Chapter 77: The First Activation of the Main World Mission

  After obtaining the intel from Charles, Alex immediately pulled Fina and John aside to discuss the situation. Both of their faces were grim, but this was uandable. It was like a group of police officers catg terrorists, thinking they were trying to smuggle a nuclear bomb from abroad for a terrorist attack, only to find out that the terrorists were pnning to build ohemselves...

  "This 't be... this 't be... that mage must be lying!"

  John was in a state of panic. The dark era that once pgued this ti was nothing short of a nightmare for its inhabitants. The mere thought that these cultists were pnning t it all back made it impossible for John to calm down.

  Seeing the padin pletely losing his posure, Alex didn’t disturb him. Instead, he turo Fina to seek her opinion.

  "Miss Fina, what do you think?"

  "Me? What do I think?"

  "Is there any possibility that what the bald guy said could e true? I mean, even in theory, could it be achieved?"

  Alex didn’t uand magid Nym only keology. When it came to magi this world, Fina was the only one he could sult.

  "I... I o think it through..."

  Fina was clearly nervous as well, pying with the staff in her hands while furrowing her brow, mumbling softly.

  "...The entire Fallen City is covered by the goddess's barrier, so in theory, nothing should g. The surrounding space is stable, and the seal is intact. The seal itself exists in a rift in space-time, so even if the cultists damage the structure from this side, it shouldn’t matter..."

  "So how did Summer’s people mao opee of Hell before?"

  "Eh?"

  Fina paused at Alex's question before answering.

  "They sacrificed their own people to attract Baub, and after reag an agreement with it, they were able to opee of Hell..."

  "Wait a minute."

  Alex interrupted her hastily.

  "Are you saying that because Summer’s forces sacrificed many souls, they were able to open the passage?"

  "Yes, Mr. Alex."

  "So, the goddess’s seal only blocks the passage? What about unicatioween the cultists and the demon king? Is that blocked too?"

  "That... I’m not sure... However, pces tainted by demonifluence do tend to attract the attention of demons more easily..."

  "I see."

  Alex was beginning to uand how demons were summoned in this world. To him, what Summer’s people did was like building a unication tower in an area with no signal, allowing them to “broadcast” to hell. By using sacrifices to boost the signal, they could unicate with the demons. Acc to Fina, the goddess's seal only blocked the gate to hell but didn’t destroy the unication tower itself, just cutting off its power source. So, if someone brought a geor and repaired the tower, it might bee usable again.

  "So, if those cultists unicate with the demon king from Summer’s pd opee somewhere outside the goddess's barrier, is that possible?"

  "That... that’s highly unlikely!"

  Fina’s entire body trembled as she responded.

  "Opening the Gate of Hell requires a massive number of souls. Mr. Alex, there simply aren’t enough people around here for such a sacrifice!"

  But Alex’s line of thought was clearly different from Fina’s.

  "Does it necessarily have to be souls from this side? What about the souls in hell? If they just set a coordinate here and have hell provide the sacrifices, could they open a new gate?"

  "Hell’s souls...?"

  At this point, Fina looked at Alex as if he were a demon himself.

  "The Gate of Hell is simply a passage eg two worlds. Theoretically, it doesn’t matter whether the sacrifices e from our side or theirs. Plus, the goddess's seal only suppressed hell’s power. Since Summer’s surroundings are already tainted by hell’s energy, it would be easier to ect to that world... But why would demons kill their own kind for a sacrifice?"

  "Isn’t that what demons do?"

  Alex wasn’t too ed. The books iemple described demons the same way he uood them. If that’s the case, sacrifig their own kind didn’t seem like much of a stretch.

  "…………"

  Fina was stunned into silence, her expression one of shock as if saying, "You make such a good point, I have al."

  "So, theoretically, it is possible to reopee of Hell?"

  Faced with Alex's question, Fina could only nod repeatedly. After receiving her answer, Alex thought for a moment before making a decision.

  "In that case, we..."

  "Ding."

  Before Alex could finish his sentence, a system notification abruptly sounded in his ear, as if to prevent him from making his decision. Immediately afterward, a line of system information appeared before his eyes.

