The flag that followed was that of the brothel.
If he could admit it, he would say he was nervous.
Adryan didn't know what to expect from the final boss. Because of the previous ritual, he knew each ritual would involve a figure with different powers.
The first was the Sword, and the second was possession.
What would it be this time?
'Luckily, we won't have to worry about Possession anymore...' Patting the Tauk Millenium in his pocket, his hand went up a little and taped his chest, where the charms were resting.
So far, he hadn't used them as there was no reason, but he felt that would change soon.
His eyes moved to the stormy sky. A sudden crimson lightning bolt illuminated a monstrous, tyrannical figure among the clouds.
With each passing round, it was getting closer.
"We have at most five more rounds before it falls," Flora commented next to him, also looking up at the sky.
Her words hammered the group, a reminder that the clock deep inside their heads was still counting, the handles moving with a loud Tik Tak.
Each second marked the time they had left to complete the floor before its destruction.
"We're almost done. Don't worry." His words were calm and serene, the soft tone calming the heavy atmosphere.
Looking off into the distance at the lone zombie crawling as best he could with both legs broken and bent at unnatural angles, Adryan checked his remaining bullets and sighed a little.
'If the next round isn't Special, then I'll buy more bullets. I have enough points.' His team had already proven they could do it, so that didn't worry him.
He wasn't entirely sure there would be a Special round. After all, in all these rounds, at no point did a power-up appear. Something that would have been impossible in the game, but remembering where they were, he wasn't surprised.
A Nuke here would have been something special to see, after all.
But that the heart of the Margwa appeared gave him a little hope. The plants were about ready to be harvested after all. Their red color would soon change to purple.
And he would seriously appreciate having the Apoticon Servant before the Final Battle. A pocket black hole would always be welcome.
With that in mind, Adryan turned to his team.
"Let's go."
...
After repeating the same process, he grabbed the flag, and they all ran with speed towards the Canal District.
The tiny tongues of flames were destroyed as soon as they appeared from the powerful shots of the upgraded shotguns.
Arriving at the side of the building glowing with pink lights, an arc of purple electricity greeted them.
Burying the flag in it, purple pulses of energy began to shoot out.
A purple flash was not slow in catching everyone's attention, and the figure covered by the black robe appeared in the air. However, contrary to the group's expectations, this one appeared above the brothel!
"Hey buddy!" shouting at the figure, Adryan placed a hand on the sword's handle at his waist and smiled. "What happened, Dear?! Are you a little nervous?"
His attempts at provocation fell on deaf ears. The figure looked down at them from above, the tunic swaying in the cold city wind.
"Looks like our friend is having trouble hearing." Flora narrowed her eyes in distrust, looking around for any sudden change. Her shotgun was raised and ready to fire.
"Nah." Adryan didn't move his eyes from the empty face under the hood, "He's hearing me quite clearly."
Empty, pale hands rose. Black, bluish smoke began to rise from his palms. Amidst the smoke, small golden spheres danced ominously.
Suddenly, these balls shot out and landed on the ground in front of the brothel, fragmenting it and covering the entire front of the pink building in greenish-black smoke.
Multiple familiar shadows appeared; the tentacles and giant yellow mouths of the margwa showed through the glowing smoke.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Multiple shots from the Dragon's Glare roared. The margwa couldn't even finish appearing before they died, the buckshot shattering their heads with extreme ease.
The assault extinguished all the yellow heads visible in the smoke, but more appeared to replace them and were destroyed just as quickly.
Stopping for a moment, Flora raised her shotgun and fired at the figure still on the roof, but the same greenish shield stopped the pellets.
Clicking her tongue slightly, she lowered the gun and looked behind her at the flag that pulsed loudly, "It'll be ready soon!"
Quickly reloading his shotgun, the redhead could only click his tongue at the continued summoning on the figure's part.
If this continued, they would run out of bullets in no time, which seemed to be exactly what that wretch was looking to accomplish.
