[Current Main Quest: Theora Gone Rogue]

The heroine Theora has decided to abandon her Main Quest and allied herself with the Ancient Evil.

Subdue both to save the world from destruction.

Bell dismissed the notification and her gaze wandered back to the campfire.

They were almost there. Tomorrow, they’d reach the place where the Devil of Truth had been sealed. Then, they’d face off with Theora and the Ancient Evil.

“I’ve said it before,” Bell started, glancing into the faces of her four companions one by one. “But I need to make it clear again, so you understand I haven’t changed my mind.” The jellyfish-like tentacles making up her hair gently waved in the breeze.

“I will not fight Theora.”

The mood had already been gloomy, but upon hearing that, an even darker silence fell upon them.

Frederik slumped his shoulders, gazing sadly into the fire. “I still think we won't have to,” he said with his sullen voice. “The Ancient Evil must have corrupted her somehow. I will cleanse the grasp it has on her mind, and bring her back to our side.”

While speaking, his glasses slipped down his nose as they did so often, so he pushed them back up until they vaguely aligned with his thin, black brows. He looked as miserable as the group probably felt as a whole.

The world’s strongest [Priest]. Pulled away from his lifelong duties to guard the Land of the Undead, to aid in the quest of Theora’s subjugation. His presence, together with Amyd’s, were the best indicators that the System was pulling all stops.

He and Amyd were their biggest hope. If their efforts were to fail, Bell didn’t know how they could possibly come out of this alive. Though, this was not a sentiment her companions shared.

“There is no way Theora’s mind could be influenced by corruption or control,” Lain spat. He was sitting next to Bell, on her right, a bit further away from the fire than the others. Long ears, brown skin, wearing black linen clothing. An [Assassin]. While the others occupied Theora, he was supposed to teleport past her and use the immortality-defying scroll on the Ancient Evil. Some [Diviners] had predicted that the Ancient Evil would offer little resistance due to being wounded.

At almost Level 600, he was not only one of the most capable [Assassins] currently alive, but probably one of the deadliest that had ever walked the earth.

And yet, Bell couldn’t help but wonder. His teleportation — instant movement from one place to the next, his ability to unleash devastation within the blink of an eye — what would it look like in the calm and all-encompassing gaze of Theora? Would she be impressed? Would she be fooled?

Or would she pluck him out of the air like a falling flower petal?

“It doesn’t matter either way,” said Amyd. Calm as ever, her voice cold as ice from confidence.

Their ace. The System’s ace. The one reason why Bell had come along. The one reason why all of this wasn’t completely hopeless.

In the best case scenario, Frederik would expunge the corruptions out from Theora’s heart with his cleansing Skills, and they’d turn against the Ancient Evil together. In the next best scenario, Theora would be on this path on her own free will, but then be met by Amyd.

Amyd would probably be the most terrifying hero in the world if she hadn’t specialised her entire life on one single task. On one single thing she was meant to accomplish in all those seventy years she had walked the earth.

And that one single thing would happen tomorrow.

Her cane rested against the boulder she was sitting on. A boulder carried there by Ramph, so that Amyd had a decent place to rest on as they sat at the fire. It was hard for her to get up after sitting down on the ground, so everyone tried their best to help her avoid it.

Amyd, weathered with age, a simple human, and yet, incredibly strong. Her voluminous and silver hair was bound in a ponytail, her simple, beige-coloured linen dress free from blemishes. Born in the same place as Theora. Raised in that same town.

She was their leader.

The last time the five of them had come together had been twenty years ago, to clear a dungeon spilling out countless monsters in the far north.

And now, they’d met again, to subdue Theora and clear away the Ancient Evil.

“I will do my best to defend you as you try to accomplish your task,” Bell said. “But if you fail, I’m done. I will not fight Theora.”

“Why the hell not!” Ramph laughed. She was sitting on her gigantic hammer, leaning against and hugging the handle pointing right up into the sky.

The hammer was almost three times as large as she was, sinking into the ground by its weight alone. She herself was small, but round and muscled, a true menace. When they’d cleared the dungeon, she had still been a child. A Level 200 [Berserker] back then, and now, Bell’s [Appraise] didn’t even work on her anymore.

“We’re literally the strongest party in the world,” Ramph continued. “Look, I get it, Theora is powerful, but she’s not gonna make it through a full-force blast of Mangle either.” She patted the hammer. “And we are five. No way she beats us.” She shrugged. “Also, she must be weakened from her fight with the Devil of Truth. It fucking incapacitated the Ancient Evil, of all things. We just have to hit her where it hurts and she’ll give up.”

