Chapter 9: The Epic Quest.

"Not important. How long do you need to pretend? Just break the chains already."

Hearing that Fin is taken aback. He had been waiting for a chance to regain a bit more of his strength before thinking of a way to get out of here. His outward appearance seemed disheveled enough to not arouse any suspicion but this person seemed to see right through his facade.

"What do you mean?", Fin still asks not budging from his spot.

"Stop fucking pretending. And let's get out of here.", Ron is annoyed by his attitude. The bastard clearly got the strength and dares to pretend with his crappy acting skills.

"Alright." Fin decides to trust his gut instinct for now and complies. Easily breaking the chains, he gets down. And pats the dust off his clothes.

Ron gestures for him to follow quietly. Although displeased at not getting any explanation about the situation, Fin still complies, curious as to where this is going.

Ron moves further down the dungeon. The path keeps getting darker and narrower. There are no guards anywhere inside the dungeon. As they only guard the entrance and some important points further. But Ron still is vigilant. He hasn't personally experienced this before so only depending on hearsay and memory, he has to arrive at that place.

Deeper inside the dark corridor of the dungeon, they reach a particular wooden door. Ron gestures for fin to cut it open as there is no handle. Fin thinly shapes his aura into a blade and cuts the door in half, showcasing his skill of aura mastery.

Behind the door is a small cell, which holds a decrepit old man. White hair cover his face and flow down to his shoulders. He seems extremely weak, with sunken cheekbones and thin arms tied by chains.

Fin seeing the sight does not say anything but his expression has considerably darkened. Fin moves in towards the old man and uses his healing aura skill. Although it can be used only on himself, his heroic spirit somehow allows the particles to move towards the old man.

"It's always broken when the hero gets emotional." Ron mutters under his breath. The absurdity of the plot armour to allow something like this.

Activating his sage's eye, Ron checks the old man's status.

[Name: Raiz Orwell.

Title: Torr town's Mayor.

Job: Knight.

Affiliation: Silvermoon Kingdom.

State: Greatly Weakened

Level:19].

Seeing the name and title, Ron was certain he had found the right person. As Fin continued burning up his aura to provide energy for the skill, the old man's complexion turned a bit better.

Raiz Orwell opened his eyes, to see completely different people than he was expecting. He wondered after so long why anyone would visit him,was it to torture him more or to gloat at his current state. But seeing these people, he wondered what had occured.

Ron walked up and introduced himself." Hello, I'm Ron. Who are you and why are you trapped here?"

"Cough.....cough...I'm.... Raiz Orwell, the mayor of this town. What....are... you... heaven blessed doing here?" Raiz countered with a question. His lips parched and his breathing heavy.

Ron filled him in on the situation, that they were captured as soon as they arrived and sent to this dungeon.

"They really have gone far into this madness. Why? What went wrong? Is it my fault? This situation has deteriorated quite a bit." Raiz shakes his head in frustration but he soon calms himself.

"I'm sorry for being shameless but please I need your help. Save this town from those demon worshippers." Raiz suddenly says addressing them both.

A blue screen pops up when he says the line.

[Raiz Orwel has issued an epic quest.]

['Baphomets Descent']

[Would you like to accept?]

Both Ron and Fin looked at each other for a bit and accept the quest.

"Can you explain the situation a bit more now?"Fin steps up this time wanting to know more about the quest.

This was going to be his first quest. And it was an epic one. But Ron didn't share his enthusiasm. From the rating of this quest he could tell the difficulty even without knowing the future events.

"It all started a month ago. A succubus, a lesser demon started controlling the noble that had arrived here. After knowing the situation, I tried to take action but I couldn't do much because he had more power and authority than me...."

He started telling his story of how he was captured and tortured here just for fun. How even his trusted aids would come to gloat on his condition every now and then. How just yesterday they had gotten an important component for their ritual.

"But I did overhear certain parts of their plan. They plan on summoning Baphomet a high level demon from the demon world. The ritual to connect with him requires much preparation but I'm sure they've finished by now... And I did hear something about sacrificing heaven blessed people..."

Hearing that Fin's expression darkens further and he shows his anger by punching the wall while Ron still stays calm and doesn't show a reaction at all. Even though he knew that when the players died in the summoning ritual their very souls would be destroyed. But he wasn't worried about them nor did he care. What worried him was the area of the summoning circle. If it covered the whole town it'll be troublesome.

"The ritual must be stopped. Countless innocent lives are stake here. Please break these chains, and let me guide you. Although I'm old and decrepit, I still have some fight left in me." Raiz looks at them with a determined look.

"Alright."

[You have accepted the quest. Baphomet's Descent.

Details:A malicious entity, high demon Baphomet is trying to invade the celestial grounds.

Task: Stop Baphomet's Descent.

Rewards: Level up ×5. Epic items×3.

Failure: - Level -1.

-Targeted by Baphomet.]

"The curses aren't enough already. Now you have to give such a stupid penalty?" Ron curses at the system. But soon a chance occurs in his status screen.

[Rewards: A random skill copied from Baphomet.]

The reward for the quest changed. It seems Ignia has been working hard.

"Thanks, Ignia." A smile appears on Ron's face hidden by the mask. As the skill from a high level demon would be quite helpful to him. "It would've been better if you removed the penalty too but I guess, beggars can't be choosers."

Ron really needs to get stronger faster so he can't be only cautious and cowardly, he needs to take risks. The greater the risk, the greater the rewards.

Fin breaks the chains of the old man and helps him stand up.

"Let's hurry we have little time. We need to go further underground to reach the dungeon hall. I know a secret passage, follow me." Raiz says solemnly.

