Chapter 24 – Woah! So Many Things Happening!
It's been a week since Artoria came back, and Medea can confidently say that she had severely underestimated her all this time.
The next morning after she came back, Ciel was... different.
She had been with them for months, so such a change in behaviour was obvious for her. Additionally, Rimuru was also plenty shocked, but recovered in a couple seconds and just sighed with a smile.
She herself had took a long time to gain Ciel's trust and approval, but for Artoria it was less.
She didn't know what happened with her on the trip, but she could deduce from past experiences that the only way to be acknowledged by Ciel was to do something that resonated with her.
Now, even Medea started to look at her in a different light.
Ciel, instead of only giving her a greeting, started to actually form genuine conversations with her, no matter which Artoria she was talking to. And it seemed like both got on very well.
I need to step up my game...
...
In an alleyway invisible to anyone, suddenly, some figures appeared.
The one in the lead had a confident look on his face, which was always smiling. This was Suguru Geto.
Not far from him was a human-like person with zips and strings around him. His hair was white his eyes echoed the insanity inside of him.
Following him is the same volcano head that ran away from Ciel and Gojo's fight, if it could even be called that. This was Jogo.
And finally, the last one was a demonic figure. There were twigs instead of eyes and black marks that dragged up and down it's body. It was also the tallest out of the four.
All of them were very strong and dangerous in their own rights.
The aim for appearing like this today was to go to the café that Jogo talked about and see what's up. Being with an entire team of cursed spirits, Jogo's confidence rose by some degree, which was why he dared to join in the first place.
But not even seconds that they began walking, footsteps could be heard getting louder, which meant that someone was coming towards them.
Geto held out his hand and waited, until a faint silhouette could be seen in the dark alleyway.
Then, two red dots glowed menacingly, and when she got closer, her body became clearer.
"To what may I owe the pleasure of meeting you here?" Geto still had the guts to talk, despite the fact that his hands were unconsciously shaking.
"Oh I don't know you tell me. Where do you think you're going?" The voice got deeper and deeper, and the figure got closer and closer.
The three spirits behind Geto were much worse, as they couldn't even move due to being paralysed from fear.
"I was in a happy mood today, and I don't want it to be interrupted by little pigs snorting in my ear."
The atmosphere almost solidified under the pressure, and she stopped getting closer, about 3 and a half metres from the group.
"I made a mistake last time of killing the white-haired guy too quickly, so I will use this opportunity."
"Be grateful since you will at least die."
Unable to process what her words meant, the four then disappeared from where they stood.
Far, far away, they appeared inside a dungeon.
This was Ramiris's labyrinth, or now formally called the labyrinth. It was impossible to conquer, just the first 500 floors were already enough to stump challengers for generations to come.
Ever since Rimuru evolved Ramiris, her strength increased exponentially, and borrowing some of Rimuru's power she was able to increase the floors to 1000. If it was her own, it would've been 977 but that number annoyed Rimuru deeply.
On the 666th floor, they appeared. The first thing they noticed was the amount of skulls and bones scattered around an open area, and suddenly fire began to erupt in all the eye sockets.
Then, blood conformed and condensed in the middle, releasing an eery looking blob of red. A wide slit opened towards the top, and a wide smile separated the two sides of the thing.
"2000? It seems like I will have some fun..."
Confused by its words, Jogo looked down and realised there was a new addition on his wrist.
It was a bracelet that looked like it was made of wood from a tree, and in the middle was a number carved into it.
The 2000 actually signalled the amount of times they could revive after death.
And their respawn point was right where they stood.
It wasn't the 666th level for nothing...
...
**Notification! A new mission has been issued. [Accept] or [Decline]?
Admin: Finally! A new mission. It seems I can finally do something again!
Witch of Betrayal: Is this the so called mission you talked about?
Admin: Yes! You don't know much about the rules so let me tell you, it's really good. Basically, some people in this group chat will be teleported to a different dimension with a task to complete. And get this, the time in your current dimension would stop, and this also includes the other peoples' who didn't go on the mission. Depending on how well you complete it, the system will reward you different rewards. The system will also gain experience and can level up.
Red Dragon Emperor: Quickly! Accept it!
...
Mission world's name: My Hero Academia
Accepted: [0/4]
Main Objectives: Eliminate the following people: Izuku Midoriya / All For One / All Might / Tomura Shigaraki
Time Limit: 1 year
Hidden Objectives: ???
Rewards: ???
Tips: Weak-willed aren't enough
...
Witch of Betrayal: So that's what it's like. Hidden objectives and rewards aren't shown, so we will just have to figure it out?
Admin: Yes, but I'm more worried at this mission.
Witch of Betrayal: Why?
Red Dragon Emperor: Normally, it never tells us to eliminate people. The most it told us to do once was to destroy an organisation, but it made sense since they were very evil. We will just have to see then.
Admin: I'm probably going to skip this one.
Red Dragon Emperor: Same
King of Imanity: Same here
Railgun: Same
Baldy: I can't come this time, since something's happening with monsters here.
