Chapter 790 - Blackmail

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At the moment that Alina discovered Alex's malady, she knew that the time to face him is bound to arrive. However, she did not expect it to be this bad.

"Alex… the extent of your corruption is enough to drive you mad. I can accept that, since you are directly connected to the Abyss. But do you really have to include other people too? Is this how far you have fallen already?"

With her mental and prophetic abilities, Alina knew that Alex is still going easy on them, as he was just using his Abyss Power to subdue them, and not end their lives.

If he was going for the kill, then they could be in a much harder fight….

This observation made Alina optimistic about her chances of winning earlier, but now that she had seen Alex's 'solar-system' sized body, she quickly changed her mind.

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"According to Asteria, size is a defining factor of the strength of an Abyss Monster. The bigger the monster is, the greater their strength and interference power will be." Alina muttered as she used the entirety of her abilities to survive Alex's probing moves. "In Alex's case, his current size indicates that he is powerful enough to overwhelm us all."

Alina was having these thoughts in a laborious manner, as she was dedicating her entire focus on just surviving Alex's assault. Which she knew will not end quickly, given by the state of her other allies.

"In fact, I am still lucky that I am not yet affected by Alex's corruption. Most of the other Companions were all under his control already, and the Travelers were only able to defend their own selves against him. A situation like this is never good for me, and I know that the monster who dragged us here is happy about this."

Out of all the Companions present right now, Alina could only see around 7 who are still free from Alex's corruption. These Companions were the lucky ones whose abilities allowed them to survive this long, although they too were forced into defensive like the others.

"Having all of us in a defensive state is already bad, but the presence of the Hand Monster who brought us here just made this situation even worse. F**k, why do things have to even escalate to this!"

Alina could not understand the current state of affairs.

Shouldn't their mission only be about the fate of their chosen religions? Why do they have to fight with their lives on line, especially against someone like Alex and the Hand Monster?

Having extremely difficult battles while they are doing their own difficult mission just did not seem right to Alina.

It was as if something has changed with the over-all state of things, and it is biting them in their metaphorical assess right now.

"I do not know why things have escalated to this manner, but I know that something has drastically changed the status quo here."

Alina was of course unhappy as she made this discovery, but with her current state, she could do nothing but fume silently as she continued to fend for her sanity.

"As for what exactly made the change, I have no idea about it. I also doubt that the other Travelers know what triggered this change…"

At first, Alina was extremely unhappy once she realized that their current suffering could just have been caused by an unexpected matter.

This was just unfair for everyone present, and she is willing to do everything to make all of this non-existent.

But the reminder that something else is at play here made Alina think that maybe, there is still a way for them to win.

They just had to find the root cause of everything, and deal with it promptly.

"Since this change could be related to our Main Mission, then there is only one person that could potentially explain everything to me."

"And that person is no other than… Asteria!"

It all made sense to Alina now.

If someone has an idea about their current dilemma, then a Guide like Asteria surely is the person who can help them.

Asteria was the one who knew everything about their missions after all, so she must have an inkling of their situation.

Heck, the fact that Asteria was not here while they were fighting for their lives already shows that something was fishy!

"Tsk, I knew it. With her knowledge and role as a Guide, Asteria should have warned us about a powerful adversary like this Hand Monster. But instead of informing me about it, Asteria was a no-show here! She also did not appear even when Alex is clearly about to be consumed by the Abyss!"

"Asteria might be an asshole, but I know that she is also unwilling to have Alex die. After all, she will die if Alex dies too…"

"…."

"The Guides of other Travelers are also not present even with the latter in danger, which implies that they too are in the same state as Asteria…"

"Heh, since that is the case, then it means that Asteria really knows something!"

"All that I have to do now is make her talk about it!"

Further introspection made Alina realize that her suspicions were actually right.

There is something that the Guides knew that they did not tell the Travelers earlier, which now led to their perilous state.

"…"

The reason for why the Guides made this action is still unclear to Alina, but that does not make her feel uncertain about her safety.

Alina just had to do one thing to clear everything up, and she immediately did it without any hesitation.

"Asteria! If you don't appear beside me right now, I will do my best to report your actions to Alex later! I will tell him about your lack of diligence to us, as well are your pathetic efforts to keep him safe!"

"I know that you are earning salary from being our Guide, and it all depends on how Alex evaluates you! So come on, come here and make yourself present! Or else all your luxury taxes will be left unpaid!"

[Hey hooman! D-don't do that please! Don't badmouth me to Alex!]