Chapter 151: Hail (1)
"...jeez. Wearn't you the one that wanted to rush out of here as fast as possible?" Ethaniel scoffed at Minister Yer's scared demeanour. Soon after, his head turned towards the other slimes who had been discussing amongst themselves since arriving at the cold plains. "Hah... Isn't this the worst kind of area to stumble onto?"
"It is..." Shinto let out a cold breath as his arms folded to cover himself. "With lack of equipment and cold resistance armour, we'll end up like walking icicles if we go through we exploring the forest."
"...Not to mention we don't have food or any good things to sustain us in this environment," Ethaniel uttered out hopelessly.
Within the game of Spiritual Warriors—In order to have the same amount of realism in terms of the environment as per real life, there were many sorts of factors that could affect an adventurer's exploration capabilities like a typical human would be affected in, for example, the current precipitation which was a hailstorm.
"Do you think we should go back?" Frey questioned as her eyes narrowed to the surrounding area, noting that they were at a high peak. On the left side of them, there was a snowy steeped pathway that led into the forest below them. "...or should we just explore this place and head back to town through other means?"
"Well... Wasn't it more efficient to just go back and find the pathway that leads back into the catacombs?" Raina tilted her head. "I'm sure that's far better than having to go through this hailstorm."
"Yes... That is the most efficient route but," Reru sighed with gritted teeth. "This idiot of mine said it might take forever to even find Madam Ru's veil as it's apparently ever-changing. He can't pinpoint where exactly is her magic source unless he has a better grasp on the magic within in the area to be able to locate where the veil is accurately."
"...hah. Rustly, you're incredibly useless you know that?" Ethaniel frowned.
"I-I said I was sorry!" Rustly cried out. "We just need to find a ruin or something! I don't think it's a problem with this place..."
"...tch," Ethaniel clicked his tongue as he then proceeded to translate the slime's language to the group. Moments after, his eyes turned to the ongoing hail that's falling onto the land. "So? Should we just do whatever the slimes are saying?"
"...well, if they're no other options, then we'll have to go find a ruin," Shinto shook his head helplessly. "Though... We've got to wait till the hail passes. Otherwise, it's just walking to our deaths."
"Right... Movement speed and cold resistance debuff don't go well with the Cold Chills one we're getting," Raina muttered out. "Do we know when the storms going to pass, though? A typical one in real life takes around fifteen minutes... But this one seems to have been up for a few hours."
"No idea... I rarely ever go into cold climate areas," Shinto shrugged. "Though, maybe it'll pass in a few more hours at most? In any case, we'll mostly be playing the waiting game."
"Hmm... We're going to be playing the waiting game again?" Frey frowned. "But at least... This time it won't be for an entire day..."
"Ahem... Right," Shinto let out a cough. "It won't take that long of a wait, but if you want to, you can just log out for the time being. Since we've got nothing to do at the moment."
"O-Oh, really?" Frey uttered out. "Then if that's so... I'll log out for a bit and return in like... One hour or two hours in real life time?"
"I'll also be logging out. I haven't had a chance to since I've had my hands tied with the Flames of Etheral and all, I'll return around the same time as Frey," Raina stated.
"Sure," he nodded his head as he saw that Frey and Raina had logged out of the game. Soon after, he soon turned towards Ethaniel. "What about you?"
"I'll just stay here. My daily usage time is still a long way to go and if the hailstorm ever decides to let up in this eight hours of their offline time, we can explore the premise for a bit," Ethaniel replied.
"I see... Then, if you need me, I'll be over a little deeper into the cavern to keep my temperature at a steady rate," Shinto stated as he began to move back into the caves. Meanwhile, Ethaniel stood there as he turned over to the slimes who were frantically arguing with one another.
"H-Hey... Those humans just disappeared out..." Minister Yer uttered out in a shaky voice. "A-Are they leaving us alone?!"