77th Directior: SO that just leaves us four! I look forward to working with you
Ainz: Likewise, but witch of betrayal. Just to be sure. The people here are familiar with each other, but we are not to you. Are you sure you can afford to do this?
They're actually worried for me? Is it because it requires killing. So I guess that the remaining four are probably the ones who doesn't mind killing then...
Witch of Betrayal: Don't worry about me. Killing isn't new territory where I live.
Red Dragon Emperor: Have you killed before?
Witch of Betrayal: Yes...
Nightmare: Not that it's good, but it will make it easier for us and the mission, so good.
**Notification! Mission: My Hero Academia [4/4]. Teleportation will start in 1 hour!
Witch of Betrayal: An hour?
Admin: Yeah, it normally is that long. Glad to see that this hasn't changed. Anyway, good luck!
...
An hour? It said time will pause, but something tells me that it's not going to work on Rimuru and Ciel. Hmmm, I shouldn't take any chances...
She then walked up to Rimuru, who was out cold on the desk.
He still hasn't changed.
"Hey Rimuru?"
"*snort *pop. Huh? Oh Medea, what do you want?"
"I just want to say something. If something happens after an hour from now, please don't panic or anything."
"Huh? Oh sure. I think you should tell Ciel that instead of me. She cares about these things more than me."
"That was my intention." She then did a small bow towards him, and walked into the kitchen.
Shirou just left around half an hour ago, and Ciel seemed to be in a happy mood.
Okay Medea, you got this. Taking in a deep breath, she repeated what she said to her.
"In an hour? Sure, I don't mind whatever's going to happen." A faint smile appeared, much to Medea's relief.
"Thank you." Thank goodness it worked!
She then returned to her post and calmly waited for the countdown to end.
If what they said was true, then most likely it wouldn't affect them that much, but it was best to be cautious.
...
A girl in a school uniform was patiently waiting on her bed, her legs swinging forwards and backwards.
This was Kurumi, or known by others as 'Nightmare'.
She was a girl with very elegant and polite manners. She has pearly skin and long, black hair in long twin-tails. Her defining feature was her eyes. In the right was a normal pupil, with a bit of a red-tint whilst in the left, it was a golden, inorganic clock face. It was covered by her bangs and only revealed when she transforms into her spirit form.
She was a spirit in her world, and they were seen as top-class dangers. Each one possessed strength almost unmatchable by anyone else.
Due to her brutal actions and merciless behaviour, she was often regarded as 'Nightmare', hence the reason she got her title.
The clock in her left eye also symbolises time. As one might guess, she was a spirit that could control time – to some extent anyway.
She hummed to herself for quite a while, before stopping and looking at herself in the mirror.
"A new mission... and to kill people no less... I can't wait to see the new member..." she chuckled to herself.
...
An intimidating and scary looking skeleton was sat upon his throne, in a room drenched in dignity.
His head was in his hands, as he leaned towards one side of the throne.
This was Ainz. He used to be called Momonga, but after a certain transmigration into a game world, he replaced his old name with a new one, one that embodied the wills and ideals of his friends.
Ainz Owl Goan was the name of the guild that resided in Nazarick, and he was the guild leader.
With one command, he could order the entire world to be taken over by the followers and subordinates he had.
Despite all this however, inside he was just an ordinary man.
This used to be all just a game, but when he decided to stay after the countdown, he found that he could not return, and instead was trapped inside.
It was after a couple of days like this when he received the chat. And he was very grateful for it.
His bone-fingers tapped on the throne as he silently waited for the timer to end.
...
She has a fair complexion, bright scarlet eyes with blossoming flowers inside as pupils. She normally wears a hat and quite a loose uniform.
Hu Tao is the 77th Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, a person carrying vital important to managing Liyue's funerary affairs. She does he utmost to flawlessly carry out a person's last requests before sending them off and preserving the world's balance of ying and yang.
And aside from this, she is also a talented poet whose many poems have passed around her hometown Liyue.
She appears to be a quirky and cheerful girl. She enjoys pranking and despises sitting around and doing nothing, as she wished to live her life to the fullest every day. It wasn't everyone who appreciated her attitude however, and this caused many people to have a negative opinion of her, but she didn't mind.
But contrast to this, when it is about her job and role of sending people to the afterlife, she becomes more solemn and constantly reminds her employees to never deviate from the client's requests. In fact, she tries so hard every time to fulfil someone's wishes that the parlour was becoming bankrupt. Nevertheless, she still tries very hard.
She accepts death as a natural part of life, and believes that everything would naturally come to an end, including her.
This was why she had no qualms about this killing mission, as even though she was quite young, she believed that it was still in order of nature.
Having a stroll inside a forest, she then saw the timer was about to end.
Fixing her hat and posture, she prepared her staff and vision ready before taking a deep breath.
A cheerful and confident look was in her eyes.
As mature as her thought process was, she was still a young girl after all, and couldn't help but feel giddy knowing there will be another adventure.
**Warning! 3 seconds until teleportation.
**Warning! 2 seconds until teleportation.
**Warning! 1 seconds until teleportation.
**Commencing...