Chapter 193: Return (1)


    "..."


    Within a dark room of a penthouse with its shutters closed, preventing the moonlight to seep inthe door of a capsule opened as it revealed that of a young man exiting out of it.


    "Yawn..." Tired and exhausted, the ck-haired man by name of Hasegawa Zayden let out a yawn whilst scratching his back. "...I''ve maxed out my daily limit for today again, huh?" muttering as he rubbed his eyes, Zayden soon sloppily walked over towards the bathroom and got himself refreshed.


    ...


    "Ah. That''s better," with a towel on his shoulder as he dried up his wet hair, Zayden headed over to his desk and grabbed onto his phone. In the next moment, upon going into his lock screen, Zayden was taken aback by surprise by the panels of notification that he saw. "Eh...?"


    [ BREAKING NEWS: Bareth, The Winter Eternal has awakened! Is this the end for Fal? ]


    [ News: The Kingdom of Fal is calling for help! ]


    [ News: Is this the start of a new arc for Spiritual Warriors? ]


    [ 99+ Notifications in discord. ]


    "...wow. To think that news of Bareth has spread around this fast?" Zayden raised his brow in question whilst walking over towards the living area of his home. "...well, I guess that''s warranted since that notification from earlier might''ve been a global message rather than private."


    In most cases, upon the awakening of a beast with terrifying powers within a certain area, the system will send out a notification globally to all yers. Wherein, the message was informing of such awakening and would oftentimes be requesting help to defeat the boss.


    "Yawn..." Continuing to let out a yawn, Zayden pushed aside his notification and opened up his discord. To his surprise, upon entering the app, he was greeted by constant pings of red. Of course, the most came from Arceus. "This guy... When will he ever stop?"


    Uttering out with a sigh, Zayden began to check the messages.


    [ Arceus ]


    @Arceus: OI! OI! OI!


    @Arceus: THE HELL! STOP GHOSTING ME! CAN YOU JUST REPLY!?


    @Arceus: ...


    @Arceus: ajajshdjfjhddd


    @Arceus: HEY!


    ...


    Just as before, all the messages from Arceus were that of spam. There wasn''t anything new from his chathowever, despite that, what took him by interest to reply was thest few messages Arceus had sent to him.


    @Arceus: Ugh, you''re really hard to get a reply from. Hey! Jisa told me you''re okay and didn''t die alone, BUT COULDN''T YOU HAVE TOLD ME THAT EARLIER?! You coward!


    @Arceus: Bah but whatever! If you happen to be in Fal, my sis and Hikari will there since they apparently have some business. But... With them being a Pdin and a Priest... They might as well have died multiple times already.


    @Arceus: Just go do me a favour and whisper or even DM them and ask if they''re fine! Since Bareth might be problematic, It might cause issues if they can''t get out of Fal. But ANYWAYS! I''ll be back to spam you tomorrow if you don''t.


    "..." With a sigh, Zayden shook his head helplessly as he finally replied to him.


    @Shinto: Crowelin and Hikari are fine, they''re heading back now. So, you don''t have to worry. In any case... Make sure not to spam me tomorrow...


    Moments after he had sent the message to him, Zayden hurriedly moved on to the next few direct messages which were typically from the usualRie, Kaisus, Jisa and the like.


    [ Rie ]


    @Rie: An update, we perhaps might be joining in hand to help Fal subdue the beast. Though with everything that''s happening recently... It might not be possible to defeat him. However, Kaisus is rather persistent on it though.


    @Rie: If you find the time, do reply if you''d like to join the raid party.


    ...


    [ Kaisus ]


    @Kaisus: DO. NOT. ACCEPT. ANYONE''S. RAID. INVITE.


    @Kaisus: You hear me? This is a guild thing, so you shouldn''t concern yourself with it and enjoy the game! Well... If raiding is your enjoyment, I guess? But no. Don''t bother with the monsters that have appearedtely! We''ll handle it.


    @Kaisus: I''ll have it all under control. So... Just, continue on with your quests.


    @Kaisus: Ah, if you''re worried about rewards (Though it''s not like you mostly care, they''re mage materials), you can have my portion of it for the trouble.


    "...Kaisus?" Zayden blinked at the odd message from him. "...well It''s not like I can even participate in the raids at my current state," shaking his head, he soon replied to him.


    @Shinto: Don''t worry, I''m not going to participate. Though... Kaisus, you may want to pull out of the fight. You may not be able to do a single thing against him.


