Second World

Red Death could do nothing as her body continued to plummet. She tried to reposition her body in the air so that at least she could land on her feet. But her starting position was bad, she was unable to alter her body position too much.

She looked back and saw the ground fast approaching.

She gritted her teeth. She hated such a helpless feeling. She didn't want to give up. She paid attention to the ground. It had been more than one hour since she started climbing the ice titan. Her Vanish skill had gone off cooldown. She would use it just before she hit the ground. She supposed the teleport feature might save her from the impact.

But before she carried out her plan, a shadow swooped by. Red Death felt his body getting pulled to the side. Before she knew it, she was on the ground. Rayne had jumped and caught her just before she smashed into the ground.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

Red Death just nodded. Rayne let go of her. She wobbled a little. The speedy fall unbalanced her. She looked around. The ice bugs were nowhere to be seen. They had also vanished with the ice titan.

"So, mission accomplished?" Rayne asked.

"Not yet," Red Death said. "I can still sense this thing influencing this place. Until we get rid of this, I don't think the quest is considered completed."

"What is that thing anyway? Shouldn't we just bring it out to Goddess Wrath? She should be able to deal with it, shouldn't she?"

Red Death didn't deny that that was one way to solve the problem. Wrath said that she couldn't enter because this thing prevented it. But if Red Death took this thing to her, she should be able to sever this thing's influence on this place. However, Red Death was also curious about the thing.

"Wait, I will try to inspect it first," she said. When she used the skill, a loading bar appeared.

"This will take quite some time," she informed Rayne. She put the round object on the ground and sat cross-legged beside it.

Rayne didn't argue her decision. He stood by her side and observed the surrounding. See if there were any other menaces.

After half an hour, the loading bar was finally filled. The information about the round object was revealed and her eyes went wide.

It was the Ice God Sphere. She knew about this item because Jack had told her about it. It was the only remaining divine treasure whose location was still unknown. Jack said that someone had found this divine treasure via a quest that Master tweaked, but that person died a wilderness death. This caused this Ice God Sphere to get transferred to a random SSS quest somewhere in this world.

Whether it was fate or luck, she had stumbled upon this divine treasure. She wasn't going to let this opportunity go.

"Watch over me!" She said to Rayne.

"What? Why? Have you found out what that thing is?" Rayne asked.

"Just watched the surroundings. I won't be able to move for quite some time. I will need your protection if any monsters show up."

Rayne was already used to Red Death ignoring his question ever since she came to Rhemos' side, but it didn't mean he was not annoyed by it. He was tempted to use his own Inspect on the round object, but since it took a long time for the Inspect to work, he decided against it. He needed to be ready in case a monster approached.

Jack had also told Red Death about what happened when someone established a link with a divine treasure. She took out her recovery potions and put them next to her for easy access. It's a good thing that Wrath's set armors provided passive HP recovery, that should help. Her level was also much higher than Jack's when he linked with the Lightning God Sphere, so her HP pool was more than Jack's at that time.

After finishing her preparation, she drank a potion and waited until her HP bar fully recovered. Then, she interfaced with the Ice God Sphere. She proceeded with the option to soul-link with it.

After some time, the temperature around her dropped another notch. Ice flakes started to materialize. Before long, the air around her started to swirl. A sharp ice blade was formed from the cold air. It then slashed her arm, causing damage.

"Red…!" Rayne called worriedly. He was about to come to her aid but Red Death stopped him.

"It's okay! Just don't let anything come near. You don't need to worry about whatever happens in my vicinity."

Rayne was not truly convinced, but he didn't approach her. He stood away and continued to observe.

More ice blades were formed, and they continued to cut Red Death's body. As time passed, she started drinking healing potions and regeneration potions because her HP recovery was unable to keep up with the damage anymore.

Layers of frost started covering parts of her body, but they were unable to fully cover her. She thought maybe it was because of the Madness Raiment's immunity to freeze. The gears' high resistance to the ice element also helped to mitigate the ice blades' damage. Wrath not only gave her equipment that helped her complete this quest but also aided her in conquering this divine treasure.

After a long torment, the icy wind raging around Red Death died down. The Ice God Sphere broke apart. It then turned into many tiny icicles and stabbed into Red Death's body.

Red Death was panting after all was over.

"Are you all right?" Rayne asked. "What was that all about?"

Red Death gave Rayne an explanation. He was extremely surprised to find out that the round ball just now was a divine treasure. Although Red Death trusted Rayne, she still thought it was prudent to not inform her companion until she fused with the divine treasure.

Rayne showed a surprised expression, but he didn't seem offended by Red Death's act.

Red Death was opening her status window to check the information about the fused treasure.

*

Ice God Blessing, Level 1/3

Ice resistance +50 (passive skill)

Every attack +10% ice damage and 1% chance to cause Freeze for 2 seconds (passive skill)

Ice God Barrage (Active skill)

Shoot 20 balls of ice that explode dealing 300% ice damage each in a 5-meter diameter area, 30% chance of causing Freeze for 5 seconds, 80% chance of causing Slow for 30 seconds.

Range: 20 meters

Cooldown: 5 hours

Upgrade to the next level requires: 1 Divine Gem, 10 Magic Crystal, exp: 0/3,000,000

*

'No wonder Jack's skill is so powerful,' Red Death thought. She looked at the experience required to level up the blessing. She knew that the next exp points she received would all be consumed by this blessing. But for her current level, three million exp points was no problem.

Their surrounding suddenly transformed before their eyes. The snow on the ground melted. The ice on the frozen tree cracked before shattering, revealing the tree within. The tree then burst into flame. The melted snow gathered and turned into lava rivers. Multiple geysers were sighted along the land. Even the previously blue sky turned red.

While they were marveling at the transformation, a voice was heard from the sky, "I'm impressed, mortals. The two of you have succeeded. You've returned my chamber to me."

Wrath materialized from the thin air above them.

'Chamber? This looks more like another world,' Red Death thought within.

"Only a world is worthy to be a Goddess' chamber, isn't it?" Wrath chuckled. When she saw Red Death's surprised expression, she explained, "In my chamber, no mortal's thoughts can be shielded. Hm…?"

Wrath floated down to where Red Death was. "You have something inside you… This… It's the Ice God Blessing… I see. So, the thing that had invaded my chamber was a divine treasure. No wonder it resisted my power."

Wrath then gave Red Death a sharp glance, "You are pretty brazen to just fuse with it without my permission."

"You said to get rid of it. I get rid of it," Red Death answered.

Rayne was anxious hearing the exchange. He was worried that Wrath would feel offended.

Instead, the Goddess laughed. "Hahaha. Outworlder, I like you. I will free your aunt as we agreed, but you will be my follower."

"Follower?" Red Death asked.

"From now on. You will do my bidding. You will carry my will and be my representative in the outside world."

"I…"

"This is not a discussion. If you refuse, your aunt will be freed as promised, but you will take her place instead."

"… All right," Red Death said. She didn't seem to have any choice.

"Good!" Wrath uttered.

Red Death heard a system notification that her quest had been completed. The received exp points immediately filled up the exp needed by the Ice God Blessing. Additionally, she received notification that she had received a special class.

The special class was called Mad Slayer, a first-class special class.