"Wait a bit. I have something to do first." Ron interrupts Raiz while Fin looks on curiously.

"Hey come out. No point in hiding when I can already see you." Ron shouts at the supposedly empty corridor. Fin and Raiz tense up as they haven't sensed anyone or anything.

'Huh, is there really something?' Fin thinks to himself while observing the corridor which they came from but he sees nothing at all.

' Can he really see me? But it shouldn't be possible.' the person hiding seems to be flustered. 'Damn he really is looking straight at me. What a scary gaze. A masked weirdo with a creepy gaze.' the person thinks to themselves.

" I'll count to three." Ron says while a fireball appears in his hands.

"1...2....." Ron counts and makes another fireball in his other hand.

'So he's a mage.' fin thinks to himself. He observes Ron.

"3.." Ron hurls the fireball at the invisible person. Which they dodge. A flustered voice comes from the seemingly empty corridor.

"Wait... please.....wait. I'll show myself right now." Saying that a naked figure of a girl appears, with long golden hair and deep blue eyes. She seems to be hiding her assets, with one hand on her huge breasts while the other hiding her private spot. Her face is completely red and there are tears at the corner of her eyes. She shows a very wronged expression.

"Ana! What are you doing here?" Fin rushes up to the girl and covers her up, giving her his own shirt. And hugs her to console her.

Ron recalls the memory of this girl. A childhood friend of Fin Aster, Anabelle Aster. Both of them came from an orphanage back on earth, but they weren't blood related. It was just a rule to give the kids, the same last name to make them feel like a family.

He remembers her because in the original timeline she was the second person to survive here. She was the one who had sent the recording of Fin's exploits here and of Baphomet's Descent. So Ron knew she was following closely recording everything until now.

He could also see her with his eye. She was as visible as day. He simply wanted to make her come out and not lurk around in the shadows. Although her skill provided powerful camouflage, it also had the downside of not covering her clothes. So she was running around naked all the time.

[Name: Anabelle Aster

- Title: The Oracle

- Affiliation: None

- Job: Thief (Level 0)

- Race: Human

- State: Normal

- Level: 0

- Exp: 0/100

Attributes:

- HP: 50 (vitality: 5 x 10)

- Strength: 5

- Dexterity: 6

- Agility: 8

- Endurance: 5

- Vitality: 5

- Luck: 15

- Intuition: 9

Job Skills:

1. Stealth (Basic):

- Description: Allows the user to move silently and avoid detection.

- Effect: Increases stealth capabilities, making it easier to evade enemies and remain hidden.

2. Lockpicking (Basic):

- Description: Enables the user to pick locks and bypass security mechanisms.

- Effect: Increases the chance of successfully unlocking doors, chests, and other locked objects.

3. Sleight of Hand (Basic):

- Description: Enhances the user's ability to perform nimble and precise movements, useful for pickpocketing and manipulating small objects.

- Effect: Improves dexterity and finesse, making it easier to execute sleight of hand maneuvers.

4. Invisibility ( Unique:lv1)

- Description: Grants the user the ability to blend seamlessly with their surroundings, rendering them virtually invisible to the naked eye.

- Effect: Renders the user invisible to others sight and other senses.

Note: The effect doesn't extend to Clothes or accessories.

Other Skills:

- Basic Dagger mastery.]

It was a somewhat normal status, finally. Ron had gotten used to seeing Fin's monstrous stats and his watered down one's due to the curses. But he was surprised by the title Oracle. It didn't seem to go well with the job of thief. But she had already gotten that title somehow. And her job too. Most players he checked in the dungeon had no jobs nor many skills.

He focused more on the Oracle title to check it's description.

[Title: Oracle lv 1

Description: A title bestowed to those chosen by fate. A companion for the hero to guide them on their journey. Showing them the path ahead.

Effect:

-Visions: Can see the future, through visions at times , although fragmented events are shown it's upto the user to interpret.

-Sixth Sense: The user has gained a strong sixth sense. User can faintly distinguish danger and malicious intent. ]

"These guys really are being favored too much." Ron mutters to himself under his breath. It really was an unfair situation. Although he didn't really care for the huge trap of the hero title. He was still annoyed at the heavens favoring them so much.

Even his companions are getting a boost. Heaven seems impartial for all except for this guy. He looks towards Fin who is still comforting and listening to Annabelle's story.

The story went something like this. she entered the portal and completed some challenges and was teleported here. She was captured as well but she got a certain vision of hero Fin in distress and came to save him. But the situation had changed due to some masked person. And here we were.

Ron was being glared at by Fin and Anabelle at this time.

"What?", Ron snapped at them.

"Couldn't you have chosen a milder method?" Fin asked furrowing his brows.

"And you didn't even apologize.", Anabelle also chipped in, sticking her tongue out.

"Huh, I have to apologize? Did I do anything wrong in the first place? I saw a naked pervert following us and I simply exposed them." Ron wasn't to be outdone. He already was controlling himself at the moment. He didn't really want anything to do with these guys for now.

"I.. I....I.." Anabelle's face turns red and she stutters while trying to come up with an explanation.

"Alright it's fine." Fin pats her on the head to calm her down." It was her fault too I guess. Be careful next time, Ana. It's not good to sneak up on others. Not everyone is kind enough to give a warning." He reprimands her for her mistake and looks at Ron apologetically.

Ron simply exposed her because he didn't want to be recorded by a naked pervert and then His videos posted for everyone to see. It would not be good to gather attention due to this Baphomet event.

"Cough..cough..Now that we have that settled. Let's get a move on. There's not much time untill midnight. It'll take some hours to move through the secret passage as well." Saying that Raiz gives the quest to Anabelle as well and they start moving towards their objective.

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[To be continued.]