Raising his eyes to the figure, he squinted at it. Noticing how the hands were still glowing and the golden globes were still falling from them.
'Of course.' Rolling his eyes slightly, the red-haired man took advantage and, in one swift movement, pulled out a golden charm from his jacket but didn't activate it yet.
"Let us know as soon as it's loaded; I'll make a path."
"Got it."
After holding the line with neither side gaining any ground, the flag finally charged fully. A crimson pulse emanated from it.
Seeing that, Flora quickly shouted as she grabbed it, "Ready!"
With the signal given, Adryan quickly charged the charm in his hand and launched it into the air toward the figure at the top of the brothel.
As the charm reached a considerable height and a few feet from reaching the figure, Ancient Hermes echoed across the Canal District, "Light!"
The multiple symbols covering the charm glowed for an instant before exploding in a blinding white light.
This brilliant explosion occurred right in front of the figure!
"CHIIIIIIII!!!" Raising its arms to cover its face, a piercing scream erupted from it. The smoke and the little yellow spheres had disappeared from its hands.
It had been stunned!
BANG!
A last shot was fired, but again, it was blocked by the shield.
Clicking his tongue, Adryan quickly followed his team, who had already entered the brothel, up the now free stairs.
He arrived just in time to see Flora nail the flag in front of the altar. A bolt of purple energy shot out from the golden plate and hit the spectral guardian directly.
"Huooo!"
With the signal that this step had been performed correctly, the purple energy beam stopped, and the flag vanished like a specter.
"One more, and there would only be the ritual left, wouldn't it?" Sharron consulted, calmly reloading her shotgun, her eyes looking at nothing but the task at hand.
"That's right." Adryan added, "We'd better go in with all our resources at maximum. Running out of bullets down there would be an extremely uncomfortable situation."
And using the sword for ranged attacks wasn't suitable either. The more they used it, the louder the mutterings and the assault on their minds would become, putting them in danger.
The obsidian sword would do far more harm than good if they were not careful, making them lose control if they used it too much.
"Let's get through the round. We're only one flag short. I want to finish this already." Flora grunted a little, tugging a wild hair behind her ear that was bothering her eyesight.
Seeing that, the redhead sighed a little and walked towards her. "Come here."
"What do you want, Princess? Aren't we in a hurry?" Paying no heed, the Jacob raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.
"I've been seeing you like this for a while now." Rolling his eyes, Adryan stepped behind an extremely alert Flora, who looked sideways at him, her eyes glinting in distrust.
Ignoring the look he was receiving, he pulled one of the multiple scrunchies he brought from one of his pockets.
Seeing what he held in his hands, the white-haired woman couldn't help but tense up a bit, her heart skipping several beats, "Princess?" she asked, a bit uncertain.
"Just a second." Sighing a little, Adryan carefully took the long white hair and lifted it up a little.
"W-what do you think you're doing?" Cursing her slip of the tongue a little, Flora pursed her lips a little.
Feeling the wind on her neck, she could barely contain the trembling in her body. Her cheeks flushed a little, and she could only swallow a little saliva but didn't move, letting the redhead continue.
"Having your hair bother your eyesight will only put you at risk for what's coming. It's best to fix it before it becomes a problem." The redhead replied calmly, pulling the loose strands of hair together.
'It's very soft. It's like touching wool... It's that... Lavender and honey?' Surprising himself a little at how good his partner's curly hair felt in his left hand and how good it smelled. His left hand trembled a little but it didn't stop him from finishing what he had started.
"I can do it alone, you know?" Flora asked but made no effort to stop him.
"Let me spoil you a little bit, okay?" laughing a little, Adryan finished his work by tying the noblewoman's wavy hair in a simple but elegant low ponytail.
"It suits you, " he said, the corners of his lips lifted a bit as he looked at his work.
Perhaps he should consider opening a hair salon in the future?
"Uhm. Of course, I am a Jacob, after all." Huffing gracefully, Flora looked away with a zap of her new ponytail, an involuntary smile gracing her face.
