A week went by in a blink of an eye, bringing an end to Stage #11 swiftly like the wind.
In the middle of the week, everyone did their quests, asking a lot of NPCs listing in their quests list.
It was tiring for every player, except for a group of players that completed their quests in half a week.
Without a doubt, it was JoonChul's group that amazed a great number of 'Helpers' in the headquarters.
It was the topic of most of the angel's conversations these days because of how fast and unexpected his group was.
Ruby, who was biting ice as if it was a snack for her, conversed with her angel friends. "Don't you guys think this is unheard of? I don't know much about the past but I think this is a first."
"I guess it is the first. Who knows?" Topaz leaning on the wall with her arms crossed, responded back to Ruby.
Standing beside those two was Citrine who was looking extremely tired with dark circles under her eyes.
She spoke while rubbing her eyelids, sighing in the process. "There is another thing that is much more problematic than this."
"Oh, sister. How's your assignment?" Topaz asked Citrine, staring at her with worries.
"Don't give me that look, I'm perfectly fine. It's just difficult to figure out the culprit who is behind that unforeseen message."
"Maybe you should get some sweets to recharge yourself, sister."
"Good idea. I haven't been eating any cakes since I got the assignment."
Munching on ice, Ruby observed the two sisters talking to each other. "Why don't you have some ice?"
Citrine tirelessly shifted her eyes on the bowl of ice Ruby got on her hand before glancing at Ruby. "That only works for you, Ruby."
"By the way, Ruby. Won't it be your turn soon?" Topaz mentioned.
Ruby flinched when she heard that, entirely paused on eating the ice. "Don't remind me..! I don't want to work with Sapphire soon. She's too cold for me."
"How is that so? You're hot and she's cold. Polar opposite."
At that moment, Citrine felt a chilling sensation coming from behind her, almost giving her goosebumps.
She didn't even wish to turn around to find out why it was cold at her back. Mostly because she could see the expressions on Topaz and Ruby's faces.
When those two were about to tell her, Citrine raised her hand to stop them, asking them. "Sapphire is behind me, right?"
Topaz and the scared Ruby nodded to her question which made Citrine gulp down her saliva.
Sapphire grinned with a cold glance, informing them. "What are you all doing here without going back to doing your work?"
"Uh… Nope." And with that, Ruby immediately ran away after chugging down all the ice in her bowl. Tossing the bowl aside before burning it out of existence while it was in mid-air.
Afterwards, Topaz gazed at Ruby's back fading as soon as she wasn't in her sight, then she switched her glance at Sapphire. "Did you really have to do that, Sapphire?"
"If I don't do that, Ruby won't be able to get her tasks done." Sapphire answered, holding onto a plate that had something sweet on it.
Citrine sighed again. "My sister meant you being mysteriously creepy and cold."
"I was trying to scare Ruby. Did I perhaps frighten the 'November' sisters by any chance?"
Topaz shook her head and replied. "Obviously not. It was just the cold atmosphere."
"Is that cake?" Citrine spotting the cake on the plate, asked Sapphire.
Sapphire smiled and handed the plate with a fork to Citrine. "Since you did the most work while researching the causes with me, I thought you should have a cake because I know you'll be low on sugar soon."
"Oh my goodness, thank you, Sapphire! Haha, I wonder why Ruby thinks of you as a cold person when you're so considerate." Citrine quickly took the plate of cake, eating it when she got to stare at it for a short moment.
"It's an angel cake." Topaz spoke when she saw the cake. "Anyways, Sapphire. Do you think you can do a good job when it's Ruby's and your turn?"
"Of course, I can." Sapphire gave a confident response before telling her. "I'll be going now. I must prepare myself while I have spare time."
"Yes, yes. See you later, Sapphire."
———
In the early morning at the 'Bouquet' tavern…
"Mya.. I hope you'll take care of yourself while you're out there.." Speaking with a concerned tone of voice, Payne embraced his daughter firmly.
Mya who couldn't say no to her father's very long session of hugging, giggled sadly. "Papa, rest assured. I'll be fine."
"That's right, Mr. Payne!" Alaine gave a thumb up while talking confidently.
Louis, who had joined JoonChul's team because of Mya, felt related to what Payne was feeling. "I may only know her for a couple days or so, but I'll promise to look after her as if she was my sister."
Mya smiled, slightly pushing her father away since she was feeling stuffy from the hug. "Yeah, papa. I'll do whatever I can to survive and train h-hard with everyone in the team."
