“So, this is the secret… cave?”

  “It’s obviously not a cave.”

  The living statues did not pose any threat at all, and Julian’s party did not spend a second more even dwelling or checking on them as they went straight to the secret chamber.

  The party split up, each inspecting a different part of the chamber; all of them, however, had their brows lowered in concentration as they reviewed the markings on the wall. As for their contract with Humanity Engineering, everything they were seeing was being recorded by them, and they were asked to be as thorough as possible.

  Jin was even scraping some of the soot and dust from the walls to check if they were truly just soot and dust, putting them inside the empty vials he brought with him.

  But while everyone was busy gathering data for Humanity Engineering, Julian walked straight back to the button he had found the first time… and pressed it.

  “What the…”

  “What’s going on!?”

  And as the ground started to tremble, everyone’s eyes strayed everywhere before landing on Julian, who was clearly the one responsible for the situation since he still had his finger pointed at the button.

  “Are you out of your fucking mind, you retard!?” Vijya roared louder than the rumble cracking within the chamber. He charged toward Julian, but before he could reach him, the words of the [Guidance of Artemis] appeared before all of them.

  [You have found the hidden quest: The Bridge. Prerequisite: Must be the bearer of a [Unique] class. Only those who are chosen by the stars themselves have the right to walk this path.]

  Everyone’s breaths turned heavier as they read those words. Hidden Quests, more often than not, were extremely dangerous and usually involved almost impossible-to-beat scenarios.

  One doesn’t just doesn’t walk to it, which… is literally what Julian just did.

  [Congratulations, all of you are welcomed by The Mother.]

  “S… shit…” Vijya cursed, sucking in his breath to try and calm himself down. But of course, that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. And instead, he glared at Julian, “You fucking retard! Why would you press that without fucking saying anything!”

  “Let’s all just calm down!” Ben raised his voice as he moved between the two.

  “Are you still taking this nonviable’s side!?” Vijya did not let up, pointing violently at Julian as he barked, “You should have been aborted!”

  “I am not on his side, not this time. No.” Ben pushed Vijya away as he sighed; his brows furrowing as he also glared at Julian, “You better have a good explanation for that, Julian.”

  Julian didn’t flinch at all and just started at everyone’s frustrations. And instead, he remained completely calm and said, “Because there’s nothing on the other side—I didn’t hear or feel anything.”

  “The… other side of… what?”

  Julian didn’t answer. Instead, he stood in front of the wall… as it began to slide open with a slow, grinding noise. The dust spilled from the edges almost like water, and the light from the chamber stretched into the darkness beyond.

  “It… was a door?” Natasha muttered as she quickly stepped in front of her husband and summoned a glowing, translucent circular barrier to protect the both of them.

  “You opened up a door, you fucking retard!?” Vijya barked, almost quite literally. His stance shifted as his arm began to mutate, swelling grotesquely into a rocky, jagged fist.

  “This might be a hidden boss chamber,” Jin added, his voice filled with excitement as he also hid behind Natasha’s barrier, and pulled out a glowing vial from his bag. “This… is getting exciting.”

  The group’s reactions varied—caution from the married couple, excitement from Jin, and frustration from Vijya—but they were all very careful as they prepared for whatever was coming at them.

  Julian, however, remained still, his gaze calm as he fixed on the dark hall in front of them as if he could see everything. And considering as he just stepped toward the darkness that presented itself to them without even any caution, everyone thought he actually could.

  “What’s with him?” Vijya spat, glaring at Julian. “Stay within the formation! You’re going to fuck all this shit up!”

  Julian didn’t respond again, and as he stepped through the darkness, the reason for his calmness finally became clear. The walls lit up, the flowers blooming as they slowly veiled the darkness with their color.

  And there, what awaited them… was nothing.

  “Huh?”

  Ben and Natasha were the first to follow Julian inside, and it was just as Julian said—there was nothing on the other side.

