"Men, protect the Lord God!"
Streaks of light rained down from the sky.
They were the winged-men, brandishing their weapons as if they were in high alert.
There was nothing but confusion on his Viel's face. He then turned his head towards the source of the shout.
It was Elder Augustus.
Elder Augustus was the streak of light that pushed him away.
"M…mister...", Viel was at a loss. Why were the winged men here? But he shook his head, this was not the time for thinking, "M..mister, sister… sister Xianying needs our help!", Viel frantically ran towards Xianying, who was impaled by a large spear.
But it would seem that Xianying was still alive, as she slightly turned her head, looking at Viel, "G…go… go… home", struggled Xianying.
"N..no..", Viel continued to walk towards Xianying, but the winged men blocked his path.
"Move!", Viel glared at the men who had their backs at him.
"Lord God, please… You must go! T-this… creature. I am afraid that at your current strength, you will only die by its hands", Elder Augustus blocked Viel's path as well as he grabbed Viel by the shoulders.
"I said no!", Viel's shout reverberated through the air, shaking the ground where they stood. His long golden hair vibrating as they floated in the air.
"P-please, Lord God. We will make sure your companion survives, I will have someone bring her to the healing fountain. But please, you must go!", Elder Augustus groveled on the ground as he begged for Viel to go.
"I-", before Viel could refute again. A thunderous voice echoed from the sky.
"Rain…", a silhouette revealed itself coming from the sky, "I told you. I will find you…".
The figure floated in the air, slowly making its way down as it looked at the winged men as if they were insects.
"And I have." the figure wasn't shouting, in fact, it felt like a whisper. A whisper that filled the air, "No more running, Rain…"
And then, the figure landed on the ground. Revealing itself to be a man.
A man sporting a long red hair. And even though there was wind, his hair remained still. Unhindered, like his descent.
"W-who are you!? Why… why did you hurt sister Xianying!?", Viel howled as he glared at the stranger.
The red haired man slowly looked towards Xianying with an amused expression on his face. He turned his attention back to Viel… and laughed.
"Sister? Since when were you capable of building familial bonds, and with insects?"
Hearing the stranger's mocking tone, Viel felt the urge to rush towards him. But once again, his path was blocked by Elder Augustus and the other winged men.
"Please, Lord God. Go home, you may punish us for as long as you wish. But for now, please go!", Elder Augustus continued to urge Viel to jump through the portal.
"Oh yes, run.", the stranger calmly walked towards Viel. Unperturbed by the hundred wingedmen protecting Viel. "Aren't you getting tired of running away? You have been running for thousands of years… Proving everyone that you are nothing but a coward.", once again, the stranger revealed a mocking smile.
Seeing the man's continued display of arrogance, Viel could no longer hold back. "You will be sorry for hurting sister Xianying!"
Once again, he rushed and was blocked by Elder Augustus. "I said, move out of the wa-"
"I really apologize for this, Lord God!", said Elder Augustus as he kicked Viel towards the portal with all his might.
"NO!", seeing Viel falling towards the portal, the stranger quickly shifted his pace as he dashed through the wingedmen.
"Out of the way, you fucking cockroaches!", the stranger shouted, the calmness on his face, gone.
The wingedmen swung their swords towards the rampaging man. The redhaired man, however, only had an annoyed expression on his face as the swords of light hit him directly on the body.
The man continued his rush with an excited smile on his face. "Finally, I have you!", he was only a few feet inches from the portal, a few feet away from reaching Viel, who can be seen falling from the other side of the portal.
But right when a part of redhead man's hand finally passed through the portal, he felt a sharp pain on his face causing his body to flinch sideways. Stopping him in his tracks and making him move back.
It was Elder Augustus, with his arms wrapped by a glowing pulsating gauntlet. Elder Augustus stood beside the portal, his eyes filled with resolute.
"The Lord God protects the world…", Elder Augustus put up his stance, "And we protect the Lord God!"
All the winged men followed suit and surrounded the stranger. They put up their stance, not letting the stranger out of their sight.
The stranger's whole body trembled, there was only anger shown on his face as he howled.
"RAAAAIN! I WILL FIND YOU!", shouted the stranger as he rushed towards Elder Augustus.
And that was the last thing Viel saw before the portal was completely closed on him.
---
Viel was falling from the sky with a blank look on his face. Everything happened so fast.
Why?
Why did that have to happen to sister Xianying?
Who was the red-haired man? Was he the Usurper that Mr. Voice mentioned?
And why does he keep on calling him Rain?
Rain… who is that?
All sorts of thoughts and questions raced inside his mind as he continued to fall.
Why…Why!?
Why did mister Augustus have to stop him from saving sister Xianying!?
She… would still be alive if it weren't for… but wait…
Viel then remembered that Xianying was still alive.
She looked at him and told him to go home. Yes.
Yes!
She was alive!
A sense of hope returned to Viel's face as he realized this fact. There was only one thing to do… return.
