to think when Eve began to speak again to explain everyone about this Phase.

[For this Phase, you must create one flower craft in each and every altar while fighting the boss.]

[However, there is a twist. You must craft these different items within 30 minutes.]

"30 minutes?!??!!!!! How?!" Alaine gasped in a loud volume.

[Yes, exactly. You don't need to worry about the boss destroying your craft.]

"Wait! Isn't that too little?! 30 minutes?! Seriously?!" Alaine bawled.

But Eve didn't tilt an eye when she heard Alaine and she proceeded to ascend higher up to the branches of the tree in the middle.

"What the freak?! How are we supposed to do this?!"

Since Alaine was already used to people not giving proper information about stages and phases, she didn't try to ask and just accepted the challenge immediately because it wouldn't be great to waste time by asking questions to the person who wouldn't respond to her.

Scratching her head like crazy, Alaine started to ask Mirai. "Mirai, what are we going to do now?"

After hearing some information about Phase 3, Mirai had been cooking up some ideas and plans inside her head, until she was interrupted by Alaine's question which startled her a little.

"Nani? Ah."

Then, Mya came forward to tell Mirai, smiling. "I'll follow whatever aunt Mirai says."

Hearing that, Mirai beamed a heartwarming smile on her face before taking a deep breath. Once she was done with it, she finally told Mya and Alaine about her plan for this Phase.

It required some time for Mirai to finish, but when she did, Alaine was concerned about some part of the plan.

"Do you think I can do it?" Alaine with a lack of self-confidence asked Mirai.

Mirai only nodded and patted Alaine's shoulder which was enough to give a boost to Alaine's confidence.

"Sister Alaine isn't worried about me?" Mya spoke, staring at Alaine with a pout.

Alaine averted her eyes elsewhere while laughing nervously. "Of course, I'm worried… worried about your flowers. Hehe….."

"Move!" Suddenly, Mirai warned those two.

[00:30:00]

CRASH!

All of a sudden, there was a big chunk of wood being dropped onto everyone, crashing into the ground when Mirai, Alaine and Mya had dodged it by an inch.

"Jeez! Can't we just have a moment to ourselves for a bit?!" Alaine bellowed after backflipping from her spot.

Mirai, who had carried Mya and brought her to a safe place, was glaring at the center of the tree. There, she had noticed a female figure being created in mid-air, appearing all casual with vines and flowers on her body.

"A dryad! I knew it!" Mirai smiled when her guesses were correct.

Mya, who was being dropped off by Mirai, was glancing at the direction where Mirai was looking. As she witnessed a dryad appearing, Mya was undoubtedly amazed by the dryad's clothing and natural green hair.

Mya gasped. "So attractive! Woaaah!!"

Being the child she was, she could only be surprised by the new discovery of a creature she had wished to see in the storybook.

"And deadly. She's the boss as well.." Mirai mumbled.

[00:29:50]

"Hey, hey! Time is ticking! We need to finish this and leave this place!" Alaine hurried and appeared beside Mirai and Mya.

"Right! We can do this!" Mya grinned as she was feeling nonchalant.

"Then, good luck~" Mirai snickered while leaving those two to do their roles.

Alaine being angry by Mirai going first, grumbled at her. "Oi!! Don't just go first! Ughh!"

"Hehe." Mya giggled.

———

Meanwhile in the Garden Of Eden, HwanGi was watching the live footage of the three participants being in Phase 3.

While watching the show with clenched fists, HwanGi was extremely concerned about them after hearing there was a special event boss.

‘We barely managed to fight off the Nature Dragon.. So isn't it a death sentence to Mirai, Alaine and Mya?’ HwanGi pondered while narrowing his eyes.

‘No. Why did I have to think like that? They'll be fine, I know they will.’

But when HwanGi was about to shift his glance back to the screen, he had no idea that he had to rethink it again.

"Mya!" HwanGi uttered with his eyes shaking in complete madness.

..The reason why HwanGi was devastated was because he had witnessed the dryad boss swaying the tree root on top of Mya, seemingly crushing her in the process.