  Well, perhaps not exactly nothing. It wasn’t empty, there were things scattered everywhere—rusted set of armors, broken weapons, and all sorts of other things that also looked broken… and rotten.

  The scent of decay filled the hall, unnatural and disturbing at the same time. The walls, the floors, and even the ceiling felt grim.

  And within the decayed steel were skeletal remains, brittle and fragmented—also seemingly rotten.

  “What… happened here?” Jin whispered.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “A painting of a battle left unattended for centuries.” Natasha looked around at the large hall, her eyes landing on the throne that was right at the end of the hall.

  “Is that a throne?” Vijya glanced at the others, his stone-like fists slightly crackling as he moved them.

  “Could these things… be undead?” Jin then tossed a vial toward one of the armored skeletons. The liquid splashed and sizzled as it escaped from the shattered vial, dissolving the bones and armor almost instantly, but there was no reaction, not a groan, no a twitch, “...I guess not?”

  “Guys, don’t let your guard down,” Ben warned, his voice as quiet as it could be as he continued to scan the room. “There might be a hidden bos—”

  Before he could finish, the glowing text of the Guidance of Artemis appeared before them once more, cutting him off—and as soon as they read what it was, all of their expressions fell.

  [Hidden Quest: The Bridge, has already been claimed and started. Find the person who claimed it to join the Hidden Quest. You may leave through the teleportation circle.]

  “Someone’s… already started it!?” Vijya’s voice exploded through the chamber. He clenched his rocky fist tightly, “Then why the fuck are we even here!? Why didn’t you just say that in the first place!?”

  Vijya cursed at the [Guidance of Artemis] as if it would respond to him. But of course, it did not. The only response they received was the light right at the center of the hall, which everyone could really only presume to be the teleportation circle out of there.

  “These… gods really do like to play with us,” Jin muttered, wiping the sweat from his brow before he returned his vials to his bag. The sound of glass clinking together inside, almost instantly released all the dreadiness linging in the air.

  “Well, this was also a waste of time. I’m out of here and will see you guys IRL.” He shrugged before straightening up and almost walked cartoonishly toward the glowing teleportation circle.

  “Wait! We still need to find out who accepted the quest!” Ben called after him. He stepped forward, trying to stop Jin.

  Jin, however, just shrugged again. “It’s probably someone from the Order of Artemia. Look at the insignias on their armor.” He gestured lazily toward the rusted remains of armor scattered across the chamber. “And that flag over there.”

  He pointed toward a tattered banner hanging limply on the wall, its faded colors and emblem unmistakably belonging to the extremist Order. And without another word, Jin stepped into the teleportation circle, his form flickering briefly before vanishing entirely.

  “What the—there must be something here, right!?” Of course, no one really shared his nonchalance at all. Vijya was the first to break the silence before it could even happen, his voice exploding as he stormed toward the corpses, shoving away the brittle skeletons and rummaging through the debris.

  Ben and Natasha exchanged a look before turning their attention to the throne at the far end of the room. Its once-regal design was now dulled and corroded, a relic of a time long past. They checked it for anything and also combed through the surrounding area meticulously.

  Julian, meanwhile, stood motionless near the center of the chamber, tilting his head slightly as he listened to the vibrations created by his companions—and the party did this for several hours.

  But alas, the only thing they have was still the clue that the Order of Artemia was somehow involved in this.

  “...Do you think it’s someone from the Order of Artemia, or maybe an outside party that was with them?” Ben asked, his breath heavy from finding nothing at all.

  “Perhaps we should also ask whether or not anyone made it out alive.” Natasha stood beside her husband, and although not as obvious, she was also disappointed with finding nothing.

  “That’s true, huh? All these people… they all should have unique classes, right?”

  “Yes. Since from the wording of the [Guidance of Artemis] earlier, only those who have a Unique Class could enter this hall—those who do not be forcefully teleported out, as what happened to Julian Winters and his party members before.”