Badum... Badum...
Rolling his eyes and not paying much attention to the sudden quickening of his heart, Adryan returned his attention to the gothic duo, and his face froze slightly.
Maric looked at him with his mouth slightly open and some disbelief in his eyes, while Sharron looked at him with a weird gleam in her suddenly really expressive blue eyes that were wide open, making him feel somewhat uncomfortable and embarrassed.
Because she was still close to him, Flora felt his sudden stiffness and looked at what was happening. The stares suddenly froze her for a moment.
Suddenly noticing how close she was still standing to her partner, Flora broke away from him as if he was burning her and turned her back to the group.
"W-what are we waiting for!? Let's go!" Gulping a little, she commanded and stepped forward, the tips of her ears red.
Before following her, Adryan glanced at the duo and, rolling his eyes, followed the white-haired woman who refused to look at him.
"..."
"..."
They doubted they noticed, but Adryan had made Flora's hair complement his and vice versa. Watching them walk together highlighted their hair's rare and beautiful color.
"..."
"..."
Maric and Sharron looked at each other; there was no exchange of words, but it seemed that a long conversation had just taken place.
At the end of that silent conversation, the woman's face was graced with a small smile, a strange show of emotion.
In cases like these, Maric remembered that Sharron loves to read romances almost religiously.
...
No one mentioned what happened a few moments ago.
The exact process was repeated. They moved on to the next round by killing the last zombie and leaving one at the end.
Adryan picked up the flag and carried it towards the Junction—the arc of purple electricity shot out to the side of the circle of blood.
The flag was placed at the origin of the arcs of electricity. The familiar dark purple pulse began.
A sudden purple flash was present, and the figure in the robe returned.
This time, its arms were up. The golden sphere spun with great speed in the middle of his arms, generating a pulse of yellow nerves. It was getting bigger and stronger!
Reacting quickly, a powerful shotgun blast from Sharron made the figure disappear from its place to reappear a few meters away.
The pulse-generating reset was picking up speed again!
BANG!
Another shot, this time from Maric, made it disappear and reappear at the doors of the initial room.
"Don't let it charge!" Adryan shouted, firing at the tongues of flame appearing with increasing speed.
Some almost manage to expand completely, almost managing to summon something.
This continued, with Maric and Sharron keeping the figure from charging its attack while Adryan and Flora kept the tongues from finishing their summoning.
Finally, after quite a while. The flag began to pulse crimson.
Grabbing it, Sharron accelerated towards the bottom of the initial hallway and the rooftop stairs.
The figure quickly shifted his target to her and tried to reload his attack, but Maric, Flora, and Adryan shot at him, stopping it and forcing it to move.
Jumping several steps. Sharron finally reached the mage's room.
Speeding towards the altar with the phantom guardian, she forcefully thrust the flag in front of it. A purple lightning bolt shot out of the gold plate, hitting the guardian, and everything went white.
...
Grunting slightly, Adryan opened his eyes in a daze.
Around him, he noticed how Sharron, Maric, and Flora were with him. Also somewhat dazed by the sudden light.
As soon as they came into focus, he froze a little.
In front of him, in mid-air, words in Hermes had formed.
Main Floor Mission Found: Defeat the Chef Who Lost Control [Suppressed] before time runs out.
14:59
Secondary Mission [Hidden]: ???
"We're at the end now." Flora walked to his side, looking up at the stormy sky.
The clouds had parted in a vast reddish-black ring filled with lightning that wouldn't stop falling. A powerful hurricane threatening to strike at any moment.
In the eye of the hurricane and now visible. A huge behemoth, which covered almost the entire sky with its colossal size, was falling slowly but steadily towards them.
The behemoth's enormous sting opened, revealing a vast yellow eye with a torn pupil. Its hideous, monstrous iris was passing over them.
"KYAAAAAAAA!!!" A spectral howl covered everything, and the earth shook.