Chapter 31: Rolling
Inside the survival matrix, Lyra, Ashton, and Logan refused to leave the area Marlon had disappeared from.
The three of them stood inside the warm zone and stared at the exact location he had vanished from with worried expressions on their faces, especially Ashton and Logan.
Lyra looked pretty composed. Though she didn’t openly show her worry or concern, she decided to stay behind with the guys to recover her HP inside the warm zone.
Marlon’s last words still rang in her ears every second.
Obsidian Fist.
A name only she and that mysterious masked man shared. Even her sister, who had interrogated her countless times about that man, didn’t know those words, yet Marlon mentioned them. From his tone, she knew he hadn’t simply guessed them. He was the one who had actually said them to her.
For the past few minutes, she had been connecting the dots and had come to the conclusion she’d been denying ever since she saw him fight.
Both Marlon and that masked man shared the same fighting style. They could take down smaller monsters with a single punch and larger ones with only a few hits.
When she saw him defeat the ice bear, she had been reminded of the masked man. She tried to shake the thought away, but now she could no longer refute it.
"Obsidian Fist... remember this name. The man who will make you his lover very soon."
Those words kept echoing in her head, and her face flushed slightly each time, though no one noticed.
Aside from the three of them, a team of hunters had gathered around the area for precautionary reasons.
They were three E-rank hunters, each in their early twenties. Though dressed in casual clothing, the weapons in their hands were anything but casual.
They waited in silence, expecting the obvious—to see Marlon die inside the breakthrough world, return to the real world, and transform into a monster they would have to kill.
If Marlon were here with them, knowing what he was currently facing inside the breakthrough trial, he would have agreed — the situation had became dire.
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It was a vast valley seated in the middle of dozens of tall mountains and hills. The three moons hung high in the sky as it was nighttime, their pale light shining over the chaos below.
Behold, within this valley was a legion of darklings numbering up to ten thousand.
These darklings came in different shapes and sizes — humanoid lizardmen with black scales, and titanic creatures as tall as two-story buildings, each with unique features and powers.
Growls, snarls, shrieks, and countless other bestial sounds filled the air as the darklings roamed about, patrolling the valley in search of something.
Far away, at the top of a mountain hidden from their sight, stood Marlon and Lunar.
Lunar’s body trembled as she held Marlon’s hand tightly, her terrified eyes fixed on the horde below.
"No wonder there were no darklings at the cave," Marlon muttered with a frustrated sigh. "They’ve all gathered here... at the location of the third and most crucial Treasure of Fate."
With his passive skill Night instinct activated, he could see the legion clearly from their position.
He turned to Lunar, tears had already formed in the corners of her eyes. The hope and excitement that once filled them had been replaced with helplessness, the emotion he also shared.
Who would have thought the Dark King had already stationed so many darklings in this place?
According to the map, this location was supposed to be the most secretive, yet the enemy had already found it.
And worse, only two hours remained before twenty-four hours would pass since he arrived in this world.
According to the system, once the twenty-four-hour mark was reached, the overall number and power of the darkling legion would double.
If there were already ten thousand, they would soon become twenty thousand.
That alone multiplied the difficulty of his mission a hundredfold.
He couldn’t even level up here, his level remained stuck at fifteen, meaning he would face twenty thousand darklings as strong as himself.
He trusted his strength, but against twenty thousand enemies, even he wasn’t sure he could survive.
But it had to be done.
Marlon took a deep breath three times, then turned to Lunar.
"How far can your healing powers go?" he asked.
Lunar demonstrated with her hands. She could cast her healing ability only if she stayed nearby.
Just like that, his plan of keeping a healer by his side shattered.
"I can’t bring Lunar near those darklings," he thought with a short sigh. "They’d kill her the moment I’m distracted."
"Please stay quiet and wait here, i’ll be back with the last treasure."
But before he could move, Lunar grabbed his hand, stopping him.