    At the moment he gave his reply, Kaisus immediately responded.


    @Kaisus: Shinto? Ah, you just logged out? Well sorry to be of a bother to you. But in any case, don''t worry, we''vee prepared for the raid. Though... Hikari won''t be avable.


    @Shinto: Really?


    @Kaisus: Yeah. She went on to do a quest with Crowelin and well... She''s out ofmission for the time being as I was informed that she would be busy...


    @Shinto: I see... Then that''s not good. All the more reasons to pull out.


    @Kaisus: No, it''s fine. We''ve got another healer as a sub, so we''re good.


    @Shinto: Kaisus... I''m not kidding when I said you might not be able to do a single thing against him...


    @Kaisus: My decisions final. I want to see our current guild''s strength against a boss such as Bareth, so, you won''t change my mind.


    @Shinto: K-Kaisus... That''s just...


    @Kaisus: Sorry Shinto, even if it may not be possible, it''s worth a try, right?


    @Shinto: Well... I guess. Anyways, I''ll be going now. Good luck with the raid!


    @Kaisus: Night, Shinto.


    Ending the conversation, Zayden shut off his phone as he prepared to eat a meal by the kitchen. "With all that''s done... Time to eat dinner and rest for the night," preparing the noodle cup, Zayden chowed down on the delicate meal.


    ...


    "Zzz..." Back within the world of Spiritual Warriors, a young girl could be seen sleeping ever sofortably by the campfire, however, on the cold hard floors of the caverns. "Zzz..."


    Beside her, two girls and a few slimes could be seen beside her whilst she was asleep.


    "...b-brr... So cold," Rustly muttered out whilst shivering. "How is everyone so soundly asleep when it''s this cold?" continuing to shiver, Rustly soon nced around the area. "is it because of the Ice Witch''s Curse...?"


    As time passed on, Rustly had been feeling colder and cold as time passed on, which worried him.


    "...or is it because everyone else has some winter clothing?" Rustly blinked at the thought. "...either way... I''ll be dead if the curse goes on for too long since it''s still here..."


    Although he had initially followed the words of Vincent though, without a sayhe still managed to remember the words stated by him, ''the Ice witch''s curse will be cured,'' or so he said.


    "Of course it won''t be that easy... Lier wouldn''t have turned into ice if it was easy," he mumbled. "Sigh... What can I even do?"


    "Hey, Rustly?" A female''s voice protruded out. "Is everything alright?"


    "H-Huh? You''re awake?" Cautioned by the voice, Rustly turned towards the direction as he noted that Hikari had tilted her head. "...is it about that illness?"


    "Wait... How did you know?!" Rustly cried out. "I never told anyone about it-"


    "Shh... Do you want to wake up everyone?" Hikari uttered out.


    "N-No..." Rustly''s voice softened.


    "Phew... In any case, shall we head over to a quiet area to talk?" Hikari smiled. "It seems you''ve got something bottled up for quite some time now? Do you want to talk about it?"


    Rustly kept quiet while in thought. In the next moment, he soon mumbled tout. "...I do, but... I don''t want to talk about it..."


    "...is it?" Hikari chuckled. "If that''s so, then... Could I try curing the illness with my abilities?"


    "U-Um..." Rustly hesitated. "I don''t think it''s possible..."


    "...it isn''t? Well, we''ll never know unless we try, right?" Hikari smiled. "Here, show me where it is."


    "..." Still with hesitation, he sighed. "...My entire body is starting to freeze. With the Ice of the ice witch, I''ll be turned into a frozen statue."


    "...the ice of the ice witch?" Hikari thought to herself. "Hmm... Perhaps... Heree closer to me."


    With a nod from Rustly, he scrunched closer to Hikari. In the next moment, Hikari soon ced both of her hands close together to Rustly. Beginning to mutter out a chant, a warm light shot forward over towards Rustly.


    "...!" Rustly''s eyes widened at the warm light he had received. "...d-did it work?"


    "..." Hikari''s face frowned. "...it failed?"


    "...of course it will," Rustly sighed. "A mere priest''s magic won''t work on this curse... I need something... Much like a powerful holy me?" he muttered out as he took out a white flower. "That man said that it was supposed to be cured when I was inside the cocoon but... Nothing. Nothing at all. All I had gotten was this flower."


    "...huh?" Hikari tilted her head. "...this flower... Hey, could I see it for a moment?"