"Argh.." Asher grunted in a low voice. He felt his body and the feeling of skin rubbing on sharp stones.
A realization hit him when he understood he was in the body of that soldier. His brows furrowed in doubt.
'Am I reincarnated again?'
Pressing hands on the solid ground, he stood up from the spot. His head spun; he felt sore all over his body. This was a sign of fatigue in his body. He looked around and noticed that all the other soldiers who had crawled with him had stood up at some point.
Now they were looking around with cautious eyes, probably fearing the return of the army. Deserting the army was a capital crime that would result in death.
'Is this my first test? If so, then what should I do now?' Asher felt his brain hurt thinking about such an odd test. At least Chaos could tell them what the test was, right?
Seemingly answering his doubts, a screen appeared in front of his eyes.
[First quest: Reach the mountain of Obsidian Citadel]
He looked at the screen with a headache. Chaos was really lazy. At least it could tell them the direction.
[Bloodline blessing initiating.]
'Here it comes. At least I got a bloodline blessing. But, what is this blessing?'
[Bloodline: Chaos master, Trait: Born from chaos, chaos master stops all the chaos in the universe.]
'This means I am a talented prodigy. Hehe.'
[Bloodline blessing: Slender and soft body, Breathless.]
'What..'
[Slender and soft body: A body even gods hoped for. Can walk even on thin ice.]
[Breathless: Chaos was the beginning of the world, so it doesn't have any breath.]
"What kind of luck is this!" he hissed loudly. The four soldiers around him looked at him with strange eyes.
"Brother, why are you cursing?" a short soldier asked him with concern.
Asher gazed at the short soldier, and he saw concern in his eyes.
'Concern! For what?'
"Nothing. I was cursing our situation." He put a smile on his face.
"I thought brother is not satisfied.." The short soldier breathed a sigh of relief. But while speaking, his eyes never left Asher's face.
Asher looked at the short soldier for a moment. Then he looked at the rest of the soldiers. He noticed a soldier standing in a strange way. It was as if he was not uncomfortable with everything.
'Weird guy.'
Then his eyes fell on a fat, muscular soldier. He had an arrogant look on his face. From his face, everyone would think he was some kind of hero.
'Arrogant bastard.'
When his eyes fell on the tall but dark soldier, his gaze lingered on him for a moment. He was unlike the other soldiers; from his eyes, Asher could see a cunning and traitorous nature.
'Cunning oldy.'
Asher felt proud after giving them names. But he still had to find that Obsidian Citadel. But how did he find out about the position of that place?
"How about we move in that direction?" suddenly, the short soldier suggested in a low voice. Asher looked in the direction where he pointed. But what was in that direction was a cliff.
"Are you a fool? Do you want all of us to jump from that cliff?" the arrogant soldier retorted in a high-pitched voice. But his feet moved towards the cliff.
Asher looked at the actions of the arrogant soldier with a raised eyebrow. His words and actions were exact opposites.
'Is he a fool or…'
Anyway, he was also at a loss now. There was nothing to lose if he just followed him. Thinking that, he followed behind the arrogant soldier. The short soldier looked at his actions and smiled, then he also followed behind them.
The cunning soldier and the weird soldier also followed them. No one spoke any retort. It was like they fully believed the short soldier.
'What strange guys…' Asher thought in his mind. He felt they were like puppets, following the commands of something.
'Either they are fools or know what they are doing…'
When he reached the edge of the cliff, he noticed the arrogant soldier looking down seriously. Now he was like a veteran general who had commanded countless wars.
'Acting…'
He also looked down. When he saw the scene, he was surprised. There, he saw a big river. The odd thing about that river was that it flowed upwards into a cave. It was like gravity was acting from the sky.
"What do we do now?" the weird soldier asked in a low voice. Asher could hear the trembling in his voice. Everyone became silent. They were also a little confused now. Looking at the short soldier, he was gazing at the cave with a knitted brow.
'Looks like he wants to enter the cave. But why?'
After thinking for about an hour, everyone was discouraged by the problem. They looked at Asher sleeping on a rock with dissatisfaction.
While all of them were searching for answers, he was the only one sleeping like an idiot. The arrogant soldier became angry, looking at his sleeping face.
He strode toward him. "You…" His voice stopped in his mouth when he noticed the coldness in Asher's eyes. Somehow, he felt that if he moved closer, his life would be over.
"What?" Asher yawned. Shrugging his shoulders, he stood up and patted his back.
"Brother, what should we do now? If the army returns here and sees us…" the short soldier said with a hint of panic. He then looked at the face of the arrogant soldier.
Sure enough, upon hearing his words, the arrogant soldier forgot about the panic he felt toward Asher.
"You lazy head! All of us are searching for ways to enter the cave, but you sleep here." Looking at Asher's yawning face, he gritted his teeth.
"Why do we need to go there? Can't we go in the opposite direction? Besides, there are two more directions, right?" he asked with a smile, studying the short soldier closely.
Then he noticed a trace of panic in the eyes of the short soldier.
'As expected…'
"Young man, moving through dangerous paths can be helpful for avoiding pursuit," the cunning soldier spoke in a calm tone. Asher even felt his words were true for a moment.
It was as if his words were directly coming from an encyclopedia.
'Strange…'
"You guys are talking as if a big army will find out about us, five deserting soldiers…" Asher muttered in a low voice. But his voice was clearly heard by the four of them.
His eyes secretly tracked the expressions of everyone. Except for the weird soldier, every other soldier remained calm.
"Heh, this is the first time I'm seeing someone who's not angry at being called a deserter." A low chuckle escaped from his mouth.
This time he noticed that the expressions of everyone had changed.
'Interesting…'