  [Main World Missiered: Gate of Hell]

  [The darkness of hell is spreading, and disaster is about to desd upon this world once again. You have uncovered the spiracy lurking in the shadows and have resolved to stop it (Objective: Prevent the opening of the Gate of Hell, destroy the altar. If the mission succeeds, the time ratio between the main world and the dungeon world will expand to 1:10. If the mission fails, the Map of Myriad Dimensions system will shut down).]

  "……………………"

  Staring at the prompt before him, Alex was left speechless.

  I’ve got something to say, but I’m not sure if I should even say it!

  Are you kidding me? you hear me? Are you freaking kidding me?!

  Holy, Alex had no iion of getting involved in this mess. His previous experieh the Lich Lord had left him deeply traumatized. Just hearing the words "cultists" and "ritual" made him want to keep his distance. And now, these cultists were pnning to reopee of Hell!?

  It didn’t take much thought for Alex to realize this would be even more troublesome thaime the Lich Lord attempted to uhe Child of Chaos. After firming his suspis, he was all set to back out. After all, opening the Gate of Hell couldn’t be that easy, right? With only a little over twenty padins and orainee priest under his and, even running a low-level dungeon might wipe them out. And now the system wanted him to tackle a nightmare-level quest? What kind of sick joke was this?

  Did they want him dead faster?

  Frankly, Alex wasn’t even ied in the mission reward anymore. Nothing was more important than his own life. Let the tall ones deal with the falling sky; he was just a trainee knight. Why should he get involved in such a thing? He wasn’t even from this world! But what frustrated him the most was the punishment for failure. It was too cruel!

  The Map of Myriad Dimensions system shutting down?

  System, do you somehow know I don’t want to throw my life away and are deliberately f me into it? I’m your father! Your biological father! I knew from the moment I drew Arthas that it wasn’t a ce. You, you traitor!

  "Mr. Alex?"

  Seeing Alex standing there, lost in thought, Fina curiously asked. Her voiapped him back to reality, and he barely mao suppress his frustration.

  "…Right. Mr. John, please take the others and escort this bald-headed mage back to the temple for reinforts. From what I see, the Order Fortress doesn’t have the strength to help us right now. However, I believe ohe temple learns of the situation, they’ll send additional forces."

  "And what about you, Mr. Alex?"

  "Me?"

  Faced with Fina’s inquiry, Alex gave a helpless smile. There was no running away, so he might as well py the hero...

  "I’ll head to the Dark S to track those cultists. At the very least, I o figure out if they’re daydreaming or if they’ve made any real progress. I’ll also wait for reinforts. Don’t worry, I’m not dumb enough to get myself killed."

  I don’t want to die, but the system seems determio seo my death.

  Of course, Alex kept that st part to himself.

  "I’ll go with you!"

  At this moment, Fina stepped forward as well.

  "I’m a priest. I believe I be of help to you, Mr. Alex."

  "Of course, Miss Fina. I’d be gd to have you apany me."

  In truth, Alex hadn’t po let Fina off the hook. She was the only spellcaster among them, and she was the only one who uood the temple’s sealing spells and magic. If Alex were left to figure things out on his own, he’d probably just get a headache. He had been w how to invite her, but since Fina offered to join him herself, he gdly accepted.

  As for John and the other padins, Alex didn’t pn on taking them along. Fina was manageable; if things got dangerous, he could always make a run for it with her. But the padins were aory. They weren’t strong enough, and there were too many of them. Bringing them along would only be a burden. It was safer to have them escort the bald-headed mage back to the temple. After all, the mage had already been silenced by Nym’s anti-magic measures and couldn’t cast spells. There was no threat from him.

  Speaking of the bald-headed mage, even though he enthusiastically offered to guide Alex, Alex wasn’t buying it. With all the stories onists gettirayed by traitors in web novels, and the fact that this bald-headed mage was an older man and not a cute girl, Alex wasn’t going to fall for it. So, he ftly refused Charles’s "offer" and ordered the padins to take him back for interrogation. Besides, the Dark S wasn’t that big, and with Nym’s radar abilities, finding the cultists wouldn’t be too difficult.

  Due to the urgency of the situation, no one wasted time. John soo with the padins, knog Charles out again before dragging him away. Before long, the camp was left with only Alex, Nym, and Fina.

  "Shall we set off immediately, Mr. Alex?"

  "No, let’s wait a moment."

  As he gazed at the young priestess, a thought suddenly occurred to Alex.

  "Miss Fina, there’s something I’d like to ask you.

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