Walking down the stairs which made creaking sounds, caused everyone's attention toward there. To see who it was, they laid their eyes in that direction, discovering it was HwanGi who had come down.
Hiding the fact he was sort of eavesdropping, HwanGi overheard what they were talking as he commented. "And I'll protect Mya as much as possible."
"Not to be a bummer, but there is little time to go to the designated location." JoonChul, arriving on the ground floor, spoke while having a new coat on which was a black coat.
Mya looked at JoonChul's direction before laying her eyes at her father, embracing him tightly while saying the words she was about to say affectionately. "I love you, papa.. Please say goodbye to my sisters.."
When Payne heard those words coming out of his daughter's mouth, his eyes became teary and replied. "I love you too, my daughter. And I'll miss you."
Having finished what she had to say and do, Mya let go of her father and was going to leave with JoonChul's team.
While gazing back, Mya's eyes couldn't hold it in and began pouring out tears. And that was the last time Payne could ever see his daughter again, engraving Mya's final moment of her leaving the tavern inside his memory forever...
———
In the grassland, the place where everyone was originally transported to when arriving in this world.
"Have everyone all gathered?" Zircon floated beside her sisters, asked Turquoise.
After Turquoise nodded to Zircon's question, she went back to writing something important in her book.
"Finally! I can take a break! No more work!" Tanzanite cheered, flying randomly in the sky.
As soon as Turquoise finished what she was writing, a message emerged in front of almost all the players.
[Stage #11 has ended.]
[Reward for those who have completed Stage #11 has been distributed.]
[Punishment for those who did not complete Stage #11 has begun.]
Upon hearing and reading such messages, the ones who had failed, had been teleported to the 'Kingless' Kingdom without moments noticed.
While the ones who finished the stage, had been given their 550 coins. With the exception of a few players and the entirety of JoonChul's group getting a bonus which was a fire emblem for each and everyone.
After getting their rewards, another message popped up.
[Stage #12 will begin after the preparations for the world-line transference is done.]
Zircon sensed some of the player's expression overjoyed by the message as though they thought they were going back home.
Thus, she added. "As you may know, this is not what you think it is."
"Of course, you'll be transported to a world, however it's not your world. It's entirely different."
Tanzanite joined in, still feeling joyful. "That's right! Did you think you could go back this early in the stages? Oh no, no."
"You must complete 100 stages to return to your world which also means you need to enter 10 different worlds." Zircon continued on speaking after Tanzanite.
"Since you're already within one of the 10 worlds, you only need to go through 9 more."
Managing the process of the portals for the world-line transference, Turquoise looked over the players as she spoke. "They must feel extremely devastated after knowing they're not returning back to earth."
Naturally, most of the players felt upset by this, be that as it may, they couldn't dare argue or complain at the 'Helpers', because they knew they would just increase their chances of going into hell.
As a result, their mouths were shut tight without opening once, excluding those who whispered with their friends or so.
[Stage #12 is almost ready. . .]
Since Turquoise needed help from Zircon on the transfer process, it left Tanzanite the only one announcing everything now.
"Pardon me, everyone! This time, you need to be in a group or party whichever you prefer." Tanzanite descended downward, informing everybody of this.
"Right now, you'll have a guild notification appearing soon. And when you see that, you must either create a guild or join a guild. It's up to you."
As if waiting for it, the notification did appear in the eyes of the players, revealing a 'Create' and 'Join' options.
After that, Tanzanite waited for all the players to finish reading before she uttered. "Just remember, you can't solo your way through the upcoming stages in the world that you'll be entering."
"So joining a guild is required! Anyhow, a symbol of your guild will appear above your head if you joined or created it. This is to make sure the leaders and members of each guild are able to spot which players are taken or not."
"Since you have seen the guild panel, you all know that it would cost coins to establish a guild."
"Phew.." Tanzanite caught her breath, exhaling and inhaling slowly as she went back to mumbling. "Explaining is hard."
After a short moment, Tanzanite suddenly remembered another information as she proceeded giving the players a blood-curdling expression while she told them.
"Excuse me, I forgot to mention. You better hurry with it before Stage #12 starts. Who knows what happens if you don't belong in a guild."
As if warning them to hurry up, Tanzanite thought to herself as she was trying to make it seem that way. 'Somehow, I have a bad feeling as though something bad will happen.'