"MARVELOUS!"
"FANTASTIC!"
"OH SWEET!"
The nasal gruff sound continued to reverberate as the trio keep on putting the colored cubes in their respective portals. Due to their non-stop 'cleaning', they almost cleaned half of the room's expanded area.
"Haa..."
Shaira inclined herself against her sword. Her forehead resting against her knuckles on top of the hilt of her sword. She has been fighting monsters non-stop since they entered this trial area. She really regrets asking for another mode of payment. She should have let Marco pay for the room but no..., she instead asked for another way. And now they are all here.
They almost died in the first challenge and Ken overdraft himself. She knows this one has to have some catch.
"FANTASTIC!"
"Ugh...that voice-over really doesn't help. Did they add that just to torture us?!" Marco massages his forehead in annoyance. The nasal gruff voice really agitates him. It makes him want to throw all his bombs in frustration.
"Is Ken okay now? Can someone go check? We really need his help right now..." Angelo asks as he squats on the floor.
"Hmm? Oh, I'll check, his debuff would be over by now. I'll wake him up." Shaira rise up from her position. A red mark imprinting on her forehead as she sheathed her sword back to its scabbard.
"Ken..., Ken wake up. You okay?"
Ken squints his eyes, rubbing them as his mind came to clarity.
"What is it?"
"Are you fit to fight now?" asked Angelo who's suddenly beside him.
"Rey? Oh...yeah. I'm all good. The debuff is gone now."
"Good. If you would please" Angelo gestured to the piles of trash left.
Ken stared at him wryly. He let out a smirk before standing up as he reaches for Angelo's hand.
"Let's do this then"
Ken waved his hand and a wave of fire blew past Marco and Shaira. The rest of them stared at the burning trash as they morph from monsters before turning into colored cubes.
Angelo watches Ken's attack. Magic is really useful. Ken is just a subcontractor but he can summon such power. It doesn't hurt either that he doesn't rely merely on the system. He really makes sure that he knows how to manifest his magic without the system's convenience.
The fire subsides and Marco immediately picks up the colored cubes near him. Unbeknownst to him that a creature hasn't been defeated entirely. It spat out a red substance and hit Marco's hand as he reaches for a cube.
"Shit, there's still one" Marco stab it with a kunai and it quickly turned into a red cube.
"Ken just finish the rest of the pile so we can finish this quickly"
As a reply, Ken gathered his mana into his palms, and like a wave, it shoots towards the remaining trash. It didn't even get to transform before it turned into colored cubes.
"Phew, now we're finished. Nice one Ken." Marco gives a thumbs-up as he said this. "Also, can you summon some water? This place really needs it" He added as he sniffs his clothes.
Ken raised his eyebrow but nevertheless acquiesced to Marco's request. With a move of his hand, he summoned a wave of water. The wave cleaned the area it passed, leaving it shining. Meanwhile, Marco stared at the tidal wave coming unto him.
"Shitty Ken!"
SPLASH!
Marco gasps, as he emerges from the wave, his clothes soaking wet as he screams profanities towards Ken.
Angelo looked at Ken in surprise. "Ha...and I thought you're the serious one"
Ken just shrug but a smirk is still on his face as he helps them carry the cubes towards their respective portals.
"Ah...guys..."Ken and Angelo turned their attention to Marco.
Marco's face is now pale and his neck is covered with violet veins.
"I don't feel so...."
BLAG!
"Marco!"
The rest of them quickly gathered around him.
"Marco! Wake up! What's wrong with him?" Shaira anxiously asks, her face paling at the thought of something bad happening to him.
"It's bad. He's been infected" Angelo eyed the debuff displayed on Marco's tag.
<< Marco Sanchez Estanislao lvl 27 >>
<< Infected >>
"The debuff has no timer. It looks like we need to find a cure"
-40 Damage
-40 Damage
...
"What do we do?" Shaira asked, her voice trembling. "At this rate, Marco will die"
"For now, see if a healing potion can solve it." Ken handed a red potion to Shaira. She then immediately poured it into Marco's mouth. Unfortunately, it only filled his health points for a moment but it didn't remove the debuff.
Silence envelops them.
Shaira's knuckles turned white as she grips them tightly. She knows that they'll encounter various dangerous things in this instance. Hell, other instances are much more dangerous than this place. But they've been complacent. Meeting Rey and his aid companion have lessened the risks considerably. They fell to the naive thought that they are already strong enough to face anything that they'll encounter.
If anything happens to Marco, she...
"Hey..."
Ken took Shaira's hands. He saw the blood dripping from her palms as he unclenched her hands from her own tight grip.
"You dummy, everything will be fine...Marco will not die. "
"Listen to Ken. Here, just stay with Marco and keep feeding him. Also, try to maximize the effect of the potion" Angelo advises as handed his share of red potion to Shaira.
He already analyzed it, as long as Shaira keeps watch on Marco's HP, he will not die right away. The bonus effect of the 'Beyond Adversary' title is also a big factor. It lessens the damage of the debuff. Moreover, if she maximizes the effect of the potion like he had advised, they can lengthen the need for the healing potion.
"Come on, let's go end this challenge."
Ken nodded. The both of them then continued bringing the colored cubes to their respective portals.
"Shaira's really worried ha..." Angelo started as he absentmindedly put a green cube to its portal.
Ken let out a small smile as if remembering something. "Well, those two are childhood friends. They're like siblings."
"Oh? How did that happen? I thought Shaira's not a rich kid unlike Marco"
Ken almost put a red cube into the wrong portal. He stared at Angelo weirdly before chuckling at his bewildered expression.
"You're not wrong but...ha, anyway...apparently those two met and become thick as thieves when Shaira saved Marco from the other kids. She was in fifth grade then and she told me that she saw a bunch of third-grade students was picking fun at him, trying to get his ball out of his hands. She, being the mother-hen that she is immediately descended upon the third-graders ganging up on a toddler."
Ken told him as he let out a nostalgic smile. Angelo gazed at his smile and turn to himself, trying to imagine a young Shaira beating up a bunch of third-grade students.
"Wait, toddler?"
"Yeah, he was five when they met."
"Eh?"
No wonder, at that age, Marco must have followed Shaira like a duckling to its mother. Angelo then turns his gaze back to Ken.
"How about you? How did you meet them?"
"I'm classmates with Shaira since high school. Though we're not close until our sophomore year. Of course, being friends with her came with a plus one." Ken answered with a chuckle. He let out a sigh as he gazed at Marco's prone figure broodingly.
Angelo also let out a sigh as he stared at the three of them. Marco is the baby of the group and seeing him like that really took a toll on them. And he might find Marco kind of annoying but that kid grows on you.
"Marco's gonna be fine. Even if we can't cure him during this trial, as long as we end these challenges as soon as possible, we can buy a detoxifying potion."
Angelo claps Ken's back for a moment before moving past him and putting a blue cube into a blue-colored portal. And with the last cube settled, a chime sounded.
Ping~
[ Challenge 2: Clean and Segregate the Trash! ]
[ CLEARED ]
[ Miracle Party earned: ]
[ 100 TCP
4 Medium Healing Potion
4 Medium Mana Potion
4 VIP Pass ]
The portals pulsate and converged into a rainbow light beam as it materializes a black obelisk with laser-like focus. It's a familiar stone obelisk as like before it has an etching of their party's name.
[ CONGRATULATIONS FOR BEING THE FIRST GROUP TO CLEAR THE AREA ]
[ Miracle Party earned 'Vaccinated' title ]
[ Last Challenge starts in 30 minutes ]