"Ugh... You stupid idiot. They're adventurers through and through. They should have matters in the other world if there's nothing better to do here as of the moment," Reru stated. "Anyways. Stop acting so scared! It's not like there aren't any other combatants for you to cower behind in fear if you ever decide to run with your tail between your legs."
"...we don't have tails though," Rustly muttered out.
"Oh shut up," Reru rolled his eyes.
...
Walking silently deep into the caverns, Shinto found a suitable spot to quietly sit in as he soon opened up his notification window which had multiple unread messages that did not have to do with the Bareth's Tundra Zone notice.
"So u-um... Master, is everything resolved?" Kon asked.
"I'm not too sure... This thing has been ringing ever since we've arrived here," Shinto stated as he braced himself for the occurrence of any fight that had happened during the time he had laid off eyes on his notification window.
[ The contents of 'Judgement of Great Evil: Sanke' has been updated! ]
[ The quest reward has been distributed. ]
[ A new quest to prove your worth has been given! ]
[ A new quest is generating... ]
...
[ A Diviner or Not? ]
Difficulty: Fcontemporary romance
With the immense disappointment of the Divinity against your failure at doing your job properly, the judges and messengers have decided to task you with an extremely simple job. If you were to fail such a task, your worth to them is deemed inoperable and will be blocked out of the 'Divinity' skill set for a period of time.
You as the Diviner must defeat 100 monsters within three days.
Quest Clear Reward: At the very least, your relation with certain beings of Divinity will be back to the normal levels, Divinity +1, Shadow +1
Addition Quest Clear Condition: If you among your feat of monsters that you defeat were to be judged as evil, you may please a few beings of Divinity and gain additional rewards.
Quest Failure: The 'Divinity' side skills will be temporarily stripped off of you until judgement day.
...
"...hah. Another quest?" Shinto frowned.
"They don't give thing's for free, huh?" Kon whimpered.
"..." Shaking his head helplessly, Shinto soon continued reading his notifications.
[ 'Purgatory Blood Queen of the Night' is angered at the Divinity's trickeries! She states that this is not compensation! ]
[ The beings of Divinity scoffs at the Blood Queen's angered demeanour and stated that if the Diviner can't possibly finish this task, he doesn't even deserve to be an adventurer. ]
[ The Blood Queen's mouth has been shut as she left the channel that connects the Divinity. ]
[ The beings of Divinity mocks the incompetence of the Blood Queen and the beings of Shadow. ]
[ The beings of Shadows are greatly angered! ]
[ The side of Shadow has completely left the channel that connects the Divinity. ]
[ The beings of Divinity are eyeing on you and your final chance to prove your worth at being a decent Diviner. ]
...
"...jeez. These beings of Divinity sure are being extremely strict..." Reading through the final messages of notification, Shinto sighed in a helpless manner. "But at the very least... The tasks more doable than I could ask for."
"It'll be alright, right, master?" Kon asked.
"100 Monsters is fine for me. I won't struggle," Shinto nodded his head. "Unless... This plain has the worst monster spawn rate I could ever ask for..."
"I-It can't be that way... R-Right?" Kon's voice shook slightly. "I mean... It should be fine!"
"..." Shinto's eyes closed as he recalled the area that they were in. 'Bareth's Tundra Zone'. "...I don't think I've been to this place, so I can't actually guarantee that I would be able to complete the task..."
"I-If that's so... You will be..."
"Stripped off my Divinity side? Yeah, sounds about right," Shinto uttered out in a helpless tone. "I don't think they're that cruel to give me such a task that's impossible to do."
"But... From what I know from my siblings... They're sometimes really, really unfair..." Kon stated. "With the treatment you received, they won't go easy on you..."
"...I can see that. But I'm sure they won't be that way..." As he spoke his reasonings, Shinto soon received a sudden notification.
[ 'Purgatory Blood Queen of the Night' wishes to speak with you temporarily! ]
[ Do you accept? ]
done.co