Second World

Her tone put heavy emphasis on the last word in her sentence. Jack ignored her. He went back upstairs following the footprints. They should be the warden's tracks. If he found the warden, he should find the key.

He was just worried that the warden was among the Acolytes inside the communion. How would he get to him without alerting the other acolytes and that over-leveled priest then? He would worry about it later if that really was the case. For now, he just focused on following the footprints.

Luckily, his worry was not proven. From his radar, the direction the footprints took him was to a lone red dot not far from where the other group of red dots were having the communion. When he came near the place the footprints brought him to. It was to a door.

From the layout of the other rooms, this door opened to a small space inside. Jack's assumption was that it was a restroom. The warden must have taken a piss break during his watch.

As he was considering the possibility, he heard a click on the door. He quickly hid behind the restroom as Peniel vanished back into her hidden dimension. A person wearing a black robe came out of the room and walked away.

Jack inspected him and found out him to be another level 12 Acolyte. They were pretty closed to the main hall where the Priest and the rest of the Acolytes were having the communion, so if a fight broke here, it might alert them. Hence, Jack stayed in the shadow as he tailed the warden. He expected him to go back down to the basement.

Luckily, the warden didn't disappoint him. As the warden walked down the stairs, Jack took out his sword and magic staff. If he fought down there, the noise shouldn't reach the main hall group. Nevertheless, he needed to finish the fight fast to avoid complications.

Jack knew he couldn't walk as silently as the Ranger class, who could come behind another person's back undetected as Flame had demonstrated. That's why when he had decided to shorten the distance with the warden, he threw away all his stealth maneuver and ran down the stairs. The warden was caught off guard by the hasty footsteps coming from behind him. Jack jumped off the remaining steps as the warden turned around, he executed Power Strike as he came down upon the warden.

The warden was slammed down hard onto the stone floor as a damage of 142 appeared. He had not got the time to take out his weapon as Jack followed the ambush with several successive slashes. Damage numbers continued to appear above the warden's head. After some struggle, the warden managed to kick Jack and pushed him away. He scrambled to his feet and took out a mace.

Jack didn't give him a chance as he cast Mana Bullet, but the Warden was quite nimble. He evaded the Mana Bullet by side stepping. However, another five Magic Bolts came upon him. He could not evade this second magic attack, all five of the Magic Bolts stabbed onto him continuously, each dealing damage ranging from 48 to 53.

Jack came upon his side as he was still disoriented and sent several other rapid slashes. The warden's HP quickly fell to a critical level. He made a desperate swing in an attempt to free himself from the barrage of attack. Jack ducked as the mace went past his head. The warden took this opportunity to make a run for the stairs.

He must be thinking of warning his fellow acolytes. Jack couldn't let him do that, he used the same tactic as when he fought the sentries, he made a normal range shot using his magic staff directed to the warden's legs. It missed at first, but the advantage of normal attacks was there was no cooldown, so he could fire another attack once the first one was done.

The second attack fortunately hit the mark and the warden stumbled and rolled down the stairs. He shouted in a final attempt to draw the attention of the people above, Jack shut him down by sending another Power Strike which scored a critical as it came off cooldown.

The warden finally stopped moving, its body soon disintegrated, leaving behind a few coins and a key. Jack watched his radar as his body tensed up. He didn't know if the warden's last shout had reached those above. He exhaled a relief sigh after seeing those red dots remained in place. He then picked up the loots and identified the key as Cell Key.

With the key on hand, he went towards the left door. When he inserted the key into the key hole, there was an irrational fear that the key in his hand was still not the key that open this door. Fortunately, that was not the case, the lock in the door released with a click as the key turned. The door opened and revealed a dark room.

There was no illumination inside. As the door opened wider, the light outside exposed the interior of the room. There was a shadow sitting in the corner of that dark room. It was a woman, her eyes showed fear but yet there was also determination in them. The fear in her eyes turned to confusion as he looked at Jack who was not dressed up like those acolytes who had held her captive.

"Samantha?" Jack said to the woman. Amy had told him her mother's name before he left her shop.

The woman's eyes widened as she heard her name mentioned.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"I am Storm Wind, Amy sent me," Jack said.

Her eyes glistened as she heard her daughter's name. She rose up and went to him. "How is she? Is she all right?" She asked nervously.

"She is fine," Jack replied. "You are the one she is worried about. She suspected the Cult had something to do with your missing, thus she asked for help from the Adventurers Association. She was right about it apparently."

"That poor girl," Samantha cried. "They threatened to harm her if I try anything funny. I'm glad they didn't do anything to her."

"What's this about anyway? Why were you held captive by this cult?"

"I have no idea as well. I was delivering bread to one of my regular customers in the slum. Before I know, those cult people came and took me and my customer away."

"Your customer?" Jack thought of the other dot next door. "Is he being held here as well?"

"Yes, he is in the other room," Samantha answered.

"Let's free him too then," Jack said as he went to the other door. His other quest was investigating the cult, till now he still didn't know what they were doing here, so he needed to find out more.

He unlocked the door. When the key turned, he noticed the dot inside the room moved and approached the door. A silhouette was then formed in his monocle's view, showing the shape of a person behind the wall right next to the door.

Was he trying to ambush me? He thought.

He pushed the door open but didn't step through. The silhouette maintained its position beside the door opening.

"Why didn't you enter?" Samantha asked.

Hearing Samantha's voice, the silhouette moved. "Samantha?" An aged voice was heard as a bearded face peeked out from the door opening.

"Mister Gilbert! Are you all right?" Samantha responded when she saw the elderly face.

Gilbert glanced at Jack suspiciously.

"He's okay," Samantha said when she saw Gilbert staring at Jack. "His name is Storm Wind. My daughter sent for him. He is from the Adventurers Association."

"Really?" Gilbert said as he came out of the room, but he still maintained his distance from Jack. "May I see your Adventurer Badge then?"

Jack fished out his badge and showed it to the old man. Gilbert squinted his eyes as he scrutinized the badge. He then nodded, "it seemed real. Forgive me, the cult had been trying to trick me since they couldn't force me to give them what they want, so I thought you were their latest attempt to deceive me."

"What do they after?" Jack asked, if what the old man said was true, then he was the reason the cult had appeared in this place.

"I would rather not talk about it," Gilbert replied.

Jack frowned. What's the old man hiding? Was he still suspicious of me?

"Could we have this talk somewhere else? I couldn't stand being in this place longer," Samantha interfered.

"You're right, let's leave this place first," Jack concurred. He waved at them to follow him, but as he was about to step onto the stairs, he froze. The cluster of red dots that were gathering at the main hall before, had now dispersed and spread all over the warehouse, cutting their path of retreat.