Her body trembled harder now. She couldn’t stand the thought of being alone while he fought. Her fear was clear in her eyes as she clung tightly to his arm, silently begging him not to leave her side.
Marlon stared at her for a moment, rethinking the whole situation, he turned to observe the valley again and then he came up with a plan and shared it with her. He also handed her the map.
Lunar took the map and agreed with his plan right away. She would rather participate in this mission than be left alone.
Marlon placed her on his back and began walking down the mountain at an alarming pace.
After a few minutes, they arrived at the valley below and he sprinted straight at the legion of darklings.
As he drew closer, he let Lunar go. She stepped down cautiously and hid herself behind a rock boulder present.
After she had hidden herself, Marlon gave her a small salute and continued onward, closing the distance with the legion.
Lunar steadied herself in her new hiding spot. Although panicking, she knew what had to be done to end everything. She unfolded the map, and the location of the last treasure revealed itself to her with its glowing lines. Since she now held the map, her position was marked with a glowing colored indicator.
She traced the direction and location and spotted a deserted cave on the body of a tall mountain beside her.
The location was coincidentally in her advantage. Once Marlon began his part of her strategy, she would be able to enter without drawing attention — it was a solid plan.
Meanwhile, Marlon closed the distance with the ferocious dark creatures.
"Come and attack me, you dickless monsters!" he barked at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing across the valley and drawing the attention of all the darklings.
The darklings let out furious growls and a large number of them charged towards him.
"Come catch me!"
Marlon barked once again as he veered towards a tall mountain. He stepped onto the bottom of the mountain and with immense speed he began climbing at an alarming pace.
The darklings, fueled by rage, chased after him, climbing the mountain as well.
Marlon looked down and saw about a hundred darklings already on the mountain chasing after him while others were at the bottom, ready to climb and chase after him.
The first phase of his plan, which was drawing their attention, had worked.
Now, onto the next phase.
He climbed higher up the mountain until he found the perfect spot. Gathering all his strength, he activated Punch of Iron and struck a large protruding slab of rock. The first hit only left a small crack, so he kept punching—again and again—until the rock finally shattered. With a heavy rumble, the massive debris crashed down, raining destruction upon the unfortunate darklings below.
More than a dozen were smashed to death and the others were badly injured.
Marlon grinned, observing the aftermath of his effort, but he knew it wasn’t over. It had only incurred more anger from the remaining darklings as a thunderous cacophony of their bestial rage filled the valley while more than one quarter of the legion flooded his direction.
Marlon simply kept running up the tall mountain with immense speed. Night instinct kept him observant of the things around him.
As he ran, he looked down from time to time and the number of soldiers after him was so great that the mountain almost looked like a big piece of crumbs and the soldiers became hungry ants.
Their climbing sounds and enraged cries filled the night with terror, but Marlon knew not to be afraid, but brave.
He turned in the direction where the treasure was located, the one he had sent Lunar to go obtain, and he saw her — standing at the cavity of a cave on a mountain.
She was waving her hands at him and in her grasp was an item. Unfortunately, with the long distance between them and the commotion around him, he could not make out exactly what it was, but still a smile adorned his face.
Now he had to take the second phase of his plan.
He began running straight towards the wave of monsters pouring up to him, fearlessly.
His eyes turned serious, his face stoic.
And then he clashed with them.
The moment Marlon clashed with them, the ground shook. His fists tore through the darklings like bullets, cracking bones and splitting flesh.
"Punch of Judgement!"
A shockwave burst out, throwing several creatures off the slope. But more came—hundreds swarming like a black tide.
He gritted his teeth, striking, dodging, leaping—each move faster, sharper.
And after a painstakingly long struggle, his feet touched plain ground and he began charging towards Lunar, running as fast as his legs could carry.
Since he had created enough confusion between the darklings, a good distance was created.
He arrived before Lunar and grabbed a hold of the third treasure.
[You’ve found the third treasure of fate:...]