  Natasha started walking around the hall again before approaching one of the rusted armor, “But I think what we need to worry about is whether or not the one doing the quest right now is a Player... or if it is a native hyum. And there is the state of the corpses too.”

  “...Why? What’s wrong with them?” Ben narrowed his eyes, but Natasha did not answer and instead glanced at Julian.

  “Julian, you are one of the best blacksmiths in the Known Universe, correct?” Natasha asked without changing the tone of her voice, or any changes in her expression.

  “Maybe.” And Julian also answered without any changes in his tone, “It would be hard to say without meeting other traditional blacksmiths.”

  “Please, do not be so humble—your labor alone costs a minimum of 100,000 Credits. But I am losing track. I asked that question because I wanted to know if you noticed anything wrong with the armor and weapons—because I have seen aged weapons myself throughout my journey in Artemia, and…

  Natasha paused her words as she picked up a sword from the ground, only for the blade to crack and turn into dust almost immediately; its ashes seemingly wanting to whisper of the massacre that happened to them,

  “...they do not look like this at all.”

  “You’re right.” Julian hummed, the tone of his voice turning gentle as he looked at the set of armors and weapons, “These metals are corroded the same way as the walls, the floor, and the throne are corroded. It is… unnatural, and inhumane. They are… dead, instead of being allowed to age.”

  “What are you even talking about?” Vijya’s rough voice completely overpowered Julian’s soft words, “Fuck this shit. We didn’t find anything!”

  “It’s a fucking quest, Vijya. That’s usually what happens in a quest.”

  “Speaking of which…” Natasha once again glanced at Julian, “...I have been reading the forums and people are starting rumors that you are doing the Main Quest of Artemia, and I am inclined to agree with them—even more so now. We have already run through the beginner dungeon several times, and yet we were only swallowed by the planet when we were with you, Julian Winters.”

  “...I don’t know anything about a main quest.” Julian just looked confused.

  “Well…” Ben moved between the two, clapping his hands to get rid of whatever mood was in the air, “...Whatever it is, I believe we should discuss this in a more comfortable place. And when I mean comfortable, I mean back in our real bodies.”

  And as Ben said that, Natasha nodded in agreement as the two walked toward the teleportation circle. And surprisingly, Vijya also followed behind them, muttering curses under his breath.

  As for Julian, well, he didn’t follow behind them at all. Instead, he walked toward an inconspicuous section of the hall, one seemingly no different from the rest of the mess.

  He knelt and began sifting through the rubble, his hands brushing aside brittle bones and carefully pushing fragments of corroded metal. His movements were precise, almost as if he knew exactly what he was looking for.

  But then, his body tensed. The pores on the back of his neck opened wide as his senses warned him about… something. And without hesitation, he rolled to the side just as a massive stone fist crashed into the spot where he had been crouching.

  The force of the impact sent shards of debris flying, the floor beneath erupting violently.

  Julian sprang to his feet, his steps bouncing backward as his gaze locked onto the silhouette from the cloud of dust—Vijya.

  “Hm.” Julian hummed. He was so busy trying to find something that he did not even notice that Vijya did not step onto the teleportation circle at all.

  “Tch,” Vijya spat, cracking his stone-encrusted knuckles. “Humanity Engineering seems to have taken a liking to you, you fucking retard. But let’s see if they like you enough to pull me out before I can kill your clone.”

  Julian stepped back cautiously, his head tilting slightly. “You… are a very aggressive person,” he said, completely confused.

  “I don’t think I’ve done anything to you?”

  “I just fucking hate you,” Vijya growled as he clobbered his fists together, the sound of rock grinding against rock echoing through the chamber. “And after I’m done with your clone, I’m going to beat the shit out of you in the real world. Then…

  …I’m going to steal your girl.”

  “I'm afraid I have to agree with Talia, you are a very irrational person… I don’t appreciate that at all.”

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