BXBX NOVEL Chapter 131: Geas
[Objective:]
[>> Survive for two days on the lake without being killed.]
[>> Alternatively, kill the Hydra to clear the trial.]
"We hav\'t completed either of the tasks," Lucifer mumbled.
The quest stated they had to kill the Hydra, not a Hydra-ling. The only problem was that a Hydra-ling wiped out more than half of their initial force. Now they find out they were fighting the wrong monster all this time?
I ev had to get naked because of it...
But they had an ev bigger issue. The quest didn\'t say there wer\'t more Hydra-lings. Also, considering what Lucifer told them about some gods\' disturbing fetishes, they could be more of them.
They can be stronger than the one we just fought.
Apart from Lucifer, everyone was downcast, ev Anna. In her timeline, they had a massive army. Hce, wh they attacked the swamp, they split up and killed the Hydra-lings.
What she didn\'t know was that Asmodeus and a few elites had gone to hunt the actual Hydra. Only wh they killed it did the trial clear.
Anna didn\'t know that and thought all they had to do was to hunt the Hydra-lings. Meanwhile, YuWon turned to Lucifer.
"You didn\'t tell us—"
"Before you get all accusing," Lucifer interrupted, showing YuWon his tongue.
At first, YuWon thought Lucifer was being childish. It wasn\'t until he pointed at the mark did YuWon realized something was off.
"I said nothing, not because I didn\'t want to," Lucifer continued. "I didn\'t tell you because I can\'t. This is a geas... a binding curse that prevts me from speaking about the trials."
"So you can\'t speak about it?"
"Nope. I\'ll lose my voice if I did."
"What about writing—?"
"My hands would rip my heart out if I tried that."
"How about you show me how to defeat them?"
"That would require killing them, and I\'m forbidd to do that. Another geas sures that," Lucifer shook his head. "Besides, all this is supposed to be a trial for humanity, not for the fall angels."
YuWon sighed. As a fall angel, Lucifer held immse knowledge about the trials. If he could tell them about the trials, it would take all the fun away from the gods.
They love this chaos too much to let someone ruin it for them.
YuWon could also understand why they had abandoned the fall angels. Imagine knowing all the secrets of making money, but one was in a coma. They could watch everyone try to achieve what they couldn\'t, only to fail repeatedly.
Over time, despair would kick in and the ones in a coma would lose all desire to live.
In their case, "making money" was an analogy for clearing the trials, and the ones in a coma were the fall angels.
They could fight, but they couldn\'t complete the mission on their own, and they couldn\'t share the secrets either. All they could do was watch in hopelessness while the gods joyed their suffering.
Now it makes sse why Asmodeus wanted nothing to do with the trials.
YuWon looked at Anna, and she shrugged. It was the first time she had heard about geas. But it made her realize something.
Back wh they were fighting the fourth disaster, right before the disaster mole appeared, Asmodeus had a clear shot at the fourth disaster. Yet he didn\'t take it and allowed it to kill him.
Anna had always wondered why he did that. She ev asked Asmodeus about it in the currt timeline, but he didn\'t answer. He just smiled and changed the topic.
Now she understood why Asmodeus didn\'t fight back. He had lost all hope in humanity and realized that if people couldn\'t ev survive the disasters, th there was no point in pretding they could keep going, so he chose death instead.
"Let\'s move first," YuWon snapped everyone out of their thoughts. "Who knows what will happ if we stay in one place for long."
"Yes," Gina chimed in. "We still have the curse hanging over our heads. Let\'s find the Hydra and deal with it."
But that was easier said than done. Lerna\'s swamp was a massive place. Ev looking for something as big as a hydra would be akin to searching for a needle in a box of nails.
Not to mtion how many more Hydra-lings would they have to fight their way through. Their morale was at an all-time low, especially the awakers who had barely survived the first counter with a Hydra-ling.
"Those who want to fight can join us," Anna announced. "As for those that don\'t, stick to this area and lie low."
YuWon nodded. There were two ways to clear the trial. Either kill the Hydra or survive for two days. It was the right decision to have separate teams focusing on differt tasks. That way, if one group failed, the other could still succeed.
However, with YuWon involved, that would never work because he would keep respawning. Sure, the timeline would be ruined, but it wouldn\'t be the first time. After all, he had probably died a hundred times by now.
Besides, moving a in large groups would draw unnecessary atttion.
"Don\'t drink the water from the lake, as it\'s toxic. If you really need to drink something, poke a small hole in the water lilies and drink from their stems."
Anna continued, "It\'ll still be harmful, but if you drink just a little, you\'ll only get a stomachache. For the food, eat the fruit from the world tree. It\'ll help counter the poison from the water lily. Most importantly, try not to make any noise... unless you want to die."
"She\'s not bad," Lucifer whispered, leaning on YuWon. "her instructions were precise and covered everything one needs to survive here. As expected from a regressor, unlike you."
"Are you done yet?" YuWon shook his head. "If you have free time, point me towards the Hydra."
"No can do," Lucifer shrugged, before walking away.
Just because he couldn\'t tell YuWon what he wanted, that didn\'t mean he couldn\'t let the humans follow him. If they were smart ough to catch on, that is.