He must return to sister Xianying and make sure she is alright. But how? The portal to the dungeon was already closed.
But as soon as Viel thought so,
[There are 47 dungeons within a 5,000km radius]
Mr. Voice ringed through Viel's mind.
Yes, this was it. He just needed to enter the dungeon nearest to him. Viel was so excited that he did not even realized that he was about to hit the center plaza's cold hard ground.
But before he could land so, he was caught by Xing Cai.
"Viel, what happened!?", Xing Cai carefully placed Viel on the ground. "T-this, is this blood!? What happened!? Are you okay!?", Xing Cai hurriedly crouched down to check up on Viel, seeing the blood on his face made her panic.
Xing Cai had no idea what had happened. They were about to jump through the portal, when Viel suddenly let go of his hand and turned back, pushing her to go through the portal alone. She wanted to go back through the portal, but her efforts were in vain as the portal felt like a wall blocking her path.
"It... it's sister Xianying…"
"What!?", Xing Cai was stupefied. What could have even happened in that short amount of time?
"She… was hit by a spear…", Viel recounted all the events to Xing Cai, careful to not leave a single detail.
"This...", Xing Cai could not help but grit her teeth. She reckoned that the gap between her and Viel's exit through the portal hasn't even been a minute, yet all those things happened?
She curled her fist as anger rose inside of her. Xianying was their friend. And now there was a possibility that she was gone, just like that, and she wasn't even there to protect her. But before Xing Cai can vent out her frustration, Viel spoke.
"That is why we must enter another dungeon!", Viel said, his eyes full of vigor.
"Huh? How?", visible confusion can be seen on Xing Cai's face, "The portal is already closed"
Viel instantly shook his head in response, "Mr. Voice said that there are 47 other dungeons within a 5,000km radius!"
"T-there's more!?", Xing Cai was shocked to the core. Xing Cai wasn't even going to ask how Viel knew all of that, she just leaves it up to trust.
Viel nodded in response, "I…I will go. I will save sister Xianying!".
Xing Cai took a deep breath. She too, wanted to make sure that Xianying was safe. However, there was one thing on her mind, how can Viel be sure if any of those 47 dungeons will lead to the same realm as to where they were before?
But before she could ask, an excruciating pain went through her brain as she howled.
"AAAGGHH!", she kneeled, grasping her head tight as the pain continued to linger.
"S-sister Xing Cai!?", Viel immediately approached Xing Cai, his face full of concern. "W-what's wrong!?", Viel slightly tugged Xing Cai, but it was to no avail, Xing Cai just continued to howl in pain, not even looking at Viel.
"Sister Xing Cai…"
Now what? What was Viel supposed to do? All he could do was stand there and stare at Xing Cai as she writhed in pain on the ground. Once again, even with all his skills, he felt powerless. Viel embraced Xing Cai and closed his eyes, as he could not bear to see Xing Cai like this.
But then after a few seconds, Xing Cai's howls abruptly stopped. Viel, who still had his eyes closed, could feel Xing Cai moving her hands erratically.
Viel opened his eyes, only to see Xing Cai waving her hands in the air, murmuring something.
"…Congratulations…clearing… first dungeon…what?", Xing Cai continued to wave her hands, as if trying to touch something that was not there.
"S..sister Xing Cai? W-what's wrong?", Viel was confused, why was sister Xing Cai waving her hands in the air? Has she gone crazy?
"… I leveled up? What does that even mean?", Xing Cai completely ignored Viel's questions as she stared at the empty air.
"Sister Xing Cai!", Viel then pouted as she tugged on Xing Cai's robes heavily. Almost tearing it off, showing some of her skin.
"W-what are you doing!?", Xing Cai finally acknowledged Viel's presence as she hurriedly fixed her robes.
"Why… are you waving your hands?", said Viel while stomping his foot.
"This… Can you see these… words?", Xing Cai pointed in front of her.
Viel squinted his eyes to try and see what Xing Cai was pointing to, "Do you mean… those two ants fighting each other on top of that tree?"
"What? What are you even saying, I mean these things!", Xing Cai once again pointed in front of her.
Viel placed his hand on his chin as he tilted his head. But then, his eyes widen as he realized something.
"S-sister Xing Cai… do... do you hear Mr. Voice!?", there was visible excitement in Viel's tone.
"What? No. I'm not crazy.", Xing Cai furrowed her eyebrows.
"T-then, what… the words, what do they say!?"
"Well…", Xing Cai looked in front of her, "It says… Special Reward for defeating… the drakel champion? Hmm… Accept?"
As soon as Xing Cai finished her words, weird green particles suddenly started appearing directly in front of her, like a hundred fireflies dancing in the air. And then, the particles quickly disappeared...
Being replaced by a bulky golden sword, almost as big as Xing Cai herself.
"HUUWHHHAAAT!?", Viel slightly backed away, his mouth and eyes equally wide open.