Bell knew that this was false, but she’d argued the point with them too often already. “As I said,” she murmured. “I won’t join the fight if you go in. Against the Ancient Evil, yes. But not against Theora.”

Another dark silence extended. Bell knew she was being selfish, but she spoke from a well-informed position, and this was not a situation where mindless optimism would help. All she could do was rescind her own power from the conflict, in hopes it would end at least a little bit less devastating.

“No matter how it goes,” Frederik’s gloomy voice finally seeped into the air, “Tomorrow will likely be a very sad day. I think we need to acknowledge that. In the off-chance that Theora did choose her own path, that loss to the world in and of itself is devastating. Which of us hasn’t entertained the ambition of ever getting close to her in capability? Which of us hasn’t been inspired by her mere existence when we were young?”

At these words, Ramph looked away from him, her knuckles whitening at their grip on the handle.

Nonetheless, Frederik continued. “Let’s hope that, tomorrow when we arrive, we can negotiate. Let’s hope we can cleanse her. Let’s hope we can protect Amyd long enough to play our final ace. And if all that fails, let’s hope we yet stand a chance.”

Excluding that last point, Bell agreed. Their odds weren’t good, but they weren’t slim, either. All in all, Theora was good-hearted. Despite what her actions might seem like on paper, she had a conscience. If she really wasn’t influenced by evil, she’d likely be reluctant to harm fellow heroes.

And, as long as Theora held back, as long as she entertained the thought of underestimating the five of them, they stood a chance to surprise her.

And that was all they needed.

A single fraction of hesitation from Theora, and they could win.

The others, of course, didn’t see it that way, because they didn’t understand.

“We definitely stand a chance,” Ramph complained, rolling her eyes. “She just fucking beat the Devil of Truth! That’s why we were hurrying to get here in the first place! She must be almost done-in. And it’s five of us. The System wouldn’t put us on a hopeless endeavour.”

“None of this matters,” Amyd’s voice whiplashed. “Our chances don’t matter. Our thoughts don’t matter. We have a sound strategy, but ultimately, even that doesn’t matter.” She sounded cool, and angrier than she usually did. Bell knew; it was an anger she simply decided to hide, but carried with her at all times. Now, there was no reason to hold back. “Theora has chosen her own fate. She allied herself with the Ancient Evil. It is our duty to protect the world. That’s the only thing that should be on our mind. The task in front of us, and our focus to complete it by whatever means necessary. We won’t fail, because we can’t fail. It’s too late for her.”

Bell noticed the effect these words had on the others. They seemed relieved. Seemed calmer.

They had all gotten the same quest from the System, and now, the only way forward was to complete it. Agonising over the heartwrenching details, about the loss of someone as strong as her from their side, and about what their lives might look like after tomorrow, it all helped nobody.

Bell shared that sentiment. She wouldn’t fight Theora, but disregarding that, she’d aid in everything to the best of her ability — because that was what the quest was asking her to do.

“Fuck, yeah!” Ramph cheered. “Let’s kick their asses tomorrow. I don’t get why Jelly’s making such a big deal out of this anyway.”

“It’s because she’s met Theora before, isn’t it?” Lain asked, glancing at Bell. “When she was a child.”

Ramph waved her hands. “When you were a child? When was that? A thousand years ago?”

“Eight hundred and forty-five,” Bell responded.

Letting out a derisive short laugh, Ramph shook her head. “Pah! You should know very well that even immortal people don’t get stronger forever. At some point, they plateau, and they often even stagnate. Immortal this or that, whatever you saw back then might not be what she’s today. Don’t sweat it, cutie.”

“Let’s attempt to not underestimate Theora,” Frederik offered, trying to calm a conflict before it could flare up. But Bell wasn’t in the mood for a conflict either way. None of what Ramph said affected her at all, because that young woman simply spoke from the place of not knowing.

Ramph softly pushed her head against the handle of her hammer. “It’s just annoying that she outright says she won’t help us if push comes to shove. She met that girl just once, and she’s spouting nonsense like that. It’s grating.”

Bell shrugged weakly. She had no means of convincing them, and she had long-since accepted that fact. The only reason she’d raised the issue again was out of a forlorn sense of responsibility.

“You will see what I mean tomorrow,” she said, sadness tightening into a ball in her stomach. “Meeting her once is enough.”