"No way.. This can't be.." HwanGi muttered, gazing at the sky with a blank stare.

By then, HwanGi had shifted his glance onto JoonChul who was inside the coffin before glancing blanky at his corpse, wondering if it was even the right choice to make.

‘Mya can't be dead.. Was it Frostina's idea to get Mya killed in this? That would make sense to get rid of someone who doesn't want JoonChul-ssi to come back alive..’

‘No way.. That can't be..’

Since HwanGi was pondering what JoonChul's comrades would feel, he thought he should have a look.

...

‘I shouldn't have..’

The other two being Noel and Crystal were exceptionals since they didn't know who Mya was, but to think that JoonChul's comrades didn't show any emotions on their faces when Mya, their teammate died!

‘What do they think they are!? Do they not care about Mya's life?! How could they not pretend to look sad?!!’

HwanGi, growing furious by the sight of JoonChul's comrades looking all fine and dandy without shredding a single hint of sorrow or grief, couldn't help but grinded his teeth.

"These people.."

When he thought he was the only one feeling wrecked from this, HwanGi noticed Louis who had the same expression as him.

"Mya! Mya!" Louis was horrified when he was exclaiming.

As though the world had shattered in front of him, HwanGi stared at the overwhelmed Louis before gazing his upset eyes onto the screen once more.

‘..I shouldn't have sent Mya there! Damnit!!’ HwanGi grunted while smacking the ground.

"Goddamnit!! DAMN IT!!" Exclaiming at full volume, HwanGi angrily slammed his fist on the ground.

Not knowing of the fact that he unconsciously used ‘Divine Flame’ to set fire on the grass..

It was a good thing that his flame died down without harming most of the plant, since ‘Divine Flame’ can't burn nature.

..And it was fortunate for another reason.

[Young man, do not try to vent your frustrations onto the plants.] Adam spoke eerily, mysteriously appearing behind HwanGi.

"You!! Get Mya out here!" Louis glaring at Adam, ran over to him to grab his collar.

[Oh boy. Did you not understand this event?]

"I said bring her back! Now!!"

Despite HwanGi wanting to ask Adam to teleport Mya back, he had to do what's right and clever, so he came in between Louis and Adam to stop them quickly.

"Louis! Calm down!" HwanGi uttered, pushing Adam and Louis away.

In the end, HwanGi had to drag Louis back to his place, not wanting for Adam and Louis to crash again.

"Louis, you know it's not worth it to anger him." HwanGi told Louis.

Still outraged, Louis bellowed at HwanGi while shifting his glare at Adam. "There's no way I wouldn't do anything when Mya is in danger!!"

At that moment, Adam had a smirk on his face which resulted in Louis' rise in fury, prompting Louis to charge at Adam with his ‘Marine Javelin’.

"Louis! Stop!" HwanGi shouted.

Thankfully, HwanGi managed to prevent Louis from impaling his javelins into Adam's skull, but it was only for a moment.

"Get Mya out of there or else I'll make a mess with your head!" Louis with his piering glance cried out, pointing his javelins directly at Adam's face.

[Try it, Player.] Adam spoke, unfazed by the pointy sticks around his head.

Quickly, HwanGi grabbed Louis's arm, seizing it maleficently to halt Louis as much as he could.

Getting tired of HwanGi trying to stop him, Louis nudged off HwanGi's hand before knocking him aside.

After that, the enraged Louis began to move his javelins an inch away from penetrating into Adam's head, slowly but surely digging them into Adam's skin with how sharp the tip of Louis's javelins were.

"Don't try to stop me, HwanGi!! I'm going to murder him if I have to!"

Louis declared with his irked expression and gritted teeth, fully ready to cut down Adam in a moment's notice.

‘If he does anything to Adam when we don't even know how powerful he is, we might just be going into the lion's den if I allow Louis to do what he wants!’

With a thought like that, HwanGi glanced at the situation when out of the blue, he saw a system message popping up right in front of his viewpoint.

It stated…

[The Special Event, ‘Garden Of Eden’ has ended!]