Affinity: Chaos

Chapter 99: Just An Ordinary Looking Rock

“It’s the darkness element”

Someone exclaimed in deep shock

This was the first time most of them present were seeing the darkness element, so their reactions are quite understandable. Just like the light element, the darkness element is also extremely rare. With a high destructive capability and supreme corrosion ability, it is regarded as one of the deadliest elements there is.

‘How corrosive’

Grey thought as he stared at the corpse of the dead youth.

The youth’s body had already started to decay, and it hasn’t been up to two minutes since the attack killed him. Although had the youth not died under the attack, he would have been able to use his elements to stop it. The only way this particular trait of the darkness element can show forth is when battling an opponent a couple of stages weaker than you, or when the opponent is dead like in this case.

Now Grey knew why the young man was able to one-shot his opponent, firstly, the element of surprise, secondly the high corrosive ability of the darkness element. His opponent didn’t know he was a Darkness Elementalist, so he never expected the attack would be able to make its way past his defense. Had it not been the darkness element, then even if the attack is stronger than his defense, it would’ve still been able to slow it down.

But the attack regained its speed after passing through the ice wall, being so close to it, there was nothing the youth could do other than stare in shock and disbelief. He wasn’t even able to completely show his disbelief before the attack reached him.

Grey couldn’t deny the fact that the young man was strong, but come on, an instant kill? On an opponent at the same stage as you? It’s almost unbelievable. This usually mostly happens when you sneak attack your opponent, or maybe your opponent is tired of living and just stands there with open arms waiting for death to take them away.

It’s not a new thing for someone to completely overpower an opponent in the same stage, but instant killing is quite rare.

The young man looked at the others with his cold eyes.

“Anyone else?”

He had returned to his previous spot as if nothing happened.

The majority of the people gathered here were still dumbstruck by what happened, and also by the fact that the young man was a Darkness Elementalist. The others who had come out of their states of shock retreated a couple of steps backward. No one wanted to die, especially for a stupid reason as wanting to enter first.

Yes, who enters first gets the advantages when it came to acquiring what was inside. But they shouldn’t also forget about the potential danger, one has to remember the one at the front will be the one who would have to clear them.

While the rest were retreating, Grey sensed a hand coming towards him. In a flash, he was facing the direction the hand was coming from and his right hand had already reached towards the hilt of one of his blades which was strapped on his back.

Seeing who the hand belonged to, he relaxed and brought his hands back to its usual position.

“I figured it was you”

A youth said without any emotions.

He couldn’t help but feel surprised by Grey’s high alertness. The part where Grey placed one of his hand on his back didn’t escape him, and he knew if he was an enemy, he would most likely be attacked.

“Oh! It’s you, how are you doing?”

Grey smiled while asking.

The youth was surprisingly Damian. Since the time Grey fought with him, he hadn’t had any other interactions with him. Damian had already broken through to the First stage of the Origin Plane, so it seems he had also gotten some great rewards over these two months.

If Grey knew among his friends he was the only one who hasn’t broken through to the Origin Plane yet, he would curse his bad luck, and the bunnies as well. Because if not for those bunnies, he would have already broken through from quite some time now.

“I’m okay. Are you looking for your friends?”

Damian asked calmly.

He remembered seeing Grey together with Alice, Reynolds, and Klaus most of the time. He had already seen the other three, and they were together, so when he saw Grey, he thought maybe they hadn’t seen each other yet.

“Yes, did you see them by any chance?”

Grey inquired.

It would be great if he met up with the group before entering the place.

“Yes”

Damian pointed in the direction he saw the group last.

“Thank you, I’ll go check it out”

Grey thanked him.

After telling Grey this, Damian walked in the other direction.

Grey looked at the figure as it disappeared into the crowd. Damian has always been the lonely type, every time Grey had seen him, he was always alone. He never spoke with anyone and just focused on his training.

Grey guessed there was a reason for his withdrawn nature, but since they couldn’t really be called friends, he didn’t pry. Although he never expected Damian would approach him to tell him where his friends were, he was grateful to him for his help.

Following the direction Damian pointed him to, he soon got sight of Klaus. And he seemed to be talking about something interesting.

Shaking his head with a little laugh he caught up with them. By the time he got there, Klaus was speaking on how he battled a group of Fire Apes. Everyone had already gotten over the initial surprise from the battle that took place moments ago, well, except for the dead youth’s friend that is.

Since the light was in the process of dying down, they opted it was best not to provoke the Darkness Elementalist. Besides, it wasn’t like he was hoarding the place to himself, he only said his group would be the first to enter.

Just as expected, when Grey saw he was the only one still in the Arcane Plane, the first thing that came to his mind was the garden. That was supposed to be what would’ve guaranteed him a quick breakthrough, but alas, he was chased by a group of bunnies.

‘Damn bunnies’

Grey complained.

If not for the fear of destroying the garden, the thought of using elemental fusion crossed his mind. He was confident the attack would wipe out the bunnies, and also his potential loot. So he refrained from it, and when the bunnies started chasing him, he didn’t have the time to do it since it required some time and focus.

Two hours later…

Creak…

The sound of a door slowly opening sounded out.

The light which the door was giving off died down five minutes ago, but the door only opened five minutes after. Everyone was already looking at the door in anticipation, so when the door slowly started opening, they all felt a surge of expectation.

What would they acquire from this strange place?

Just as the first group was about to enter, something strange happened in the trail land.

“Look”

Someone pointed towards the west.

Hearing the shout, everyone looked in the direction she was pointing at, even the first group who was about to enter the place looked towards it curiously.

“Wait! There’s more?”

The young man suddenly felt a tinge of frustration.

Looking at the west, a light, just like the one this door gave off could currently be seen, albeit small, they were all sure it was the same.

What annoyed him was the fact that the other light shot up right after this door opened. There was no way he would believe they weren’t connected.

“So which one contains the treasure?”

One of the youths among their group asked the question running through their minds.

“Since this is the one we were directed to, then this is the one we’ll be entering”

The young man said coldly.

He threw the thought of the other possible door to the back of his head. Since they were already here, what’s the use of thinking of the other door?

And so, they went into the place. After they entered, more people started entering slowly. This was a new place to them, and there was also a good chance that it contained great treasures, and also great danger.

The moment Grey and his friends were about to head in, he suddenly froze and looked towards an ordinary-looking rock by the side of the door.

“Grey, what’s up?”

Seeing Grey stopped walking, the others also stood by his side.

“It’s nothing, you guys head inside, I’ll check something out first”

Grey waved for the others to carry on.

He had a weird feeling when he walked past that rock. It was like there was something there, and he didn’t think his senses would be wrong.

‘I don’t know if it’s anything good, it would be a shame if I wasted not just my time but theirs also’

Grey thought.

The thought of telling them to wait for him crossed his mind, but since he had doubts about the feeling, it was best to tell them to head in first since he’ll go in after studying the rock. Besides, what could possibly happen to him while studying an ordinary-looking rock?

He couldn’t understand why he suddenly got this sensation from the rock which wasn’t any different from the other rocks around.

Thinking of possibly finding something good, he waited for everyone to enter the place. A few moments later everyone had already walked inside, he slowly walked towards the rock.

Getting closer to the rock, he started scrutinizing it. After looking at it for some time and not finding any special, he placed his hand on it. Suddenly, he felt a strong sucking force from the rock. And before he could take back his hand, he was sucked into the rock.

And the valley once again regained its peace…

😉